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I am fascinated by this story as I imagine many of you are as well. Curious to hear what your thoughts on what might have happened that night.

The what? This like an X- files episode or someat?

 Ratius wrote:
The what? This like an X- files episode or someat?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_Pass_incident

It's a nice thing to theorize about - I personally think a storm combined with fog made them panic, thinking an avalanche was coming. They ran out of their tents and got disoriented and froze to death. The radiation though? Not sure

The sound-induced panic seems plausible. Failing that I would think it was a supernatural cause; 'ghosts' or such.

Fascinating story, not one I'd heard before. I'd say, out of everything mentioned on the wikipedia entry, the infrasound hypothesis makes the most sense to me.

They were scared by someone to hell, beaten to death and forced to run away, hide and frozen. Question is who and why did that. And why there is no signs of other people (or big animals) presence,

The wiki page likely only summarises the information present.

Ifrasound would be possible, it should also be possible to test for this so if it can be proven to be a phenomenon that takes place there then that could be one angle.

Another is human or animal attack. Depending on how long it was between them abandoning the camp and the camp being found it could be that evidence (eg tracks) might well have been lost. I'm unfamiliar with the are but wolf/bear attack or even threat could be a potential source of fear that would cause them to abandon camp (though I'd say wolves are not known to attack human groups - but wolves with feral domestic breeds can be more likely to attack people - and a rabid wolf or halfbreed is always dangerous).

People could be a large possibility, their reasoning might be never known but its a likely result. Being scared, beaten or just scared away by violent actions of others.

Up the side of a mountain its harder to imagine what might be worth protecting up there; but there's more than enough cases of people wandering the woods/outlands and finding drug farms and other operations that can be violently protected.

Clearly... it was aliens!



.... but they were disguised as Yeti to throw us off the trail!

It's not avalanche threat, because mountain is too flat.
They were inside tent. So.. it's not like someone pointed a gun at them.
They ripped a way outside using knife. Yop, they had knives and axes.

 Freakazoitt wrote:
It's not avalanche threat, because mountain is too flat.
They were inside tent. So.. it's not like someone pointed a gun at them.
They ripped a way outside using knife. Yop, they had knives and axes.

A threatening person inside the tent, esp if in the entrance; who had a weapon of some kind, might well have scared them enough to tear their way out of the tent. Also if there were tears on the tent itself then who says they were on the outside? Tearing into the tent would certainly terrify most people - eg a bear or attacking person.

As I recall, the only damage to the tent was done from the inside.

Matthew wrote:It's a nice thing to theorize about - I personally think a storm combined with fog made them panic, thinking an avalanche was coming. They ran out of their tents and got disoriented and froze to death. The radiation though? Not sure

I'll just quote what I posted in the other thread:

But Kholat Syakhl isn't a tall mountain nor very steep. The diaries of the campers also mention that the snow layer was a bit on the thin side. However, a small avalanche is possible, and would also explain the tent being cut from inside-out.

And the fact that the party were experienced, and led by a serious and level headed individual, makes simple panic due to fog and weather, or mistaking it for an avalanche, unlikely.

NinthMusketeer wrote:The sound-induced panic seems plausible. Failing that I would think it was a supernatural cause; 'ghosts' or such.

Crispy78 wrote:Fascinating story, not one I'd heard before. I'd say, out of everything mentioned on the wikipedia entry, the infrasound hypothesis makes the most sense to me.

The infrasound hypothesis, as with the avalanche theory, has a few problems. One that they share are the injuries.



What I posted in the other thread:

The only problems I see with the avalanche theory is that the hikers appeared to flee the site in a hurry, instead of trying to salvage some of their clothing/gear (as you pointed out, they had experience at this). And Igor Dyatlov was known to be a sober, serious individual, and careful about preparations and safety. The other problem is that the treeline was about 1.5 miles from the campsite. Some of the hikers had fatal injuries that left them 20 minutes of life, if even that. There is no evidence that any of the party carried anybody down the mountain. Everybody appeared to have fled from the camp to the forest under their own power.

Sound induced, like they hear something, cut a hole in their tent and make a run for it? That doesn't sound right.. no pun intended. What kind of sound would make you do that?

If there were no extra tracks, it probably wasn't a yeti, because they have big feets.

I'm going with aliens.

 Necros wrote:
Sound induced, like they hear something, cut a hole in their tent and make a run for it? That doesn't sound right.. no pun intended. What kind of sound would make you do that?

