For more than a century, the final diary entry of the Inuit explorer Jørgen Brønlund has puzzled experts to no end. The explorer died during an expedition in Greenland.
His frozen body was found in a cave in 1907. He recorded his last moments in a diary. The page contained a mysterious black smudge from an unidentified source.
In 2020, researchers from the University of Southern Denmark were finally able to figure out what that material was. It turned out that the smudge was made of oils, burnt rubber, and feces.
According to their analysis, Brønlund had attempted to light a petroleum burner with his own waste to stay alive. Despite his efforts, he still ended up dying of exposure and exhaustion. He was buried at the site in 1908. He was the third to perish from freezing temperatures in his three-person group.
The Denmark Expedition to the Northeast Coast of Greenland began in 1906. The expedition’s leader and cartographer, Peter Høeg-Hagen, was the first to die on the ice.
Brønlund’s final diary entry read: “I reached this place under a waning moon and cannot go on because of my frozen feet and darkness. The bodies of the others are in the middle of the fjord.”
The explorer had made it to a cave for shelter in November 1907. He had been trying to make it back to the base camp. He was not too far from his destination when he died. His body was found by another expedition the following March.
Brønlund’s frozen corpse was buried at the same site, but his diary found a home in the collection at the Royal Library in Copenhagen.
The last page of the historical document contained a strange black spot that intrigued many experts. Some were so curious that they actually stole it.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
In 1993, an unnamed researcher removed the diary page from its place to analyze it. The page with the spot was brought to the National Museum for examination. Back then, written authorization wasn’t necessary to analyze samples like it is now.
The technology of the time wasn’t advanced enough to identify the chemical makeup of the smudge. Today, modern techniques like X-ray fluorescence and plasma mass spectrometry have helped to detect the smudges’ properties successfully.
Researchers found clear signs of calcium, titanium, and zinc, which did not come from any known rock formations on the expedition’s route.
Then, they identified calcite, rutile, and zincite, meaning that rubber was present. They surmised that the rubber was from a burner that Brønlund had carried with him.
In addition, the researchers detected lipids, petroleum, and human fecal matter. At that time, Brønlund was suffering from exhaustion, starvation, and the bitter cold.
In order for the stove in the cave to work, it needed to metabolize alcohol and preheat the liquid before the burner could be lit.
Brønlund did not have any alcohol and was desperate to stay alive. So, he was forced to resort to using his own feces.
More from Chip Chick
He Divorced His Wife For Cheating, But Now She’s About To Be Homeless, And Their Daughter Wants Him To Help
A Borean Orangutan Named Ken Became Known As Hairy Houdini After He Escaped From His Enclosure At The San Diego Zoo Multiple Times
She Exposed Her Brother For Having An Affair With His Coworker And Caused His Fiancée To Leave Him