Gruesome Nostalgia

Do you remember Tollund Man? Perhaps you've never been introduced*. Mention him to any of my school friends and they'll coo fondly; remembering their very first secondary school history project and his decaying, doll-like body. Kids love anything gruesome. Yet, after researching him on the Internet some twelve years later, I'm starting to wonder whether Tollund Man - leathery, Scandinavian, condemned Tollund Man - actually has some ethereal quality that makes him endearing to all ages, everywhere.

It could be the mystery: this man has a name, but it's clearly not his real one. We know very little about his life, but we know so much about his death thanks to the layers of peat from the bog he was found in; his body preserved perfectly for over 2000 years.

Perhaps it's just my morbid fascination. Everyone has this kind of interest (right?), but I can't help getting drawn into events or documentation that has one vital part missing. Do ghosts exist? Who was Tollund Man and why was he in that bog? What actually happened in the Dyatlov Pass incident**? I will never stop being terrified by these stories, but I'll never stop wanting to know more, either. Tollund Man holds the same fascination as the paranormal and Dyatlov Pass, but in a far more endearing way.

To put it simply, if someone says they hate history then the great test of their conviction is to show them Tollund Man. Who can resist the satisfying details of the fact he didn't shave on the day he died? Or the fact that his heart and lungs were so well preserved, even from 2000 years ago? He was kept so perfectly in that bog that scientists even know what his last meal was, for goodness sake.

Perhaps I need a little time to 'get over' how wonderful history and science are. Or otherwise have a happy little grieve for those 2000 years that we will never see for ourselves. Well, only through Tollund Man.


*Reader, meet Tollund Man. Tollund Man, meet reader: http://www.tollundman.dk/udseende.asp

**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident