In early 1959 a group of hikers
decided to head out on an expedition across a mountainous
region of western Soviet Union. The group consisted of nine experienced men and
women greatly familiar with the Siberian wilderness. Yet, this adventure would
prove to be their last. Despite a criminal investigation,
photographs, and journal entries, the case remains unsolved
after more than half-a-century. This is the case of Dyatlov Pass. In the early morning of January 23rd, 1959,
a ski and hiking team of ten boarded a train heading for the Ural mountains in the middle
of the Soviet Union. The group consisted of eight men and two women
with Igor Dyatlov as the group's leader. As the train slowly advanced deep into the
mountainous Siberian taiga the group diary
received a final entry. "I wonder what awaits us on this hike?
Will anything new happen?" Over the next few days, the group continue
to altercate between modes of transportation. First a bus, then a truck, then a horse and
sleigh, and eventually they proceed on foot and skis. On January 28th, one of the hikers, named
Yuri Yudin, had begun to feel quite ill and eventually decided to head back while the
remaining group of nine continued as planned. These photos where taken just before they parted ways
and it would be the last time he saw his friends alive. The group resumed their expedition across
the snow-covered outback and documented everything of note using diaries as well
as multiple cameras. Recovered photos and journal entries suggest
that the trek progressed as one would expect with no unforeseen
complications. Just lots of snow, bitter cold, and an increasingly
arduous landscape. On February 1st, they reached the
foot of a mountain known to the indigenous
Mansi population as Dead Mountain. They spent the better part of the day progressing
up the slope and eventually decide to set up camp only a few hundred
meters from the peak. These are some of the last photos recovered from the
cameras and the last sentence of the final entry reads. "It is difficult to imagine such a comfort
on the ridge, with shrill howling wind, hundreds of kilometers
away from human settlements." A few weeks later, friends and relatives begin
to worry. No one has heard from Igor or any of the other
members of the group. After much debate, a team of volunteers eventually
head out to find them. On February 26th, the search party is finally
able to locate the camp on the slope. It's obvious to the first at the scene that
something has gone horribly wrong. The tent is in scrambles, covered by a thin
coat of snow. The hiker's belongings and equipment was found
orderly placed inside the tent but the tent itself had been slashed open with a knife
from the inside. The next day, nine pairs of footprints lead the search
volunteers down the slope towards the nearby woods. Given that the footprints left rather mild
indentations in the snow would suggested that they descended the slope in a rather calm and orderly
fashion, as opposed to running away in panic. The footprints could be tracked for about
half a kilometer from the tent until the trail was completely
covered by snow. So they continued in the direction of the
trail and under a large cedar tree at the edge of the forest next to the remains of
an improvised campfire they found the frozen bodies of
Yuri Doroshenko and Yuri Krivonischenko. It would take over two months for the bodies
of all nine hiker to be recovered. The first two were found severely underdressed. No jackets, no pants, no gloves, hats, boots or anything
else one might expect given the frigid climate. Only light shirts, underpants, and socks. At the time of their death it would've been
around -30 °C (-22°F). The cedar tree had signs of damage as if someone had
climbed it, with branches broken up to five meters high. Perhaps they were attempting to locate the
tent in the pitch-black darkness or perhaps they were trying hide
from someone or something. The next three hikers where
found at varying distances between the tent and the tree covered
by a few centimeters of snow. They were better dressed than the previous
two but not by much as they still lacked essential items such as
boots, hats, and gloves. They were all found facing the direction of
the tent as if they were struggling to return at the moment of death. While some of them had sustained minor injuries,
all five had died of hypothermia. It should also be noted that four of them
had died while intoxicated. The last four hikers were found at the bottom
of a small hill, covered by 3 meters of snow, 75 meters from the tree, in the opposite direction
of the tent. Three of them had sustained lethal injuries. One had a fractured skull and two had fractured
multiple ribs and suffered massive internal bleeding. The medical examiner believed the injuries had been
sustained from a fall and compared it to a car crash. The injuries had been sustained while they were all alive
and could not have been inflicted by another person. Two had also been found with gaping eye sockets
and one of the women had a missing tongue. The last of the four had a broken nose and
a deformed neck but died of hypothermia. And most mysterious of all, three articles of clothing
were later found to be abnormally radioactive. On May 28th, the criminal case was discontinued
