Dyatlov Pass Incident

[Anne-Marie]

Not really an urban legend but I didn't know where else to post it.  UFOs?  Government conspiracy?  Whatever happened,  52 years later this is still one of the creepiest tales I've ever heard:

From theunexplainedmysteries.com


The Dyatlov Pass incident refers to an event that resulted in the deaths of nine ski hikers in the northern Ural mountains. The incident happened on the night of February 2, 1959 on the east shoulder of the mountain Kholat Syakhl (a Mansi name, meaning Mountain of the Dead). The mountain pass where the incident occurred has been named Dyatlov Pass after the group's leader, Igor Dyatlov .

The mysterious circumstances and subsequent investigations of the hikers' deaths have inspired much speculation. Investigations of the deaths suggest that the hikers tore open their tent from within, departing barefoot in heavy snow; while the corpses show no signs of struggle, one victim had a fractured skull, two had broken ribs, and one was missing her tongue. 

According to sources, the victims' clothing contained high levels of radiation - though this was likely added at a later date, since no reference is made to it in contemporary documentation and only in later documents. Soviet investigators determined only that "a compelling unknown force" had caused the deaths, barring entry to the area for years thereafter. The causes of the accident remain unclear.

History

A group was formed for a ski trek across the northern Urals in Sverdlovsk , now Ekaterinburg. The group, led by Igor Dyatlov, consisted of eight men and two women. Most were students or graduates of Ural Polytechnical Institute , now Ural State Technical University:

* Igor Dyatlov , the group's leader
* Zinaida Kolmogorova
* Lyudmila Dubinina
* Alexander Kolevatov
* Rustem Slobodin
* Georgyi Krivonischenko
* Yuri Doroshenko
* Nicolas Thibeaux-Brignollel
* Alexander Zolotarev
* Yuri Yudin

The goal of the expedition was to reach Otorten , a mountain 10 kilometers north of the site of the incident. This route, at that season, was estimated as "Category III", the most difficult. All members were experienced in long ski tours and mountain expeditions.

The group arrived by train at Ivdel , a city at the center of the northern province of Sverdlovsk Oblast on January 25. They then took a truck to Vizhai - the last inhabited settlement so far north. They started their march towards Otorten from Vizhai on January 27. The next day, one of the members (Yuri Yudin) was forced to go back because of health problems. The group now consisted of nine people.

Diaries and cameras found around their last camp made it possible to track the group's route up to the day preceding the incident. On January 31, the group arrived at the edge of a highland area and began to prepare for climbing. In a woody valley they built a storage for surplus food and equipment which would be used for the trip back. The following day (February 1), the hikers started to move through the pass. It seems they planned to get over the pass and make camp for the next night on the opposite side, but because of worsening weather conditions, snowstorms and decreasing visibility, they lost their direction and deviated west, upward towards the top of Kholat Syakhl. When they realized their mistake, the group decided to stop and set up camp there on the slope of the mountain.

The search

It had been agreed beforehand that Dyatlov would send a telegraph to their sports club as soon as the group returned to Vizhai. It was expected that this would happen no later than February 12, but when this date had passed and no messages had been received, there was no reaction - delays of a few days were common in such expeditions. Only after the relatives of the travelers demanded a rescue operation did the head of the institute send the first rescue groups, consisting of volunteer students and teachers, on February 20. Later, the army and police forces became involved, with planes and helicopters being ordered to join the rescue operation.

On February 26, the searchers found the abandoned camp on Kholat Syakhl. The tent was badly damaged. A chain of footsteps could be followed, leading down towards the edge of nearby woods (on the opposite side of the pass, 1.5km north-east), but after 500 meters they were covered with snow. At the forest edge, under a large old pine, the searchers found the remains of a fire, along with the first two dead bodies, those of Krivonischenko and Doroshenko, shoeless and dressed only in their underwear. Between the pine and the camp the searchers found three more corpses - Dyatlov, Kolmogorova and Slobodin - who seemed to have died in poses suggesting that they were attempting to return to the camp. They were found separately at distances of 300, 480 and 630 meters from the pine tree.

