Frank Smythe And The ‘Second Person’ He Met On Mount Everest
Public DomainFrank Smythe around 1937.
In 1933, Frank Smythe set out to do what no one else had done before: summit Mount Everest. Along the way, he sensed that he wasn’t alone.
Smythe hadn’t intended to climb the mountain solo. He had started the expedition with several others. But as the harsh elements of the mountain battered the group, Smythe’s expedition fell back. Smythe continued on.
As he climbed toward the summit, the English mountaineer began to experience third man syndrome. He felt a presence so strong that at one point he even turned to offer a snack to his companion — who, of course, wasn’t there.
The Alpine Club Photographic LibraryWhile on Mount Everest, Frank Smythe experienced third man syndrome.
Smythe didn’t manage to reach the summit, but he did survive his attempt. And he later described the strange phenomenon that he’d experienced.
“All the time that I was climbing alone, I had a strong feeling that I was accompanied by a second person,” he wrote, according to NPR. “The feeling was so strong that it completely eliminated all loneliness I might otherwise have felt.”
