The small mountain Kholat-Syakhyl in the north of the Urals has long been notorious. Its name in the language of local aborigines - Mansi - means "Mountain of the Dead". The legend tells about 9 hunters who died here in ancient times.
Since then, a curse has dominated the mountain: if 9 people are on it, they will die. The Mansi laughed at the superstitions, but in February 1959 the legend reminded of itself: 9 young tourists, led by Igor Dyatlov, died on the mountainside for unknown reasons. The mystery of this tragedy has not yet been solved … Judging by the latest entries in the diaries of the participants in the campaign, Dyatlov's group reached the Kholat-Syakhyl slope on February 1 and settled for the night. What happened next is unknown. Rescuers found the group's tent with food, equipment and … shoes. Judging by the traces that have survived, the tourists suddenly left their shelter, without having time to put on their shoes or even fully dress. After a long search, rescuers found the bodies, they were located almost in a straight line from the tent for more than 1.5 kilometers. Everyone was struck by the unnatural skin color of the deceased - orange-red. Some of the bodies were terribly disfigured: one of the girls had no eyes and tongue, two of the boys had broken ribs, and the third had a broken skull. What happened?
An avalanche?
According to one of the versions, the tourists left the tent because of a sudden avalanche from the mountainside. The snow layer collapsed at night, taking the group by surprise. This explains the severe injuries of several tourists, a mess in clothes (they grabbed the first thing that came to hand) and a hasty evacuation from the danger zone. The version is good, but … implausible. None of the rescuers, among whom there were many experienced climbers, saw neither the traces of an avalanche, nor a snow "slab" that pressed down on the tent. On the contrary, the tourists chose a good place for a tent, they put it up professionally. She could not collapse on the sleeping "Dyatlovites" - the avalanche danger simply did not exist.
Conflict with hunters?
The first suspects were local Mansi hunters. According to the investigation, they quarreled with tourists and attacked them. Some were seriously injured, others managed to escape and then died from hypothermia. Several Mansi were arrested, but they categorically denied their guilt. It is not known how their fate would have developed (the law enforcement agencies of those years were fluent in the art of obtaining recognition), but the examination established that the cuts on the tourists' tent were made not from the outside, but from the inside. Not the attackers "burst" into the tent, but the tourists themselves tried to get out of it. In addition, no extraneous traces were found around the tent, supplies remained intact (and they were of considerable value for the Mansi). Therefore, the hunters had to be released.
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MIA Special Forces Error?
One of the versions of the conspiracy theorists: the Dyatlov group was liquidated by a special unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which pursued the escaped prisoners (I must say, there were really a lot of "zones" in the northern Urals). At night the special forces ran into tourists in the forest, took them for "prisoners" and killed them. At the same time, for some reason, the mysterious special forces did not use either cold arms or firearms: there were no stab wounds or bullet wounds on the bodies of the dead. In addition, it is known that in the 50s. escaping prisoners at night in the wilderness of the forest were usually not pursued - too great a risk. They conveyed the directions to the authorities in the nearest settlements and waited: in the forest you cannot last long without supplies, willy-nilly the fugitives had to go to "civilization". And the main thing! Investigators requested information about the escapes of the "convicts" from the surrounding "zones". It turned outthere were no shoots in late January - early February. Therefore, there was no one to catch the special forces on Holat-Syakhyl.
Elimination of witnesses?
But the conspiracy theorists are not appeased: there was no special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which means there was "special forces of the KGB", and Dyatlov's group was eliminated as unwanted witnesses to the testing of some secret weapon. But why should the almighty KGB create so many difficulties for itself: allow dozens of rescuers to test the "superweapon", allow them to thoroughly survey the area? Isn't it easier to announce that an avalanche has covered the tourists and not allow any investigations? There would be no legends about the "secret of the Dyatlov group" that excite the imagination - only a few lines of the newspaper obituary would remain. Many people have died in the mountains since 1959, how many do we remember today?
Foreign intelligence agents?
