# Three men freeze to death in a friend's backyard and aren't found for three days **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 16, 2024, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151 "2024-01-16T06:01:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/181 "2024-01-26T06:04:04Z")
Jeez. I thought it was a joke. And morbidly funny. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/182 "2024-01-26T12:28:24Z")
I’m going to be the contrarian and say that **no** drugs were involved. Just so I can go “Nyah Nyah” if I’m right. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/183 "2024-01-26T13:07:26Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > I’m going to be the contrarian and say that **no** drugs were involved. Are you high, or what? ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/184 "2024-01-26T13:25:49Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > “Dope” was used on real full-sized fabric-covered airplanes tooo. ISTR hearing of such dope, but was personally familiar only with pipe dope (joint sealant). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/185 "2024-01-26T13:31:17Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > ISTR hearing of such dope, but was personally familiar only with pipe dope (joint sealant). I’m very familiar with both smoking dope from a pipe and smoking joints. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/186 "2024-01-26T14:21:47Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Are you high, or what? Or canny like a fox. You’re going to feel real silly when we find out that this is all the result of some one in a million scientific phenomenon, and not sinful conduct. These were good men who loved their mamas, and were victims of the polar vortex. Or maybe the monkeypox got them. Perhaps some fatal fungus lurked amongst the suburban shrubbery. But you see fit to besmirch their good names. Nay! I, for one, proclaim these men heroes! (OK, maybe a little high.) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/187 "2024-01-26T14:31:20Z")
Whatever the story turns out to be, the best we can hope for is that it will be puzzling and pitiable. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/188 "2024-01-26T14:40:03Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > pipe dope (joint sealant) And here I thought my dad was the only person who referred to that stuff as pipe dope! ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/189 "2024-01-26T14:50:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > A wise man knows his limitations in the face of great power. The wisest of men can’t see a fentanyl train coming at them at 100 mph. Since they went outside in freezing weather I would guess they took something like meth that can generate feelings of being too hot and then died from fentanyl lased into it. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/190 "2024-01-26T15:58:47Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > meth that can generate feelings of being too hot Hypothermia by itself has been known to do this. > **[Hypothermia | Paradoxical undressing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothermia#Paradoxical_undressing)** > > Twenty to fifty percent of hypothermia deaths are associated with paradoxical undressing. This typically occurs during moderate and severe hypothermia, as the person becomes disoriented, confused, and combative. They may begin discarding their clothing, which, in turn, increases the rate of heat loss. > Rescuers who are trained in mountain survival techniques are taught to expect this; however, people who die from hypothermia in urban environments who are found in an undressed state are sometimes ... (I think this may have been mentioned earlier.) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/191 "2024-01-26T16:36:34Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Hypothermia by itself has been known to do this. Yes but you don’t leave a warm house and stand out in the cold until you freeze to death. What you’re describing is what happens to someone who can’t get out of the cold. . Nobody in their right mind stands around freezing to death. If they had to they would break into the house. The first indication this was drug induced will be an unlocked back door. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/192 "2024-01-26T17:26:39Z")
Are we in fact certain that they ultimately died from exposure or hypothermia? Or, they (perhaps) OD’d, and their bodies simply froze? Admittedly I haven’t been following this story exceptionally closely. I knew a fellow in college, a little older going to school on the GI Bill. He was an admitted alcoholic who abstained from drinking alcohol. Some years later I got a phone call from his wife. While he wasn’t drinking alcohol, he was shooting up heroin and OD’d right on the couch after shooting up the works. Or more likely, one of the more synthetic derivatives. I think they were new then, as far as wide availability. I guess he was an “early adopter” of the modern day drug scourge. I’ve no trouble imagining these guys “scored” some drugs of unknown quantity or quality and died within seconds or minutes. Apparently a few synthetics that were invented decades ago but considered unsuitable for licensing or production are being made. Veterinary tranquilizers and similar, extremely powerful. When someone thinks they are buying “Heroin”, it probably isn’t. Ya pays yer money and takes yer chances, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/193 "2024-01-26T17:58:20Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > you don’t leave a warm house and stand out in the cold So this is actually the bit that I don’t get. Even if (as seems to be a possible/likely) drugs are involved, who wants to take drugs in a freezing backyard? Even if the house owner said “you can’t take drugs in my house”, their car was right there, right? ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/194 "2024-01-26T18:03:35Z")
The cars were on the street. You’d do drugs in the backyard out of sight. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/195 "2024-01-26T18:05:01Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > who wants to take drugs in a freezing backyard? I believe it was in the 30s, while a week prior was truly frigid. I’ve hung out passing a pipe and drinking some beers in 30 degree weather. . ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/196 "2024-01-26T18:05:35Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > You know, “dope” was something that came in a jar, which was (is?) used as a treatment for the paper that was glued onto the balsa frame of model airplanes. I’d completely forgotten about this use of the term dope. I built some of the balsa planes during grade school and used the stuff. I remember finding out I could use a thin layer of regular old Elmer’s on the paper instead of the expensive, harder to acquire, and harder to handle & apply (thinner fluid) dope. I used this technique for 7th grade science fair so I was first playing with this at age 11 or 12? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/197 "2024-01-26T18:06:33Z")
People can’t fly without an airplane seat but if they’re doped up they think they can. Under the influence of bad dope these folks aren’t real smart or make good decisions. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/198 "2024-01-26T18:31:23Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Even if the house owner said “you can’t take drugs in my house”, their car was right there, right? That was what I was wondering. Something along those lines. So, if you end up with three dead guys in your backyard, people start asking questions. Inconvenient as hell, I betcha. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/199 "2024-01-26T18:55:59Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Under the influence of bad dope these folks aren’t real smart or make good decisions. As I said before, dope that is _not_ bad can be problematic WRT making good choices. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2024, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151/200 "2024-01-26T22:05:07Z")
Sometimes people unexpectedly get a pure dose of something that wasn’t cut. That’ll kill you, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-men-freeze-to-death-in-a-friends-backyard-and-arent-found-for-three-days/996151.md?page=11)