The Dyatlov Pass Incident // Part Two

One of history's greatest mysteries is the 1959 Dyatlov Pass incident, which cost the lives of nine cross-country skiers. Today, a variety of theories are put forth, including monstrous snowmen, UFOs, covert Soviet military experiments, and even scientific concepts like "paradoxical undressing" and the "Kármán vortex street." Everyone gets a chance to suggest a solution and everyone gets a chance to be incorrect. They can all agree simply that on the night of February 2nd, 1959, something terrible happened.

Follow Woody G. Watts on twitter: https://twitter.com/woodygwatts

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Many of the voices you hear duringthis season of Bigfoot Classified are performed by
Ukrainian actors and actresses as a deliberateeffort to support their talent and contribution to
the entertainment industry. We recognize thatthe Dialog Past incident, a real life
tragedy, occurred in Russia. Thedecision to cast Ukrainian actors and actresses is
intended to provide them with support andrecognition for their contributions while adding an authentic

(00:27):
field to this season of Bigfoot Classified. We acknowledge the significance of the Dialog
Past incident and extend our condolences tothe victims and their families. Bigfoot Classified
contains content that is graphic in nature, and listener discretion is advised. Bigfoot

(00:47):
Classified relies largely on news documents,eyewitness accounts, press conferences, and interviews.
Every episode is produced with respect tothe victims, families, and communities
involved. Some of the interviews,quotes and broadcasts have been recreated. Numerous

(01:07):
hours of research have been done regardingthese stories, and if you have a
theory question or feel that we've missedsomething, we encourage you to visit Bigfoot
Classified dot com. This is bigfootclassifying. One of history's greatest mysteries is

(01:34):
the nineteen fifty nine diet Laft Passincident, which costs the lives of nine
cross country skiers. Today, avariety of theories that put forth, including
monstrous snowmen, UFOs, covert Sovietmilitary experiments, scientific concepts, and even
an avalanche. Everyone gets a chanceto suggest a solution, and everyone gets

(01:57):
a chance to be incorrect. Theycan all agree simply that on that night
of February second, nineteen fifty nine, something terrible happened to recap and intended
two hundred mile expedition through the euroMountains in the Old Soviet Union gave way
to the tragedy. The party ofseasoned hikers, including a thirty seven year

(02:22):
old instructor and nine students in theirtwenty seconds from the euro Polytechnic Institute,
was led by twenty three year oldIgor Diatlov, who hand picked a team
of nine other experienced hikers and outdoorsmento accompany him. The only women were
rud Milidubinin at twenty Zenda Kolmgorova,twenty two lead Milli majored in finance,
Berezeneda studied radio engineering. Yuri Doorshenkotwenty one and Yuriyuden twenty two were both

(02:46):
economic students. Nuclear physics student AlexanderKovetov was twenty four years old. Twenty
three year old engineering students Yuri Krivenshenko, Rustum Slabadin and Nicholas Thibox Brignoll joined
in. Lastly Siemens Solitaryov, asports instructor and World War Two veteran who
was thirty eight years old. OnJanuary twenty three, or nineteen fifty nine,

(03:08):
the groups set out on their expedition. One student had to return home
early owing to illness, while theothers continued their walk to Collatsix, where
they would camp out for the night. Igor title Of had previously agreed to
inform the UPI Sports Club as soonas his team arrived at their base without
incident or about February twelveth No onewas initially worried when they didn't arrive back

(03:30):
on schedule due to inclement weather.They have already been delayed. There was
no immediate response when the deadline ofFebruary twelfth past without a message being sent,
because the lays of a few dayswere typical in such excussions. The
title of had previously informed Juden thathe anticipated to remain longer. It made
no sense to put lives in dangerin order to send out searchers when they

(03:50):
expected the group to be a dayor too late. To reassure Rude Miller
and Alexander's parents left. Semyonovic Gordon, the head of UPI Sports Club,
even claimed have received a telegram fromdiet Love informing him of the delay.
He anticipated that the hikers would returnin a few days. In the end,
relatives were compelled to form a searchparty after reporting to the Communist Party's

(04:11):
local leader. Unwanted negative publicity requireaction, which had to be taken.
Only after the families of the missinghikers urged a rescue effort did the head
of the institute deploy The first volunteerstudent and teacher led the rescue groups on
February twentieth. Later, the armyand police forces got involved, and helicopters
and planes were instructed to join therescue effort. Colonel Georgie semenovitch Ortyukov,

(04:34):
head of UPI's military division, wasput in charge of the search and rescue
team. Many students offered to helplook for their missing hikers. On February
twenty months, several rescue teams weredispatched to the area. Blenov and Sagern
were the leaders of one of theseorganizations. Both groups were familiar with the
region's conditions and had just returned fromtheir visits. Vladislav Kerlin was in the

(04:57):
vicinity with another group and they joinedthe hunt to conduct an aerial search for
the group. Aircraft search and rescuedeparted from yevlair point. With the help
of student volunteers Oli Grebenik, MoisesAxelrod and Boris Slapcoff created three additional groups

(05:17):
for UPI for local MENSI hunters werealso hired for a total of five hundred
rubles to assist in the search forthe missing party. Along with other experts.
Moscow dispatched ep Maslnikov, Baskin Bardenand Shohenko. Boris Slapcoff's group was
dropped off on February twenty third,close to Mount at Orton the party's eventual

(05:38):
goal. Sportski's first tracks were found. A location that the Diatlov group most
likely used for an overnight camp outwas discovered. They arrived at the mountain
the following day, on February twentyfourth, and determined that tourists never made
it this far. None of therecords, flags, or other items that
would have pointed to a recent groupvisit was discovered by the student. While

(06:00):
everyone else searched for hints regarding thedirection of future searches, some members began
to prepare dinner. They discovered sevenhundred ten roubles, as well as train
tickets for some of the group members. The search party saw this discovery as
of inn If they had been robbed, then surely the money would be gone.
Two on February twenty sixth, onthe slope of Klatzix, they found

(06:20):
the tent used by the hikers.Ironically, Slopov was one of those who
three years previously helped title of buildthe tent from two tents, lengthening and
enlarging it. He knew what itwas right away. The rescue team found
a stove inside the tent that dietLove had built himself. The rescue team
noticed immediately that the tent had beencut open from the inside. Whoever had

(06:43):
been inside the tent for one reasonor another had desperately escaped. It is
difficult to understand why they chose thisodd exit. Before exiting the tent oblivious
of the entrance, one of thesearchers noted that the cuts in the tent
were made in slices forty centimeters long. The searchers noted that if the slices
were done in a single cut,that would require a very large knife,

(07:03):
maybe with a blade as long assixteen inches, depending on how sharp it
was. A smaller blade could havedone it, but only by sawing,
which makes a cut that is moreragged, which doesn't match the slices made
in the canvas of the tent.Whatever had happened, many of the hikers
weren't fully dressed and definitely not preparedto brace for the extreme weather. When
they left the tent, boots,shoes, sweaters, and knives were all

(07:26):
left behind. In actuality, themajority of the clothing and shoes were heaped
in the tenth center and perimeter.Additionally, Boris Slapkov found the Chinese made
flashlight, which was working fine.He couldn't understand why such important equipment had
been left behind. Three cameras,a group diary, some boots and other
small items were taken from the tentby the students. Mikael Sherevin, who

(07:47):
had been helicopter to the area toassist with the search and was part of
the team who found the tent,recounted, we had gone about five hundred
meters when on the left I sawthe tent. Part of the canvas was
spoken out, but the rest wascovered in snow. I used an ice
peak lying nearby to uncover the entrance. He and another rescuer entered and discovered

(08:11):
a blanket, several rucksacks neatly arranged, and a pile of boots in a
corner. The trip map, officialdocuments, money, and an alcohol flask
were also present. A platter ofsalo or white pork fat, which is
a Slavic delicacy and the type ofhigh calorie food that hikers bring into the
mountains, was next to it.According to Charvin, it was sliced up,

(08:37):
as if they were getting ready tohave dinner or something and didn't have
time. The tent had been slashedopen from the inside with a knife,
he realized. At that point hepondered that perhaps they were frantically trying to
go, but why. After that, he discovered something even odd. Charvin

(08:58):
noticed frozen tracks produced by eight ornine persons who were either barefoot, wearing
a single boot, or wearing socksright outside the tent. After a distance
of five to ten meters, thetracks vanished. Charvin and his companion were
confused at this find, when itwas at least minus twenty degrees celsius outside.

(09:18):
They questions what on earth could havecaused the students to leave their refuge
wearing only a light jacket. Unfortunately, no one attempted to save or record
the tourists footsteps near the dietal ofpass because no one anticipated finding them dead.
The precise number of persons in thispass on that tragic day is still
up for debate. However, basedon the statements of those involved in the

(09:39):
search, there were unquestionably eight ninetracks of footprints left by tourists who were
wearing essentially no shoes. They leftdistinctive columns of crushed snow with a footprint
on top after pressing the snow attheir feet. The gang was walking in
a single file, with the tallman at the back. His steps somewhat
obscured those of his pals who hadpreceded him. Overall, the trail gave

(10:00):
the impression of being well organized andsmooth. As it descended the mountain side,
several trails would diverge from the mainpath before coming back together. Additionally,
additional footprints were found and documented.It is difficult to tell if these
were abandoned by rescuers or someone else. They radioed back about their find that
the dietle Of group's final encampment aroundsix o'clock in the evening. They were

(10:22):
advised by UPI that a sizable searchteam will be flown by helicopter to their
location. In addition, two enormousmilitary tents would be delivered for further security
and comfort. Colonel Ortikov would jointhe search and rescue operation together with the
detective. They promptly skid downwards backto regroup and share what they had found
with the rest of the searchers.Charavian brought out the flask of vodka he

(10:43):
had discovered in the tent and offereda tost to developing of the dietle Of
group. Later, as they sataround the campfire for their evening meal,
we shared it out between us.There were eleven of us, including the
guides. He recalls. We wereabout to drink it when one guide turned
to me and said best not drinkto her health, but to their eternal
peace. The man was Ivan Paskin, a local who was assisting in the

(11:05):
efforts. He was actually beaten upfor his comments. No one could or
would admit that such learned hikers couldperish so easily. The same day that
the tent was found, Nina SergiAnasuma, sister of Alexander called that of
signed the telegram that was addressed toNikita Sergey ch Kruschev on February twenty sixth
and please for authorities to launch arescue effort the Nikita s Gich by the

(11:28):
sheltered date. On February nine,a group of hikers formed a polytechnic institute.
Osperglos did not return from an expeditionin the northern Urals, so she
began late only after it and thisherd passed to regional organization had not yet
taken effective measures. We honestly requestyour assistant in the organ search for our

(11:50):
children. How counts now? Youmight have noticed that the date of expected
return for the group says February nine, when we know it was February twelveth.
Well, one of Kolatov's sisters decidedit was better to predate the return
by a couple of days in orderto create more urgency around the situation.
The families of the hikers knew somethingwas wrong and they were desperate to get

(12:13):
as much help as they could inthe search. On February twenty seventh,
the telegram was displayed in the Kremlinand the efforts worked. The search and
rescue effort reached the highest levels asa result, and a special report on
the incident and search was issued thefollowing day by the Minister of the Interior
of the RSFSR. During the winterbreak, a group of students from the

(12:33):
europe Technic Institute Sergilos, consisting ofnine people, lived for the Adel district
of the Kudlovsk region to undertake athree hundred kilometers keep trip along the road
north of vital In the era ofmontagn or Tote. On January twenty eighty,
the group left from village Bowman ofseventeen Kimas north of montagn afday of

(12:56):
this provision to last February fourteen.On February nineteen, the institute appealed to
local party and Soviet authorities asking forhelp in fending the Mithian students. To
that point, Department of International Effectsof Sirdlaw's region didn't know anything about the
midst and highkers. Search groups includingtrained skiers, athletes from the Institute,

(13:22):
and Rockies from the Abdale Correctional LaborCamping search dogs were dropped by helicopters in
the era of Montana or Tota onFebruary twenty thicks on the South Faith on
the Mountain rescuers from tenth with skis, ice, eggs, cameras, blankets
and provisions, and on February twentyseventy one kilometer from away for corpses covered

