THIRDMAN SYNDROME

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The Third Man Syndrome is a unique psychological phenomenon in which, under conditions of extreme endurance, on the brink of death, the brain sends electrical signals (called switches) that imply the presence of an additional figure alongside the exhausted person.

Sir Ernest Shackleton, in his book "South," first described the phenomenon in 1919. He believed that an incorporeal companion joined him and his men during the last leg of his 1914-1917 Antarctic expedition. The team was stranded in the pack ice for over two years and endured immense hardships while attempting to save themselves. Shackleton wrote, 'During that long and racking march of thirty-six hours over the unnamed mountains and glaciers of South Georgia, it seemed to me often that we were four, not three.'

In recent years, renowned adventurers like mountaineer Reinhold Messner and polar explorers Peter Hillary and Ann Bancroft have reported experiencing the phenomenon.