The Power of Imagination

In the 1950's, an English cargo ship transporting bottles of the Madeira wine arrived at its destination, a port in Scotland. One of seamen went into a cold cargo hold to verify whether all the bottles were unloaded. Knowing nothing about this, another seaman locked the door from the outside. The captive knocked on the bulkheads with all his might, but nobody heard him, and the ship left for Portugal.
The seaman found enough food inside, but he knew that he couldn't endure the low temperature for long. He grabbed a piece of metal and used all his energy to scratch out, hour after hour, day after day, his story about his torment. He described his agony with scientific accuracy -- how the cold assailed his body, frostbiting his nose, fingers and toes; and about how unbearable his burns caused by the freezing air were.
When the ship had dropped anchor in Lisbon, the captain opened the hold and found the dead seaman. People read his story scratched out on the walls story.  But this wasn't the most amazing thing. The captain took the temperature in the hold.  The thermometer indicated 19 degrees. Inasmuch as the ship was returning to Lisbon without any cargo, the refrigeration system was turned off. The man died only because he thought that he was cold. He became a victim of his own imagination.

It's a very interesting tale that you told very well.