with a cryptic and incredibly vague conclusion. The lead investigator
writes in the final report: "The cause of death was an unknown compelling
force which the hikers were unable to overcome." Not exactly the most satisfying answer and
barely a conclusion at all. So just in case the Galactic Empire had nothing
to do with the death of the hikers, is it possible to explain some of the more enigmatic
details in a less vague yet credible fashion? Let's give it a shot. The fact that Dubinina was missing her tongue,
has been taken way out of proportion. Some say that it was cut off or ripped out
while she was still alive, others say it was eaten by scavengers after death, while some
even claim the tongue was later found somewhere else. But I've read the medical reports
and this is what it says: "The diaphragm of the mouth
and the tongue is missing." That's it. There's nothing about cutting or ripping or
anything. I don't know how or where it began but there
seems to be an exaggerated importance placed on this missing tongue while in reality it's
a rather minor detail. At least the medical examiner believied it to be minor detail, otherwise he would likely have elaborated further. For example, the same section
of the same report states: "Gaping orbits, the eyeballs are absent." Equally mysterious, right? Well no, because the medical examiner does
provide an explanation for both. "Soft tissue injuries to the head [...] are
postmortem changes (putrefaction and decomposition) to Dubinina's corpse, which was recently exposed
to water prior to detection." He even adds "(putrefaction and decomposition)"
in parentheses to clarify exactly what he means. And this was not even exclusive to Dubinina as the four
last bodies were all damaged due to the melting snow. Now, some who claim that her tongue must have
been removed while she was still alive have pointed to the fact that she had about 100
grams of blood in her stomach. But that's not exactly true either. The relevant portion of the
forensic examination reads: "The stomach contained up to 100 cm3 of a
dark red slimy mass." That's about 10 cl of something (most likely food)
mixed with something red (most likely blood). So we don't know how much blood was in her
stomach just that there was blood in her stomach. Which isn't that strange given that she was
suffering from massive internal bleeding. One of the most mysterious aspects of this
case is that three separate articles of clothing, discovered on two of the bodies, were found
to be radioactive. Which does indeed sound a bit
mysterious but you have to keep in mind that almost
everything is slightly radioactive. So we need more details. The radiological studies claim that under
normal circumstances an area of 150 cm2 should not exceed
5000 disintegrations per minute (dpm). Only three articles of clothing exceeded or equaled that
limit at 5000 dpm, 5600 dpm, and 9900 dpm. The only explanation given
in the report is that: "...the clothes were contaminated as radioactive
dust fell from the atmosphere, or the clothes were susceptible to contamination when in
contact with radioactive substances." In other words, they were unable to determine
exactly how the clothes where contaminated but it's not unrealistic to believe it to
be a result of natural processes. But just in case it wasn't due to the elements,
there may be an alternative explanation. Kolevatov had previously worked at a facility
developing nuclear materials and Krivonischenko had previously worked at a top-secret plutonium
production plant for nuclear weapons. And the three articles of radioactive clothing
belonged to Kolevatov and Krivonischenko. Around the time of the hikers disappearance,
numerous sources claimed to have seen UFOs in the form of orbs of light moving across
the night sky for a few seconds up to several minutes. These include three soldiers and two different
hiking groups. Some witnesses also claimed that the indigenous
Mansi population as well as a group of geologists had told them that they had observed fireballs
in the sky around the time of the incident. The problem with UFO sightings is that they
are, well, unidentified and often unverifiable as a result. Only one of the hiking groups reported to
have seen a UFO during the night of the incident while the other sightings
occurred before or after. Then there's this. This is the very last photo taken with one
of the hikers cameras. It appears to be a photo of some type of light
source taken in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, the photo is about as undescriptive
as the UFO it is claimed to depict. It could, no doubt, be a photo of a UFO and
it could, no doubt, be a photo of a candle, flashlight, fire, stove, or anything else. But let's assume that this is a photo of something
in the night sky, what could it potentially be depicting? I can think of a few possibilities. A rocket, a piece of a rocket, man-made space
debris during reentry, a crashing aircraft, or perhaps a meteor. None of which would be too surprising given
that this is the Soviet Union in the middle of the cold war as
well as the space race. So there would have been a lot of aerial activity. At a time when space exploration was about
as fresh as an prince living in an affluent LA neighborhood, it's not surprising that