And here is the most "exotic" version: it turns out that Dyatlov's group was liquidated … by foreign agents! Why? To disrupt the KGB operation: after all, the student tour was only a cover for the "controlled delivery" of radioactive clothing to enemy agents. The explanations for this amazing theory are not without wit. It is known that the investigators found traces of radioactive substances on the clothes of the three dead tourists. Conspiracy theorists linked this fact with the biography of one of the victims - Georgy Krivonischenko. He worked in the closed nuclear city of Ozersk (Chelyabinsk-40), where plutonium was produced for atomic bombs. Samples of radioactive clothing provided invaluable information for foreign intelligence.
Krivonischenko, who worked for the KGB, was supposed to meet with enemy agents near Mount Kholat-Syakhyl and hand over the radioactive "material" to them. But Krivonischenko “got his way” on something, and then the enemy's agents, covering their tracks, destroyed the entire group of Dyatlov. The killers acted in a sophisticated way: threatening with weapons, but not using them (they did not want to leave traces), they drove the young people out of the tent into the frost without shoes, to certain death. For some time the saboteurs waited, then moved in the footsteps of the group and brutally finished off those who were not frozen. Thriller, and more! Now let's think about it. How could the KGB officers plan for a "controlled delivery" in a remote area that they did not control? Where could you neither observe the operation, nor insure your agent? Absurd. And where did the spies come from among the Ural forests,where was their base? Only the invisible man will not "light up" in small surrounding villages: their residents know each other by sight and immediately pay attention to strangers. And why the adversaries, who conceived an ingenious staging of the death of tourists from hypothermia, suddenly seemed to go mad and began to torture their victims - breaking ribs, pulling out their tongues, eyes? And how did these invisible maniacs manage to escape the persecution of the ubiquitous KGB? The conspiracy theorists have no answer to all these questions.eyes? And how did these invisible maniacs manage to escape the persecution of the ubiquitous KGB? The conspiracy theorists have no answer to all these questions.eyes? And how did these invisible maniacs manage to escape the persecution of the ubiquitous KGB? The conspiracy theorists have no answer to all these questions.
Nuclear weapon test or ballistic missile test?
Having dealt with the enemy's intrigues, we will consider the version of a secret nuclear test in the area where the Dyatlov group is located (this is how they try to explain the traces of radiation on the clothes of the victims). Alas, from October 1958 to September 1961, the USSR did not conduct any nuclear explosions, observing the Soviet-American agreement on a moratorium on such tests. Both we and the Americans carefully monitored the observance of the "nuclear silence". In addition, with an atomic explosion, traces of radiation would have been on all members of the group, but the examination recorded radioactivity only on the clothes of three tourists. Some "experts" explain the unnatural orange-red color of the skin and clothing of the deceased by the fall of the Soviet ballistic missile R-7 in the area of the Dyatlov group's parking area: it allegedly frightened the tourists, and the fuel vapors, being on the clothes and skin, caused such a strange reaction. But rocket fuel does not "color" a person, but instantly kills. Tourists would have died outside their tent. In addition, as the investigation established, no rocket launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome were carried out in the period from January 25 to February 5, 1959.
Meteorite?
The forensic medical examination, examining the nature of the injuries inflicted on the members of the group, concluded that they "are very similar to the injury caused by an air blast wave." Examining the area, investigators found traces of fire on some trees. The impression was that some unknown force selectively affected both the dead people and the trees. At the end of the 1920s. scientists were able to assess the consequences of the impact of such a natural phenomenon. It was in the area of the fall of the Tunguska meteorite. According to the recollections of the members of that expedition, the heavily burnt trees at the epicenter of the explosion could have been near the survivors. Scientists could not logically explain such a strange "selectivity" of the flame. Could not find out all the details and investigators in the case of "Dyatlovtsy": on May 28, 1959 "from above" came the command -all materials should be classified and submitted to a special archive. The final conclusion of the investigation turned out to be very vague: "It should be considered that the cause of the death of tourists was a spontaneous force, which people were unable to overcome."
The mystery of the Dyatlov group was never solved. From time to time, researchers climb the "Mountain of the Dead" in search of answers. But even the most desperate extreme sportsmen never dare to go to Holat-Sahyl with a group of 9 people.