Ep. 1 - The Dyatlov Pass Incident

[Music] Welcome to History's Great Mysteries, a podcast where I dive into some of the most compelling and unexplained events in human history. I'm your host, Nick, and I thank you all for your interest in my podcast. This is the very first episode, so I want to take some time to explain what exactly I'm all about. I find that when it comes to unexplained mysteries and phenomena, far too many of the presenters be it TV shows, other podcasts, articles, etc. are way too quick to jump to Atlantis and exciting theories. This is not a show where I'll be pointing at aliens or Bigfoot as a go-to explanation. Each and every event I put forward in this podcast will be hand-chosen and researched by myself. And as such, I can guarantee that I will only offer the most compelling and factually-driven cases to which there can be many answers. So, while I hope to maintain a logical and scientific foundation for this podcast, I will also present the cases with personality and passion, and keep an open mind to the infinite possibilities. After all, there is so much that we've yet to understand about the world around us. It is my home, that as I put forward the details of a mystery, you, the listener, can begin to formulate your own explanations and theories. I'm extremely excited for this journey, and to introduce to you guys some of the most incredible incursions in history, and maybe if we're lucky, our discussions can move us closer to understanding the mysteries of our past. So, strap in, grab a coffee, or a glass of wine, or whatever suits you, and get ready to dive into our first mystery. This event takes place in the Ural Mountains of Russia in the early winter months of 1959. It involves the mysterious deaths of nine Russian hikers who were found under unexplained circumstances after attempting to cross-country trek through a remote portion of the Ural Mountains. The events surrounding their deaths are so mind-boggling that even 60 years later, after tireless investigation from countless sources, there are still no accepted cause of the tragedy. This is the "The Outlaw of Pass" incident. As I dive into this entire incident, there's a lot of stuff that was going on, like before, during, and afterwards, this is a large and well-documented tragedy. So, hopefully, as I'm going along with these details, you guys can follow along well, and just kind of come up with your own theories or explanations to how and when things are happening. There's a lot to digest here, so hopefully I can do it in a way that is well understood by you guys. But anyways, let's just jump in here. First off, this begins when a man by the name of Igor Diyotlov, assembles a team of 10 individuals. Igor Diyotlov and most of these individuals attended a nearby institute called the Ural Polytechnical Institute. It was a college nearby. All like college-aid kids, like 20 to 30-ish. And every single one of these group members is a very experienced hiker and/or skier. And in Soviet Russia, at this time, again, this is in 1959 in Russia. There's a certification system that goes for this hiking and skiing and the outdoorsmanship. And they are rated as grade two. And this hike, the completion of this hike, would certify them as grade three, which is the reason the purpose that most of these guys signed on to this team to do this very dangerous, but also very rewarding, a trek throughout the Ural Mountains. And again, grade three at that time was the highest certification level, so it's a big deal. The group consists in, this is kind of important. I'm going to give you the names of all of the people in this group. You don't really need to memorize them, but it's kind of important to differentiate them, I guess, as I tell the story. It consisted of, of course, there was the 23-year-old Igor Diyatlov, who was leader of the group. There's Yuri Doroshenko, Ludumila Dubinina, Yuri Kravana-Shanko, Alexander Klovatav, Zina Kolomagorov, Rustam Selobdin, Nikolai Therobo-Brikonos, Zemyon Zalatoriav, and Yuri Yudin. And I completely apologize if I butchered any of those names. I am not Russian in any way, shape, or form. Again, these were just all Russian names, so I apologize if I got any of them wrong, but I am trying my best. So in total, there are eight males and two females. Now, I really cannot stress this enough. These are not your average college kids. They are very well trained and very well suited and determined for this expedition. Furthermore, there was a very extensive preparation period done by Diyatlov before this. So through and through what this trek was going to be was hopefully through January 27th to around February 12th. It was going to be pretty long time, half a month. It was going to cover roughly 300 kilometers or 190 miles in total. This timeline is important because when Diyatlov was planning the exact dates, he actually informed a friend at the university. He would send a telegram as soon as the group arrived back in the nearby town of Vizai. Vizai is the closest town to where this whole trek was going on. He told the friend to expect the telegram no later than the 12th. But in truth, he expected the expedition might take longer due to the nature of this remote cross-country skiing and to maybe expect it back the telegram on the 13th or 14th. We know that they arrived and we first tracking their movements when they arrived in Vizai on the 25th of January. Much of the expedition is tracked actually very accurately because the group was taking very detailed journal and diary entries and photographs every step of the way, which we have all of this. It is very well documented how they went about this journey. On the 26th of January, the group left Vizai to arrive at a logging site that was closer to the starting line of their trip. It is the morning of the 27th that they actually suit up and officially begin their cross-country skiing trip. However, one member, Yuri Yudin, one of the males there, quickly decided that he was going to turn around and stay back. There's conflicting reports, but I'm actually just going to take credence to a primary source. It was Zina's diary entry that says he decided to turn back on the 27th and it wasn't due to like a sickness, but rather it was due to a chronic joint in sciatic pain that was flaring up at the time. It inhibited him from continuing the journey. It was unknown to him at this time, but that joint pain would actually save his life in the end. The remaining nine hikers continued on. Journal entries and photographs indicate that the following three days went on without incident whatsoever. Whether it was reported to be nice, quote-unquote, although the temperatures are still well-biz low, zero the entire time. So nice is very relative to what they're experienced to, but it was warm for what they were expecting. On January 31st, the group reached the edge of a large forested area and they began to prepare for a tougher route of travel through these exposed mountain sides of the past. Their plan was to climb an altitude and reach the peak of a mountain called Mount Ahtortin. This was also around the time when the members began to experience like a worsening of the weather. The temperature was dropping and harsh winds were beginning to pick up. And this also made visibility quite restricted. On February 1st, the group struggled through these conditions and they only covered about two kilometers or 1.24 miles on that entire day on February 1st. And this is where things really began to go awry. On that long day, the outlaw changed his plan slightly. He led the group up the side of a mountain called Mount Kalat-Sakeel. And prophetically enough, Kalat-Sakeel is actually translated to "dead mountain" in the local mancy language, so take that as you will. Once upon the ridge line of Kalat-Sakeel, the group trudged onwards only a little bit before setting up their tent for the night. It would be a "cold night" which meant there was no campfire plan. They would just stay in the tent for warmth. Many wonder why Dialloc made the decision to camp in such an exposed and harsh area right on the side of this mountain? When at the base of the mountain roughly 1.5 kilometers or slightly less than a mile, there was a covered wooded area that would have been much more protected from the harsh weather. Perhaps the group was too tired to make the extra effort, but many suggest that Dialloc didn't want to lose altitude that they had already gained. So lo and behold, this is where they put their tent for the night. Now the group was using a large makeshift tent that was actually just two smaller tents stitched together. It was ample enough to hold all nine members and their belongings, along with an internal stove system that was designed to vent out the side of the tent when they cooked. The night began uneventfully enough. There's actually photographs of them setting up the tent that night. And they also, during that night, made a small satirical pamphlet that will go more into later that might speak to maybe they were in high spirits at the beginning of the night. This is however the furthest the group would ever make it on their journey for it is shortly afterwards on that night that our mystery begins. On February 12th, Dialloc's friend at the university was not concerned when no telegram arrived. And again, you know, an extra day or two for this strenuous form of travel was almost expected. However, over the next few days, people started getting a little bit concerned, namely members of the family of these skiers. So it was on February 20th when a formal rescue operation was launched that included volunteers and friends from the university, along with government personnel and several volunteers from that local mancy tribe in the area. It wouldn't be until February 26th that rescuers first spotted something ominous on the side of Mt. Colotte-Sequille. It was a friend of Igor Diatloff who first made this discovery, and she got closer he began to recognize the tent that belonged to Diatloff because in fact it was actually he and Diatloff that stitched that tent together almost a year prior, so he recognized it immediately. However he also realized very quickly that something was wrong. The tent was almost entirely covered in snow, meaning that it had been sitting there in snowfall for quite some time. And when the rescuers were able to actually clear away the snow, they were met with quite a baffling sight. The tent had been ripped open by what appeared to be knife cuts. It would later be proven that these cuts were made from inside the tent rather than from the outside which was for speculated. Something that I found rather important is the question exactly how large these cuts were, not a lot of people talk about this, were they cuts that were just seemingly random or were they cuts large enough to make a exit right from the tent. And through pictures of the tent that was found on that day, we can see that there were actually a couple of large enough cuts in the midline of the tent that people could surmise ably pass through them. So I'm going to take that as yes, these cuts were made for exiting the tent. Inside the tent, there was almost all the groups belonging to the stove, shoes, clothes, sleeping bags, etc. But no one was actually physically inside the tent. Now this is where the true investigation began. Because in the rescuers realized at this point something is wrong. According to first-hand reports, there was evidence that someone had left the tent with no shoes on, relieved themselves near the entrance of the tent, and then proceeded down the mountain without returning back to the tent to grab shoes. It's also around the tent that they find Igor Deltlof's jacket on the ground just outside laying in the snow. It's also worth mentioning that there is no trace of blood found in or around the tent. Also rescuers noticed in addition to that one set of footprints where they relieved themselves and then walked down the mountain. There were eight or nine other tracks leading away from the tent in that direction down the mountain. Other investigators would insist that these tracks were consistent with even walking, meaning it didn't seem like the group was in a full-on panic sprint as they headed down the mountain. Other investigators kind of refute this idea that maybe that's just the nature of walking in needy-pes-no. You really have to pick up your legs with every step. Some kind of a few how calm they were when they were walking down the mountain, but you can really see both sides of the story. Now as the rescuers head down the mountain, they start heading towards this wooded area that I mentioned earlier. When they get to this wooded area, right on the tree line, they first see remnants of a fire that was made on the ground that has been long since put out. Around this fire is where they make the first two horrific discoveries. They find the half-naked bodies of Doroshenko and Krabana Shenko lying next to this fire pit dead. And get this, these bodies were found to be wearing literally nothing but their undergarments, no shoes, no gloves, nothing else. It would later be deduced that these two died of hypothermia, although it is worth mentioning that they had some bruising and abrasions on their body that was labeled as non-life threatening and not the reason that they died. Even further, the fire was made beneath a tree and rescuers noticed that about 5 meters in the air on this tree, there were a lot of broken branches indicating that someone had climbed that tree. Now of course you're asking all the same questions that the rescuers were asking. Why in the world did they leave their tent? Why were they only in their underwear? Why did they walk here and then start a small fire, climb a tree, and more importantly, where are the others? It didn't take long for the searchers to come across 3 more bodies. Back on the slope in the direction of the tent, the team began to uncover group members who appeared to be traveling back up the mountain, probably back towards the tent, like I said. This is deduced from their body positions upon death. Like Krabana Shenko and Doroshenko, these members had also died from hypothermia, presumably. Most likely they collapsed from a mixture of like exhaustion and hypothermia. Like the two men at the small makeshift campfire, each of these individuals were found with very little clothing, although it was later noted that some of the clothing they were wearing actually belonged to Doroshenko and Krabana Shenko who died at the fire. First there was Igor Diatlov himself, wearing no shoes and only a vest. Then there was Zina Kolomagorov, who was slightly better dressed, but still wearing no shoes, which is insane in this weather. Finally, they also find the body of Rustim Selabdin, wearing only one boot on his right foot. Each of these hikers died at varying distances up the side of the mountain. The bodies of these hypothermia victims were found to be incredibly well preserved, showing almost no signs of dismay, just based on the nature of how bodies die in freezing weather. And this allowed rescuers to deduce that there were no bodily injuries that might indicate signs of foul play, and that is at least until they found the other four bodies. It took rescuers much longer, around two months to find their remaining members for several reasons. Firstly, it seems that they headed off in a different direction from the small fire pit on the edge of the wooded area, right? Off more into the woods instead of back towards the tent. Secondly, they were discovered under four meters or 13 feet of snow at the bottom of a ravine. At this location, the investigators discovered a makeshift den that was built out of cedar branches. Now, this kind of den was clearly made by them in an attempt to stave off the cold, as the four group members could lay a top of this den with the branches without actually physically touching the snow. And this would actually let them stay warmer. But as they began to pull the bodies out, more questions began to arise than answers. The four remaining hikers, Dubinina, Semion, Alexander and Nicolai were better dressed than the other group members, and as such, they mostly did not die of hypothermia. And this was compounded when they were discovered to have incredibly strange injuries to their bodies. Now, keep in mind, each of these injuries that I'm going to mention were strictly internal, meaning there was no superficial damage to the skin. Dubinina was found to have major chest and skull fractures, along with an inexplicably missing tongue and eyes. And when I say missing, like, they weren't there. Other things of the face were there, but no tongue and no eyes, just empty orbitals, right? Semion was also found with major chest fractures and missing eyeballs. As an interesting side note, Semion was also found clutching a fifth and previously unknown camera. Yuri Yudin, who was the one who left earlier on that track, who would later talk about this camera, said that it was a complete surprise to him that this camera even existed, and he originally thought that the group only had four. There's new camera that they found on his person had used film within it, but there was so much water damage from the creek that he was found in that almost nothing could be taken from the film. Now there are some images that I'll get into later that you can maybe take something from, but like I said, I'll get into that later. It begs the question, though, why would he take the time to grab his secret fifth camera and run down the mountain while he left his boots glove sleeping