Searching for the remaining four travelers took more than two months. They were finally found on May 4, under four meters of snow, in a stream valley further into the wood from the pine tree.

Investigation

A legal inquest had been started immediately after finding the first five bodies. A medical examination found no injuries which might have led to their deaths, and it was concluded that they had all died of hypothermia. One person had a small crack in his skull, but it was not thought to be a fatal wound.

An examination of the four bodies which were found in May changed the picture. Three of them had fatal injuries; the body of Thibeaux-Brignollel had major skull damage, and both Dubunina and Zolotarev had major chest fractures. The force required to cause such damage would have been extremely high, with one expert comparing it to the force of a car crash. Notably, the bodies had no external wounds, as if they were crippled by a high level of pressure. One woman was found to be missing her tongue. There had initially been some speculation that the indigenous Mansi people may have attacked and murdered the group, for encroaching upon their lands, but investigation indicated that the nature of their deaths did not support this thesis; the hikers' footprints alone were visible, and they showed no sign of hand-to-hand struggle.

There was evidence that the team was forced to leave the camp during the night, as they were sleeping. Though the temperature was very low (around -25? to -30?C) with a storm blowing, the dead were dressed only partially, and certainly inadequately for the conditions. Some of them had only one shoe, while others had no shoes or wore only socks. Some were found wrapped in snips of ripped clothes which seemed to be cut from those who were already dead. This can be explained by the phenomenon of paradoxical undressing, where hypothermia victims begin to shed layers of clothing despite the cold due to the effects of the condition on their brains.

Journalists reporting on the available parts of the inquest files claim that it states:

* Six of the group members died of hypothermia and three of fatal injuries.
* There were no indications of other people nearby apart from the nine travellers on Kholat Syakhl, nor anyone in the surrounding areas.
* The tent had been ripped open from within.
* The victims had died 6 to 8 hours after their last meal.
* Traces from the camp showed that all group members (including those who were found injured) left the camp of their own accord, by foot.
* One doctor investigating the case suggested that the fatal injuries of the three bodies could not have been caused by another human being, owing to the extreme force to which they had been subjected.
* Forensic radiation tests had shown high doses of radioactive contamination on the clothes of a few victims.


The final verdict was that the group members all died because of an "unknown compelling force". The inquest ceased officially in May 1959 due to the "absence of a guilty party". The files were sent to a secret archive, and the photocopies of the case became available only in the 1990s, with some parts missing.

Controversy surrounding investigation

Some researchers point out the following facts which were missed, perhaps ignored, by officials:

* After the funerals, relatives of the deceased claimed that the skin of the victims had a strange orange tan and were completely grey haired.
* A former investigating officer said, in a private interview, that his dosimeter had shown a high radiation level on Kholat Syakhl, and that this was the reason for the radiation found on the bodies. However, the source of the contamination was not found.
* Another group of hikers (about 50 kilometers south of the accident) reported that they saw strange orange spheres in the night sky to the north (likely in the direction of Kholat Syakhl) at the same date as the accident happened. Similar "spheres" were observed in Ivdel and adjacent areas continually during the period of February to March 1959, by various independent witnesses (including the meteorology service and the military).
* Some reconstructions of the victims' behavior suggest that they were blinded. The rescue team had seen that the victims broke damp and thick pine branches for the fire, even though there was good dry brushwood around.
* Some reports suggested that much scrap metal was located in the area, leading to speculation that the military had utilized the area secretly and might be engaged in a cover-up.


Aftermath

In 1967, Sverdlovsk writer and journalist Yuri Yarovoi published the fiction novel "Of the highest rank of complexity" which was inspired by this incident. Yarovoi had been involved in the search for Dyatlov's group and the inquest, including acting as an official photographer for the search campaign and in the initial stage of the investigation, and so had insight into the events. However, the book was written in the Soviet era when the details of the accident were kept secret, and so Yarovoi avoided revealing anything beyond the official position and well-known facts. The book romanticized the accident and had a much more optimistic end than the real events - only the group leader was found deceased. Yarovoi's colleagues say that he had two alternative versions of the novel, but both were declined by censorship. Unfortunately, since Yarovoi's death in 1980, all his archives including photos, diaries and manuscripts have been lost.

