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The Dyatlov Pass Mystery

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

In 1959, an accident occurred in the Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union. The bodies of nine experienced cross country skiers were found crushed, frozen, one even missing a tongue. Their tent had been ripped open from the inside and high doses of radiation were found on their clothes. The investigation was immediately made secret by the Soviet government.

On February 2nd, 1959, a hiking team of eight men and two women set out to hike to the top of the ominously named "Mountain of the Dead" (Kholat Syakhl). The team led by experience hiker, Igor Dyatlov. One member got sick along the way and had to turn back, the rest of the party was to hike up the mountain and send a telegraph back, this telegraph was expected no later than Feb 12. That telegraph was never sent.

The Search

By Feb 20, a search party had been sent to look for the lost campers. On Feb 26, the camp was found, and not far away, the bodies were found. The following is the horrifying scene found at the site:

The tent was found badly damaged, ripped open from the inside.
A chain of footsteps was found leading to some nearby woods that were 1.5km away, but after 500m had ended.
At the forest edge, below an old pine, investigators found the remains of a fire along with two dead bodies; shoeless and dressed only in their underwear.
Branches were found broken up to 5 meters high, as if someone climbed the tree.
There was also evidence that showed they may have been blinded, such as the attempt to break wet kindling when there was dry kinding around.
Between the pine and the camp, three more corpses were found, 300, 480, and 630 meters away. It appeared they were attempting to crawl back to the camp.
The search for the remaining four victims took nearly two months. They were found farther into the woods under nearly 4 meters of snow.
The last four members were found more dressed than the previous five, yet still underdressed for the conditions.

The Investigation

The investigation into the accident started the day the first five bodies were found. Of the 5 corpses, none were found to have fatal injuries. It was found that they all died of hypothermia. One had a small crack in his skull, but it was not fatal.

When the last 4 bodies were found, the mystery began. Three of them had fatal injuries: major skull damage, two with chest fractures, one was missing a tongue. The force was described as inhuman, strong like a "car crash." It was also found that none of the member had any external injuries, as if they were crippled by a high level of pressure, not an impact.

There was evidence that the team were forced to leave the camp in a hurry during the night, as they were sleeping. 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, showing that some had outlived the others.

Other points of interest in this investigation:

There were no signs of anyone in the area or any of the other mountains in the area
The victims died 6 to 8 hours after their last meal (midnight - 2 am or so)
All members, including those found with horrendeous injuries, left the camp on their own accord; on foot.
There was a high dosage of radiation.
A camera was recovered, the film was able to be developed.
After the funeral, many of the relatives noted that the victims skin had a "strange orange tint" and that they were completely greyed.
During the night of this tradgedy, another group of hikers over 50km away reported seeing "strange orange spheres." These were reported throughout Feb and March of 1959 in the area.

The Soviet government sealed ended the investigation and the files were sent to a "Secret Archive" in 1959. Some data became available in 1990, with some parts missing.

Images

Dyatlov - View of the Mountain