bag, etc. in the tent? Like what could have been on there, honestly. Anyways, I digress. Alexander, on the other hand, was found with an exposed and damaged skull, and Nikolai was found with extreme skull damage and fractures. To further the mystery, two of the individuals, Dubinina and Alexander, were found exhibiting large amounts of radiation on their clothes. People were grasping for answers at this point. What the hell? Radiation, all these crazy injuries, and it all seemed unfathomable as to how it would have occurred and why. Thus at this point, all nine bodies had been found, and it was clear to everyone that something tragic had occurred, but where exactly do all these puzzle pieces fit together? Well, it would take relentless investigation and speculation to come to any kind of conclusion. However, the events surrounding the deaths of the Nine Hikers were so strange and unexplainable that an official cause released by the Russian government in May of 1959 only stated a compelling natural force. And since then, the case has been re-examined countless times with new information coming out every so often to shed new light. As recently as February 2019, Russian authorities reopened the official investigation. It seems that the biggest question in this case is why they left the tent in the first place. Once this is answered, many of the other questions will become simple. There are plethora of theories on what exactly happened, and again, I really encourage you to come up with your own, because I'm about to go into some of the most popular theories along with my own personal theory, and perhaps we can inch a bit closer to understanding what happened on that faithful night of February 2nd, 1959. Now as I go into these theories, I want you guys to keep in mind a few important things. Like I said, the real hinge of all the theories is based on the question as to why they left the tent in the first place. When it comes to a lot of the other strange things, there's really only one or two like reasonable explanations, and I'll kind of get those out of the way right now. So some maintain that the bodily injuries to those four members that were found in the ravine, it actually occurred on the mountain side, while some maintain that the injuries occurred after fleeing the tent, and then were due to whatever the individualists did afterwards. Okay, so as I give you more concrete theories, there'll be more detailed explanations along those lines. There are two main theories also when it comes to the missing eyeballs and tongues. Some say that they were forcibly removed either by attackers or hungry animals, and others say that it was these soft tissues that were disintegrated because of their prolonged exposure to running water of the creek. Similarly, there's also two main theories on the presence of the radiation. Now it is known that two of the articles of clothing that were tested positive for this extensive radiation belonged to two men that had worked in facilities that dealt with nuclear testing. So many say that, okay, that exactly explains why there's radiation on the clothing. But some say, no, the radiation is due to something that happened on the mountain, and again, I'll go into more detail when we go into the individual theories. So like I said, there's some small different details. I'll really go into them thoroughly as I give each theory, but mostly they all hinge on, why did they leave the tent? So without further ado, here we go. One of the first theories that was put forward after the discovery of the members with the strange injuries is that the group was attacked on the mountain by somebody or a group of people, which ultimately led to their deaths. The theory goes that our hikers were approached late at night while sleeping inside their tent by a violent outside human force. There was an altercation that involved a knife, which explains the knife cuts in the tent fabric. Many also wanted to point their fingers at the indigenous mancy tribe that I had mentioned previously. Now, the mancy tribe was local people who lived in the area who were very peaceful reindeer herders. There's almost no reason to point fingers at this peaceful tribe, right? But even more factually based, there are a lot of flaws with this theory. Firstly, upon discovery of the tent on the side of the mountain, like I said, investigators were very certain that they only saw eight to nine separate foot tracks in the snow. This doesn't leave room for any extra humans to be up on the slope that night. Because all the group members were accounted for. Also if there was an altercation, but some of the group members remained unscathed, why would they leave the safety and warmth of their tent? If there are all these people that have no bodily injuries to them, why are they running down the mountain a mile? Secondly, there was no sign of physical altercation. Like I said before, there's no blood around the area. The Chesson school fractures on those forehikers in the ravine was strictly internal, no outward blood, no flesh wound, and no sign of an altercation. And lastly, there was no evidence like I hinted at earlier that the mancy people were involved in any way. And at the beginning when they didn't know that the knife cuts in the tent were from the inside, they just assumed they were from the outside, the Russian government actually launched a full-fledged investigation into the mancy people investigating and interviewing many of them. And this investigation just came up fruitless. They were, like I said, a peaceful group of reindeer herders that even helped as part of the rescue team. The theory also doesn't totally explain why they left with almost no clothing, why anyone would want to attack them on such a remote area at such a seemingly random time. So a second theory that's very prevalent even today is the avalanche