Agafia Lykova

Agafia Karpovna Lykova (Russian: Агафья Карповна Лыкова, born 16 April 1944) is a Russian Old Believer, part of the Lykov family, who survived alone in the Taiga for most of her life. Lykova became a national phenomenon in the early 1980s when Vasily Peskov published articles about her family and their extreme isolation from the rest of society. Lykova is the sole surviving member of the clan and has been mostly self-sufficient since 1988, when her father died.

Early life

Lykova was born in a pine trough in 1944 to Karp Osipovich Lykov and Akulina Lykova. She was their fourth child, and the second to be born in the Taiga.

Lykova lives up a remote mountainside in the Abakan Range, 150 mi (240 km) away from the nearest town. For the first 35 years of her life, Lykova did not have contact with anyone outside of her immediate family. Information about the outside world came from her father’s stories and the family’s Russian Orthodox bible.

In the summer of 1978, a group of four geologists discovered the family by chance, while circling the area in a helicopter. The scientists reported that Lykova spoke a language “distorted by a lifetime of isolation” that sounded akin to a “slow, blurred cooing.” This unusual speech led to the misconception that Lykova possessed little intelligence. Later, after observing her skill in hunting, cooking, sewing, reading and construction, this original misconception was revised.

Isolation

In 70 years, Lykova has ventured out of the family settlement six times. The first time was in the 1980s, shortly after Vasily Peskov's articles about the family’s isolation turned them into a national phenomenon. The Russian Government paid for her to tour Russia for a month, during which time she saw planes, horses, cars and money for the first time. Since then, she has only left to seek medical treatment, visit distant relatives and to meet other Old Believers.

By and large, Lykova prefers her life in the taiga to life in the larger towns or cities. She claims that the air and water outside of the Taiga makes her sick. She also said that she finds the busy roads frightening.

In January 2016, it was reported that Lykova was airlifted to a hospital due to leg pain. Agafia was treated at a hospital in Tashtagol, and plans to return to the wilderness once emergency services are able to airlift her home.

Relationships

During her talks with Peskov, Lykova told him she was married to someone during one of her trips outside of the taiga. No further information was offered.

For 16 years, Lykova had a neighbour, Yerofei Sedov (one of the geologists who visited the area). Sedov told Vice journalists that he came to the Taiga to help Lykova. Due to his old age and disability, however, he heavily relied on Lykova for food and firewood throughout his stay. While the two were generally on friendly terms, there were two occasions where Lykova says that Sedov threatened her and "committed sins." She did not elaborate as to what these sins were, though it should be noted that, as a religious Old Believer, she considers many present day ordinary things to be sinful. Sedov died on 3 May 2015, at the age of 77.