If there were no extra tracks, it probably wasn't a yeti, because they have big feets.

I'm going with aliens.

Sound induced in this case doesn't mean they heard a sound. Its to do with wind vortex around hills or trees producing a type of sound effect that affects the mental faculties of people.

Might be a combination of the sound theory making them think there was an imminent avalanche, then the rest of that theory might kick in. Even being experienced they might not have known for sure there wasn't any chance of an avalanche or it was induced panic by the sound theory. The cold and darkness might have done the rest.

Edit: the phenomenon that could produce infrasound in this case.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kármán_vortex_street

 Disciple of Fate wrote:

 Necros wrote:
Sound induced, like they hear something, cut a hole in their tent and make a run for it? That doesn't sound right.. no pun intended. What kind of sound would make you do that?

If there were no extra tracks, it probably wasn't a yeti, because they have big feets.

I'm going with aliens.

Sound induced in this case doesn't mean they heard a sound. Its to do with wind vortex around hills or trees producing a type of sound effect that affects the mental faculties of people.

Might be a combination of the sound theory making them think their was an imminent avalanche, then the rest of that theory might kick in. Even being experienced they might not have known for sure there wasn't any chance of an avalanche or it was induced panic by the sound theory. The cold and darkness might have done the rest.

That still doesn't explain the injuries suffered by some of the party. Some of which would have killed them before they completed the 1.5 mile distance to the forest.

And the party kept detailed diaries of their expedition, including notes on local conditions. It was noted that the ground snow was a bit on the thin side. And while the region was noted for avalanches, the area that Dyatlov chose to camp for the night wasn't considered a high-risk spot for such. So, the party, in all likelyhood, were aware of the avalanche risks in the various locales, especially since the more experience members of the party had trekked that region in the past.

 oldravenman3025 wrote:

 Disciple of Fate wrote:

 Necros wrote:
Sound induced, like they hear something, cut a hole in their tent and make a run for it? That doesn't sound right.. no pun intended. What kind of sound would make you do that?

If there were no extra tracks, it probably wasn't a yeti, because they have big feets.

I'm going with aliens.

Sound induced in this case doesn't mean they heard a sound. Its to do with wind vortex around hills or trees producing a type of sound effect that affects the mental faculties of people.

Might be a combination of the sound theory making them think their was an imminent avalanche, then the rest of that theory might kick in. Even being experienced they might not have known for sure there wasn't any chance of an avalanche or it was induced panic by the sound theory. The cold and darkness might have done the rest.

That still doesn't explain the injuries suffered by some of the party. Some of which would have killed them before they completed the 1.5 mile distance to the forest.

And the party kept detailed diaries of their expedition, including notes on local conditions. It was noted that the ground snow was a bit on the thin side. And while the region was noted for avalanches, the area that Dyatlov chose to camp for the night wasn't considered a high-risk spot for such. So, the party, in all likelyhood, were aware of the avalanche risks in the various locales, especially since the more experience members of the party had trekked that region in the past.

With regards to them knowing about avalanche risk, its why I include the infrasound theory on that part. Without knowing exactly how it affected them its hard to draw conclusions, but I could see infrasound inducing a temporary panic. Going for the tree line makes sense when they would think avalanche. Plus it depends on group dynamics, who gets affected etc. Extreme hypothermia also could influence people to undress as they have the sensation of being warm.

As to injuries, its though without knowing the exact conditions. Could falls have induced them, weather effects and decay. When did they get injured? Hard to be sure.

But as people rule out the avalanche/infrasound combo we get to exceedingly far out theories. Even a secret experiment theory sounds implausible, so far from any infrastructure or testing group. If they were meant as the testing group how is there no documentation? How would they be suitable in the first place as human test subjects were likely available under easier controlled conditions? Still keeping secrets after 60+ years? If so what is so important to keep secret 60 years later as this seems like a singular incident? Etc etc. It just puts up even more implausible obstacles, beyond going for supernatural/aliens of course (which I don't count personally).

It's pretty odd because all the injuries are inconsistent. The missing facial parts (eyes and tounge and lips) could have been caused by animals after an event so probably shouldn't focus on that. The rest had compression injuries to the chest consistent with crushing (like they ran into a tree?) Seems kind of weird to me that they have foot tracks but they don't specify if the victims were running or walking. Also if outside people were involved they easily could have covered their tracks.

I think people had to be involved in this.

