Buzz
In Antarctica, one can encounter an eerie stillness, the rumble of icebergs breaking off, the sharp sounds of glaciers cracking, fierce winds, extended periods of darkness, fleeting sunny moments, and a false sense of serenity. A place among the most extreme on Earth, Antarctica is both a breathtaking and ruthless environment that shows no mercy to those who venture into its vast desolation. Unconcerned with human suffering, this southernmost continent is a silent collector of the souls of explorers. Here are 10 baffling deaths from a land of sudden fatalities and extreme conditions.
10. Edgar Evans
In 2002, researchers from the University of Waikato were astonished to confirm the discovery of anthrax in samples gathered from the stables at Robert Falcon Scott’s base camp at Cape Evans. These stables were constructed in 1911, prior to Scott’s ill-fated South Pole expedition, and housed the Manchurian ponies and Himalayan mules brought along to aid the journey. Since anthrax was prevalent in Asia at the time, it is believed that these animals may have unknowingly transported the dangerous bacteria to Antarctica.
This new finding has reignited the theory that Edgar Evans, a member of Scott’s expedition, may have succumbed to anthrax poisoning, a hypothesis first proposed in 1986 by Canadian doctor R.C.F. Falckh. Evans, the strongest and most optimistic member of the team, began experiencing a strange deterioration in both his physical and mental health, likely after a fall that resulted in a head injury on the Beardmore Glacier slopes. As his strength waned and he fell behind the others, the expedition’s doctor, Edward Wilson, speculated that Evans “must have injured his brain in the fall,” though this implies that no one actually saw him fall.
Despite the head injury theory, Evans was thought to have died from this injury, with scurvy, dehydration, and the high-altitude conditions hastening his demise. However, the symptoms Evans displayed—excessive fatigue and mental confusion—are typical of anthrax exposure. Scott also noted that Evans’s behavior and mood had already started to shift before they even began their descent from the Beardmore Glacier. Furthermore, Evans had injured his hand in another awkward, uncharacteristic accident.
In mid-February, Scott wrote: “After lunch and Evans still not appearing, we looked out to see him still afar off . . . I was first to reach the poor man and was shocked by his appearance; he was on his knees with clothes disarrayed, hands uncovered and frostbitten, and a wild look in his eyes.” Evans passed away just hours later. To this day, the location of his grave has never been discovered. If Evans’s body were ever found, an autopsy could potentially confirm whether he was a victim of anthrax, even a century later. It would be dehydrated but otherwise well-preserved.
9. Xavier Mertz
You might be familiar with the gripping story of Douglas Mawson’s miraculous survival against all odds when his expedition to the South Pole ended in catastrophe. Mawson, the sole survivor of the doomed 1912 journey, was celebrated as a hero for over a century. However, historian David Day sparked a media frenzy in Australia when he suggested that Mawson’s incredible tale of devotion to his dying companion, Xavier Mertz, might not be entirely truthful after all.
Mawson and Mertz lost half of their supplies when their fellow expedition member, Belgrave Ninnis, fell into a crevasse with his sled. According to Mawson’s journal, he believed they could survive on meager rations, but Mertz began to hallucinate and passed away on January 7. Day’s theory proposes that Mawson made the decision to reduce their rations, assuming the less experienced Mertz would perish first, thus allowing the more resilient Mawson to consume the remaining food. Critics have pointed out that this theory is speculative and quite complicated. Furthermore, it would have been an extremely dangerous strategy, as Mawson himself endured severe starvation and fatigue. At one point, the soles of his feet completely detached, forcing him to reattach them with tape over the festering pus beneath.
More intriguing is the mystery of what happened after Mertz passed away. Ninnis died on December 14, leaving the two men with supplies for only a week and a half. They supplemented these rations by gradually killing and consuming the six remaining sled dogs, finishing off the last one by December 28 after boiling its meat for hours. However, Mawson didn’t discover a supply cache until January 29. How did he manage to survive for so long? And why did he mention cooking dog meat on January 10, when the last dog had already been killed and eaten weeks earlier?
Day suggests that Mawson must have resorted to eating some of Mertz’s flesh, keeping himself alive just long enough to reach the supply cache. Other historians have challenged this theory, pointing to several flaws in Day’s reasoning and referring to Mawson’s own diary, where the explorer noted that he “could pull through by [him]self with the provisions at hand” if Mertz perished. Until Mertz’s body, buried somewhere in Antarctica, is discovered, this question is likely to remain the subject of intense debate.
