On the night of 1 to 2 February 1959, a tragedy struck on the slopes of Mount Otorten in the Northern Urals: a group of tourists led by Igor Dyatlov died under mysterious circumstances. More than 50 years have passed since the death of the group, but the reason why the tourists, among whom were quite experienced people, died, is still unknown. A wide variety of assumptions have been put forward on this score. We decided to tell about ten secrets associated with the death of the Dyatlov tourist group.
Mysterious names
A group of students of the Ural Polytechnic Institute, led by an experienced leader Igor Dyatlov, set off on a campaign in the Northern Urals. Why did tourists head to the top of Otorten? Perhaps they were attracted by her mystery, which followed from the stories of the hunters, and even by the name itself. According to some assumptions, it means "don't go there."
Dyatlov found himself in unfavorable conditions for spending the night and decided to pitch a tent on the slope of height 1079, so that in the morning of the next day, without losing altitude, go to Mount Otorten, to which 10 kilometers remained in a straight line. For the last night, the students settled down at the foot of Mount Holatchakhl (translated as “mountain of the dead”). According to the Vogul legend, the name was given long before the death of the Dyatlov group because of the Mansi group that died here, which also included nine people.
Suddenly abandoned tent
The location and presence of items in the tent (almost all shoes, all outer clothing, personal belongings and diaries) testified that the tent was abandoned suddenly and at the same time by all tourists. Moreover, as it was established in the subsequent forensic examination, the leeward side of the tent, where the tourists were located with their heads, was cut from the inside in two places, in areas that ensure the free exit of a person through these cuts.
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Below the tent, for up to 500 meters in the snow, traces of people walking from the tent into the valley and into the forest were preserved … Inspection of the tracks showed that some of them were left almost with bare feet (for example, in one cotton sock), others had a typical display of a felt boot, feet, shod in a soft sock, etc. The tracks of the tracks were located close to one another, converged and again diverged not far from one another. Closer to the border of the forest, the tracks were covered with snow. Neither in the tent, nor near it were found signs of a struggle or the presence of other people.
Mysterious circumstances of death
1.5 kilometers from the tent, in the river valley, near the old cedar, the tourists after fleeing from the tent lit a fire and here they began to die one by one. One man came out with his shoes on, wearing woolen socks. This footprint of bare feet is then traced down into the valley. There was every reason to build a version that it was this person who gave the alarm and he himself had no time to put on his shoes. This means that there was some kind of terrible force that frightened not only him, but all others. Something made them urgently leave the tent and seek refuge below, in the taiga.
On February 26, 1959, below, at the edge of the taiga, the remains of a small fire were found and here they found the bodies of tourists Doroshenko and Krivonischenko, undressed to their underwear. Then, in the direction of the tent, the body of Igor Dyatlov was found, not far from him two more - Slobodin and Kolmogorov. The last three were the most powerful and strong-willed individuals, they crawled from the fire to the tent for clothes - this is quite obvious from their postures. A subsequent autopsy revealed that the three died from hypothermia - they froze, although they were dressed better than the others. Already in May, near the fire, under a five-meter layer of snow, experts found the dead Dubinina, Zolotarev, Thibeaux-Brignolle and Kolevatov. On external examination, there was no damage on their bodies.
Unexplained injuries
During the autopsy, surprising facts were revealed. Dubinina, Thibault-Brignolle and Zolotarev had extensive internal bodily injuries incompatible with life. Lyudmila Dubinina had ten broken ribs, one fragment of a rib penetrated into the heart.
Zolotarev had six broken ribs. Such injuries usually occur when a strong directed force acts on a person, for example, a car at high speed. But such damage cannot be obtained from falling from a height of one's own growth. In the vicinity of the mountain there were boulders and stones of various configurations covered with snow, but they were not in the way of tourists, and, naturally, no one threw these stones.
There are no external bruises either. Hence, there was a directional force that acted selectively on individuals. The nature of the injuries to all members of the Dyatlov group suggests that these injuries were received from the impact of an extremely powerful air blast wave. Indeed, at the time of the impact of the force that caused the injury, all members of the Dyatlov group were in different places, at a fairly significant distance from each other.
Unusual skin color of the victims
On the open areas of the skin of the face, neck and hands of people from the Dyatlov group, a "sunburn-tan" formed, which puzzled many researchers.
This effect can be explained if we assume that the tragedy is associated with the fall of a meteorite. According to Alexander Nevsky's theory of an electric-discharge explosion, at the moment of the formation of a pillar of an electric-discharge explosion, powerful ultraviolet, infrared, X-ray and neutron radiation is generated. The tent of Dyatlov's group turned out to be very close to the epicenter of the explosion, as a result of which people were subjected to a stronger effect of an electric discharge explosion, as evidenced by burns to the face, neck and hands, as well as severe injuries possibly received from the impact of the blast wave.