I think a group of locals scared them out of the tent - tortured a few of them by having a really fat guy sit on their chest for long periods of time - and the rest of them died to exposure. Why do some people have 1 sock or 1 shoe on? Because psycho people do psycho things sometimes.

 Xenomancers wrote:
It's pretty odd because all the injuries are inconsistent. The missing facial parts (eyes and tounge and lips) could have been caused by animals after an event so probably shouldn't focus on that. The rest had compression injuries to the chest consistent with crushing (like they ran into a tree?) Seems kind of weird to me that they have foot tracks but they don't specify if the victims were running or walking. Also if outside people were involved they easily could have covered their tracks.

I think people had to be involved in this.

I think a group of locals scared them out of the tent - tortured a few of them by having a really fat guy sit on their chest for long periods of time - and the rest of them died to exposure. Why do some people have 1 sock or 1 shoe on? Because psycho people do psycho things sometimes.

Sounds like the set-up for the next Eli Roth movie.

 Xenomancers wrote:
It's pretty odd because all the injuries are inconsistent. The missing facial parts (eyes and tounge and lips) could have been caused by animals after an event so probably shouldn't focus on that. The rest had compression injuries to the chest consistent with crushing (like they ran into a tree?) Seems kind of weird to me that they have foot tracks but they don't specify if the victims were running or walking. Also if outside people were involved they easily could have covered their tracks.

I think people had to be involved in this.

I think a group of locals scared them out of the tent - tortured a few of them by having a really fat guy sit on their chest for long periods of time - and the rest of them died to exposure. Why do some people have 1 sock or 1 shoe on? Because psycho people do psycho things sometimes.

The problem with human violence is the fact that there were no signs of a struggle either at the location or on the bodies (like defensive wounds). Plus the local population was noted to be peaceful. Combined with the remoteness its unlikely that they were attacked. Plus if outside people were involved why leave the bodies there? Its just leaving proof for murder lying around, so it seems unlikely in my opinion.

The clothes thing, hypothermia can induce an effect called paradoxical undressing. Meaning victims start undressing. Either that or the others might have taken clothes off them if they abandoned their tent without too many clothes.

 Disciple of Fate wrote:

 oldravenman3025 wrote:

 Disciple of Fate wrote:

 Necros wrote:
Sound induced, like they hear something, cut a hole in their tent and make a run for it? That doesn't sound right.. no pun intended. What kind of sound would make you do that?

If there were no extra tracks, it probably wasn't a yeti, because they have big feets.

I'm going with aliens.

Sound induced in this case doesn't mean they heard a sound. Its to do with wind vortex around hills or trees producing a type of sound effect that affects the mental faculties of people.

Might be a combination of the sound theory making them think their was an imminent avalanche, then the rest of that theory might kick in. Even being experienced they might not have known for sure there wasn't any chance of an avalanche or it was induced panic by the sound theory. The cold and darkness might have done the rest.

That still doesn't explain the injuries suffered by some of the party. Some of which would have killed them before they completed the 1.5 mile distance to the forest.

And the party kept detailed diaries of their expedition, including notes on local conditions. It was noted that the ground snow was a bit on the thin side. And while the region was noted for avalanches, the area that Dyatlov chose to camp for the night wasn't considered a high-risk spot for such. So, the party, in all likelyhood, were aware of the avalanche risks in the various locales, especially since the more experience members of the party had trekked that region in the past.

With regards to them knowing about avalanche risk, its why I include the infrasound theory on that part. Without knowing exactly how it affected them its hard to draw conclusions, but I could see infrasound inducing a temporary panic. Going for the tree line makes sense when they would think avalanche. Plus it depends on group dynamics, who gets affected etc. Extreme hypothermia also could influence people to undress as they have the sensation of being warm.

As to injuries, its though without knowing the exact conditions. Could falls have induced them, weather effects and decay. When did they get injured? Hard to be sure.

But as people rule out the avalanche/infrasound combo we get to exceedingly far out theories. Even a secret experiment theory sounds implausible, so far from any infrastructure or testing group. If they were meant as the testing group how is there no documentation? How would they be suitable in the first place as human test subjects were likely available under easier controlled conditions? Still keeping secrets after 60+ years? If so what is so important to keep secret 60 years later as this seems like a singular incident? Etc etc. It just puts up even more implausible obstacles, beyond going for supernatural/aliens of course (which I don't count personally).

