Third man syndrome: a strange phenomenon encountered by climbers

“…During this long and painful thirty-six hour march over nameless mountains and glaciers, it often seemed to me that there were four of us, not three.

Ernest Shackleton’s experience came at the end of two years of difficulties. During the expedition to Antarctica which almost ended in disaster when their ship, the Endurance, became stuck in the ice and sank, Shackleton and his crew were forced to survive on the ice of the Weddell Sea, crossing to a small island and navigating some of the most treacherous seas in the world. in a boat only 22 feet long. It was a supreme feat of endurance, a true story of survival, and perhaps the first recorded case of third man syndrome.

The question raised by mountaineers’ accounts of this phenomenon is: Is third person syndrome a kind of guardian angel or perhaps a general hallucination caused by stress?

Well, the truth is that no one really knows. Science could explain this phenomenon by saying that the two halves of the brain are talking, proving the two-brains theory: the idea that the two hemispheres of the brain are separate and can communicate with each other. Others may attribute it to a guardian angel or spiritual guide. But while we’re not sure what’s causing it, there are stories from all over the world of Third Man helping people in their time of need.

So why is Third Man Syndrome so well known among adventurers? Well, when it comes to stressful situations, mountaineering accidents are certainly one of them.

Take Joe Simpson for example. After the fall that would be his death, Simpson remembers hearing a voice helping him and guiding him along the way as he dragged his battered body 5 miles back to base camp and safety.

It is this element that is constant: the Third Man is always there to help you and offer you guidance.

Sometimes all you need is a companion, as in the case of Frank Smythe, who set out to summit Everest alone after the rest of his team abandoned the attempt due to bad weather and lack of supplies. He was only 1000 feet behind. Caught in a blizzard and starved of oxygen, Smythe relied on a most unlikely companion: the Third Man. Lack of oxygen may have played a role, but at one point he was so convinced of the figure’s presence that Smythe took out his rations and divided them in half, favoring the spare half.

“The Waste Land”

Third Man Syndrome gets its name from a poem. Upon learning of Shackleton’s trials in Antarctica, T. S. Eliot was inspired to write a poem. Wasteland in 1922 and in an excerpt from the poem, Eliot addresses the “third party.”

Who is the third person who always walks next to you?

When I count it’s just you and me together

But when I look ahead to the white road

There’s always someone else walking next to you

Sliding, wrapped in a brown cloak, with a hood. I don’t know if it’s a man or a woman.

– But who is it on the other side of you?

According to the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Eliot said in a footnote to Desert land that he was not sure of the identity of the “third”. In a footnote to the poem, Eliot wrote about the inspiration he drew from the story of Shackleton’s trials: “…It was reported that the party of explorers, at the end of their strength, were under the constant illusion that there were one more members than could actually be count.

Whatever it was, and we may never know, the Third Man saved the lives of countless climbers and explorers. Cynical or not, it’s nice to know that there’s always a friendly voice to help you when things get as tough as they can get.