Ernest Shackleton spent his career exploring the little known areas of the South Pole. One of his most famous trips began in nineteen fourteen. The goal of the trip was to cross
After many months, Shackleton and a few of his men traveled through dangerous waters to the
Later, Shackleton wrote about the impossible struggles he faced. He described feeling that there was another unseen person with him and his men during the last days of their trip.
He wrote this about his experience: “I know that during that long and racking march of thirty-six hours over the unnamed mountains and glaciers of
Writer and researcher John Geiger has twice experienced a similar reaction to extreme danger himself: once as a child and once while suffering from extreme cold in Arctic Canada. He says his experiences made him want to learn about Third Man examples
With Shackleton’s experience in mind, John Geiger started to investigate whether other people facing death or extreme fear had faced similar situations.He discussed the subject with explorers and extreme sports athletes. He read historical documents written by past explorers, prisoners of war, pilots, and ship wreck survivors. He found that many different people in extreme situations have similar experiences.
In nineteen thirty-three, the British mountain climber Frank Smythe was attempting to climb
John Geiger points out that these Third Man experiences are very common among mountain climbers. But he shows in his book that they take place in other environments as well.
For example, one American astronaut on a four-month long mission on the Russian space station Mir saw a vision of his dead father. His father spoke to him, praised his hard wor k and gave the astronaut a sense of calm during a very stressful space operation.
In another example, pilot Edith Foltz Stearns was flying a plane to a military base in
John Geiger says that many people who experience the Third Man explain it as a religious experience. But he is more interested in exploring the science behind the Third Man. He discusses how scientists over the years have identified the experience and developed theories to explain it. The findings suggest that the human brain has developed this special ability as a survival method.
Geiger discusses several conditions that seem to produce Third Man experiences. One of these is being alone, far from other people. Being alone can be stressful especially when experienced with monotony. This is when the mind tires from the sameness of a repeated experience. For example, an explorer can be affected mentally after days of walking through the snowy environment of
The psychologist Woodburn Heron wrote about this subject in his nineteen fifty-seven work “The Pathology of Boredom.” He said that the brain depends on having continuing information from the body’s senses. The mind can have problems if it has nothing new to Other stressful conditions can lead to Third Man experiences. These include the stress of injury or of seeing an expedition partner become injured or even die. Different scientists have studied the effects of extreme conditions on the human mind and body.
One researcher found that extreme cold can have a damaging effect on the mind. The researcher said that before the body begins to freeze, cold can cause changes in brain chemistry which lead to hallucinations.
Another doctor believes that Ernest Shackleton’s vision was caused by a drop in blood sugar. Explorers working in extreme cold often burn more energy than they can eat. This doctor believes that low glucose levels in the blood lead to hallucinations.
Another theory says that the stress of having to pay constant attention to survive leads to Third Man hallucinations.
Researchers in
While writing the book, John Geiger believed that a test of its success would be whether people accepted its subject matter.John Geiger says there is a wide acceptance of the Third Man experience among the scientific community and the general public.
John Geiger suggests that the brain’s effort to create a Third Man is not an accident of human brain structure, or a sign of injury in extreme conditions.
He says it may be an evolutionary characteristic developed to help us. In times of extreme hardship, the human brain may have developed a way to create a social link, the sense of a helpful and guiding partner. So, even in a person’s darkest hour, he or she can feel less alone.