Methane explosion
According to another version, the explosion of methane could have caused the tragedy. Methane is produced by biological processes in bogs (anaerobic fermentation). Since the processes in the depths of the bog stop much later than on the surface, it is likely that methane will accumulate under a layer of ice or dense snow. The fire destroyed the cap covering the air-methane mixture and provoked an explosion of this mixture. You can simulate this effect by throwing two-thirds or three-quarters of a spent lighter into a fire, and then imagine an explosion that is many times stronger. This version also explains the scorched branches.
Yuri Yudin, the only survivor, hugs goodbye to Lyudmila Dubinina. Behind - Igor Dyatlov, on the right - Nikolay Thibault-Brignolle. January 28, 1959, settlement of the 2nd Northern mine.
Extinguished bonfire
Researchers wonder why the fire went out. Most likely, it went out not from lack of fuel, but from the fact that the people who were around the fire did not see what to do, or were blinded. A few meters from the fire was a dry tree, and under it was a dead tree that had not been used. In the presence of a fire, it is more than strange not to use ready-made fuel. Stored fuel remained intact.
Investigators noted the presence of burn marks on the trees standing alone. In order for the trunks to receive thermal burns, the temperature on their surface had to be about 500 degrees. The temperature of the column of an electric discharge explosion is at least 1500–2000 degrees. From the bright flash of the explosion, some of the members of the Dyatlov group could receive light burns to their eyes. Thus, the extinguished fire rather confirms the version of the electric discharge explosion, which led to the extinction of the fire and burns to the trees.
Secret tests
It is also interesting that the former prosecutor Yevgeny Okishev tells about a case when one of the military watched some outbreaks in the direction of the tragedy.
According to the former prosecutor, the regional prosecutor's office appealed to the General Prosecutor's Office with a request to establish whether any tests were carried out at the place where the tourists were killed. After that, the Deputy Prosecutor General came to the scene and took the case. He instructed the regional prosecutor's office to explain the tragedy of Dyatlov's group as an accident. According to some observers, the senior prosecutor's office official knew something that the local prosecutors did not know. He may have been aware of the secret military tests being carried out in the area.
The group sets up a tent on the slope of Holatchakhl. Among the published photographs, this one is considered one of the last taken on February 1, 1959. According to the investigation, it was taken at about five o'clock in the afternoon.
Northern Lights
Some researchers believe that the deaths of tourists may have been caused by the northern lights. It is known that when the aurora occurs, some people fall into a strange state. They completely detach themselves from the world around them, talk excitedly with an invisible interlocutor, sway to the beat of imaginary music. They often move like sleepwalkers, leaving home for the tundra.
After that, people vaguely remember that they heard sounds of fabulous beauty and obeyed the Polar Star, calling to its true habitat - the ancient land of ancestors. The phenomenon was called “the call of the ancestors”.
Scientists attribute this effect to low-frequency electromagnetic waves produced by the aurora.
In addition, such a natural phenomenon as the aurora is accompanied by infrasound. It is indistinguishable by ear, but biologically active. Under its influence, people experience an incomprehensible fear and even horror, in a panic they begin to behave in a completely unreasonable way and finally leave the ship. Perhaps something similar happened to tourists in the Northern Urals in 1959.
Unusual celestial phenomenon
On February 18, 1959, in the newspaper "Tagil Worker" there was an article entitled "An unusual celestial phenomenon." It told about a luminous ball that appeared in the area of the death of the Dyatlov group: “At 6 hours 55 minutes local time yesterday in the east-southeast at an altitude of 20 degrees from the horizon a luminous ball the size of the apparent diameter of the moon appeared.
The ball moved east-northeast. The highest altitude above the horizon - 30 degrees - was reached at about 07.05. Continuing to move, this unusual celestial phenomenon weakened and blurred. Thinking that it is somehow connected with the satellite, they turned on the receiver, but there was no signal reception."
Forty years after the closure of the case about the Dyatlov group, former prosecutor Ivanov also gave his “testimony” to journalists: “In May 1959, we examined the surroundings of the scene and found that some young trees on the border of the forest were burned, as it were - these traces were not concentric or another form, there was no epicenter. This was confirmed by the direction of the beam or strong, but completely unknown, in any case, to us energy, acting selectively: the snow is not melted, the trees are not damaged."
This information led many to believe that the expedition could die due to the interference of unusual natural phenomena (for example, ball lightning) or even aliens.