Dyatlov Pass Accident

Real story about a group of 1950's Russian skiers who die in the Ural Mountains.

Linkies:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_pass_accident

https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=48027&hl=

https://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2008/02/04/004.html

Unfortunately the definative source is a Russian book in russian, which I can't read.

So the story goes: Ten youths, about 20-25 years old, 8 men and 2 women, head out on a skiing 'mission' / adventure, as youths of the time were prone to do. It was a fashion at the time (1959) to go on these kind of missions to develop yourself and your survival techniques, as well as spending time with your friends.

Unfortunately one comes down ill and has to go back to town. He's the only surviver.

The 9 continue on for some days, taking pictures, writing in their journals and so on, until the night of Feb 2nd. On this night, due to bad weather, or not, or just because they can, (Sources are unclear) they decide to camp on the gentle slope of a mountain. There's some forest close by they ignore, 1.5km away. That's when all writing and pictures stop.

The university they are from knows to expect them back on the 12th of February, but the one surviver has told them the rest of the group might be slightly late. It's not till the 20th of February that a search party is organised. Civilians and later the military get involved in the search.

The tent is found on the 26th of February. It's empty, ripped open, apparently from the inside with all their belongings inside it. Footprints from 8-9 people lead away from the tent toward the forest, stopping after 500m. These are foot prints in the snow, of barefoot and sock wearing people, and one or two of them have one shoe on.

By air on the same day, 5 bodies are found in the forest, 2, naked beside a makeshift campfire. The other three, roughly 75m away, looking like they're crawling back to the tent. All five are found to have died of Hypothermia.

Weirder details emerge, there was plenty of dry firewood around, but instead they used fresh wood stripped from the trees. Also, a nearby tree had damage up to five meters in height, as if somebody had climbed up there to get a look back at the campsite, or at their four other friends... or something else.

The other four were found a long time later, on May 4th, a little deeper into the forest, 300m, and buried under 4 meters of snow in a stream valley. These ones had some of the clothes of the five that died of hypothermia, one using a pair of underpants as a makeshift sock.

They initially looked they had died of exposure also, but autopsies revealed massive internal injuries to their ribcages and skulls. (but apparently with no external bruising or cuts.) One of them a women, is frequently reported to have no tongue, thou others report she was also missing other parts of her face, being consistent with being out in the wild for 3 months.

"Baffled investigators said the group died as a result of "a compelling unknown force" -- and then abruptly closed the case and filed it as top secret."

There are various reports of radioactivity, strange lights, and that the hill they died on as being somewhere to really not go, by the indigenous locals. (Including many other groups of 9 having died on that hill.)

Subsequently the area was closed for two years by the authorities. and the official cause was said to be hypothermia and the line enforced by the government.

Supposedly extra bit and bobs that weren't identified by the remaining surviver were found around the camp, a sheath for a knife and a piece of cloth that might have been from a military coat. I should think someone would be able to bring along a brand new knife in a cloth with them, but other accounts say there was a lot more found that was not part of the groups belongings, including skis and such like. Thou there is never any mention of human tracks being discovered.

And how the footprints managed to survive 3 weeks is another question. No snow fall for three weeks on a mountain in Russia?

Anyway, it's a good mystery story...

"the now legendary" - Kaskade
"the still legendary" - Kaskade

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