The tiny town of Snowflake, Arizona has become a safe haven of sorts for nearly 5,000 people. These are people who, it seems, have extreme allergies to life here on Earth. People from all over the world come here to try and overcome life threatening allergies and afflictions from such things as wi-fi, pesticides, electromagnetic waves, laundry detergent, smoke, perfume and synthetic clothing.
Deb Smeltzer came to Snowflake five years ago and lives in her truck. She says she can’t live near wi-fi or even electricity.
There are, of course, many more who suffer from other things as well but they seem to have found safe haven in the little village of Snowflake. The town was founded back in 1878 by Erastus Snow and William Jordan Flake. They were Mormon colonists who established a Mormon outpost in the Arizona desert. They are now a small colony of around 25 households who suffer what is termed as “environmental illness”. Much of the world doesn’t recognize such a thing but for the residents, the afflictions are all too real.
Susie Molloy must wallpaper and cover many areas of her home with tinfoil. It keeps away certain energies and fragrances, she says. She began developing severe neurological disorders back in the 1980’s that simply couldn’t be attributed to any thing other than the world that surrounded her.
In 1869, a doctor named George Beard discovered an affliction he called “neurasthenia”. He had many papers published with regard to modern civilization causing new and unheard of afflictions and conditions. He thought that a sensitivity to the modern world affected people at a cellular and chemical level. Much of it, for him, was based on fear; fear of being alone, fear of people and society, and, especially, fear of contamination from the things of this new world.
Steen suffers acute allergies and reactions to wi-fi, computers, electricity and even printer ink. His afflictions are so bad that, in order to read an email, he must print out the email and then let the paper dry out for an entire day before he can read it. He won’t answer any emails. He will write letters instead.
The other residents in town, as well as the business community, have adopted these afflicted people and work with them. The pharmacy helps with medicines as well as natural remedies and the small grocery store will deliver supplies and just leave the boxes at the doorstep. The afflicted find the desert air, as well as the extreme isolation of the place, to be what has been their salvation. Some however, are so overcome by the modern world that they have expressed that they will be relieved when the pain of this life has finally ended.
When one resident arrived, she found that she could actually discard her oxygen tank and has not needed it since.
PHOTO CREDITS: Newser / Wikicommons / The Guardian (London)