In February 1959, nine experienced hikers set out into Russia’s Ural Mountains—only to vanish into a snowstorm and legend. When rescuers finally reached their camp, they found something no one could explain: a torn-open tent, bare footprints in the snow, bodies scattered through the forest—some missing eyes and tongues, others with injuries more like a car crash than hypothermia.
In this chilling episode, we unravel one of the most haunting mysteries in modern history. Was it an avalanche, military testing, radiation exposure, or something even stranger? We dive into the autopsies, forensic inconsistencies, and medical evidence that have fueled decades of speculation. With our nursing backgrounds guiding the analysis, we separate fact from folklore to explore what really could have happened on that frozen slope.
Join us as we trek through the snow, sift through the science, and confront the enduring question: what terrified nine hikers so badly that they ran barefoot into the night?
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
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CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.