"Paradoxical stripping" is a term used to describe a phenomenon that often accompanies cases of lethal hypothermia. Shortly before death from frostbite, a person simply takes off all his clothes, as if an unbearable heat grips him. For this reason, the corpses of people frozen to death are often found completely naked, and the police confuse them with victims of violent crimes.
What is the reason for this strange phenomenon? In the article of the International Journal of Forensic Medicine M. A. Rothschild and W. Schneider write the following:
“The reason for this paradoxical behavior is most likely due to hypothermia-induced paralysis of the nerves in the walls of the vessels, which leads to their expansion, thereby giving a feeling of warmth.
According to another theory, vascular spasm, which occurs even at the first stage of frostbite, leads to disruption of the vasomotor center, which, in turn, gives a feeling of warmth that is completely inappropriate for this situation."
But the oddities don't end there. Having undressed, frostbitten people often try to hide in some confined space. Therefore, victims of hypothermia are found not only naked, but also curled up in a ball somewhere in the closet or under the bed. Rothschild and Schneider explain:
“In 20% of cases of deaths from hypothermia, the bodies of the victims were found in such a position and place that it seemed as if someone had hidden them ineptly. However, the subsequent investigation indicated that no one was hiding anyone and that there was no crime at all.
Obviously, the cause of the phenomenon was a behavioral disorder, the manifestation of which is very characteristic of victims of hypothermia who are dying. In the medical literature, there is no clear definition of it, so we ourselves gave it the name - "pre-terminal burrowing". The conditions in which the bodies were found (under the bed, behind the closet or in the closet) evoked clear associations with some kind of defensive reaction - an attempt to dig a hole or climb into a cave.
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The belongings of the dead were always scattered near the final destination, and sometimes formed a trail. In each of the cases, the victims took off their clothes even before "self-burying", which is justified by the fact that things never lay in the "hole" itself.
Some of the victims also had to crawl pretty well before getting anywhere. For example, to crawl under the bed, you had to lie flat and crawl on your elbows and knees, which were just the same worn out.
No similar scuffs were found on the clothes - so the clothes were definitely taken off before "self-burying".
The body of a 91-year-old man who buried himself under a bed with a bunch of things
