There is probably no person in Russia who has not heard about the death of a group of students and their leader Dyatlov in the Ural Mountains. It was a well-equipped expedition for those times, which moved on skis in February 1959 along a difficult but already developed route. Communication with the students was interrupted in a strange way. Rescuers managed to find their last parking lot and found only icy corpses. The circumstances of the death of young athletic people found in the mountains still give rise to many rumors and assumptions. They blame natural disasters, local residents, aliens, secret services, or testing weapons by the military.
It turns out that similar incidents happen in other parts of the world. One of them took place near the American town of Yuba City, located in California. In the winter of 1978, five friends Jack Madruga, Harry Mathias, Theodore Weicher, Jack Hewitt and William Sterling decided to gather on the basketball court. They were young, physically strong young people aged 25 to 30 years. But all the comrades had slight deviations in mental and mental development. They became friends in a support group. Men knew how to take care of themselves and had basic social skills. They were allowed to drive a car, and two even completed military service.
The basketball court was located 50 miles from Yuba City. The game lasted until 10 pm. Friends replenished stocks of gasoline, chips and nuts and headed home. But they didn't make it to the city.
Three days later, their car was found on a mountain road in the Plumas National Forest. This highway goes in the opposite direction from the desired one. The car doors were closed, but the glass of one of the windows was lowered. Inside the car, there were packages of chips and other food. The car was in good working order, but there were no people nearby.
When the family members of the missing basketball players were interviewed, it turned out that none of them wanted to go to the reserve. They promised to return immediately after training. Since the scene was covered with a thick layer of snow, it was decided to postpone the search until spring.
When the snow melted, the first body was found in a forest hut, where tourists and rescuers usually stop for rest. This house was 19 miles from the previously discovered car. The corpse belonged to Ted Weicher. His face was overgrown with a long beard, as if not shaved for several months. The body of the deceased was not only fully clothed, but also wrapped in a layer of eight blankets. Only for some reason the legs remained bare. The impression was that someone wanted to warm this person, but could not do this, although there was a lot of firewood in the hut. On the table lay someone else's faulty watch. There was a lot of food in the house, but for some reason Ted died of hunger. However, judging by the opened cans and packages, someone ate these products.
The next day, eight miles from the hut, the bodies of Madruga and Sterling were found, and two days later the remains of Hewitt. All of them were eaten by predatory animals. Most likely, the men died of hypothermia. Matthias's body could not be found. Only his shoes were found in the hut.
The mysterious death of five tough guys raised a lot of questions. According to one version, they drove in the opposite direction and got lost. According to another assumption, they were lured and abandoned. And since the friends were not mentally developed enough, they could not find their bearings and went to look for the right path. Or perhaps Matthias had an attack of schizophrenia, and he attacked his comrades, and they fled in fright. And where the mentally ill himself then went, remained unknown.
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