The Mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

* * * This thread has originally been posted in the Paranormal Studies Discussion Forum as opposed to the Aliens & UFOs Discussion Forum as there doesn't seem to be much evidence of the latter. Instead, mere speculation thus this thread, IMO, fitting much better into this forum here as well as fitting the official definition of what is "paranormal." * * *

The Mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

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A shrine to the victims of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

This is the fascinating case of a group of 9 students on a skiing holiday in the Ural Mountains of Russia in Sverdlovsk Oblast, in 1959 led by expedition leader Igor Dyatlov (Hence the official name of the case).

Despite this group of 8 men and 2 women being students though, they were still said to have been particularly experienced in skiing tours, expeditions and overall pursuits of this nature. This being so, a couple of days into there expedition, one which would be there last, the weather started to drastically deteriorate, thus forcing the group to eventually pitch up there tents on the Kholat-Syakhl mountain in an open space as opposed to the preferred wooded terrain.

According to the official story we have, all of the students, apart from one whom stayed behind due to illness (please see diagram below), mysteriously disappeared shortly after setting up camp here sometime in the middle of the night. It then became one of the most mysterious of It's kind...

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Yuri Yudin hugging Lyudmila Dubinina as he prepares to leave the group due to illness, as Igor Dyatlov looks on

Reports bizarrely show that no struggle had taken place inside the tent due to the disappearance, but instead, something had seemingly startled the group and caused them to rapidly flee. A total set of 9 footprints leading away from the campsite are said to have been found, along with everyones equipment, there clothes - Some of the students actually ran off into the middle of the night with one shoe on, some with the most basis levels of attire, some with just mere socks on, and some were found completely barefoot. Not forgetting the temperatures can reach far below Minus 30 degrees Celsius for example here.

Even so, a few of the group seem to have made it quite a distance from the campsite - around a kilometer away in fact as that's roughly where the bodies were eventually found. All unfortunately dead.

Now, originally, the group were supposed to send a telegraph a mere couple of days after disappearing to the local sports club in the hope of contacting the only surviving member of this group - the one whom had previously stayed behind due to an illness. But, as the group met there demise, no such telegraph obviously could be sent.

So, as the days passed, the relatives of the group eventually forced a rescue operation to be undertook. It was this rescue team whom, On February 26, had eventually found the tent and later the bodies of the students, in what was one of the most bizarre and to this day remaining unsolved cases of this nature potentially ever recorded.

Here is the state of the tent that they originally found:

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The skiers' tent as it was discovered on 26 Feb 1959 (No struggle within the tent had been shown)

Following the footprints I had previously mentioned, they were led to the nearby woods, situated on the opposite of the pass. What they found here was the remains of a fire, along with the first two dead bodies, those of Krivonischenko and Doroshenko - both of which were in basic under clothing and both had no shoes on. Whatever had startled the group, It had caused them to flee very quickly indeed. The cause of death was officially classed as Hypothermia.

The group then found 3 more bodies close by - the bodies of Dyatlov (the expedition leader), Kolmogorova and Slobodin. All found at separate distances from each other. And all found in relatively close situations to the first 2 bodies.

The rest of the group (Nicolas Thibeaux-Brignollel, Alexander Zolotaryov, and Alexander Kolevatov) were then found around 2 months later buried deep under snow near a ravine in a stream valley further into the wood. It was this though which sparked a great deal of interest in this case by many as the group found were shown to have suffered no external injuries at all, instead, very severe internal injuries. Something likened to that of a severe car accident.

Thibeaux-Brignollel for example was found with a fractured skull, with no external showing of this, remember. Dubinina and Zolatarev had numerous broken ribs - and strangely of all, Dubinina's tongue had been completely removed.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2e87b5cc9915.jpg[/atsimg]

I believe images of the skiers prior to the "incident" (could be mistaken though of course)

One can only imagine what really occurred here it would seem - then again, imagining what could've caused this exactly would prove very difficult indeed. After all, no suspicious footprints were found in the snow (just the set of 9 footprints from the original group), no signs of any struggles taken place and most strange of all, severe injuries were sustained with absolutely no external damage to any of the group members. Even bruises on any of the students were not found.

