What do you think?
Rate this book
Colorado's Iceman and the Story of the Frozen Dead Guy
The Frozen Dead Guy was once just a regular Norwegian named Bredo Morstoel. When he died in 1983, his family cryogenically preserved his body and placed it in a permanent holding facility in Nederland, Colorado, to wait until technology might allow it to be defrosted and resurrected. His caretaker is Bo Iceman" Shaffer, who has transported ice to the facility and represented the Frozen Dead Guy for seventeen years and counting. Here he chronicles one of Colorado's strangest and most colorful attractions, one that draws travelers from around the globe to tour the site, attend the annual Frozen Dead Guy Days festival and have a drink."
128 pages, Paperback
First published February 25, 2011
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 8, 2019
If you live in Colorado, or visit the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival in Nederland, Colorado, this is a must-read. This tells the background story of the Frozen Dead Guy and some highlights of the festival and other related events. The story is told by Bo Shaffer (The Iceman), who has been bringing dry ice from Denver to Nederland and keeping the dead guy frozen, awaiting future "reanimation." There are a lot of interesting tidbits in here (and some not-so-interesting), as well as a liberal sprinkling of local politics.
If you're not from Colorado, or planning to visit the annual festival, you probably will not find this book as interesting ... or very well-written ... and should probably skip it!
If you're not from Colorado, or planning to visit the annual festival, you probably will not find this book as interesting ... or very well-written ... and should probably skip it!
July 28, 2025
The only thing to come out of Nederland CO that's bigger than the story of "The frozen dead guy" is Bo Shaffer's ego. This book feels like going back to your hometown dive bar on a break from college or 5+ years living somewhere else and being cornered by the former High School Football team quarterback who talks at you, not with you, for 2+ hours about all his former conquests and how he "totally could have gone pro".
The book feels self-published, though I'm not sure that it is. It was allegedly written around 2011 but feels like one of those "memoir" or "biography" books boomers in their 70s are writing these days as an alternative to a "late life" crisis. Shaffer comes across like a try-hard door dash delivery driver for a deceased Norwegian man that desperately wants to be the centerpiece of this story. "The Iceman" takes up about 20% of the title of the book but his lame stories about how he used to smoke and drink, creep on young women interested in the frozen dead guy, and generally give off "pick me" "cool guy"! energy take up about 80% of the content of the book.
Shaffer was obviously there for the early days of the FDGD festival, but tries to position himself as the catalyst and life blood, or maybe in this case dry ice would be a more apt metaphor, for the event, which I don't think he actually was.
There's some decent info on the backstory of the Frozen dead guy but it feels more like a platform for Schaffer to tell some cringey, tangentially related, stories about how cool he thinks he was during his "glory days" rather than an actual historical account of Nederland, the festival and the actual subject matter. The history feels like a foot note on Schaffer's autobiography.
To give credit where it's due, Shaffer has a really enjoyable writing style that encapsulates the causal conversational style of everyday life. But that's about all the credit I can give him. You hear just as much about how he used to give tours for "kisses" from young women or bizarre, barely related stories, where Schaffer obviously views himself as some kind of Hillbilly Jean Claude Van Damme where he gives local police a deranged lecture for no reason.
If you want to learn more about Frozen Dead guy days read the first 30 or so pages. If you want a cringey story about a want to be tough guy, with misogynistic tendencies read the last 100 pages.
I really wanted to like this book for the historical significance but found myself disliking Bo Schaffer more and more as the book continued.
The book feels self-published, though I'm not sure that it is. It was allegedly written around 2011 but feels like one of those "memoir" or "biography" books boomers in their 70s are writing these days as an alternative to a "late life" crisis. Shaffer comes across like a try-hard door dash delivery driver for a deceased Norwegian man that desperately wants to be the centerpiece of this story. "The Iceman" takes up about 20% of the title of the book but his lame stories about how he used to smoke and drink, creep on young women interested in the frozen dead guy, and generally give off "pick me" "cool guy"! energy take up about 80% of the content of the book.
Shaffer was obviously there for the early days of the FDGD festival, but tries to position himself as the catalyst and life blood, or maybe in this case dry ice would be a more apt metaphor, for the event, which I don't think he actually was.
There's some decent info on the backstory of the Frozen dead guy but it feels more like a platform for Schaffer to tell some cringey, tangentially related, stories about how cool he thinks he was during his "glory days" rather than an actual historical account of Nederland, the festival and the actual subject matter. The history feels like a foot note on Schaffer's autobiography.
To give credit where it's due, Shaffer has a really enjoyable writing style that encapsulates the causal conversational style of everyday life. But that's about all the credit I can give him. You hear just as much about how he used to give tours for "kisses" from young women or bizarre, barely related stories, where Schaffer obviously views himself as some kind of Hillbilly Jean Claude Van Damme where he gives local police a deranged lecture for no reason.
If you want to learn more about Frozen Dead guy days read the first 30 or so pages. If you want a cringey story about a want to be tough guy, with misogynistic tendencies read the last 100 pages.
I really wanted to like this book for the historical significance but found myself disliking Bo Schaffer more and more as the book continued.
March 31, 2022
I bought this book for when my friends come to visit. I decided to read it and learned quite a bit. I live about an hour from Nederland and did not know the entire story of The Frozen Dead Guy. Now I do.
December 25, 2017
a fun history on a local frozen dead guy.
December 28, 2024
History parts - good and interesting, random rambling - bad
August 29, 2014
The book is informative. Though you can go back and read the achieved Newspapers. And you can get a real understanding of the festivals by watching them on Youtube or just asking questions of the people that live in Nederland, Colorado if you happen to be in the neighborhood. I find the book to be too one-sided which to me makes it a political blah...
January 9, 2016
Totally worth the trip to Nederland to visit the site.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews