In the late 1950s, nine university students vanished under mysterious circumstances in a remote area of the Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union. When their bodies were discovered, they were found in a grotesque state, sparking global interest in finding a scientific or logical explanation. To this day, the Dyatlov Pass incident remains an unsolved mystery, with various hypotheses ranging from plausible yet incomplete to bizarre and far-fetched, trying to make sense of the anomalies.
The story begins in January 1959, when Igor Alekseyevich Dyatlov, 23, organizes an expedition to reach the summit of Mount Otorten in the northern Ural Mountains of the Soviet Union (now Russia). He is accompanied by a team of eight experienced students, some of whom are studying at the Ural Polytechnic Institute. Dyatlov informs his sports club that he and his team will send a telegram upon their return, but this telegram was never sent. None of the hikers were seen alive again.
In February, with no news from the group, search teams were organized. Based on cameras and diaries recovered from the site, investigators were able to piece together a scenario: the group had become disoriented due to a snowstorm and ended up on the slope of a nearby mountain known as “Dead Mountain.” They decided to camp there. What happened next remains a mystery, but it led to the deaths of all the hikers.
When search teams arrived at the campsite, they first noticed that the tent had been slashed from the inside and was nearly destroyed. Most of the group’s belongings, including several pairs of shoes, had been left behind. Outside the tent, eight or nine pairs of footprints were found in the snow, some barefoot, others in socks or a single shoe. These tracks led to the edge of a nearby forest, about a mile from the campsite.
Near the forest edge, under a large cedar tree, investigators found the remains of a small fire and the first two bodies: Yuri Krivonischenko, 23, and Yuri Doroshenko, 21. Both were barefoot and dressed only in their underwear, despite temperatures ranging between -25 and -30 degrees Celsius on the night of their death. Shortly after, three more bodies were found: Dyatlov, Zinaida Kolmogorova, 22, and Rustem Slobodin, 23. It appeared they had died trying to return to the tent from the cedar tree.
Despite the harsh conditions, it seemed all members of the group had died from hypothermia, with no significant external injuries beyond those caused by the cold. However, some details remained unexplained: Doroshenko’s body had a “brown-purple” discoloration, foam was found on his right cheek, and gray fluid was coming from his mouth. Additionally, branches above the two bodies under the cedar were broken, as if they had tried to climb the tree to escape from something or someone. Slobodin’s skull also showed injuries consistent with repeated blunt trauma, as if he had fallen and hit his head multiple times. Kolmogorova’s body had contusions on one side, and some of the bodies were wearing clothing belonging to other group members, suggesting they had fled suddenly without proper preparation, despite their experience as hikers.
The mystery deepened when four more bodies were found two months later, buried under the ice in a deep ravine within the cedar forest. The condition of these bodies told an even more horrifying story than the first group. Nikolai Thibeaux-Brignolle, 23, had suffered severe head trauma shortly before his death. Lyudmila Dubinina, 20, and Simon Zolotaryov, 38, had significant chest fractures, injuries that could only be caused by immense force, comparable to a car accident. The most horrific aspect of the Dyatlov Pass incident was that Dubinina’s body was missing its tongue, eyes, part of her lips, facial tissues, and a fragment of her skull. Alexander Kolevatov, 24, was found in the same area but without the severe injuries seen in the others.
The examination of these new bodies suggested that they had died at different times, as they appeared to be wearing clothing taken from those who had died earlier. Dubinina’s foot was wrapped in a piece of Krivonischenko’s woolen pants, and Zolotaryov was found wearing Dubinina’s fur coat and hat, indicating he had taken them from her after her death, just as she had taken clothing from Krivonischenko earlier. The most puzzling detail was that some of Kolevatov and Dubinina’s clothing showed signs of radioactivity, adding another layer of confusion to the Dyatlov Pass incident.
Attempts to Make Sense of the Dyatlov Pass Incident
Despite all the confusion, investigators initially suspected that the group might have been attacked by members of local tribes in the area, which could explain the chaotic state of the campsite and the damage to the bodies. However, this theory quickly lost credibility as the local tribes were known to be peaceful, and there was no evidence supporting such an attack. Furthermore, the injuries inflicted on the group seemed too severe to be caused by a person, and there were no additional footprints besides those of the group.
With the tribal theory ruled out, investigators explored the possibility of an avalanche. They hypothesized that the group might have panicked upon hearing the initial sounds of falling snow and fled the tent in search of shelter among the trees. The avalanche might have been strong enough to bury the second group of bodies found later. Although this theory is plausible, it does not explain many other anomalies and there was no physical evidence of an avalanche. Local residents familiar with the terrain stated that such a natural disaster would be unlikely in the Dyatlov Pass area. When investigators found the bodies, they observed no recent signs of an avalanche, and no debris was found. Additionally, no avalanches had been recorded in the area before, and it would have been unusual for an experienced group like Dyatlov’s to camp in a location prone to avalanches.
Other Theories
Given that official explanations left many aspects unresolved, several alternative theories have emerged over the six decades following the incident. Some suggested that the group’s strange behavior, such as some members found only in their underwear, could be attributed to paradoxical undressing, a known symptom of hypothermia in which victims feel overheated and begin to remove their clothing. The severe injuries sustained by the second group of bodies could have resulted from a fall into a ravine. While this explanation is logical, it does not account for why the group left their warm tent in a state of panic.
Another theory posits that the deaths resulted from a violent altercation among the group members. However, those who knew the Dyatlov group described them as being in good harmony, and this theory does not explain the distance some members traveled in extreme cold while wearing only underwear. Additionally, the force needed to cause the injuries found on some bodies would be beyond that of any human.
There is also a theory that the Soviet military or KGB may have been involved in the incident, using some form of secret radioactive weapon after the group ended up in a government testing area. The noise from the weapon could have caused the group to flee their tents in panic, with hypothermia resulting from their attempt to seek shelter. The second group, seeing the first group freeze, might have tried to return to the camp but also succumbed to hypothermia, while the third group could have been caught in a new explosion in the forest and died from their injuries. Support for this theory includes the presence of small amounts of radioactivity on some bodies and the strange appearance of the corpses, such as their orange color and dehydration. However, some reject this explanation, arguing that if a radioactive weapon had been used, all group members would have been affected or detectable levels of radiation would have been found in the air or soil. The orange color of the bodies is more likely due to the freezing conditions that partially mummified them over weeks.
Other theories include the possibility that the group consumed drugs or substances causing violent behavior or that unusual weather phenomena, such as ultrasonic waves from specific wind patterns, triggered panic attacks in the hikers. There are also suggestions of non-human attackers, such as the mythical Yeti, which might explain the immense force observed on some bodies, especially Lyudmila. Additionally, some campers 50 kilometers from the Dyatlov site reported seeing strange orange celestial objects in the area where Dyatlov and his group were.
Despite all these mysterious theories, the Soviet government quickly closed the case, offering only unsatisfactory explanations like hypothermia caused by poor judgment and the possibility of an avalanche. In 2019, Russian authorities reopened the investigation, focusing only on the theories of avalanche or storm. After the investigation, the case was closed again in July 2020 with a vague conclusion: the group died from hypothermia after being forced out of their tents by an avalanche. This conclusion did not convince many, and the Dyatlov Pass incident seems likely to remain an unofficial mystery.
Following the incident, the slope of the mountain where the event occurred was named “Dyatlov Pass” in honor of the lost expedition, and a monument was erected for the nine hikers in Mikhaïlov Cemetery in Ekaterinburg, commemorating the only people who truly know the full story of what happened that night at Dyatlov Pass.
