The tragedy that happened over 60 years ago at the Dyatlov Pass continues to worry Russians. Professional investigators, historians, and public activists offer more and more new versions of the death of nine young people. Some of these theories are associated with a tract located in the Northern Urals, where a group of tourists went. According to the beliefs of the Mansi people, the site of the tragedy is notorious, and the height of 1079 (Holatchakhl) is called the mountain of the dead by the indigenous people.
Case reopened
Recently, all Russian news agencies reported sensational news: the case of the mysterious death of a group led by Igor Dyatlov, a student of the Ural Polytechnic Institute, has been reopened. Prosecutors organized a press conference on this matter, promising to carefully consider all 75 versions of what happened, put forward by various researchers.
As you know, on January 31, 1959, members of the UPI tourist club tried to climb Mount Holatchakhl, marked on the maps as height 1079. But the plan did not succeed. Then seven young people and two girls went down to the Auspiya river, organizing a camp there for temporary residence. They were not going to give up, planning to conquer the height in the coming days. On the evening of February 1, the group pitched tents near the pass, which would later be named Igor Dyatlov.
According to most researchers, the tragedy occurred on the night of February 2. What exactly happened remains to be seen by the prosecutors. The numb corpses of young people were found with the help of local Mansi hunters.
In the spring of 1959, the experienced Sverdlovsk criminalist Lev Ivanov tried to find out the cause of the death of tourists. But for three months of investigative and operational activities, he still did not understand this complex case, which then remained unsolved.
Mansi suspected
The very first version of the criminologists, which seemed to them the most plausible, was the murder of Dyatlovites committed by local residents. Representatives of the indigenous small people of Mansi were suspected of the crime. And although prosecutors later abandoned this assumption, a number of enthusiastic researchers still adhere to this version.
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One of them is Valentin Degterev, a journalist and public figure from Nizhny Tagil. In his interviews and media appearances, he claims that Mansi hunters were following a group of tourists. The journalist came to this conclusion as a result of an analysis of the diaries kept by some of the Dyatlovites and the pictures they took during their last trip. These films were found at the scene of the tragedy, along with the cameras of young people.
However, most researchers reject the version of the Mansi's involvement in the death of tourists. Thus, the well-known documentary writer Alexei Rakitin, in his book "Dyatlov Pass: The Mystery of the Death of Sverdlovsk Tourists in February 1959 and Atomic Espionage in the Soviet Urals", criticized prosecutors for trying to quickly close the case by hanging the murder on local residents. The author believes that the Dyatlovites could accidentally witness the testing of top-secret weapons, which led to their death.
The ethnographer Aleksey Slepukhin, who specializes in the study of the culture and traditions of the indigenous peoples of the Urals and Siberia, also denies the involvement of the Mansi in the murder. At a press conference organized by the non-profit foundation in memory of the Dyatlov group on the 57th anniversary of the tragedy, the ethnographer noted that it was the Mansi who helped the investigators find the remains of tourists. If experienced hunters were involved in the murder, they would have hidden the traces of the crime so much that no one would ever be able to find either the corpses of the Dyatlovites or their camp.
Sacred places
One of the reasons why accusations against the Mansi do not subside is their worship of sacred places, which in the language of this people are called "yalping-ma". It's no secret that Orthodox baptism does not prevent the inhabitants of the Urals and Siberia from preserving their ancient beliefs. The pagan cult of ancestors and Christianity get along well in the minds of these people.
The encyclopedia "Mythology of Mansi", prepared for publication by the staff of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, indicates that any place can be sacred to representatives of the indigenous people: mountains, lakes, rivers, groves. There shamans perform their ritual actions, sacrifice the heads of totem animals, most often bears, to the spirits.
Since the yalping-ma play the role of secret sanctuaries, access there is closed to outsiders. This is especially true for women, even mothers and spouses of Mansi hunters are not allowed to visit such places. It is believed that beautiful ladies can offend spirits with their presence, and they will no longer help in business, in hunting for fur-bearing animals and fishing.