(13:48):
with snow. The searches continue.Participants and flaty sticks, athletes, scars,
air plants and helicopters and dispatched toaid in the research. Swedlows Regional
Commig of CPS established a commission toreceive the organization of the search and investigation
of the reason for the death ofthese students. The following morning, searchers

(14:13):
Michael Sharavin and yurikoptial Of set outto find a new campground. They were
looking around the Las Va River valleywhen they noticed a tall cedar tree.
The search party might have a betterperspective of the mountain and surrounding areas.
If they were together in a ratherlevel brought area close to the cedar.
Both men paused as they got closeto the cedar. The remains of the
fire could be seen nearby, andtwo bodies were lying in the snow.

(14:35):
Due to the persistent wind in thisarea, the snow wasn't particularly thick,
making it abundantly evident that they haddiscovered two of the missing groups dead,
Dorshenko and Krivenshenko. They were virtuallyentirely called except for shoes. Strangely,
five meters up the trunk, thebranches of a neighboring tree had been shattered.
Had they ascended it to obtain abetter view of the area or to

(14:58):
get away from something on their hands. They both looked to have barns,
which were later noted in their autopsyreports. Four hundred meters from the cedar,
Evil prosecutor Vasily Ivanovich Temple found anotherbody. The body was immediately identified
as the group's leader, Igor dietLoov. Diet Love was lying on his
back with his head looking toward thetent. About five hundred meters from diet

(15:20):
Love, Manci hunters with their dogsbegan to investigate the mountain side. They
soon found Zena Kolnigorova's body. Herbody was positioned so that it was facing
the tent. The bodies of dietLove and Kolnigorovo were next to each other
between a tent and a tree.It became clear that both tourists had actually
attempted to return to the tent fromthe tall cedar, but something or someone

(15:41):
had stopped them. Igor diet Love'sautopsy concluded the following based on the data
discovered from the examination of the bodyof Inger Alexeyevich tet Love taint the Torigo's
old and considering the circumstance of thecase, we think get Lov diet as
a result of hapi romea who insignified by the edema of the meninges,

(16:03):
the sharp hypermea of the internal organs, the feeling of the hard cavitous with
liquid dark blood, their presence ofVishnivsky spot on the gastrip mikosa they overfilled
bladder and three D four degree frost. By on the extremities the damage discovered
during the external examination in the formof grace wounds, scratches, and skin

(16:29):
vends were caused by a blunt objectand might have happened as the result of
a fall and bresen by stones,eyes, etc. Durable mentioned damage was
caused both dural life as well asin the abernal and post mortem state.
They above mentioned injuries and light andnot damaged to health. The deed of

(16:52):
the examination of the body of Jatlershows that his last move was six time
eight hour before there they investigated,she discovered no presence of alcohol. The
cause of death is by violence accident. The dietle of groups belongings from the
tent were taken out in the meantimewithout any organization, witnesses, or even

(17:15):
the presence of law enforcement. Thistranspired haphazardly. Students just to remove the
items and made an effort to sortthem by name. We can understand their
sincere wish to return these items tothe deceased relatives, but by doing so
they jeopardize all future research in thisfield. Only a few of the individuals
who carried out these crimes have providedtestimony. Some of them caused greater confusion

(17:37):
since they were incompatible. They learnedthat the gang appeared to be getting ready
to eat. There was also aself made newspaper called Evening out orton the
day was noted as February first,nineteen fifty nine. A strange and unexpected
discovery was a ski pole with obviouscutting marks. Why someone with the rational
mind would purposefully destroy the poor remainsa mystery. Along with their items,

(18:00):
travelers also abandoned their shoes. Manycarried two pairs, one for the trip
itself and the second software for useinside the tent at night to stay warm.
Both sets were discovered to be missing. These could be explained by the
fact that whatever compelled them out ofthe tent happened just as everyone was getting
ready for bed and changing. Knivesand hatchets were also seen in the tent.

(18:21):
For some reason, these were alsoabandoned, despite the fact that several
visitors brought knives with them when theyleft. The search did not turn up
any results. The following week,another Chinese flashlight was the only thing that
was found in the Lasva Valley.Although the batteries were dead, the flashlight
button was set to on. Threestudents and two Mansi hunters found the camp
base or lab as in the AspiaValley on March second. To minimize the

(18:45):
load. It looks like the grouphad left part of their food supplies and
equipment, weighing around fifty five kilogramsin total. Rustum slabbedans, mandolin,
a few pieces of clothing, apair of skis and ski boots were also
there. Tourists expected to pick upthese items on the way back. However,
none of these items was taken.Many of these students left Diet Love
Pass for their homes on March firbecause they had to get back to their

(19:07):
academics. Moscow experts also departed.Their report is quite brief and ambiguous.
They were unable to explain why severalregular folks would leave the tent in the
middle of the night without shoes ormuch wind protection. Rustum slabbed in his
body was discovered in the Diet LovePass on March five. He was positioned
between Diet Loves and Komogorova's bodies onehundred eighty meters apart. His head detached

(19:30):
from his body, melting the snow, which then froze, creating a frozen
bed beneath the corpse. His autopsynoted the following Rustum slabbed and wore a
black sweater long sleeve shirt black andred square with a passport, another shirt
underneath, two pairs of pence,with four pairs of socks, two insults
from boots. It was a commonway to dry insoles using body heat.

(19:52):
Unlike previous bodies, he wore oneboot on his right leg. He latch
stopped at eight forty five am.Pockets had three hundred ten roubles and a
passport. Additionally, searchers discovered aknife, pen, pencil, come and
a matchbox with a single sock.Cadaverous blue red spots are abundantly located on
the back of the neck, trunkand limbs. The bodies of both travelers

(20:15):
were found next to a put outfire. They had a portion of their
clothing carefully removed. Yurikruvenshenko's pence wereleft on. They displayed some level of
radioactivity. The team of search andrescue volunteers noticed some weird shimmering, pulsing
orbs in the sky on March thirtyone. S Valentin Yakimenkoll, one of
the group, gave a description ofwhat happened. It occurred in the early

(20:37):
hours of the morning while it wasstill dark, after leaving the tenth at
night to keep watch. Victor Meshrekovnoticed the huge light sphere in the sky.
He made everyone aach. It tookus around twenty minutes of watching for
this or disc to stop vanishing behindthe mountain. From our tenth we could
see it to the southeast. Itwas heading north as it moved. Everyone

(20:59):
was terrified by this occurrence. Wewere certain that this incident contributed in some
way to the diet Lov group's demise. Meanwhile, the hunt for the final
four bodies went on. Few membersof the search party were hopeful about their
future. It was said that numerousscientists used a jagger counter to search for
radiation on the Collet six and dietLove Pass slopes. Since Krivenshenkov was missing

(21:21):
his garments, it was suspected thathis sweater and pants were radioactively contaminated.
Theoretically, finding a radioactive source couldaid in finding any remaining bodies, who
could have informed them that radiation mightbe present in the diet Love Pass.
Is still unknown. The time isa further query. While some witnesses assert
that the scientists arrived before the lastfour deaths were found, others assert that

(21:42):
they arrived after the dead were discovered. To search the area for potential radiation
sources. Unfortunately, the final fourbodies weren't found until May of that year,
stumbled upon by Emanci Native who wasout with his dog. The discovery
of the final four bodies gave noanswers, just more and more questions.
We Mildubenena, Alexander Kovatov, NikolaiThibox, Brignal, and Siemens Solitaire were

(22:06):
found at the bottom of a ravinein a stream of moving water. It
looked like the group had tried tocreate some kind of them to hide before
they met their demise. Their autopsyreports showed extensive injuries among the four.
Nikolai, Thibox Brignoal died after extensivedamage to his skull. The autopsy performed
by Vasargenny ruled out accidental falls onthe rock as a potential reason for such

(22:27):
a large and uncommon fracture. Somehypothesize that the shape could be the result
of pressure from an avalanche that allegedlystruck unaway travelers while they slept in the
tent. If Nikolay had been sleepingon a camera, the abrupt increase in
pressure might have left a mark onhis head. But because the lens is
rounded. Any damage would also bemore around it. A significant hemorrhage that