8. Stephen Thomas
Stephen Thomas was a British multimillionaire renowned for his “considerable achievements.” He amassed his wealth in the IT sector and was also known for conquering physically demanding challenges. Thomas scaled numerous perilous mountains and completed a solo circumnavigation of the globe by yacht. Having survived those feats, Thomas set his sights on a new ambition—one of the few remaining challenges that could quench his thirst for ever greater risks. This time, he aimed to sail from the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Circle, two regions where navigating a yacht becomes extremely perilous due to immense ice masses and freezing seas.
Thomas triumphed once more despite the numerous dangers that could have led to disaster. However, fate soon dealt him a cruel and ironic blow. After two years at sea, he celebrated his achievement and made landfall in Antarctica. While walking near the British base of Port Lockroy with his crew and taking pictures of the scenery, the ice beneath him gave way, and he plummeted into a crevasse. He succumbed to his injuries shortly thereafter.
7. Rodney Marks
The poisoning of astrophysicist Rodney Marks at the South Pole has been described as “one of the strangest and most perplexing deaths in the southern hemisphere.”
Marks was wintering at the Amundsen-Scott base in 2000 when he suddenly became gravely ill and eventually passed away. His body was stored until months later when the coroner determined the cause of death: methanol poisoning. Suicide was ruled out, as was the theory that Marks had intentionally consumed the poison in a misguided effort to get high, since alcohol and even cannabis were freely available to him at the base.
Methanol had been used as a cleaning agent at the base, yet the source of its lethal levels in Marks’s body remained a mystery. Syringe marks were discovered on his arms, sparking rumors that he had been murdered. These suspicions were amplified by a suspicious lack of cooperation from his colleagues, who dispersed quickly with the arrival of spring, preventing a thorough investigation. When the New Zealand police, who held jurisdiction, launched their inquiries, they were met with a complete lack of response.
Although Marks was known for his intelligence, he was also reported to suffer from Tourette’s syndrome and struggled with binge drinking. During the harsh and isolating Antarctic winters, his behavior might have led to conflicts with others. Being cooped up in such a remote location with the same individuals day after day could take its toll, as demonstrated by a drunken Christmas brawl in 2007 that left one man possibly with a broken jaw, necessitating evacuation.
The truth of what happened to Marks may never come to light, especially considering that his room was cleaned, valuable evidence discarded as trash, and the conclusions drawn by the involved US agencies were never made public.
6. Barbara Johns
Edward Nelson was a biologist who joined Robert Falcon Scott and his crew on the Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica between 1910 and 1912. However, Nelson did not participate in Scott’s doomed attempt to reach the South Pole. Instead, he stayed at Cape Evans, working in his laboratory and managing to survive the ordeal.
Nearly a century later, Nelson’s daughter, Barbara Johns, felt compelled to revisit Cape Evans and other significant locations in Antarctica related to the Terra Nova expedition. After years of planning her journey, Johns finally set off from Spain in early 2009. She boarded a ship carrying over 40 passengers. As they sailed south of Macquarie Island, the ship encountered rough seas, and Johns tragically fell in her cabin. She succumbed to head injuries shortly after, at the age of 93. That very evening, the passengers sighted their first iceberg.
5. The First South Pole Skydive
Antarctica’s tourism and leisure industry is expanding, raising concerns about the potential impact on the continent’s pristine environment. A more immediate worry, however, is the safety of visitors. When the Adventure Network International company promoted their event as the first private skydive over the South Pole, they seemed more focused on the commercial potential than on safety. Sadly, the jump ended in disaster when the impact was so severe it shattered every bone in the body. Six men attempted the jump, and three of their parachutes either malfunctioned or failed to open properly.
The skydivers involved were all highly trained and experienced, and all safety measures seemed to be in place. So, what went wrong? One theory suggests that the men succumbed to hypoxia, a condition caused by a lack of oxygen. Hypoxia can lead to confusion and dizziness, and the thin air at the high altitude from which they jumped could have triggered it. Although skydiving from 2,600 meters (8,500 feet) is not unheard of, Antarctica is the highest continent on Earth, with the South Pole sitting at approximately 2,800 meters (9,300 feet) above sea level.
