The Frightening, Unsolved and Disturbing Incident of Nine Dead Skiers

reply to post by lunarminer



I don't agree on the animal attack, and when you read the research Dyatlov Pass Incident you read where the radiation was actually considered background and insignificant.

There seems to be a steady chipping away at this event. I have written to the researchers to get any updates like govenment disclosures or other witnesses coming out.

Still all quite strange.

ZG

reply to post by jericanman


Maybe one more.

A transdimensional being like the Mothman who might bring with it very odd effects and agenda. Does the mythology of the indigenous people have such story's supporting their nameing and avoidance of this and any other areas?

I'm thinking Skinwalker Ranch type strangeness. Not my only theory, but might need be on the list, as we know nothing yet that points to any particular thing.

Whatever happened we can deduce it was horrific and violent, creating such fear in the victims that they died of exposure to stay away from their camp clothing and survival equipment.

This would make a good core seed to a horror flick.

ZG

My conclusion of this is that there is not enough evidence to make any real case.

I do know a couple of things. I live in the mountains of Colorado and the pictures that were taken of this incident tell me that they are not in avalache country. Most of the wide pictures that I saw show nice rolling hills. Not avalache territory.

These were experienced cross country skiers. They know the symptoms of hypothermia (SP?) and that people want to remove their cloths. They wouldn't have. Besides, they found the cloths in the tent.

People saw orange lights in the sky. Tell me this... you live in the URALs in 1959 and see helicopters in the night with a light on. What do you think... orange light in the sky. Why does everyone always jump at UFOs.

The girls tounge gone. That's all we know... the tounge is gone. Well, was it cut off, biten off, chewed off, etc. Who knows. In all the stories I read it just said it was missing. I admit my first thought was that it was cut off.

My theory... They saw something that they were not supposed to see and were disposed off. The four who died of trauma in my opinion were not supposed to be found, over a MILE away, were they were dumped. This is also were the girl loses her tounge, when she hits the ground already dead and tossed out of the "orange light machine". Or maybe "they" cut it out because she would not shut up. The others saw there friends being killed and ran for it. Like cockroaches in the light. 2 together, 3 together. Out the side/back of the tent they run because there friends and whoever is killing them are in the front. One climbs a tree, to see if the attackers are gone. He is seen and something is fired at him which causes him to fall from the tree. Breaking many branches on the way down. He hits the ground and is knocked out. His buddy standing under the tree is also knocked out by the weapon. Both then die of exposer. The others run as far as they can. Finally they stop and hide. From there hiding spot they see the "orange light machines" leave and head back for camp. But it is too late. They have been out for too long and it is too far back to camp. They die trying to get back to their camp.

Just my theory.

reply to post by topsecretombomb



"So youre saying whoever perpetrated these crimes was interested in a Three- Course meal?"


No, I think the response you are taking objection to was made by me in regards to someone's query about WHY someone would wish to remove the tongue... and they had likened it to the canibal theory.

Just saying... IF IT WERE canibals, the tongue is a pretty tasty piece of muscle, at least in cattle. I haven't eaten a human's tongue. Probably never will.

Also, if you'll read my later posts, you'll see how I feel about the situation.

PS - Sorry, I probably shouldn't post in this thread at all. In fact, I don't even like thinking about this case. It is horrific.
I can't make myself open this thread enough to keep up with the discussion.

Edit to add - I see it was you I was responding to in regards to the question of why would a yeti eat a tongue... As I said, it appears they are tasty.
But I don't think that is what happened.
But then again, I don't believe in Yeti. I guess you'll have to excuse the sarcastic answer.


[edit on 11-4-2009 by Jay-in-AR]

[edit on 11-4-2009 by Jay-in-AR]

First off...Nice thread. To add though...Has anyone ever camped out at say...30 degrees...0...no...-30.

Just to say, it is cold and you would sell your soul to be warm again.

That said...You would burn anything to stay warm in your sealed tent.
Who knows what they used. Burning of such....produces carbon monoxide...
reduce oxygen...brain does not function too well...produces a prolonged high...
or death...sometimes requires oxygen and many hours to recover.