(22:48):
would prevent thibox Brignal from being ableto move independently and leave the location of
the tent is another reason why severalphysicians rejected this notion. Footprints indicate that
everyone in the group moved on theirown two feet, because there was no
evidence of dragging in the snow.After the autopsy of Nikolaye thibox Brignova's origin,
he was interrogated over his findings.Here is the transcript. What could

(23:08):
have caused injuries that Nikolai Thibaubrinol suffered? Well, he could have been thrown
down from a height of a grownman. He might have slipped and fell.
However, their deep fracture of theskull base suggests that his injuries are
similar to her victim that was droppedwith a great speed and strength from a

(23:29):
quickly moving car. Could we assumethat he was hit by a rock that
was held by another man? Inthis case, we would see damage soft
tissue, and we don't see thaton the body. If Osrigin he doesn't
believe Nikolay's death was not caused byblunt force by another person, then what
extreme force of nature could have occurred. Both the group's youngest member, vid

(23:49):
Mildubanina and its oldest Siemens all carryOff, suffered broken ribs and significant chest
injuries. D Milla's tongue was missing, and both of them had their eyes
removed. Ludmilla's autopsy was met withcriticism, with the public and the press
citing it as being too vague.Her autopsy concluded by saying, based on
the research of a court Stubenen's deathwas the result of extensive hemorrhage ravey ventrical

(24:12):
multiple bilatho ribbed fractures, sealing elementsof internal bleeding into the chest cavity.
In her autopsy, it mere saidthe tongue is missing and didn't really elaborate
any further. Now it wasn'tlike Ludmilahad simply bit her tongue in pain and
had maybe bitten too hard and someof the muscle has torn. No,
her whole tongue was gone, rippedfrom her head. Whatever force was Wrigenny

(24:34):
had indicated that killed Nikolay had definitelygotten to Ludmila too. Alexander Kovatov was
found with no eyebrows, his neckwas twisted, and he had a large
gash behind his ear. His autopsywas concluded with based on the research of
a corpse Kovatova I believe that hisdeath was caused by exposure to low temperature.
However, according to documents lead toRussian media, a doctor who had

(24:56):
examined the remains claimed the impact ofwhatever druck him was equal to the effect
of a car crash. The findingof the last four hikers was a big
turning point in the case, butuntil these point people had believed the line
that the deaths were caused by misadventurerather than anything else. The first five
bodies we will remember as being partiallyundressed was explained away as them all experiencing

(25:19):
the phenomenon known as paradoxical undressing.Paradoxical undressing is then, despite being absolutely
freezing, a person will suddenly feelwarm, really warm, sweating, an
inner panic will remove their clothes totry and cool down. But like I
said, the finding of the remaininghikers changed this. Everyone who attended the
funerals for all nine hikers stated thatthe bodies were unusually dark, prick red

(25:41):
in hue, with their hair havinggrayd This was officially dismissed as a normal
effect of exposure to the outdoors,but suspicions remained. Although one of the
rescuers revealed that his radiation detector haddetected extremely high radiation levels near Collet CX,
the radiation source was kept a secret. Investigators and the General l initially
theorized that the attack was carried outby an indigenous Mancie tribe from the area.

(26:04):
On three counts, this notion wasshown to be false. First off,
the Mansi people have a reputation forbeing unviolent and peaceful. Second,
it would be impossible for a humanto use the force necessary to cause some
of the member's damage. Thirdly,the number of footprints was insufficient to locate
every lost hiker. However, onMay twenty eighth, nineteen fifty nine,

(26:26):
the case of the diet Loaft Passincident was closed. The medical examiner ultimately
found that three of the group's fatalinjuries in six of the group's member's deaths
were caused by hypothermia. Six toeight hours after their last meal, they
all died. Authorities claimed that thetent was torn open from the inside and

(26:48):
that there were no signs of anyother people nearby. The medical examiner's final
conclusion was that each member of thegroup had passed away as a result of
a compelling unknown for so, thecase was closed and with little answers.
The families in wider public were angry. What was the rush to close the

(27:08):
case so soon? Well, we'llfind out in Part three as we dive
deep into the conspiracies and theories surroundingthe diet Loft Pass incident.