The thing is that the members of the party that were mostly undressed didn't do so after fleeing the camp site. They fled in a half-dressed state, in a hurry. So, paradoxical undressing is out. There was some evidence that, in the make-shift emergency shelter in the forest where the last members were found, that clothing had been stripped from the deceased for added protection from the elements by the survivors, as they died off.


And whatever caused the injuries, was pretty substantial. And some cases, odd. When Boris Vozrozhdyonny was asked by chief investigator Lev Ivanov what could have cause their injuries, Vozrozhydyonny's response was "a blast or hit by a car". And during the autopsy, Vozrozhdyonny found that the skull of Nikolai Thibeaux-Brignolle was crumpled, and there was no sign of external injury. Of the shelter group in the forest, only Kolevatov clearly died of hypothermia.

The theory of classified tests holds some weight. "Fireballs" were spotted in the valley Otorten by another sports tourist party, led by Anatoli Shumkov, descending Mount Otorten on the evening of February 2. And the Mansi showed investigator Vladimir Kototayev drawings of fireballs and elongated objects (like missiles). But Lev Ivanov omitted these from the investigation's official reports, but still reported the information personally to his boss in Moscow, Deputy General Prosecutor Urako. There was also a report of "fireball" and "booming sounds" by military personnel involved in the search while camping in the area at night.

Based on the actions of the higher ups during the investigation (up all the way to Khrushchev himself, who was supposedly following the investigation), the fact that Ivanov was ordered to fudge the investigation, and the sudden termination of the case, it's possible that somebody had something to hide if it wasn't just good old fashioned incompetence involved.

As for secrets, in the United States, despite the fifty year rule, there is still crap dating back to World War Two that is still classified to this very day. And the fact that parts of the recently released JFK assassination files are still under wraps due to CIA pressure on the White House, demonstrates that secrets can be kept for a long time. It's entirely possible that the Russian Federation wants to keep aspects of the case under wraps, for whatever reason. Many of the documents that were stored in the KGB archives relating to State Security's information of the case and Ivanov's investigation were either lost or censored to the point of being useless by current researchers of the mystery.

Human is still the most likely cause.

Audio induced madness wouldn't have resulted in physical injury save for any induced from a fall. Also note that it appears they all scattered at around the same time, so whilst audio induced madness could have occurred there's still the fact that it affected all of them at near the same time.

Animal attack one would have expected more bite/tear marks on the bodies (eyes and tongue lost after is likely animal scavenging). It won't account for crushing injury to the chest. And you'd expect more direct damage to the tents (though the slash marks might be hiding evidence of prior exterior attack.

Hypothermia induced issues still require them to have left the tents and the safety of their camp and also still doesn't fully explain injury.

Peaceful people can still be violent or they might have come across a group of non-native non-peaceful individuals. Smugglers/poachers etc.. An attack could scare the people from their camp in a blind panic; on the retreat they could have been simply chased until the cold did the initial work of debilitating them beyond their ability to fight back meaningfully; then the attacks throw a few good injuries (crushing from a club) to ensure that their targets were down and then left. Or, as alluded to above, they could have been impacted by vehicles and chased by them on their escape (which would certainly cause them to scatter and flee).





PS don't forget not every science lab comes from CSI/NCIS so they aren't going to be able to work out the exact cause of many injuries (and certainly not going to suddenly be able to identify the specific make, brand, lot number and purchase history of any weapons used). This is without considering any damage to the bodies post mortem whilst they were exposed to the elements before being found and collected.

The reason I like the panic theory is it accounts for behavior and self-injury that would otherwise be illogical. Afaik the injuries could have all been near or post death by hypothermia.

 oldravenman3025 wrote:

The thing is that the members of the party that were mostly undressed didn't do so after fleeing the camp site. They fled in a half-dressed state, in a hurry. So, paradoxical undressing is out. There was some evidence that, in the make-shift emergency shelter in the forest where the last members were found, that clothing had been stripped from the deceased for added protection from the elements by the survivors, as they died off.


And whatever caused the injuries, was pretty substantial. And some cases, odd. When Boris Vozrozhdyonny was asked by chief investigator Lev Ivanov what could have cause their injuries, Vozrozhydyonny's response was "a blast or hit by a car". And during the autopsy, Vozrozhdyonny found that the skull of Nikolai Thibeaux-Brignolle was crumpled, and there was no sign of external injury. Of the shelter group in the forest, only Kolevatov clearly died of hypothermia.

