These children grow up unaware of the existence of any other human beings besides their parents and count the days by observing the stars.

In 1978, a group of Soviet geologists, while flying by helicopter over the remote Sayan Mountains of Siberia, made an unbelievable discovery: a small garden perched precariously on a mountainside, more than 250 kilometers from the nearest inhabited area. There, they found the Lykov family – who had cut themselves off from the world since 1936 and were completely unaware of the greatest upheavals in human history, including the long-term end of World War II.

The Escape to Eternity

The story begins in the 1930s, when the Lykov family – members of an old religious sect in Russia – faced religious persecution. After his brother was shot dead, Karp Lykov, along with his wife Akulina and their two young children, packed their belongings, took some seeds and a loom, and ventured deep into the Taiga forest in search of peace.

For over four decades, they built a small wooden house in a harsh location where temperatures could drop below -40°C. There, they had two more children. The Lykov children grew up without any knowledge of the existence of other human beings besides their parents. They learned to read and write through old Bibles and told time by observing the stars.

When geologists approached the family in 1978, Karp Lykov was already over 80 years old. The most shocking moment was when they realized the family was completely ignorant of the modern world. When asked about major events, Karp was bewildered, unaware that humans had landed on the Moon, and even more astonishing, they were completely unaware that World War II had ended.

The Lykov family lived through the 1940s in absolute solitude. While millions fell and the world map was redrawn, they were preoccupied with keeping their potatoes from rotting and surviving the long, harsh winters. To them, the airplanes flying across the sky were merely “strange moving stars” or omens from the gods.

Survival is harsher than anyone could imagine.

The Lykov family’s life was not a poem of freedom, but a brutal struggle for survival. They had no salt, no metal (after their only pot broke due to rust), and their clothes were made from hand-woven linen. Their diet consisted mainly of potatoes, grain barley, and pine nuts.

The tragedy reached its peak in 1961, when a late frost destroyed their entire garden. To provide food for her children, the mother, Akulina, chose to starve to death. The children grew up in such dire conditions that they had never seen real bread until geologists arrived. However, they possessed extraordinary survival skills: the son, Savin, could hunt barefoot in the snow, while the other members could identify hundreds of medicinal plants.

The intrusion of the modern world and a tragic ending.

The arrival of humans in 1978 turned out to have heartbreaking consequences. While bringing food, metal tools, and medical assistance, scientists also inadvertently brought with them bacteria that the Lykov family had never been exposed to before.

In 1981, three of the four children died within weeks of kidney failure and pneumonia. Their father, Karp Lykov, passed away in 1988, exactly 27 years after his wife’s death. Their youngest daughter, Agafia Lykov, became the sole surviving member of the family.

Despite receiving invitations to return to modern society, Agafia refused. She chose to remain in her wooden house in the Taiga forest until today (in 2026, she is over 80 years old). For Agafia, the outside world was too noisy and full of sin. She preferred to live in solitude with her goats and small garden, continuing the separate flow of time that her family had established nearly a century ago.

The Lykov family’s story is not only a testament to human resilience, but also a testament to the fact that world history is sometimes just a tiny speck of dust when compared to the unwavering faith and survival instinct in the wild.