The Dyatlov Pass Incident (A look at one of the most creepy, bizarre unresolved mysteries of all time)

So, you might have seen a game review that I posted on a game called Kholat, which was based upon the events which I'm going to be talking about in this article. I went into playing that game without the knowledge that it was based in part on events that happened in real life back in 1959, and after I started writing my review and found out about it I kind of went nuts and ran down the rabbit hole looking up everything and anything that I could found out about this event called The Dyatlov Pass Incident. I found a lot of bizarre information, as well as a number of strange conspiracy theories floating about.

I guess I should start out by just talking about what actually happened with the event. The trip itself started out on January 27th, however the incident happened between February 1st and 2nd of 1959. 10 Russian university students consisting of 2 females and 8 males went on the trip with the goal of reaching Otorten, a mountain which was just 6 miles away from where the incident took place. Each member of the party was a highly experienced hiker that was qualified to make the trip. After they started out on their journey, one member of the group found himself falling ill due to his medical conditions. He had to call it quits and head back home on his own while they continued onward. This actually ended up saving this mans life. Below is the memorial set up in what is now called Dyatlov Pass, formely known as the slopes of Kholat Syakhl.

Sometime between the first and second of February, the entire group died. Evidence shows that for some reason unknown, they ripped their way through their tents from the inside out and fled into the wilderness in nothing but their socks and undergarments. 6 of the 9 died due to hypothermia, while the other 3 died to phsyical injuries. Here's where it gets weirder. Out of the three, 1 had a 7 inch long fracture to his skull and the other 2 had broken ribs and fractures in their chest.

However, not a single one of them had any external injuries to match with where they received the internal ones. It was said that it was almost like a huge amount of pressure was applied to them to cause the injuries, as the force required to cause these injuries would have been the equivalent of a car crash according to who examined the bodies. Beyond those injuries, one member of the group had strange wounds that not a single other member of the party had. One of the female students had her eyes and tongue removed, though there were no other signs of major trauma to the rest of her body, nor did the other female student have any wounds whatsoever. There was small traces of blood near her body, but it wasn't apparent if they were hers or someone else's.

It would also appear that some of them died before the others, as small sections of torn clothing were taken from some of the deceased and found wrapped over the others, more than likely to help them try to stay warm in the -13 to -22 °F temperatures. It stands to reason that they obviously were alive for a short while, which makes me question why none of them attempted to make a fire to stay warm. I mean, some of them were engineering students and the rest were all from a technical school. You would assume it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for them to figure out how to start a fire considering there were trees nearby.

Just about 900 feet from the rest of where the team died, they found the body of the group leader Dyatlov. The positioning of his body in riga mortis would suggest that he was attempting to shield his head from an attacker of some sort, as his arm was positioned in a protective stance over his head while his other arm gripped a small branch. This is yet again another bizarre aspect of the whole thing, as he had no wounds externally or internally and he sat in this position until he froze to death. Combining that with the fact that the woman who had her eyes and tongue removed put up no sign of a struggle just adds to the befuddlement of the situation.

All of the groups belongings were still at their camp, including cameras and diaries which were used to trace their journey from the start to end. There were absolutely no signs of another human or animal presence in the area, and no real explanation from the authorities on what could have possibly happened. To make the situation even more strange than it already was, several articles of clothing on the cadavers were found to be emitting high traces of radiation, with nothing else in the environment giving off such levels of said radiation. There were also reports from another group of hikers who were 31 miles south from the site of the incident, stating that they saw ghostly orange spheres in the sky to the north that evening.

While investigators were able to piece together a lot of what actually happened that night thanks to the physical evidence, they still had no idea as to what the root cause of the events were. These people cut their way out from within their tents, so frightened that they didn't even feel that they had time to gather any clothes to wear. They scattered about at first, later rejoining with one another and chose to stay where they were instead of confronting whatever started this whole event. We still also have no idea what could have possibly caused such strange, lethal injuries to the students.

The official statement given by the authorities for their deaths were that the group were up against a compelling natural force. Beyond that, all of the files on the case were closed and sent into an archive and never touched again. The lack of information and vague answer for their deaths has led to a massive number of theories as to what could have possibly happened to these poor students.While some of these theories had at least a semblance of merit to them, others were of course conspiracy theories that had nothing to stand on.

Probably the worst of these theories was put forth by the Discovery channel, during one of their god awful programs that suggested perhaps a Russian Yeti had been the one to attack the group and kill them. The reasoning that was given for this theory was that only a creature that had superhuman strength could have caused the injuries that were done to three of the 9 students. They of course ended the episode with the fact that they had absolutely no evidence to back up these claims. I truly feel that this is the weakest of all of the theories, and makes little to no sense. Even if it did exist, why would such a creature choose to attack and kill 3 of them, but leave the other 6 to die to the elements. And, how would it be able to create injuries that can break bone but not injure the soft tissue.

Some of the other theories that hold more reasoning are things like the group ran into Mansi tribesmen, who reacted by trying to kill them. This has been discredited by the fact that there was no visible human presence beyond the hikers, the wounds were not something a man is capable of inflicting, and that the Mansi tribesmen were peaceful and not know to be savages. Another theory is that wildlife tried to attack them, which has also been discredited due to the lack of any presence of animals in the area and that there were no bites or wounds consistent with an animal attack. Why would each and every one of them leave the safety of their secured thermal tents if an animal was even in the area?

There are also a few theories out there that put the blame on the wind in the area. One theory states that perhaps the wind levels picked up and blew one member of the group away, which led to all the other members scrambling out of their tents to try and save him. Each and every member of this group went through rigorous training to get the highest level of certification for hiking mountains, so it makes no sense that every member of the group would go into a panic and forget their training. Another theory suggests infrasound generated by the wind was the cause, as it has been shown that it can cause distress in humans. However, there is no proof of this phenomenon happening in that area and doesn't explain the wounds on the three students, in particularly the female student with her tongue and eyes removed.

As you can probably tell, there are plenty of theories out there about what could have caused this to come about. However, none of them have any real evidence to stand on and most have been discredited pretty much immediately. At this rate, it seems like we probably will never have any clue as to what really happened up on that mountain that night with this strange, tragic case. This whole ordeal really captures ones imagination and has your thoughts running wild, at least that's what it did for me. That is what led to me writing about this, as I thought I would like to discuss this with others and hear your takes on the situation.

This is truly one of the most bizarre, intriguing, frightening real life tales that I've ever heard, and will more than likely continue to be one of the greatest unsolved mysterious of the 20th century.