And it’s done - “The Ice Man” Bo Shaffer and Mayor Billy Giblin meet for the first time after realizing that Grandpa Bredo’s body is not in the Tuff Shed, as was expected. PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER KELLEY[/caption]

The Mountain-Ear received an email from an anonymous source that the body of Bredo Morstoel was going to be moved on Saturday, August 26, 2023, from the Tuff Shed in Nederland, that was his home for over 30 years, to a brand new Alcor cryogenic facility in Estes Park, presumably built within The Stanley Hotel’s old icehouse. An email went out at nearly 7 a.m. on Friday, August 25, 2023, that the body was being moved that morning.

A documentary crew, Nederland Mayor Billy Giblin, and “The Ice Man” Bo Shaffer, who was the first to deliver dry ice to Bredo’s Tuff Shed, all arrived at the Big Springs property only to discover that the body was gone.

According to Trygve Bauge, Bredo’s grandson, the body was already moved to its new home, and that the official announcement would not be made until the opening of Estes Park’s cryogenic museum some time in late September, 2023. CBC News is expected to produce a segment covering the announcement.

The Mountain-Ear has reached out to The Stanley Hotel for a statement but has yet to receive a reply.

On the morning of August 25, Giblin and Shaffer spoke together about Bredo’s legacy in Nederland, the purchase of the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival (FDGD), and about the future in Estes Park for both the body and the festival.

“I read an email and it was from Trygve,” Shaffer explained the history of how he became the man responsible for attending to Bredo’s needs 30 years ago. “I recognized the name because I’d seen the newspaper article when it all had happened; so I sent an email back and we shot back and forth a couple of times and he asked me if I wanted a job and that’s where it started!”

“It was a job with an international client doing a monthly thing and as an environmental company I’m taking care of this dude’s environment. It was the perfect job. You couldn’t buy the publicly that we got out of this for the first few years,” Shaffer continued.

“All of a sudden Tuff Shed got in on things and we got some notoriety out of that and then we started the festival. Nobody knew how it would go the first year but it became a resounding success. We made this into an event, into an attraction that had some respectability and wasn’t just a sideshow.”

Shaffer, having been involved in the business of both FDGD and the actual frozen dead guy, did not mince words when it came to how he felt about Estes Park’s 2023 festival.

“I think Estes didn’t do as good a job as they could have running the festival. They had people waiting in line for three hours to get in, there were long lines for everything, and the races were in this flat arena.”

“They’re used to running things in a very standard way; it’s just another roadside attraction for them. I just don’t think it has the heart it had before,” Shaffer lamented.

“You don’t want to polish off a festival like this,” Mayor Giblin added. “It needs to be rough around the edges and a little quirky and a little disorganized.”

When asked if the realization of Bredo’s body having been moved resulted in a “sad day” for the Town of Nederland, Giblin noted the several different perspectives revolving around the issue.

“Most people are like, ‘Is he gone already? Is he ever going to go? Was he ever really there?’ I think some of the neighbors are glad, and there’s indifference from a lot of people.”

“Anybody that’s never heard of this hears about it and thinks it’s wild and fantastic,” Shaffer said, agreeing with Giblin’s assessment. “And people who have known about it for years are pretty sick and tired of it and don’t want to hear about it.”

“For me, it’s tragic,” Giblin continued. “But I do wonder if I’m in the minority.”

“Some people said we should bury him, that he’s bad luck for the town. But I think some of us wanted to see Bredo stay. I think the town would’ve liked to have known and sent him off, maybe have some kind of procession or party; I think people would’ve shown up and paid some respects.”

“It’s the end of an era up here,” Shaffer said. “It’ll never be what it was, but Nederland will always have that as their history; this is where it started. It’s been a long strange trip, and this is kind of the epilogue for it.”

The Mountain-Ear will continue to report on The Stanley Hotel and Alcor’s cryogenic facility and museum, as well as on Bredo’s story, as a new chapter for the frozen man begins in Estes Park.