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The Real-Life White Walkers
4
The Real-Life White Walkers
As you’ve probably heard, the next decade is going to see global warming go from behind-the-scenes menace to center-stage ass-kicker. This is really bad news, not just because, you know, the whole “demise of humanity” thing, also but because the last enclaves of our species are going to be haunted by centuries-old soldiers washing up on their shores. At least, that’s what’s going on in the Alps.
During World War I, the Alps were the site of the “White War,” a major, three-year-long battle between Italian and Austro-Hungarian forces fought atop mountains, glaciers, and ice fields. The conflict ended with the armistice, but with the world heating up recently, climbers have been finding mementos like weapons, diaries, love letters, and trinkets. Oh, and bodies. Lots of bodies.
It all started in 2004, after a local guide discovered three preserved Austro-Hungarian soldiers locked in the ice — more specifically, locked in an ice wall and looking remarkably like they’d spent the last century trying to snatch unsuspecting climbers.
Museo della Grande Guerra, Peio
This discovery kicked off a flood of wartime corpses, with one source estimating that 80 are discovered every year. Like these two Italian soldiers buried top-to-toe in a ravine, complete with bullet holes in their skulls.
Office for Archaeological Finds, Autonomous Province of Trento