theory. So how it goes is that they fell victim to an unfortunate avalanche or a snow slab avalanche. And there are several different shapes this explanation can take. Perhaps the group heard an oncoming avalanche while they were inside the tent that was heading towards them and they fled in a frenzy ripping the tent with a knife and fleeing with little snow clothing. This would then force them down the mountain towards the wooded area where they figured it would be safer. Another take on this theory is that there was a small snow slab avalanche that occurred beneath the tent. It means that there was a large piece of snow that was holding the tent up that was sliding. And this means that maybe from the inside they could feel the snow giving way or starting to give way. And perhaps out of fear they panicked and left the tent in a hurry. Now even here in both of the explanations there are a couple of flaws. Firstly, Collat-Sikhil, the mountain that they were on, is not known at all to be avalanche prone. It's not that tall and it is not that steep. And recently actually modern imaging technology, I'm no idea how they do this, but modern imaging technology has been able to actually reliably show that an avalanche in that area is extremely unlikely. And the entire time that investigators and researchers were in that area, over hundreds of trips to that area, there was never a report of an avalanche or avalanche like conditions. Secondly, we have to acknowledge the experience and the wisdom of the hikers. They undoubtedly had intimate knowledge of what an avalanche was given where they were, and what causes them, what are the dangers, and how to avoid them. And it's not likely that the aloe would have set them up on an area that was prone to an avalanche. And it's also speculated that they must have known that even staying put inside the tent during an avalanche would be safer than just running out into the harsh weather with no clothing on. And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, there are pictures of the group setting up the tent before that night, and when you compare these pictures to pictures taken three weeks later when they found the tent, there are actually skis that were placed in the snow next to the tent straight up that can indicate that this tent was in the exact same location and in the same orientation from when they set it up. So thus, it's highly unlikely that a large avalanche rolled through. So next we'll go on to the next area. It's the Yeti or Wildlife Theory, pretty much pointing to wildlife being the culprit. This theory maintains that the group was approached on the mountainside by vicious wildlife that rattled them from within the tent. The theory continues on similarly to the human attack theory, but it also suffers from the same flaws. Perhaps the creature was small enough maybe to not leave footprints like a wolverine. But then would that really cause drastic action and reaction from the group members if it really was just a small wolverine? If it was a Yeti, then where are its footprints? Maybe it's smart enough to cover up its tracks? One bigger push for this theory came when a closer look was taken at that pamphlet that I mentioned earlier that was created actually on the night of their deaths. Now this pamphlet was a satirical propaganda leaflet, again they're in the Soviet rush of time. They have a little fun and they make this homemade little leaflet that actually contains some interesting words. Because the satirical nature of the leaflet, it can actually show maybe there were even high spirits at that point. But anyways, what it said, and I will read word for word here, "In recent years there has been a heated debate about the existence of Yeti. According to recent reports, Yeti lives in the northern murals near or torten mountains. Is this a coincidence?" Anyways, we'll go on to the next theory, "Internal altercation". Now this theory runs on the speculation that there was some internal fighting among the group members from inside the tent. So this even goes so far as to say maybe there was some like forbidden romancing going on inside and this led to an outbreak of violence which culminated in knife slashing from inside. This would explain why some had no clothing leaving the tents and others did and why the groups split up. Furthermore an autopsy on the body of Kravana Shanko revealed swelling on the right hand knuckle area that is consistent with punching. However, again there are a few shortcomings with this explanation. First if there was some sort of like chaotic violent outbreak, why would the tracks that are leading away from the tent be walking and almost like in a single file order, why would they look like they're cooperating as they leave down the mountain? So there is no evidence from personal journals, conversations, pictures etc that the group was anything but friendly with each other. Some like to take this theory once that further and say that perhaps the group ingested some sort of toxic or psychedelic mushrooms either on purpose or by accident which could account for this internal altercation and strange behavior from there on out. But again there is no record and no local mancy people ever reported treating them these kind of mushrooms which is most likely where they would have had to gotten them because they're not picking up these mushrooms on the frozen ground. Anyways, moving on to another and more prevalent theory when it comes to natural phenomena, we'll talk about catabatic winds and infrasound. So the first suggestion is something called catabatic winds and usually these theories are kind of mingled together. Catabatic winds is a rare weather occurrence that involves falling wind in the presence of altitude change moving from areas of low temperature above to warmer temperatures below. So the result is essentially a concentrated blast of