The theory of classified tests holds some weight. "Fireballs" were spotted in the valley Otorten by another sports tourist party, led by Anatoli Shumkov, descending Mount Otorten on the evening of February 2. And the Mansi showed investigator Vladimir Kototayev drawings of fireballs and elongated objects (like missiles). But Lev Ivanov omitted these from the investigation's official reports, but still reported the information personally to his boss in Moscow, Deputy General Prosecutor Urako. There was also a report of "fireball" and "booming sounds" by military personnel involved in the search while camping in the area at night.

Based on the actions of the higher ups during the investigation (up all the way to Khrushchev himself, who was supposedly following the investigation), the fact that Ivanov was ordered to fudge the investigation, and the sudden termination of the case, it's possible that somebody had something to hide if it wasn't just good old fashioned incompetence involved.

As for secrets, in the United States, despite the fifty year rule, there is still crap dating back to World War Two that is still classified to this very day. And the fact that parts of the recently released JFK assassination files are still under wraps due to CIA pressure on the White House, demonstrates that secrets can be kept for a long time. It's entirely possible that the Russian Federation wants to keep aspects of the case under wraps, for whatever reason. Many of the documents that were stored in the KGB archives relating to State Security's information of the case and Ivanov's investigation were either lost or censored to the point of being useless by current researchers of the mystery.

True, explosives would explain internal but not visible external trauma if caught in the blast wave. And I understand they can keep things secret for a long time if need be. But 60 year old missile tests or parachute mine tests as one theory has it doesn't seem of vital importance to keep secret. It might of course. But then the question remains, why wouldn't there be many more infinitely better suitable test locations infrastructure and test condition wise. The really remote location counts against experiment to me because of the difficulties it would involve versus the (almost) non-existent benefits.

As well as why they would keep testing with rescue personnel around if it was meant to be top secret for over 60+ years by now. In regards to censorship, it could have been overzealous or crossed out other sensitive aspects involving R&D in other locations. Its hard to say. But nothing really connects the dots perfectly with regards to theory.

 Overread wrote:
Human is still the most likely cause.

Audio induced madness wouldn't have resulted in physical injury save for any induced from a fall. Also note that it appears they all scattered at around the same time, so whilst audio induced madness could have occurred there's still the fact that it affected all of them at near the same time.

Animal attack one would have expected more bite/tear marks on the bodies (eyes and tongue lost after is likely animal scavenging). It won't account for crushing injury to the chest. And you'd expect more direct damage to the tents (though the slash marks might be hiding evidence of prior exterior attack.

Hypothermia induced issues still require them to have left the tents and the safety of their camp and also still doesn't fully explain injury.

Peaceful people can still be violent or they might have come across a group of non-native non-peaceful individuals. Smugglers/poachers etc.. An attack could scare the people from their camp in a blind panic; on the retreat they could have been simply chased until the cold did the initial work of debilitating them beyond their ability to fight back meaningfully; then the attacks throw a few good injuries (crushing from a club) to ensure that their targets were down and then left. Or, as alluded to above, they could have been impacted by vehicles and chased by them on their escape (which would certainly cause them to scatter and flee).





PS don't forget not every science lab comes from CSI/NCIS so they aren't going to be able to work out the exact cause of many injuries (and certainly not going to suddenly be able to identify the specific make, brand, lot number and purchase history of any weapons used). This is without considering any damage to the bodies post mortem whilst they were exposed to the elements before being found and collected.

The investigators ruled out an assault on the party. The main suspects, the local Mansi, were cleared. And friends of the group described the men as being "tough guys" and "not scaring easily". Even the history of the enigmatic Semyon “Alexander" Zolotaryov (fought with the dreaded NKVD Interior Ministry troops, the Soviet counterpart to the Waffen SS, during the war) points to a group that wouldn't be cowed easily by punks with clubs and knives. Since the evidence points to flight on the part of the group, if they had the strength and presence of mind to run, they were able to fight back. And the valuables belonging to the group were not taken, including money, jewlery, vodka, and camera equipment. And unless you were a Party hack, or knew somebody in your local Communist Party organs, there was little chance that you could get guns, even on the black market. Local bandits would've unlikely had access to firearms.

There were, however, items found that were then-current military issue, on the scene that allegedly weren't dropped by the troops involved in the search, weren't on any lists of items compiled by the group before departure, and not recognized by friends and family.

 oldravenman3025 wrote:

 Overread wrote:
Human is still the most likely cause.