Anyway, I thought this fit with many of the scenarios I read on this post.

Look for the real.

The First Nations people in Canada's arctic and sub-arctic regions have been telling stories of what they call 'wendigos' for centuries.

I worked with a very cool First Nations individual while living on a reservation in Northwestern Ontario, who told me of numerous incidents of people essentially going insane during the dead of winter, and either end up killing (and often consuming) everybody or themselves.

The idea, from what I've been told, is that the wendigo is something of an evil spirit that can take over a person during the coldest months and wreak havoc.

Common practice when somebody was deemed to have been infected with the wendigo spirit was to isolate them in the cold, leading to their death by exposure.

Asking these people, the wendigo is as real as anything.

what a story. thanks OP. first I have heard of it.

I think the most important information to come out of this is the following.

-found with little clothing
-clothing still in tent

That leads to 1 possible explanation.

Something made them leave their tents in the middle of the night (lack of clothes points to sleeping). Something that was more pressing than than threat of exposure.

They all knew the risk the winter posed. Anybody would know that. And these are experienced skiers/hikers. Something significant happened during the night to force them out of their tents and into the night.




The internal injuries could be explained by an avalanche-they could have been rolled around in snow for a few hundred feet, breaking ribs and skulls, with very little external damage (like a car accident with softer surroundings) but the pictures show visible tents, and the report mentions footprints-which all tends to discount the avalanche theory.

Also the scenario took some time to unfold. There was time for members of the group to run into the night, to realize they were about to freeze to death, to climb a tree, and to try to start a fire.


Which all points to a very disturbing situation. Something came in the night, and in time it killed every one of them.

truth is stranger than fiction.

The most likely explanation is that they were killed and the scene was staged.

Experienced skiers wouldn't walk through the snow without shoes on unless they were forced to do so. The cut tent could have easily been from the outside. Since there was no evidence of a wild animal attack, you must assume that they were forced out of their tent at gunpoint.

This would explain the soldier's uniform and the broken ski. There was plenty of time to remove most evidence of military in the area, any other footprints, etc.

Likely, they were all forced out of their tents, the initial group was beaten and killed, the others ran and died of hypothermia while the military searched for them in the night. This would also explain why they tried to climb a tree -- likely to get off the ground in an attempt to hide.

If soldiers were posted at their tents, this would explain why none of them returned.

Usually, the simplest explanation is the correct one.

Originally posted by lynn112
The tongue missing is bitten off during the avalanche, and later, a scavenger makes off with it.

Ive noticed that the theory of the tongue being bitten off has up a bit. The tongue was not bitten....it was removed

And how can the entire tongue be bitten off? It goes to far back down the back of the mouth and throat for this to be considered plausible?

reply to post by ZeroGhost


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/3619f3150fd2.jpg[/atsimg]They camped in an area known as "mountain of the dead" the native people, the Mansi, had a reason for naming it so.........It was a descriptive title. You don't name a mountain "don't go there" without a reason. The Mansi are a shamanistic society out of necessity, and out of the way mountains play a large part in many religions as the "home of the Gods." i have the unaltered b&w photo of the camp taken by the victims themselves. If you research something you have to delve into all the evidence, especially the photographic kind. Fortunately for researchers the victims took several rolls of pictures of their outing and of the camp where they were killed. The rescue party also took photographs of the destroyed camp and the tree where two bodies were found. A pile of metal was found nearby, a possible source of the radiation in one of the victim's clothing. One of the diaries reported that the "snowmen" were real.......Anomolous lights were also reported in the area at the time of their demise. Some try to explain the disaster via the local myths and legends of Mansi, the indigenous people of that area. Indeed, the surrounding is full of strange stories and even the local toponymics seems mystical. Otorten, the goal of expedition, translates from the Mansi language to "Do Not Go There". Kholat Syakhl, the place of disaster, translates in the same language to "The Mountain of Dead". There is an old Mansi-legend, that Kholat Syakhl had been named so after nine Mansi men died on top of the mountain seeking salvation from the Flood in ancient times. This territory is acknowledged by local Mansi as "damned". They avoid visiting it when they go hunting or when they follow their deer herds. Though, it is known that there are not any explicit taboo visiting this place (against the version that the travelers were punished by local people for pervasion into a sacral zone).