wind that's falling down a mountain side due to gravity. This type of wind is usually only a short period of time and it contains very warm air that can actually reach up to hurricane force speeds. This theory is further backed by a brief note in a group diary that speaks of a warm wind similar to "a jet engine". So many say that while peacefully sleeping on the mountain slope, the group was startled awake by a rapid and violent jet engine wind that perhaps made them feel threatened enough to leave their tent in a panic. I go and however, the tent was never actually moved from its location and I have to believe that if it was just wind that the group was experiencing, there's no way they think they stand a better chance outside the tent than inside the tent just based on their knowledge and experience of this type of situation. Similar theory, a similar natural theory and like I said, is mostly mingled together with the catabatic winds theory is infrasound. Now infrasound is due to vibrations in the air that emits a low and humming frequency that's actually too low for humans to perceive through hearing so it's below 20 hertz. The phenomenon was first noticed actually by a French scientist in the 1960s so after this occurred, who witnessed that a lab assistant became anxious and nauseated due to a low hertz noise that cannot actually be heard. In fun fact, there's actually some credibility to the idea that infrasound could be related to the presence of ghosts, which is why perhaps people feel anxious and even nauseous in the presence of quote unquote ghosts. But anyways, if there is evidence of this strong wind, like the tornado, like tornado force speed winds, this can't is proven to produce infrasound in some situations. Also the theory holds that when there are these huge winds on that night, it was blowing in the right way to create a panic in the wind factor but also to create the infrasound that eventually discomforted the group enough to flee the tent in panic. Now move on to another more modern and prevailing theory that involves the stove. Now the explanation is that on that night they used the stove to cook and then somehow some way they lost control of the ventilation or they even set something on fire inside the tent to the point where the tent began to fill up with smoke. After struggling to breathe from within perhaps they like panic and cut open holes in the tent to try to help vent out the smoke, however once this failed, they are forced just completely outside the tent in order to breathe fresh air. But this totally doesn't explain why they traveled so far away from the tent. If they were just waiting for the smoke to die down, why do they have to walk a mile downhill without like any chance of returning? Also if it's just smoke inside, why not just reach inside and grab clothes and sleeping bags which were later proven to be right next to the entrance. This would completely help their probability of survival outside the tent, right? Why not do it? So USA okay maybe the tent was completely on fire and beyond control they couldn't do anything about it. But no that can't be right because the tent was found without any evidence of a fire. It even more so investigators say that when they found the tent, the stove set up was packed away inside as if they hadn't even used it that night. So many of these theories do not properly account for the actions of the group once they exited the tent. Clearly something imminent made them leave the tent. So much so that they didn't even risk going back until they were a mile down the mountain and had already created a fire in everything else. They had an imminent threat that pushed them that far into the harshest weather imaginable and you have to ask what could have caused this. And this is where I will pull out the big guns and I will go into my personal theory that I find is the most solid on this list. This is the theory of secret military testing and a giant military cover up. This theory was initially put forward and popularized by an individual named Lev Ivanov. Now Lev Ivanov was a criminal prosecutor in Russia during this time and he was also their first hand investigating the scene soon after that tent was found. He documented his findings very well and he did not agree with the initial cause of a natural and compelling force. In November of 1990, Ivanov wrote a comprehensive article titled "Lininsky Put" in which he began by offering his sincerest apologies to the families of those who died in the D'Alof Pass incident, but also an apology for never being given the whole truth. A truth which he says was hidden by the Russian government for years is they were the ones responsible for the deaths. Now let's go over the facts. Initially, no one paid much attention to locals in the area giving reports of "fireballs" in the night sky over the past couple of months and I am reading directly from reports it says "fireballs". Upon further interviewing, Ivanov even discovered that there were multiple reports of fireballs in the night sky on the very night that the group died and then get this, they were reported directly over Mount Kalat-Sikhil. What could these fireballs possibly be? Well, there are confirmed reports of military testing taking place at this time and some of these reports even indicate specifically that they were using parachute mines. Now parachute mines are these really interesting military devices that kind of sound exactly what you would expect. They are a mine that is strapped to a parachute that is dropped from above by either like a helicopter or a low-fine plane and they are designed to fall slowly and then explode before contact with the ground in an effort to maximize its area of effectiveness. Now these type of explosives were used in WWII and remember this event took place in 1959 during the Cold War so it's very plausible to say