00:00In the frozen wilderness of Soviet Russia, 1959, nine experienced hikers vanished under
00:06terrifying and unexplained circumstances. When their bodies were discovered weeks later,
00:11what investigators found shocked the world, torn tents from the inside,
00:15crushed skulls and ribs, and one woman missing her tongue. To this day,
00:19no one knows exactly what happened on that mountain.
00:22This is the true story of the Dyatlov Pass incident, Russia's most chilling unsolved mystery.
00:27In January 1959, a group of 10 students and recent graduates from the Ural Polytechnic
00:33Institute set out on a skiing and hiking expedition to reach Mount Otorten, deep in the Ural Mountains.
00:39The group was led by 23-year-old Igor Dyatlov, a well-known and respected hiker. The team included
00:46eight men and two women, all in their 20s, and all very experienced with extreme weather.
00:51They were prepared, they carried enough food, proper equipment, and documented everything
00:56in journals and photographs. But one member, Yuri Yudin, fell ill early in the trip and turned back
01:02unaware he would be the last person to see the rest of the group alive. On February 1, the group set
01:09up camp on the eastern slope of a mountain called Kolatsyakal, which means dead mountain in the
01:13language of the local Manasi people. It was a strange decision to camp there, exposed, in high winds,
01:19but Dyatlov may have wanted to train the team in harsh conditions. Then, silence. The hikers were
01:25expected to return by February 12, when no word came. Search parties were sent. Six days later,
01:32searchers found their tent half-buried in snow. But what they found inside was beyond bizarre.
01:38The tent had been slashed open from the inside. Their belongings, boots, clothing, food, were left behind.
01:44Footprints in the snow suggested the hikers fled barefoot or in socks into the freezing night.
01:49A mile from the tent, two bodies were found under a tree, barefoot, in underwear. A small fire had
01:56been lit nearby. Three more bodies, including Dyatlov himself, were found between the tree and the tent,
02:02as if trying to return. The final four bodies weren't found for two more months, buried under snow,
02:08and their condition was horrifying. One had a fractured skull. Two others had massive chest injuries.
02:14But doctors said the force needed was equivalent to a car crash, yet no bruising was found.
02:19Even more disturbing, one woman, Ludmilla Dubonina, was missing her eyes, part of her lips, and her
02:26tongue. So what happened? Soviet authorities quickly closed the case, stating the cause was an unknown
02:33compelling force, but speculation exploded. Some say it was an avalanche, but the slope was too shallow,
02:39and there were no signs of one. Others believe it was a military cover-up.
02:44Secret parachute mines were being tested in the region. Some hikers had burns and strange
02:49levels of radiation on their clothing. One wild theory suggests alien encounters,
02:54pointing to glowing orange lights seen in the sky by nearby hikers the same night.
02:59Others suggest infrasound, a rare wind phenomenon that causes panic and hallucination.
03:03And there's a darker theory still, did one or more of the hikers turn on the others in a paranoid
03:08frenzy? The case remained closed for decades, hidden behind Soviet secrecy. In 2019, Russian
03:16officials reopened the investigation. Their conclusion? A slab avalanche, a rare phenomenon
03:21where a thin layer of snow collapses. But many experts and the public remain unconvinced.
03:27The wounds, the missing tongue, the radiation, none of it adds up. The mystery of Dyatlov Pass continues
03:34to inspire books, documentaries, films, and conspiracies. Over 60 years later, one question
03:41remains unanswered. What terrifying force drove nine young people to run barefoot into the night
03:46never to return? We may never know.
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