Audio induced madness wouldn't have resulted in physical injury save for any induced from a fall. Also note that it appears they all scattered at around the same time, so whilst audio induced madness could have occurred there's still the fact that it affected all of them at near the same time.

Animal attack one would have expected more bite/tear marks on the bodies (eyes and tongue lost after is likely animal scavenging). It won't account for crushing injury to the chest. And you'd expect more direct damage to the tents (though the slash marks might be hiding evidence of prior exterior attack.

Hypothermia induced issues still require them to have left the tents and the safety of their camp and also still doesn't fully explain injury.

Peaceful people can still be violent or they might have come across a group of non-native non-peaceful individuals. Smugglers/poachers etc.. An attack could scare the people from their camp in a blind panic; on the retreat they could have been simply chased until the cold did the initial work of debilitating them beyond their ability to fight back meaningfully; then the attacks throw a few good injuries (crushing from a club) to ensure that their targets were down and then left. Or, as alluded to above, they could have been impacted by vehicles and chased by them on their escape (which would certainly cause them to scatter and flee).





PS don't forget not every science lab comes from CSI/NCIS so they aren't going to be able to work out the exact cause of many injuries (and certainly not going to suddenly be able to identify the specific make, brand, lot number and purchase history of any weapons used). This is without considering any damage to the bodies post mortem whilst they were exposed to the elements before being found and collected.

The investigators ruled out an assault on the party. The main suspects, the local Mansi, were cleared. And friends of the group described the men as being "tough guys" and "not scaring easily". Even the history of the enigmatic Semyon “Alexander" Zolotaryov (fought with the dreaded NKVD Interior Ministry troops, the Soviet counterpart to the Waffen SS, during the war) points to a group that wouldn't be cowed easily by punks with clubs and knives. Since the evidence points to flight on the part of the group, if they had the strength and presence of mind to run, they were able to fight back. And the valuables belonging to the group were not taken, including money, jewlery, vodka, and camera equipment. And unless you were a Party hack, or knew somebody in your local Communist Party organs, there was little chance that you could get guns, even on the black market. Local bandits would've unlikely had access to firearms.

There were, however, items found that were then-current military issue, on the scene that allegedly weren't dropped by the troops involved in the search, weren't on any lists of items compiled by the group before departure, and not recognized by friends and family.

Just to add to oldravenman's points, assault even on exhausted people who can't fight back would still leave visible external trauma. So that also counts against people assaulting the group.

 Disciple of Fate wrote:

 oldravenman3025 wrote:

The thing is that the members of the party that were mostly undressed didn't do so after fleeing the camp site. They fled in a half-dressed state, in a hurry. So, paradoxical undressing is out. There was some evidence that, in the make-shift emergency shelter in the forest where the last members were found, that clothing had been stripped from the deceased for added protection from the elements by the survivors, as they died off.


And whatever caused the injuries, was pretty substantial. And some cases, odd. When Boris Vozrozhdyonny was asked by chief investigator Lev Ivanov what could have cause their injuries, Vozrozhydyonny's response was "a blast or hit by a car". And during the autopsy, Vozrozhdyonny found that the skull of Nikolai Thibeaux-Brignolle was crumpled, and there was no sign of external injury. Of the shelter group in the forest, only Kolevatov clearly died of hypothermia.

The theory of classified tests holds some weight. "Fireballs" were spotted in the valley Otorten by another sports tourist party, led by Anatoli Shumkov, descending Mount Otorten on the evening of February 2. And the Mansi showed investigator Vladimir Kototayev drawings of fireballs and elongated objects (like missiles). But Lev Ivanov omitted these from the investigation's official reports, but still reported the information personally to his boss in Moscow, Deputy General Prosecutor Urako. There was also a report of "fireball" and "booming sounds" by military personnel involved in the search while camping in the area at night.

Based on the actions of the higher ups during the investigation (up all the way to Khrushchev himself, who was supposedly following the investigation), the fact that Ivanov was ordered to fudge the investigation, and the sudden termination of the case, it's possible that somebody had something to hide if it wasn't just good old fashioned incompetence involved.

As for secrets, in the United States, despite the fifty year rule, there is still crap dating back to World War Two that is still classified to this very day. And the fact that parts of the recently released JFK assassination files are still under wraps due to CIA pressure on the White House, demonstrates that secrets can be kept for a long time. It's entirely possible that the Russian Federation wants to keep aspects of the case under wraps, for whatever reason. Many of the documents that were stored in the KGB archives relating to State Security's information of the case and Ivanov's investigation were either lost or censored to the point of being useless by current researchers of the mystery.

