This is the part of Jean Hilliard’s story that requires the most careful engagement with the facts, because it is also the part where popular accounts have sometimes overstated what happened in ways that obscure the actual remarkable nature of her survival.

When the popular telling of Jean Hilliard’s story says she “froze solid,” it is describing what the attending physician described — skin that was rigid and hard to the touch, limbs that would not flex, a body that felt like “a piece of meat out of a deep freeze.” All of these descriptions are consistent with what was observed and are not disputed.

What is less clear is whether Jean Hilliard’s core temperature — the temperature at her vital organs — ever actually fell below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, the freezing point of water.

This distinction matters enormously.