I believe the case was then eventually closed a few months later, and then sent to a secret military archive. Prior to this though the official story stated that there was absolutely no evidence of wrong doing from any of the parties involved. And the surrounding area was also closed off for around three years to skiers and other adventurers. Presumably due to these events and also I'm sure due to the other strange events which have occurred in this strange Russian Mountain.

For example, the death of another group of Nine Mansi have been reported missing in a location nearby also, Although I believe it wasn't at the same time as the original group being discussed in this thread, and eve an incident involving a plane crash again involving 9 individuals occurring here also. Theses strange occurrences seemingly giving this area a reputation for "strange" behaviors particularly involving 9 individuals every time too.

Here is a diagram of the path of the students as well as the locations of some of these other incidents:

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According to locals, as well as Lee Ivanov, the head Investigator, something odd was spotted in the surrounding area during the investigations - "Flying spheres" were said to have been spotted here. Many attributing the mysterious circumstances of the missing students to these strange flying spheres also.

Tests of the clothing found, according to De-classified documents in 1990, also seem to show that at the sites of the dead bodies extremely high does of radiation had been found, as if they had been handling radioactive materials even or as if they had been in a highly radioactive area. The original chief investigator, Lev Ivanov, described how he took a Geiger counter with him to the campsite on the mountain slope; as he approached, the device started to click rapidly and loudly.

This perhaps giving the extraterrestrial and paranormal conclusions more weight It seems. Evidence at the campsite itself also seemingly points to the conclusion that the students had been blinded also. What could have caused this I wonder? Something we simply do not know yet but interesting to ponder over nonetheless.

And last but not least, the relatives of the family's of the group claim that the skin of their dead loved ones was even tanned and tinted dark orange or brown. And their hair had all turned completely gray.

This truly is a fascinating case of disappearance - one which points to something potentially extraordinary happening here.

So, anyway, thank you for reading this thread. Is there any thoughts on this fascinating case from anyone?

I have no information on this topic, but am looking forward to reading up on it.

Thanks for posting it. It sounds like a compelling story.

Great presentation!

Star for you!

reply to post by momeees


I hope you enjoy reading it then.

..I hope to hear your thoughts of this incident after reading also.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news here mate after all the effort you went to making this thread, but Ozweatherman covered this in a thread a while ago....

Ozweatherman's Thread - The Frightening, Unsolved and Disturbing Incident of Nine Dead Skiers

It's a fascinating incident nonetheless!

reply to post by Kryties


Oh, well then my sincere apologies.

I genuinely did do a search for this thread though and nothing had come up. This is why I decided to write it up, I assumed I was bringing something relatively new to the boards you see.

I just checked as well and that thread you linked is from 2009 so I wonder if this one will be allowed still? After all It is a fairly long time to go without discussing a topic at length.

I guess I leave it to the moderators It would seem..

EDIT TO ADD: Thanks for bringing that up though! I'll make sure to do a couple more searches when I decide to write my next thread.

I have never heard of this case, it has peaked my curiosity. I will definately read more about it good post S&F for you.

reply to post by Rising Against


No worries mate, maybe the mods will let it stand as it's been a while since Oz's thread. Like I said, I hate doing that hehe but I find it's best to keep all info on a certain topic within the same thread rather than spread across multiples.

I'll S&F you just the same though!

reply to post by Kryties

but I find it's best to keep all info on a certain topic within the same thread rather than spread across multiples.

Believe me, I couldn't agree more and I'm glad you brought it up still. It'll remind me to do extra searches next time too.

Feel free to alert the thread to the mods as well btw, the last thing I want to do is create duplicates.

reply to post by DblxJ


Oh, well if it did that then I'm glad I posted this thread then.

I hope to hear your thoughts on it soon too.

Originally posted by thewesticle
Great presentation!

Star for you!

Thanks, out of curiosity though, do you have any thoughts on this case?

reply to post by Rising Against


Now this case is bladdy intriguing !!

