The Insane Arctic Balloon Expedition of 1897

Comments · 2.4K

• SC

  @ScaryInteresting · 3 years ago · pinned

  Hey everyone! I just wanted to give a huge shoutout to my editor, who has been hitting it out of the park recently with the visuals. Have a great week! - Sean

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• LA

  @LancasterResponding · 3 years ago

  *Slaps roof of balloon”<br>This bad boy can leak so much air

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• AL

  @alfredpeasant5980 · 3 years ago

  &quot;Hey, you guys wanna float over uninhabited regions in a leakyboi?&quot;

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• FO

  @FoxWolfWorld · 8 months ago

  I think the cause of death was being stranded in the fucking Arctic

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• OS

  @oscarholm6747 · 1 year ago

  As a Swede, I have naturally heard about the &quot;Andrée expedition&quot; many times. What always captivated me most was not the expedition itself, but Anna, Strindberg’s fiancée. She waited for him to return for so long, but eventually, years later, she married someone else. Thirty years later, when the group was found on that remote island, she must of course have heard about it. <br>In the end, at her own funeral, her husband arranged for her heart—yes, her real heart—to be buried in Strindberg’s grave. Her body was buried in her husband’s family grave. I don’t know what to make of all that, but I think it’s called eternal love—and acceptance from her new husband.

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• CY

  @cyberleaderandy1 · 2 years ago

  You have to think that explorers of this era were either extremely brave or utterly insane.

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• GA

  @gabecollins5585 · 3 years ago

  It seems like some people do these expeditions in the most dangerous way possible sometimes.

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• AN

  @anhserc3534 · 3 years ago (edited)

  This is one of the most insane things I’ve ever heard. I can’t believe there were so many red flags yet all those men were still like “yep, we’re good, let’s take off over the arctic.” 🤦🏾‍♀️

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• GA

  @GalacticBadger · 3 years ago

  I can&apos;t believe how long they survived on their own. This is amazing.

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• NE

  @Nessus875 · 2 years ago

  According to my grandpa, this was his everyday commute to grade school.

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• DR

  @DrewishAF · 3 years ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyH5vrX2OOI&amp;t=614">10:14</a><br>Man, I can&apos;t believe they tried flying that balloon all the way from 1896 to 1987. There&apos;s no way a bunch of 110+ year old dudes are gonna make that voyage...

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• ER

  @erikwallen4483 · 3 years ago (edited)

  As a Swede, a few comments:<br><br>- At the time Sweden and Norway were the same country, as part of the &quot;United Kingdoms of Norway and Sweden&quot;, you can see the union flag on many of the photos. <br>- Sweden doesn&apos;t have and never had a federal government, &quot;Royal Government&quot; would be more appropriate. <br>- When their remains were found, one of them, Stringberg I think, had been buried under a cairn of rocks and it is theorized that he was killed in a polar bear attack just days before the other two succumbed. <br>- Describing the remains as skeletons is not quite accurate, &quot;half-eaten, frozen corpses&quot; would be more accurate as the bodies hadn&apos;t really decomposed and polar bears eaten what they could. <br>- The Trichinosis hypothesis is very old fashioned and these days the theory you outline at the end is generally accepted, that Andrée died of suicide following the deaths of the other two. <br>- Andrée didn&apos;t have morphine bottles but rather blister packs of morphine pills. <br><br>That said, this mystery continues to fascinate Swedes to this day and is always a popular subject of discussion if it comes up. As a kid I went to an exhibition featuring some of the recovered items at the Royal Technical Museum in Stockholm. There is also an Andrée museum in his hometown of Gränna.

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