that the Russian military was actively undergoing testing and they were pushing the limits of their technology at the time. Next, it was reported and this is important that there were some trees at the edge of that forest line that did have unexplained scorch marks. Furthermore, in the autopsy report of Semion, one of those hikers that was found in the ravine with extensive internal wounds, it directly states this, "These wounds, especially appearing in such a way without any damage to the soft tissue of the chest, are very similar to the type of trauma that results from the shock wave of a bomb." Now I will backtrack a little bit to the radioactivity that was present on some of the clothing. The amount, the pure amount of the radioactivity was quite large. In fact, when a researcher who was tasked with writing out the report on those findings, he commented that, and quote unquote, "This particular contamination, exceeds the normal level for people who work with radioactive substances." And I take that to mean that, "Okay, so the amount, the pure amount on this clothing does not, is not explained away by the simple fact that they had worked in a facility in the past." So, as I said before, even though they did work with radioactive substances and many want to just jump, "Okay, that's why." there was radioactivity on the scene, it again does not account for the amount of the radioactivity. So here is where I offered the idea that perhaps the military bombs that they were testing that day contained an amount of radioactive chemicals. I would take this further by offering an explanation that I first saw on the dealluppass.com forums by a user named Ryan who suggested that these bombs contained SR90 or the chemical strontium 90. And it doesn't have to be exactly strontium 90. He used that as an example as to how it would explain all of this radioactivity. So strontium 90 is a radioactive isotope that releases beta molecules during decay. And this is important for a couple of reasons. On the scene, the only type of particles that were present were beta particles, not gamma, not alpha, only beta. Nuclear bombs are made to release gamma particles, and most simply that's because gamma particles are the most harmful and do the most damage, which is the point of a nuclear bomb. So how the user Ryan puts it is that they were using SR90 for means of testing. They wanted to use the less harmful beta particles while still being able later to go into that area where they dropped where they dropped these bombs and then used beta-sensitive measures to look at its area of influence. And I mean, it seems odd in the first place that the Russian personnel, the Russian government personnel that were there would even request radioactive testing to be done. I mean, these are just some hikers that were found dead in a remote mountain pass. Why in the world would there be radioactivity? That is, unless they knew that they would find it. It is well documented that the Russian military put an active role in this entire investigation. They were actively monitoring information and they were actually classifying certain details while inhibiting certain facts to be related to the public. And you may ask why would they have such a heavy hand in this matter, unless they knew that their reputation could be at stake. This is Soviet Russia. Their reputation meant everything at this time. The evidence became so condemning that Lev Ivanov himself drafted an explanation of the event that included this explanation that there was some military testing and radiation thereafter. This draft, however, was confiscated and handed over to a special governmentally unit, never to see the light of day. I will now lay out my entire theory that centers on the military testing that resulted in this tragic death and subsequently a giant government cover-up. The group set up camp for a cold night on the side of Mt. Kalat-Sakeo, but really it was nothing that they couldn't handle. They were in good spirits, completely unknowing that tonight would bring about untold horrors. Eventually, they all retired to their sleeping bags. During the night, one individual gets up to go pee. While outside, that individual is alarmed to an overhead low flying plane or helicopter that is dropping some sort of ordinance. This is when the individual outside awakes the sleepers inside and warns them of the imminent danger. In a panic, the group flees the tent, sum out of the intended doorway, wow, someone else tears up in a new exit with a knife. At this point, I believe Semi-un grabs his as so far unused camera to perhaps in hopes of documenting this. While the members exit, they grab whatever they can and as quickly as possible, but there's not enough time for anyone to put on boots really. I believe this is where one blast occurs, but it was most likely not directly over the tent as we would see damage on the tent and damage on all of the individuals which we don't. So I think it's further enough away to scare them but not close enough to immediately damage all of them. I do think at this point, because of either some prior knowledge that they have or just evidence from the blast and what it looks like, they deduce that it has to contain nuclear radiation. This is why Igor D'Aloff takes off his coat outside the tent and leaves it in the snow and why others don't reach in and grab other clothing because they are afraid of this radiation on their clothing and then therefore on their skin and they would rather just immediately descend down the mountain towards the forest where they figure they would be safer. They begin their descent down and they're going as fast as they can in this deep snow. While they're trying to maintain their balance, right, they're not trying to end up face first in this snow that would immediately freeze them. So they're trying to maintain their balance which is