The Dyatlov Pass Incident
February 1959, Ural Mountains, Russia. Nine missing skiers found dead. Cause: Unknown
The story sounds like something out of a low-budget horror movie: nine young students go on a skiing holiday in Russia's Ural Mountains but never
return. Eventually, their bodies are discovered - five of them frozen to death near their tent, four more bearing mysterious injuries - a smashed head, a
missing tongue - buried in the snow some distance away. All, it seems, had fled in sudden terror from their camp in the middle of the night. Casting aside
skis, food and warm coats, they dashed headlong down a snowy slope toward a thick forest, where they stood no chance of surviving bitter temperatures of around
-30º C (-22º F). At the time, seemingly baffled investigators offered the non-explanation that the group had died as a result of "a compelling unknown
force" - and then simply closed the case and filed it as 'Top Secret'.
After half a century, the mystery remains. What was the nature of the deadly "unknown force"? Were the Soviet authorities hiding something? And,
if so, exactly what were they were attempting to cover up? In the intervening years, a number of solutions have been put forward, involving everything from
hostile tribes and abominable snowmen to aliens and secret military technology.
