The Dyatlov Pass Incident

Hiking is a great sport as well as a great way to pass time along with learning new things,but what happens when a group goes for hike and never returns at expected time and after the search the authorities discovered that they have been brutally murdered like no one has ever been.

Photograph of some members enjoying happy time

The day 28th January of 1959 was a pleasant day to hike, 10 students and graduates of Ural State Technical University went on hike to rural mountain area of Russia, they all were experienced hikers having every equipment essential for hiking and enough supplies for any circumstances.They were also experienced and were well aware of Siberian wilderness. Their goal was to reach their destination on 12th of Feb. The only survivor of the whole incident was Yury Yuden luckily he was left behind because of sickness this was the last time he saw his friends alive.All the other students were brutally murdered due to an unknown reason,despite of being fully prepared and well experienced they never knew that this adventure would prove to be their last. This is the case of  Dyatlov pass.

The group consisted of 10 students (8 men and 2 women) who were lead by 23 years old experienced ski hiker Igor Alekseievich Dyatlov. Their goal was to reach the peak of Otorten ( a mountain in northern Ural). They were so experienced yet unknown of what lies ahead. One of the student Zinaida Kolmogorova wrote the last entry in her diary
"I wonder what awaits us on this hike?
 will anything new happen?"

On Feb 1st they reached the foot of a mountain known to the natives of that area as Dead Mountain 
they went up the mountain progressing up to the slope and then after a bit hiking a snowstorm hit them that decreased their visibility caused them to loose their direction and instead of moving forward they ended up on a slope on west a few hundred meters from the peak of mountain, due to the reason they gained altitude and did not want to get back now they set up their camps there,this was the last place they were seen alive as they took photos,the last entry in one of the student's diary was:
"It is difficult to imagine comfort on the ridge, with shrill howling wind hundreds of kilometers away from human settlements"
They were now in the middle of nowhere.

After few weeks, past their arrival time their friends and relatives began to worry about them as no message had been reported in several days because dyatlov told the relatives and his team that he would send a telegram message as soon as they reach their goal and return from the hike. Howerer on Feb 26th when there was still no communication from the hikers a search party was sent to locate them, After a brief search the search party volunteers finally found the slop on which the students laid their tents and police force was called as soon as possible for the investigation and then started the mystery that still haunts and confuses people to this day.

The tents were covered in a layer of snow as the police investigated it they found that all the belongings of the hikers were placed in order inside the tent most of the shoes were left in the tent but strangely they noticed that the tents were slashed open from inside with a knife. The next day the volunteers discovered 9 pairs of foot marks in snow that lead down the slop to the woods almost a mile away from the camp, the weird part is that the footsteps were made by bare foots not with any socks or shoes, the marks in the snow showed that the hikers made them while walking down the slope in rather calm manner not while running or rushing in panic. The foot marks lead the researchers to a cedar tree in the woods which had remains of fire under it and near the fire were two bodies of the students Yuri Krivonischenko and Yuri Doroshenko. weird thing is that the temperature on the night of their death was -13 to -22 but both of their bodies were shoes less and wearing only underwear, also the cedar tree had signs of damage and broken branches up to 5 meters as someone tried to climb up to it as they were trying to hide up in the tree from something.

Dead bodies of Yri Krivonischenko and Yuri Doroshenko

It took nearly 2 months for all the bodies to be found, the first two bodies were found under a Cedar tree in woods near the fire with no clothes and shoes on their bodies except underwear, then the next 3 bodies were found which were of Dyatlov, Zinaida Kolmogorova and Rustem Slobodin who possibly died on their way back to the camp side from the Cedar tree the two bodies were found under, despite the odd circumstances all 5 the students died due to hypothermia as one can expect but the case was about to turn in a rather creepy and strange side.

After a brief research the other 4 hikers were also found, their bodies were located at a bottom of small hill the bodies were covered with 3 meters of snow in deep into the woods 75 meters from the cedar three and in the opposite direction of the camp side. Three of them had severe injuries, one had a fractured skull which was done with such a massive immense force that no human could do, the other two hikers Lyudmila and Semyon had major chest fractures that could only be cause by a strong immense force equal to that of a car crash and they also suffered internal bleeding, the most gruesome part of this incident was that one of them Dubina was missing her tongue, her eyes, and a part of her lips and strangely she was missing a part of her skull bone all of them had broken nose and it all happened while they were alive. The fact Dubina was missing her tongue was the most weird some say it was cut of when she was alive some say that other hikers ate it after her death and some claims that her tongue was later found somewhere else, later the researchers found their clothes in snow which were mysteriously insanely radioactive, it was seen that the bodies had each others clothes on their bodies as Dubina wore a piece of Krivonishenko's pants and Zolotaryov was wearing Dubina's coat and hat.

Dead body of Rsten Slobodin

After this all the researchers got so confused of all the mysterious circumstances. At first they thought that it was done by Mansi people which were natives of that area but the Mansi tribesmen were peaceful and the wounds on the dead bodies were of no human work. Many explanations were put forward to the incident. The lead investigator put forward a statement in his final report:
"The cause of death was AN UNKNOWN COMPELLING FORCE which the hikers were unable to overcome"

The investigators also suspected that the hikers got killed because of an avalanche but they found out that there was no sign of avalanche near the time of their death. Another theory was put forward that it could have been result of a fight between the hikers possible due to romantic encounters as few of them were missing clothes but the hikers were harmonious humble and co operative and in addition the damage done to them was impossible for a human to cause. One more thing one of them Semyon was able to grab his camera before fleeing the tent but he left his clothing behind, what did he intended to capture that made him grab his camera over his clothes.

Later many theories were put forward some said that they were killed by Menk an urban legend in Russia which is known to be a giant Yeti that lives in the snowy mountains of Siberia as such a harm to bodies could've been done by the Yeti. Another theory states that they were killed by Russian military as they were able to see some sort or military experiment which was going on in the woods hidden from the population but it does not explain why their clothes were so radioactive as everything found on the scene was radioactive.

Another strange explanation was put forward by another group of hikers which here around 50 km away from the Dyatlov's camp, the other hikers said they at the night of their death they saw some orange orbs floating in the sky which were moving toward Kholat Syakhl (where the hikers were found dead) even the lead investigator said that
"I suspect that those orange orbs have to do something with the death of hikers"
later the inquiry of this case was closed and was their deaths were officially stated as "due to a compelling natural force"

Even to this day the whole incident begs for a solid explanation that could prove the reason behind the death of these 10 students.
Now we know why this place is called "Dead Mountain"

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