people where unable to identify the mysterious lights. Regardless, it could not have landed close to the hikers
as it would've been found by the search teams. And if the object had already been recovered,
there should have been evidence in the form of a crash site, footprints, and other activity
on the ground. So given the fact that there is no obvious connection
between a UFO and the hikers disappearance, I'll put this in the spooky red herring box. So, what happened? Why did they leave the tent? Why was it slashed open from the inside? How did some of them sustain such major injuries
while the others simply succumbed to the cold? Why where so many of them underdressed? I think the biggest mystery is how it's been able to
remain a mystery given the abundance of information. So after spending the better part of this
month hiring multiple Russian translators, reading through a massive amount of material
ranging from theories about a KGB cover-up to a simple avalanche accident, this is what
I believe to be the most credible explanation. First of all, why would they leave the tent? That seems to be the most important missing
piece of the puzzle. I would argue that the only thing that could
make them leave would have to be an immediate threat inside the tent. If something was outside, such as an animal or a UFO,
then there would be no reason to cut the tent open. There where no signs of an avalanche, however,
they could have escaped believing an avalanche
was tumbling towards them. The problem with that theory is that the footprints
showed them walking in a calm and orderly manner down the slope as opposed to running
away in panic. So something caused them to panic inside the
tent but once outside they calmed down and made a conscious
decision to walk down the slope. Now, take a look at this photo. The pipe sticking out of the tent entrance
is the exhaust pipe of the internal stove. This was a completely unique and homemade design as
the leader of the group had built the stove himself. We know they had used the stove on the night
of incident before the incident took place as partially eaten pieces of fried ham and
bacon where found inside the tent. I think that after dissembling the stove and
removing the exhaust pipe, the embers inside the stove was accidentally reignited. As the exhaust pipe had been removed, the
smoke would have filled the tent in seconds. As they attempted to get control of the flame
they cut a few holes at the top of the tent to vent the smoke. When that didn't work and it became increasingly
difficult to breathe, the side of the tent was slashed open and they all escaped in a
state of panic. There's even more evidence to support this
theory. Several members of the group where found with
burn marks on both their bodies and clothing. Which could definitely have been a result
of the improvised fire under the tree or perhaps a scolding
hot metal stove. Some of them were also found with blood around
their mouth and coughing up blood could be a symptom a smoke inhalation. Then there's this photo, taken the day before
the incident. The jacket has obviously been burned but the
question is how? It's possible that sparks from stove had accidentally
set the jacket aflame. Okay, they make it outside and quickly realize
what a terrible situation they're in. Sub-zero temperatures, no shelter, underdressed,
in the middle of a snowstorm, in the middle of the night,
in the middle of nowhere. At this point, I think one or more of them
made the decision to head for the nearest shelter, which they
would know to be the woods. The reason for this decision is likely multifaceted. The smoke from the tent could've made it impossible
to stay within its proximity and/or the smoke may have caused them to believe that the tent
was on fire. Some of them were intoxicated which could've effected
their judgment as well as their sensibility to the cold. And they may also have believed to be closer
to the woods than they actually where. So they finally reach the woods and immediately
set out to make a fire. Some climb the tree and scavenge the surrounding
area while those who are more properly dressed head a bit deeper into the woods. About 75 meters from the tree, four of them
trigger a minor avalanche taking them over the edge of a ravine with a drop of about
3 meters. As the bottom is filled with rocks and ice
they sustain lethal injuries. Three of the other five hikers decide to head
back for the tent while the remaining two slowly freeze
to death around a fading flame.
I liked his conclusion.
Thank you, this case has intrigued me for years.
Donnie Eichar on his theory that the deaths were caused by panic-inducing infrasound http://failuremag.com/article/return-to-dead-mountain
This is one of my favorite mysteries. Really let’s the imagination run wild.
Didn't someone make a video game of this?
Where'd the tongue go?
Here's a great book on it.
Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1452140030/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_FT6OBbDN86AG7
Interview with the author of the book Dead Mountain.
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2013/11/10-18-mu-podcast/
army test site for a unnamed weapon R&D kids just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Army had to cover it up.