True, explosives would explain internal but not visible external trauma if caught in the blast wave. And I understand they can keep things secret for a long time if need be. But 60 year old missile tests or parachute mine tests as one theory has it doesn't seem of vital importance to keep secret. It might of course. But then the question remains, why wouldn't there be many more infinitely better suitable test locations infrastructure and test condition wise. The really remote location counts against experiment to me because of the difficulties it would involve versus the (almost) non-existent benefits.

As well as why they would keep testing with rescue personnel around if it was meant to be top secret for over 60+ years by now. In regards to censorship, it could have been overzealous or crossed out other sensitive aspects involving R&D in other locations. Its hard to say. But nothing really connects the dots perfectly with regards to theory.

You make a valid point. They only way I could see "mundane" tests being covered up for that long would be by sheer bureaucratic inertia, misplaced/lost records, or incompetence. Even fears of fat lawsuits by the families in the post-Soviet era was no reason to do so.


There is also a possibility that there were no actual testing going on at the time of the incident. There was a radiogram sent to the effort's headquarters mentioning the possibility of test, referencing a meteorological rocket launch on February 1st (as seen from Ivdel). Vladimir Korotayev related years later that he spoke with people who were close to the U.S.S.R.'s lead rocket engineer, Sergei Korolev, and who also worked in the offices of the famed Russian academic Boris Rauschenbach. What he was told seemed to imply that there was testing going on in the area of Uralmash around that time period. But later researchers have found no records of any launches, from any of the major Soviet launch sites (some of which are still operating today), on February 1st and 2nd, 1959.

People in the mountains in winter panicked and died? Shocking mystery.

 Disciple of Fate wrote:

 Necros wrote:
Sound induced, like they hear something, cut a hole in their tent and make a run for it? That doesn't sound right.. no pun intended. What kind of sound would make you do that?

If there were no extra tracks, it probably wasn't a yeti, because they have big feets.

I'm going with aliens.

Sound induced in this case doesn't mean they heard a sound. Its to do with wind vortex around hills or trees producing a type of sound effect that affects the mental faculties of people.

Might be a combination of the sound theory making them think there was an imminent avalanche, then the rest of that theory might kick in. Even being experienced they might not have known for sure there wasn't any chance of an avalanche or it was induced panic by the sound theory. The cold and darkness might have done the rest.

Edit: the phenomenon that could produce infrasound in this case.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kármán_vortex_street

My understanding is that infrasound that induces panic in humans is around the 17 to 19Hz mark, the theory was that it could have come from Karman vortex shedding off the mountain, but Karman vortex shedding off an object that large is a much lower frequency than 17Hz.

Not saying it couldn't have been infrasound, but Karman shedding off the mountain itself sounds like it would be the wrong frequency.

Voss wrote:
People in the mountains in winter panicked and died? Shocking mystery.

The mystery part is how an experienced and well prepared group ended up dead in the specific way they did. These weren't some run of the mill hikers getting lost.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 Disciple of Fate wrote:

 Necros wrote:
Sound induced, like they hear something, cut a hole in their tent and make a run for it? That doesn't sound right.. no pun intended. What kind of sound would make you do that?

If there were no extra tracks, it probably wasn't a yeti, because they have big feets.

I'm going with aliens.

Sound induced in this case doesn't mean they heard a sound. Its to do with wind vortex around hills or trees producing a type of sound effect that affects the mental faculties of people.

Might be a combination of the sound theory making them think there was an imminent avalanche, then the rest of that theory might kick in. Even being experienced they might not have known for sure there wasn't any chance of an avalanche or it was induced panic by the sound theory. The cold and darkness might have done the rest.

Edit: the phenomenon that could produce infrasound in this case.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kármán_vortex_street

My understanding is that infrasound that induces panic in humans is around the 17 to 19Hz mark, the theory was that it could have come from Karman vortex shedding off the mountain, but Karman vortex shedding off an object that large is a much lower frequency than 17Hz.

Not saying it couldn't have been infrasound, but Karman shedding off the mountain itself sounds like it would be the wrong frequency.

Granted, this is just what I know from the infrasound theory in the Dyatlov case, in which they bring up the Karman vortex. Both infrasound effects on humans and the Karman vortex are far outside my relevant fields of expertise.