Some details of the tragedy became publicly available in 1990 due to publications and discussions in Sverdlovsk's regional press. One of the first authors was Sverdlovsk journalist Anatoly Guschin . Guschin reported that police officials gave him special permission to study the original files of the inquest and use these materials in his publications. He noticed, however, that a number of pages were excluded from the files, as was a mysterious "envelope" mentioned in the case materials list. At the same time, unofficial photocopies of the case parts started to circulate among other enthusiastic researchers.

Guschin summarized his studies in the book entitled "The price of state secrets is nine lives" . Some researchers criticized it due to its concentration on the speculative theory of a "Soviet secret weapon", but the publication aroused the public interest in the theory, stimulated by interest in paranormal. Indeed, many of those who remained silent for 30 years reported new facts about that accident. One of them was the former police officer Lev Ivanov , who led the official inquest in 1959. In 1990 he published an article along with his admission that the investigation team had no rational explanation of the accident. He also reported that he received direct orders from high-ranking regional officials to dismiss the inquest and keep its materials secret after reporting that the team had seen "flying spheres". Ivanov personally believes in a paranormal explanation - specifically, UFOs.

In 2000, a regional TV company produced the documentary film "Dyatlov Pass" . With the help of the film crew, an Ekaterinburg writer, Anna Matveyeva , published the fiction/documentary novella of the same name. A large part of the book includes broad quotations from the official case, diaries of victims, interviews with searchers and other documentaries previously used for the film. The book details the everyday life and thoughts of a woman (an alter ego of the author herself) who attempts to resolve the case.

The Dyatlov Foundation has been founded in Ekaterinburg, with the help of Ural State Technical University, led by Yuri Kuntsevitch , a close friend of Igor Dyatlov and a member of the search team. The foundation's aim is to convince current Russian officials to reopen the investigation of the case, and solve it. Its other purpose is the upkeep of "the Dyatlov museum", to honour the memory of the dead hikers.

Yuri Yudin, the sole survivor of the expedition, has stated, "If I had a chance to ask God just one question, it would be, 'What really happened to my friends that night?'"

[PPI Jason]

This is a fascinating incident. Thank you for posting this. I had never even heard of this incident until now.

I wonder if there are any other works written that provide a different explanation than UFOs.

I'm not saying it couldn't be UFOs. I've never made it a secret that I completely believe that there is every reason to believe that life exists outside of our planet. I also believe it is entirely possible that such life has developed technology to allow them to travel the vast distances required to get here from another solar system.

But this case just doesn't sound like a UFO case to me. I really don't know how they could determine that the only footsteps belonged to the hikers. Even experienced trackers would have to admit that, between the time of death and the time of discovery, there was plenty of time for snow to cover or conceal foot prints. Also, as you mentioned, the radiation didn't get added to the story until later. It just seems like that and the orange spheres were added later as a support for the UFO theory. Additionally, while no human could have caused the trauma that the hikers experienced, what about bears or other large animals that likely live in that region. And I'm not surprised the Soviet government would want to cover this up. They had a policy to default to "cover up" everything.

But this really is a head scratcher, and I would be fascinated to hear what really happened to those poor folks. I just can't bring my mind to jump to UFOs, at least not yet 

[PPI Debra]

This is an interesting story.  The Ural Mountains have always been considered mysterious. There are ancient (Neolithic) stone megaliths there. These type of megaliths have long been associated with the burial of the ancestors.... hence the name of the mountain: "The Mountain of the Dead".

I did find another story on Cryptomundo {http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/ural-mystery/} stating the the green tree branches were from someone trying to climb one of the trees (an alternative to trying to build a fire w/ green branches).

The Soviets did allot of nuclear testing in the Ural Mountains in the late 50's. Perhaps the hikers did climb on a radiation contaminated area.

I keep wondering if they ate something hallucinogenic, accidentally. (Were there any toxicology reports? I wonder.) They definitely had hypothermia, and perhaps altitude sickness. It wouldn't be hard to imagine a group hysteria of some sort that lead to them frantically leaving the tent.

As for the "crushed' bodies: a brown bear?

The tongue could be missing because of an animal. Yet the story doesn't talk about the wound: was it jagged or smooth?

These are just some of my thoughts. (I was a field investigator in the UFO field in 1990-1992.)

I've noticed you've posted this on the anniversary of the event.

Thanks for posting this interesting mystery, Anne-Marie.

[PPI Tim]

Good story Anne-Marie. I wonder how many other stories like this can be found in Russia?
Thanks for sharing.

[PPI Karl]

Anne-Marie, thank you for posting this fascinating article.  I'm a little bit of a UFO enthusiast, myself--as skeptical about most claims as I am about ghosts, but I've actually had more "experiences" with UFOs than ghosts.  I really value how detailed your post is, too.

This Dyatlov Pass story puts me in mind of a similar Australian tale, from the turn of the last century.  Filmmaker Peter Weir based his film, Picnic At Hanging Rock, on it.  The mystery of Hanging Rock involved a teacher and a group of school girls from a private boarding school who enigmatically ascended Hanging Rock on a hiking excursion during a picnic outing, and, like Major Tom, never came back to Earth.  Joan Lindsey's 1967 best-selling mystery novel about this bit of folklore, The Secret of Hanging Rock, read like a documentary--much in the style of The Amityville Horror: A True Story by Jay Anson.  The "never solved" mystique of the Hanging Rock story was just another example of a fictional account inspired by true events (that is, true events which did include Hanging Rock, but did not include an actual disappearance of school girls), that became mistaken as a factual account.  In short, the Hanging Rock story is a classic example of urban myth:  folkloric in its hyperbole, but in a contemporary setting.  (Okay.  "Urban" doesn't really apply here literally.  )

I'm not saying that the Dyatlov Pass Incident is the same as the Hanging Rock story.  However, I do have to be honest that, whenever a book promotion is involved (Of the Highest Rank of Complexity), especially a fictional work inspired by alleged true events, good writers launch campaigns in which they reinvent (or, as was the case with Joan Lindsay, actually invent) the background research to dramatize and "factualize" their own fiction.  It's a trick as old as Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle":  write articles about other journalists who wrote articles, and make secondhand accounts of events look like firsthand reports.   (In truth, it's exactly what reality tv shows about ghost-hunting are:  watching people see and react to paranormal activity without being able to experience it ourselves or, in most cases, without even enjoying the benefit of tangible evidence.)

The Dyatlov Pass case is the kind that skirts that boundary of credibility, though--which makes it all the more intriguing.  Thanks, again, for posting this.

[Anne-Marie]

Glad you enjoyed the post.  My friend told me this story one night while hiking in thick fog.  There are plenty of articles about it including one from the Moscow Times with pictures.  I chose this version because the unexplained mysteries website is a fun read.

I'm leaning toward the theory that the hikers stumbled into a nuclear testing area.  It was several years after the deaths before tourists were allowed into the area again.   Exposure to radiation may have caused the blindness and disorientation as well as the skin discoloration (though that could be suntan).  A loud frightening noise would have sent them fleeing in the night without proper gear (and it's the act of tearing their tent open from the inside that realy gives me the whim-whams).  I can't explain the crushing injuries of the four who were found buried.  Could air pressure cause bones to break?  If it had been a bear I would expect to see bruising or scratches on the skin.  I've heard the avalanche theory but it somehow missed the tent, trees, and footprints.  I do believe the girl's tongue was taken by an animal.  It was probably the only soft, unfrozen tissue available to eat.

And yes, Debra, I was privately pleased with myself for posting on the anniversary of the incident!   

[PPI Jason]

This would be an absolutely awesome story to tell while hiking in thick fog. But every story like this has to have a moral to it, doesn't it.

I guess the moral to this story is "don't go hiking in an isolated area of a communist country that has large wild animals and an unrestricted policy toward secret nuclear weapon testing." 

[PPI Tracy]

Yep.  I agree with Jason's take on it.