why it looks as though they walked down the mountain. They eventually reached the tree line where one individual climbs the tree to rip off low-lying branches for use in the fire that they make and I believe this explains why the tree is climbed because there aren't any dry branches on the snowy ground, right? So they have to go up a little bit, get these dry branches and use them in the fire. They spend a great deal of time around this fire and they're trying to deduce a game plan at this point. I think either shortly thereafter or maybe during the time while they're making their plan, Kravana Shanko and Dora Shanko are the first to die. They succumb to hypothermia. I think this is when Igor makes the call that they need to retrieve some of their things from the tent in order to survive the night. So he, Zena and Rustam decide to make that harsh trek back up the mountain slope but not before grabbing clothing from Dora Shanko and Kravana Shanko who are either dead at this point or almost dead. And that explains why they were later found wearing clothing that belonged to that. Meanwhile, Semyon and the others decide to construct a den out of more low-lying branches and await the return of the outlaw. This den will give them some warmth while they wait. During the Ascent, I believe that the outlaw Zena and Rustam eventually collapse from exhaustion and pure cold and then succumb to hypothermia. It is shortly thereafter afterwards that I believe a second blast occurs again of those SR90 tainted bombs, presumably, that strikes an area near the den. That is why all four of the individuals that were there sustained critical internal damage from the blast and most of their outer clothing is then doused in radiation. Due to their injuries, they all die at the bottom of the ravine. The Ascent running water that they're in the crate remember, that running water eventually disintegrates some soft tissue that is exposed to it, which explains missing tongue and eyes. Semyon's camera that was wrapped around his neck that had maybe captured some of this evidence is then destroyed by this running water as well. And when I say destroyed, there were some images that were pulled from it, but they were so grainy and distorted that really nothing can be deduced from them. And you can look them up online or I'll have them on my social media. But if you look at them, they appear to show bright lights against a darker background, maybe bright lights against a night sky, which is exactly what would have been seen during overhead military testing of bombs. Later, when the group is reported missing in this area, the government immediately dispatches a team knowing that this is the area and the timeline of when they were conducting these parachute-bind tests. Upon finding the bodies, they order a suspicious recording of radioactivity levels on those bodies, knowing that they would most likely find decaying beta particles, evidence that they were responsible for the deaths. When this information starts to become clear, the Russian government immediately begins damage control, classifying and monitoring all information in the investigation. Such an embarrassing accident for Soviet Russia, which felt doomed for the reputation at this time. So, only a couple months later, you know, very short after, they would jump to the strangely specific conclusion that it was a compelling natural force that led to the deaths. It emphasis on natural, as opposed to a unnatural force like military testing. And something that I would like to mention at this point that I find is something, probably one of the most mysterious things in this investigation, is something else that was found on the body of Semen. Again, he was one of those hikers found in the ravine with that strange fifth camera. So, in addition to that mysterious camera, that we presume he grabbed to try to document rescuers also found in one hand of his petrified frozen body they found a notepad. And in the other hand, they found a pen. These are some really interesting things to grab when you're fling from a pen and panic, right? You would think that similar to the camera, he grabbed these things to document what was occurring. And guess what? The person who found this notepad was the military man Colonel or Tukof, who, when he looked at it cursed and then simply said he's written nothing before concealing it away, leaving no one else to ever look at this fateful notepad that could have possibly changed everything. Thank you guys so so much for taking the time to listen to this mind-boggling mystery that is still a tragedy and still unsolved 60 years later now. I hope you guys have enjoyed it. Again, this is all just theory, but as the current Russian government continues to declassify more more evidence, hopefully it becomes less than theory and we might get some concrete answers. Again, they did just reopen the investigation in 2019, so keep your eyes peeled and hopefully we'll get some answers here pretty soon. Please, if you did enjoy this podcast, give it five stars wherever you're listening. It really does help me so much. And be sure to tune in next week. I will be releasing an episode once a week every week on Thursday unless I'm almost otherwise noted. And also, please do not forget to join the discussion on social media. I have a Facebook group that's literally just titled History's Great Mysteries, exactly like this title. And I will be reading everything that you guys talk to me about, give me your theories, give me holes in my theory, anything you want to talk about, I'll be listening. And I'll also be posting all of the pictures and sources that I referenced in this episode in case you are curious and you want to do some more research for yourself. But anyways, thank you so much again for listening and I applaud you for questioning histories, great mysteries. See you next week.