The fantastic explanations inspired by Mansi legends tell about magical evil spirit which had been evoked by travelers. Another think that a Yeti caused the accident........Wikipedia
www.e1.ru... This site has sixty pictures of the camp and surrounding area.
[edit on 033030p://am3029 by debris765nju]

[edit on 033030p://am3038 by debris765nju]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e61b0a3ac3a6.jpg[/atsimg] A photo recovered from roll of film showing the victims in their camp, i recommend that you view the clothing of the victim on the right and expand out from there. Another photo shows them interacting with and possibly photographing these entities.

By far the most interesting element of this story:

Kuntsevich (personal note: Yury Kuntsevich, head of the Yekaterinburg-based Dyatlov Foundation, trying to unravel the mystery) said he had led a group to the area last year and found a “cemetery” of scrap metal that suggested the military had conducted experiments there at some time.

“We can’t say what kind of military technology was tested, but the catastrophe of 1959 was man-made,” he said.

Another useful tidbit:

Yudin (personal note: Yury Yudin the only member of the skiing expedition of who survived) said the military might have found the tent before the volunteer rescuers. He said he had been asked to identify the owner of every object found at the scene and had failed to find a match for a piece of cloth that looked like it had come from a soldier’s coat, a pair of glasses, a pair of skis and a piece of a ski.

And by far the most telling of all:

Case files were sent to a secret archive. Skiers and other adventurers were barred from the area for three years.

What does all of this tell me?

Simply that the Russians were testing or using some sort of equipment that gave off an infrasonic pitch.

The study of such sound waves is sometimes referred to as infrasonics, covering sounds beneath 20 Hz down to 0.001 Hz. This frequency range is utilized for monitoring earthquakes, charting rock and petroleum formations below the earth, and also in ballistocardiography and seismocardiography to study the mechanics of the heart. Infrasound is characterized by an ability to cover long distances and get around obstacles with little dissipation.(source)

Another reason this is compelling:

Infrasound was also used by Allied forces in World War I to locate artillery. (personal note: event took place Jan 28, 1959) One of the pioneers in infrasonic research was French scientist Vladimir Gavreau, born in Russia as Vladimir Gavronsky. His interest in infrasonic waves first came about in his lab during the 1960s (personal note: they stumbled on this phenomenon in 1957), when he and his lab assistants experienced pain in the ear drums and shaking lab equipment, but no audible sound was picked up on his microphones. He concluded it was infrasound and soon got to work preparing tests in the labs.(source Ibid)

The American Defense news in 1993 describes "acoustic psycho-correction" experiments carried out by the Russians from the mid 1970’s which "could be used to suppress riots, control dissidents, demoralize or disable opposing forces". (Accoustic Trauma, Alex Davies)

And also worth noting:

Infrasound produces varied physiological sensations which begin as vague "irritations". At certain pitch, infrasound produces physical pressure. At specific low intensity, fear and disorientation. (source)

After less than a five-minute exposure to low intensity infrasound of 10 cycles per second, dizziness will last for hours. Infrasound of 12 cycles per second produces severe and long lasting nausea after a brief low intensity exposure.(source)

Even more compelling:

The most profound effects at this infrasonic level occur here. 7 Hz "corresponds with the median alpha-rhythm frequencies of the brain. It is also commonly alleged that this is the resonant frequency of the body's organs and hence organ rupture and death can occur at high-intensity exposures." (Davies, Acoustic Trauma)

Put another way given the right infrasonic pitch you can potentially rupture organs without necessarily damaging surface features. It's also worth noting that, "Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego speeded up the recorded sounds from two volcanoes and uncovered a noise very similar to typical jet engines." (source)

Now if you consider the evidence.

1. The declassified files contain testimony from the leader of a group of adventurers who camped about 50 kilometers south of the skiers on the same night. He said his group saw strange orange spheres floating in the night sky in the direction of Kholat-Syakhl.
   