4. Casey Jones
Serious work-related accidents in Antarctica are not rare, and New Zealand’s government has recently honored several workers who lost their lives on the job. Among these tragic deaths, Andrew Burl Moulder was crushed in 1966 when he was caught between a 20-ton cargo sled and an aircraft loading ramp. More recently, in 2010, a Chinese worker was severely injured when an out-of-control vehicle crushed him, causing significant abdominal damage.
Some people are simply unlucky, but Casey Jones, a cook at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, experienced an especially tragic fate in January 1980. Jones was reportedly trying to clear a vertical intake shaft in a fan room when the snow-packed vent shaft suddenly collapsed. The snow fell on him with tremendous force, crushing and burying him. He died in what would otherwise have been a safe, indoor environment. Following his death, Jones was cremated in New Zealand, in accordance with his family's wishes, and his ashes were later scattered from an aircraft flying over the Beardmore Glacier.
3. Phillipa Gregory
Phillipa Gregory, a diabetic from England since the age of five, never let her condition stifle her adventurous spirit. At 26, in 2001, she joined a yacht in Argentina bound for Antarctica on a conservation mission.
Gregory had received medical clearance from doctors and had sufficient insulin and equipment to manage her condition. However, when the yacht encountered severe weather in the Drake Passage, Gregory and several other crew members became severely seasick. After a few days, her vision began to deteriorate, and she eventually collapsed, falling into a coma. A mayday call was made, and the crew were advised to administer insulin, but it had no effect.
An investigating officer from the Falkland Islands determined that the insulin was ineffective because, tragically, Gregory was unable to keep enough food in her stomach for the insulin to work properly. The coroner’s report highlighted that Gregory’s death “illustrates the challenges of controlling diabetes in extreme physiological conditions.” Just two years later, in early 2003, Will Cross from Pittsburgh became the first diabetic to reach the South Pole.
2. Mrs. Chippy
Mrs. Chippy is remembered for a grim distinction: she is likely the first cat in history to travel to Antarctica—only to be shot to death there. Despite being named Mrs. Chippy, the cat was actually male and belonged to Henry 'Chippy' McNish, the carpenter aboard Ernest Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance. McNish, a loud and opinionated Scotsman, frequently questioned Shackleton’s decisions during the 1914 Antarctic expedition, something Shackleton reportedly resented deeply.
When the Endurance became trapped in pack ice, Shackleton ordered the shooting of McNish’s beloved cat, along with all the other animals on board. Some argue this action was unnecessary, perhaps driven by personal spite. This belief is supported by Shackleton’s refusal to recommend McNish for the Polar Medal, despite Shackleton's own admission that the crew’s survival was largely due to the carpenter's expertise and foresight.
It was McNish who modified the lifeboat that was later used to travel approximately 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) to South Georgia Island to seek help. Without McNish’s changes, the lifeboat would almost certainly not have been able to complete such a challenging journey. Despite this, the disgraced McNish spent his final years in a rest home in Wellington, New Zealand, and was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave.
He was not completely forgotten, however, nor was his cat. An Antarctic historian visited McNish shortly before his death in 1930 and later recalled, “He lay there repeating over and over again: ‘Shackleton killed my cat.’” In 1959, the Antarctic Society placed a headstone on McNish’s grave (though, unfortunately, they misspelled his surname as ‘McNeish’). A life-sized bronze statue of Mrs. Chippy was also erected above the grave at that time.
1. Carl R. Disch
Carl Robert Disch, a scientist with the National Bureau of Standards, was staying for the winter at Byrd Station in 1965. He regularly traveled between the main station and the radio noise building, using a hand line to avoid getting lost. Having traversed this route more than 25 times without issue, he somehow missed the hand line on the morning of May 8, likely due to the seasonal darkness and heavy blowing snow.
When Disch did not return to Byrd Station, an initial search was conducted in the immediate area, and a trail was found heading west. Poor weather and darkness hindered further searches that day, but a vehicle search was launched the following evening. This search uncovered intermittent tracks heading south of the station, extending for about 6 kilometers (4 miles), before they mysteriously disappeared.
Official reports from the South Pole Station's website state, 'There was no noticeable shortening of stride in these tracks.' Disch, appropriately dressed for the harsh conditions, appeared to be walking with purpose, perhaps toward the direction he believed the station was, or possibly in an attempt to end his life. It's also possible he was following some sensory illusion or hallucination, which is not uncommon in the Antarctic. Despite days of searching, Disch was never found again.
