Dead as a doornail. We had temps WAY WAY too cold for houseplants this year. Boston Ferns are generally hardy to 20 degrees.

GGG

I actually had some smaller ferns a few years ago, that looked dead and I just left them alone, and they came back to life...not that they were pretty after that...they never got full and big...but they were dead tops and then they started growing...I sure hope that I did not act too hastily in pulliing these guys up...I'm the perpertual optomist....

Let 'em go. I kept a pair of dead Boston ferns on my deck for months til I finally had to admit they were dead dead dead.

Look at the roots. If they're not dead, you'll see white, and little fronds forming. I have had Boston ferns come back from the dead, planted in the ground, very rarely in pots.
Nell

Since each frond is a different plant, it's possible they may come back. My husband left our ferns out one night when it was too cold. Whatever was above ground croaked, but new fronds did come up. Give it a few weeks and see what happens.

not the same species or anything, but i had some false blue indigo on one side yard and some fatsia on the other that both looked like they died within 2 months of planting in fall '06 and ... by some stroke of luck (?) they both returned within the last two weeks, nearly 16-17 months later, but in full force, twice as big as the original planting, and in the case of the fatsia, spread out twice as wide as the original planting.

i'm with buford - trim them back, leave them be, keep the soil watered, see what happens. If you get a few fiddleheads or sprigs of green coming through, nurse it back.