2. Two tents?
   
3. One tent was cut open
   
4. The tent was covered with snow. (NOTE: not completely covered just a build-up of snow on the top)
   
5. All the group’s belongings and shoes had been left behind
   
6. Counted traces of footprints from eight or nine people in meter-deep snow
   
7. The footprints had been left by people who were wearing socks, a single shoe or were barefoot
   
8. No evidence of a struggle
   
9. Charred remains of a fire lay nearby
   
10. The branches on the tree were broken up to five meters high, suggesting that a skier had climbed up to look for something
    
11. The way the bodies were lying indicated that the three had been trying to return to the camp
    
12. Autopsies failed to find evidence of foul play.
    
13. Five had died of hypothermia
    
14. Slobodin’s skull was fractured, but the injury was not considered fatal
    
15. Thibeaux-Brignollel’s skull had been crushed

    
    a doctor who examined the bodies in 1959 said he believed that no man could have inflicted the injuries because the force of the blows had been too strong and no soft tissue had been damaged,
    
    “It was equal to the effect of a car crash,” said the doctor, Boris Vozrozhdenny

    
    
16. and Dubunina and Zolotarev had numerous broken ribs
    
17. Dubinina, female, had no tongue
    
18. The bodies, however, showed no external wounds
    
19. Four were better dressed than the rest, and those who had died first had apparently relinquished their clothes to the others
    
20. A test of the clothes found they contained high levels of radiation
    
21. their faces look liked they had a deep brown tan
    
22. No traces of an explosion, however, have been found near Kholat-Syakhl
    
23. No Records of Missiles
    
24. Case was abruptly closed and filed as top secret
    

[edit on 12-4-2009 by Xtraeme]

Just so everyone knows what the various audible cycles per second and their supposed effects are:

1-10hz: “Intellectual activity is first inhibited, blocked, and then destroyed. As the amplitude is increased, several disconcerting responses have been noted. These responses begin a complete neurological interference. The action of the medulla is physiologically blocked, its autonomic functions cease.” (Gavreau )

(NOTE: Everything above 20hz is considered acoustical!)

43-73hz: ” lack of visual acuity, IQ scores fall to 77% of normal, distortion of spatial orientation, poor muscular coordination, loss of equilibrium, slurred speech, and blackout”.(Gavreau )

50-100hz: “intolerable sensations in the chest and thoracic region can be produced - even with the ears protected. Other physiological changes that can occur include chest all vibration and some respiratory rhythm changes in human subjects, together with hypopharyngeal fullness (gagging). The frequency range between 50 and 100 Hz also produces mild nausea and giddiness at levels of 150 - 155 dB, at which point subjective tolerance is reached. At 150 to 155 dB (0.63 to 1.1 kPA), respiration-related effects include substernal discomfort, coughing, severe substernal pressure, choking respiration, and hypopharyngeal discomfort.” (Davies)

100hz - At this level, a person experiences irritation, “mild nausea, giddiness, skin flushing, and body tingling.” Following this, a person undergoes “vertigo, anxiety, extreme fatigue, throat pressure, and respiratory dysfunction.”(Gavreau ) (Sound Weapons, Simon Crab)

[edit on 12-4-2009 by Xtraeme]

Here's how I imagine it went down, accounting for each piece of evidence:

1. Some sort of jet or helicoper (using a turboshaft jet engine) had
   1. an experimental engine and a side-effect of producing oscillations at 7 cycle per second (cps or hz) when reaching higher RPMs having the unhappy side-effect of negatively impacting humans.
      
   2. weaponized infrasound on board.
      
   3. equipped infrasound devices to chart rocks and petroleum formations in the Urals.
   
   
2. The tent that was cut open was likely destabilized by one of the occupants disoriented by the infrasound (not sure if people here are aware, but avalanches and earthquakes produce infrasonic sounds in the 1-5 hz and 10 hz range respectively).
   
