A small village in Kazakhstan has become known as “sleepy hollow” or “sleepy valley,” because residents intermittently fall asleep and enter a catatonic state. For years, researchers have been trying to figure out what’s wrong with no luck. It appears that they may finally have their answer.
Radon gas.
Radon Gas is Responsible for ‘Sleepy Hollow’ Residents Becoming Lethargic and Catatonic
Doctor’s claim that extremely high levels of radon gas have seeped out of the ground, after being produced by a nearby Soviet-era uranium mine. This radon gas is slowly poisoning the residents, causing severe health issues, including the odd “sleeping” issues.
Just last summer, more than 60 residents in the area were hospitalized after showing signs of the strange illness, which left them dizzy, unable to stand and balance, and even seriously fatiqued. As a side effect they were also experiencing memory loss.
Even young children were being affected by the strange plague, remaining in bed and lethargic for several days at a time.
A rough estimation was given, and about one in five of the village’s 600 residents have been affected by the illness at some point.
Local resident Igor Samusenko, says that his son suffers from the ailment.
“He runs around and then he gets inert, starts staggering. When he turns his head his eyes stay fixed at what he was looking at. If you try to wake him it seems the wants to open his eyes but can’t. Sleepy valley, sleepy hollow, that’s what people call us.”
Professor Leonid Rikhvanov from the Department of Geo-ecology and Geo-chemistry finally concluded that the uranium mines were the cause of all the trouble. At first he believed that a virus or type of bacteria was the root cause, but he eventually ruled this theory out.
Rikhvanov’s take on the whole thing is: “The mines left open spaces underground which were slowly filled with water that has risen upwards, driving pockets of gas inside them to the surface. The gas has a toxic effect that pushes a person into a dream like state, and the person then falls asleep.”
Radon Gas Was Found to Be the Problem
For years, the professor — with help from the Tomsk Polytechnic University — has carried out hundreds of different experiments in an attempt to discover the source of the problem. In all that time, they never factored in radon as a possibility simply because it’s so hard to detect. Radon is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas, which means it’s virtually undetectable. In fact, the only way to discover its presence is to test exclusively for it.
“We eliminated viral and bacterial infections but also obtained test results that ruled out the possibility of radiation sickness too. We also failed to find any evidence that toxic chemicals were buried in the area as many locals claimed.”
Medical professionals found themselves stumped because villagers were constantly examined to have excessive fluid in the brain, and they didn’t understand why or how it was happening.
Doctor Egor Korovin, the acting physician for many of the examined villagers, said: “In medical terms they are suffering from encephalopathy, a disorder of the brain but the cause is unclear. Scans have shown that many of the sufferers have excessive accumulation of fluid in their brains.”
Radon Gas is Extremely Hazardous to One’s Respiratory Health
Image by Yale Rosen
It just does to show that radon — a naturally occurring radioactive gas — can be extremely hazardous to one’s health. After seeing and hearing what it’s doing to these villagers, it’s not a stretch to believe that radon gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US, UK, Canada and many other countries. In just the US alone, more than 21,000 Americans die each year due to radon-induced lung cancer.
There are many studies that show prolonged exposure to radon gas is bad for respiratory health and general health, however very few reveal what actually happens when people are bombared with extremely high levels of the gas.
In September 2014, a Russia Today film crew took some time to test the area, to get some idea about the radon levels. In turn, they reported that the locals were subjected to radiation doses 16 times higher than expected from background radiation near the underground mine. In other words, those radiation levels, and the radon gas causing it are collecting in great abundance throughout the area.
As for how they locals are going to handle the problem, village officials are proposing to move the entire town away from the problem area. In hindsight, it seems like one of the only surefire things that will solve the problem. When radon is inside a home or enclosed space you can install a mitigation system to ventilate the gas. However, when radon is in such an abundance in the open area and surrounding environment, there’s little you can do but vacate the area. It begs the question, what other areas across the world are affected by this deadly — yet invisible — gas?
