Colorado is home to a frozen dead guy. And there’s a festival coming up in his honor.

Yeah. 

You have questions, and we have answers.

Who? The frozen dead guy’s name is Bredo Morstøl. He is cryogenically preserved in a state-of-the-art tank by Alcor, the Arizona-based company that since the 1970s has met people’s dying wish to be preserved in such a way, in case technology ever advances to restore life. This reportedly includes Ted Williams, but Alcor clients’ names are generally kept more secret than Morstøl. 

What??? The Norwegian’s soul left his body in 1989, and his adoring grandson got to work: Trygve Bauge packed dry ice over his grandpa’s body, which would be maintained this way for years to come following Bauge’s deportation from Colorado. 

The frozen tomb was in a hilltop shed in Nederland, where Morstøl became known as Grandpa Bredo. He would be the star of Frozen Dead Guy Days, a festival of costumes, “legendary competitions, live music … and wonderfully questionable decisions,” as organizers describe it today. 

When? Frozen Dead Guy Days returns Friday through Sunday.

Where? In Estes Park, which became the festival’s new home in 2023. This was as the festival had outgrown little Nederland.

The move was thanks to John Cullen, the longtime owner of the local hotel that inspired Stephen King’s “The Shining.” What better place for Grandpa Bredo than The Stanley Hotel? Cullen explained in a previous interview: “What’s the last scene in ‘The Shining?’ A frozen dead guy!”

Grandpa Bredo rests in his Alcor tank in the hotel’s historic ice house, now the International Cryonics Museum.

Why? Well, we once asked Cullen that question, and his answer had to do with a great story and continuing that story for generations to come. The story of The Stanley, yes, but more so the story of Grandpa Bredo. It’s quite the story all right — truly Colorado.