3. Being physically disoriented, seeing a bizarre light in the distance, the group was probably scared out of their wits & someone likely cut the tent open to get out. This would especially be the case if any of the members of the group sustained internal injuries while resting inside their tents.
   
4. The light build up of snow on top of the tent was likely due to a snow storm that was in effect or simply snow drift (the picture clearly shows it wasn't an avalanche).
   
5. All the groups belongings and shoes had been left behind because they were frightened. Remember with infrasound "at specific low intensity, fear and disorientation"(1) sets in. So they thought they were under attack by the helicopter / jet in the sky. They ran.
   
6. Counted traces of footprints from eight or nine people in meter-deep snow. Nothing really special about this. If it was eight traces of footprints that means someone was hurt in one of the tents and the person was carried.
   
7. Footprints had been left by people who were wearing socks, a single shoe or were barefoot. This is a very good indicator of "disorientation, anxiety, panic" associated with the 7-20hz range. (Crab, Sound Weapons)
   
8. No evidence of a struggle. Infrasound neatly explains this. It can induce "fear and disorientation" and physically inflict harm at 7 Hz and chest, glossal, & hypopharyngeal palpitations in the 50-100 hz range.
   
9. Charred remains of a fire lay nearby. This makes perfect sense. If the group was disoriented and didn't know where there camp was. After they regained their senses they would have attempted to keep themselves warm as long as possible until someone could identify which way would lead back to the camp.
   
10. The branches on the tree were broken up to five meters high, suggesting that a skier had climbed up to look for something. This also makes sense. Good look-out point, allows the group to attempt to survey all the territory around them and hopefully locate their tents.
    
11. The way the bodies were lying indicated that the three had been trying to return to the camp. See 9 and 10.
    
12. Autopsies failed to find evidence of foul play. Again makes perfect sense with infrasound.
    
13. Five had died of hypothermia. Now this is interesting. It suggests not everyone was physically harmed by the infrasonic wavelength. My best guess is:
    1. since there were two tents the two groups separated (5 and 4) without knowing about the other. Therefore they were at different elevations and the source of the infrasonic wave was dampened by various geological features near the tree. So one group wasn't as badly harmed as the other.
       
       or,
       
    2. The source of the wavelength was directional. Meaning it was aimed at the group that had gotten further away.
    
    
14. Slobodin’s skull was fractured, not fatal. This also makes sense. At a certain pitch "infrasound produces physical pressure" couple that with a 7hz wavelength, the "median alpha-rhythm frequencies of the brain," and instant-skull fracture?
    
    Or maybe he simply hit his head on a rock? Though if that were the case there would have been tissue damage, which supposedly wasn't the case.
    
15. Thibeaux-Brignollel’s skull had been crushed. This makes me think he was the closest to the source of the infrasonic emission. I'm also inclined to believe the emission was cycling. As the craft passed over their camp they may have been operating in the 43-73, 50-100 hz range and then cycled down to 1-10hz. This is again an argument for targeting people not random infrasonic wavelengths causing havoc. If the wavelength was ambient and a point-source, everyones head would have been pulverized. More than anything I would like to know the final resting place of Slobodin's body to Thibeaux-Brignollel's.
    
16. Dubunina and Zolotarev had numerous broken ribs. This gets back to the 50-100hz range. "Intolerable sensations in the chest and thoracic region can be produced - even with the ears protected." Also of note, "At 150 to 155 dB (0.63 to 1.1 kPA), respiration-related effects include substernal discomfort, coughing, severe substernal pressure ..."
    
17. Now for the one element of the story that's a little hard to explain. Dubunina's missing tongue. While it's true at "150 to 155 dB (0.63 to 1.1 kPA), respiration-related effects include substernal discomfort, coughing, severe substernal pressure, choking respiration, and hypopharyngeal discomfort." It would be odd if it only effected the oral and not the pharayngeal part. I guess we really need more information to know just how severely her tongue was damaged. Either way I'm confident even if her tongue wasn't pulverized she could have just as easily been convulsing and, this is a tad gross, but, bit her own tongue off. Or who knows, she could have tripped, and that may have had the same unfortunate effect (though I'd expect chin abrasions if this were the case)
    