The number 9 is intriguing, we need to look up the significance of it in numerology for a start.

What they encountered that night must have scared the hell outta them, to flee like that in extreme temperatures it's sure something major !!

Could be extraterrestrial, which would explain the radiation possibly ??

But why flee from a close encounter ??
You would probably stay put...Mmmmm, very bizarre and weird.

Can't be an animal attack because the signs would be evident, so that rules that out.

Wonder if the military were testing something ??

Anyway, excellent thread RA

Look forward to reading peoples theories on this, cos I haven't got a scooby !!!

So come on Mulder, get it solved baby

xx

reply to post by Rising Against


This is such a strange story, it actually gives me chills....well almost. You couldnt come up with a better urban legend if you tried, freaky stuff.

I had one thought... LCD?? Maybe.. They were students and bored camping at night. Maybe they all lost it....

Thats a logical thought, although i dont rule something more sinister or perhaps paranormal.

reply to post by Rising Against


The number 9 is connected to human immortality, eternity.

x

reply to post by Havick007


Oh, that's actually something I've not thought about before. But they did seem like a serious group to me tbh. Not ones whom are going to mess about in serious conditions like these anyway. That's just my impression though.

And as far as I know, nothing like this has ever been found as well. It's possible though I guess, although I would suggest It's very unlikely still.

EDIT TO ADD: What would cause the serious internal injuries though as well?

reply to post by Rising Against


It could well be military grade weapons testing, certainly with the radiation and the blinding.

The missing tongue could maybe be some animal, especially if the bodies were undiscovered for a lengthy time ??

But my money would go on extraterrestrial activity

Oh and did you know that the bodies all had an orange tan and grey hair, according to relatives at the funerals ??

Spooky or what !!

reply to post by uk today

Oh and did you know that the bodies all had an orange tan and grey hair, according to relatives at the funerals ??

...Read the last couple of lines from my OP.

Anyway yeah, It really is freaky stuff, and I wouldn't rule out governmental weapons testing at all tbh. It certainly seems plausible to me anyway.

IDK. It doesn't strike me as weapons testing. It seems to me to be more of a close-encounter type of thing. There are other stories of irradiation by UFOs, some of the side-effects of which are unexplainable by those who treated them. Also, irradiation would explain their discarding their clothes and fleeing (near-) naked into the woods.

I'm inclined to think that the missing tongue might be similar to the cases of animal mutilation where the tongues and such are neatly excised--despite the fact that we have no information stating the nature of the wound (i.e., excised, or bitten off, or cut out, or torn out).

Note that there have been other, similar cases of human mutilation. As the young lady with the missing tongue was among the group that was found some distance away, with severe internal injuries, I would speculate that they were "beamed" up, examined, the tongue excised, and then they were dropped from a height, as happens in many animal-mutilation cases.

Personally I don't see anything beyond coincidence in the number 9 in these cases. Coincidences happen all the time, if I may so state the obvious....

Originally posted by Ex_CT2

Note that there have been other, similar cases of human mutilation. As the young lady with the missing tongue was among the group that was found some distance away, with severe internal injuries, I would speculate that they were "beamed" up, examined, the tongue excised, and then they were dropped from a height, as happens in many animal-mutilation cases.

Possible apart from the fact that no external injuries were sustained. Not even bruising. As far as I'm aware the extend of the injuries were wholly internal which suggests to me that they couldn't have been dropped from a height.

Although I can't think of an explanation to the injuries still.

Personally I don't see anything beyond coincidence in the number 9 in these cases. Coincidences happen all the time, if I may so state the obvious....

Personally, I do have to agree with this 100%.

I never heard of this case before, it's the kind of thing you just cant stop thinking about! lol

I did some searches on the net about it and from what I've found I think it was some kind of attack.

In the investigators report it says that the tongue probably was ripped out before death set in, calculated on the amount of blood found on the body it couldnt have been removed after death.
The last two bodies where found under the snow. So they where either buried or it snowed so hard they got snowed in, but... after all this time the footprints where still visable?