Some researchers believe that Igor Dyatlov and his comrades were not just tourists. They could go in search of the mysterious Mansi sanctuary, where they hoped to discover ancient artifacts. Allegedly for this, the members of the expedition were killed at the direction of the shamans, who protected their yalping-ma from prying eyes.
Death mountain
However, the Kholatchakhl mountain, as ethnographers found out, was not sacred. On the contrary, all the Mansi tried to bypass it, since this place has enjoyed a bad reputation among the people since ancient times.
The Dyatlov Pass tract is located on the most northwestern outskirts of the Sverdlovsk region, 128 km from the city of Ivdel. The height of Mount Kholatchakhl is about 1096 m 70 cm. Its exact name in the Mansi language “Holat-Syakhyl” translates as “Mountain of the Dead” or “Mountain of Death”. The writer Tatyana Shnurovozova in the book "Mysterious Places of Russia" explains such a terrible name with an ancient legend about the bloodthirsty pagan goddess Sorni-Nai.
“According to the existing legend, in immemorial times on this mountain there was a local sanctuary dedicated to the goddess of death, each time shamans performed a ritual of sacrifice on it, killing exactly 9 animals. It could be deer, ducks, any other living creatures. But once, for unknown reasons, the shamans sacrificed 9 young Mansi hunters to the goddess, and the goddess of death liked this sacrifice so much that she began to prefer people to all the other victims,”wrote T. V. Shnurovozova in her book.
The Mansi avoid even coming close to Mount Holatchakhl, and going there in the amount of 9 people is generally regarded as suicide. After all, a bloodthirsty goddess can take travelers for a sacrifice offered to her. It is noteworthy that the neighboring peak in the Mansi language is called "Otorten", which means "do not go there."
The Dyatlovites could not help but hear warnings from the Mansi, because they stayed with the hunters during the trip, but Soviet atheist students did not take the stories about ancient spirits seriously.
global flood
Another Mansi legend, explaining the death of the Dyatlovites, is associated with the Flood that happened in time immemorial. Almost the entire tribe was destroyed by the flood, only 1 woman and 10 men survived. They climbed Mount Holatchakhl, hoping to escape from the raging stream. But one after another 9 people died.
And now, when the last man and woman had already said goodbye to life, the water suddenly began to recede. The surviving couple was the key to the revival of the Mansi people, and since then the fatal peak in the minds of people began to be associated with death.
Nine evil sorcerers
There is also one more (third in a row) legend about Mount Kholatchakhl. It says that at this place the shamans of the Mansi people fought with nine powerful sorcerers. The victory over the forces of evil was won, but the enemies turned into bloodthirsty spirits, unable to leave the fatal peak, because there they are held by a powerful spell.
Mansi believe that mere mortals should never come close to the accursed mountain, and not every shaman runs the risk of turning to this ancient evil force.
There were other victims
All these legends might not have been believed if they had not been confirmed by inexplicable deaths. According to the researchers, the death of the Dyatlov group was not the only tragedy that happened in that bad place.
For example, T. V. Shnurovozova wrote that in 1961 three helicopters with geologists crashed over Mount Kholatchakhl. Moreover, the total number of victims of these air crashes is also 9 people.
In total, according to the estimates of local residents, in the vicinity of the fatal peak, 27 victims disappeared or died without a trace. They were mainly scientists and tourists. Back in the 30s of the twentieth century, it was reported about a woman geologist who died at the pass. And in 2003, a helicopter almost crashed over the mountain of death, but 9 people on board miraculously survived.
There are rumors among the people that the authorities concealed the death of 9 prisoners in Ivdellag, who made a daring escape in the late 50s of the twentieth century. Allegedly, the guards of the correctional institution, who went in pursuit, found the corpses of prisoners on the slope of Mount Holatchakhl. Then no investigation was carried out.
There is also talk of researchers from Leningrad who tried to uncover the secret of the death of the Dyatlovites, but only repeated their fate. True, there is no official confirmation of all these mysterious deaths.
Orynganym Tanatarova