18. The bodies, however, showed no external wounds. All of this lines up perfectly with Gavreau's infrasonic testing. For instance, 'Gavreau and his team tested the instruments on themselves at the Marseilles plant with unexpected success as apparently one of the team died instantly “his internal organs… mashed into an amorphous jelly by the vibrations"'(Crab, Sound Weapons)
    
    [edit on 12-4-2009 by Xtraeme]

reply to post by OzWeatherman


Such a great post OZ
I'm not going to sleep tonight after reading it all...IIIcky!

reply to post by OzWeatherman


how do you KNOW that the tongue was " removed " or how much was missing ?

this entire ` case ` hinges on 2nd hand sources

ok - done a bit of reading on this and a couple of things shand out as ` unusual `

1 - the tent - always refered to as singular - " looks " far to small for 9 people were there other tents - and if so why no mention ?

2 - the fact that several bodies were not located till 3 months later - its worth noting that all the more serious injuries were confined to these victims

[ IMHO - thats consistent with avelanche / falling trauma - as why were they not located in the inintial search ??? ]

but the most striking anomolie in this case is the lack of 1st hand accounts / origional documentation

everything is 2nd hand and re hashed - claims are made [ the radiation ] without any explaination or supporting evidence

now we have a 3rd layer of further ats speculation - with ZERO evidence to support it [ i am refereing to the infrasound claims ]

(continued)

Should be 19 ...

1. Four were better dressed than the rest, and those who had died first had apparently relinquished their clothes to the others.
   
   I'm not sure they relinquished their clothes. Rather I think since there were two tents, four of them were in one tent that wasn't knocked over and they simply better prepared themselves before exiting. I could be entirely wrong on this point, but it fits the scene of the crime.
   
2. A test of the clothes found they contained high levels of radiation. This one is simple,

   
   Near the southern Ural Mountains, in the Russian province of Chelyabinsk, there is a Soviet nuclear facility called the Mayak Chemical Combine. From 1948 until 1990 when the last of five reactors was shut down, the Combine contaminated the region to such an extent that it is now known as the most polluted area on Earth ... there are three specific incidents that stand out: intentional dumping of radioactive waste into the Techa River; an explosion at a radioactive waste storage facility in 1957; and a 1967 wind storm that deposited irradiated sediments from Lake Karachay onto the surrounding province.(source).

   
   Granted Kholat-Syakhl is much further north than Chelyabinsk (by some ~400 miles), the Techa River, and Lake Karachay, but I don't have a hard time seeing a migration of nuclear dumping further up in the mountains especially after the Sept 29, 1957 nuclear accident. Even if that isn't the case there are other explanations like the one offered up by skeptoid:
   

   
   A number of skeptics have addressed the question of radioactivity by pointing out that the mantles used in camping lanterns contain thorium, which emits alpha particle radiation, to the point that there is actually a radiation warning on the packaging. These mantles, if you're not familiar with them, are little fabric bags that serve as the wick in a burning lantern. They're quite fragile and easily turn to dust that gets everywhere, like onto the clothes of everyone in the tent, when you replace them, which you need to do pretty regularly. Thorium gas mantles were invented in 1891 and were manufactured in many countries for a long time. Coleman, the largest US manufacturer, only phased them out in the 1990's. I found a blog comment signed "Igor", a guy who says he's Russian and went to the same college as the Dyatlov Pass victims, and he states in his comment that thorium gas mantles were not available in Russia in 1959. That doesn't sound consistent with general articles on the subject, plus I found a Russian WWII lantern on eBay that was kerosene fueled, and all the kerosene lanterns I could find details on do use thorium gas mantles. It's a question mark, and remains a plausible possibility in my book.(source)

   
   
3. There faces looked a deep tan. I'm pretty much with skeptoid on this one.

   
   At the open-casket funeral for the first five victims, relatives saw the combination of five days of winter sunburn in those days before sunscreen, and the mortician's effort to cover up frostbite and a full month of exposure to the elements, and described it as a strange orange color; though others described it simply as a deep tan, which is consistent with reasonable expectations.(Ibid)

   
   
4. No traces of an explosion, however, have been found near Kholat-Syakhl. Fits perfectly with the infrasonic explanation.
   
5. No Records of Missiles. Ditto.
   
6. Case was abruptly closed and filed as top secret.
   
   This is the part that was the clincher in my book. Now we have a reason for understanding the "Top Secret" classification stamped on the case.

Now do I honestly believe they were using this sort of weapon? No. It may have been faked to look this way to scare United States intelligence organizations (a star for VelmaLu astutely noting the soldier's uniform and the broken ski). Mission accomplished on their part. Though one interesting little tid-bit I'd like to share.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/22169a3565d4.jpg[/atsimg]

This picture is of Vladimir Gavreau (or by his Russian name Gavronsky) with his supposed sound weapon. One of the items found at the scene of the crime was this little fragmentary metal curiosity:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e7cda5aa1d03.jpg[/atsimg]

They both exhibit a lattice structure, but that's about all they have in common. Just kind of an amusing thing to visually look at and compare .

[edit on 12-4-2009 by Xtraeme]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/271ccc598c59.jpg[/atsimg] Considering the temperature -30C why would anyone be sleeping in their underwear and barefoot? Remember this is 1959, many things you take for granted did not exist then. What if? When the attack began the first two men thought something was in their clothing and biting them. They tore off the clothing they were wearing but the attack didn't abate, in fact it intensified. One of the men was smashed in the head, fracturing his skull but not killing him. The force of the blow knocked him into his companions, unconscious. The fear expands exponentially which is the purpose, it releases endorphins which are probably the most addictive drug ever. The fracture provides easier access. The scene inside the tent is bedlam, screams of pain, fear and anger as the men fight against a foe they cannot grasp.......physically or mentally. One of them pulls his knife out of its sheath possibly in hopes of using it as a weapon. It has no effect on the attackers, fight has failed, flight steps in. He slashes the canvas of the tent and drags his friends into the night air. His friends in the other tent are in a fight for their life too. The scene is surreal, three of his friends are suspended in air, unable to scream or even to breathe. He and his tentmates grab their suspended friends applying their weight to those held aloft. They are dropped and they flee carrying their unconscious and injured. They scatter, the assault lessens. At the base of a large snow filled pine tree they build a fire using limbs from that same tree to produce smoke that coats the attackers making them appear like "heat shimmers". Two of the men are killed at the tree in full view of their friends. The terror mounts, three attempt to make it back to the tents, they are taken one at a time. The screams of the dying spurs on the endorphin production in thos still living. The four who fled to the forest heard their friends go silent. Invisible arms reached out and crushed the life ouy of them. The last one never stopped praying, he had found peace within, his endorphins dropped to nothing. Out of respect for his faith or whatever he died of exposure instead of injuries.

Originally posted by raptor28
It was ultimately discovered that what happened was an avalanche that occurred setting the string of events in play. The avalanche destroyed a large portion of the camp and those who were in their tents cut their way out. After a period of exposure, the skiers developed severe hypothermia. One of the odd things about hypothermia is that it can cause those affected to behave very strangely, i.e., removing articles of clothing in attempts to warm themselves. This occurs secondarily to a decreased amount of cerebral blood flow, thereby inhibiting the brain from processing input properly. It is somewhat of a commonplace occurrence for hypothermic patients to remove clothes actually.
The missing tongue is also easily explained in that it was most likely removed by a wild animal. Animals will tend to eat warm, soft tissue rather than cold, toughened tissue, i.e., frozen muscle in a state of rigor mortis. Going after the tongue makes perfect sense in this case since the mouth would most likely have been closed, therefore retaining a greater amount of heat and thereby attracting the animal(s).
This was essentially a perfect storm of crappy things to happen, but it has been explained adequately enough to rule out extremely non-parsimonious explanations.

[edit on 9-4-2009 by raptor28]

sounds like a "swamp gas" explanation form the gov't to me

all well and good but it fails to address the radiation

I think the gov't was testing a weapons system, and they were in the old wrong place wrong time