Russia Reopens Investigation Into Deadly Dyatlov Pass Incident

Russian lawmakers are set to reopen an investigation into one of the world’s most chilling unsolved mysteries. On the first two days of February, 1959, a group of nine experienced backcountry ski hikers perished at the Dyatlov Pass in the frozen Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union under curious circumstances. An unknown incident appears to have occurred in the night which caused the hikers to cut themselves out of their tents from the inside and flee into the sub-zero temperatures barely dressed. When Soviet investigators discovered the hikers’ bodies, some were found to be missing body parts while others appeared to have suffered grievous blunt force trauma. The nature of the incident and the hikers’ deaths have never been conclusively determined.

The tattered remains of one of the group’s tents.

The mystery of mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Incident remains unsolved, but numerous theories have been put forward over the years ranging from the scientific to the paranormal. Did powerful infrasound induce a state of panic or mass psychogenic illness? Did indigenous tribes or a menk, a Russian cousin of the Yeti, attack the group? Were the hikers accidentally killed by the Soviet military who then fabricated the mystery to cover their tracks?

To answer as many of these questions as possible, Russian lawmakers have announced they have officially reopened the case of the Dyatlov Pass Incident. Prosecutors and researchers will travel from Moscow to the remote Ural Mountains to gather potential evidence and try and determined what caused the unsolved deaths of the nine hikers who perished in the incident.

The hikers shortly before their deaths.

According to Sputnik News, this new Dyatlov Pass research team will include “geodesy experts.” Geodesy is a field of Earth science involved with measuring and studying the Earth’s gravitational field, geometric shape, and position and orientation in space. If you’re like me, you’re wondering what these properties have to do with the Dyatlov Pass incident. Did some sort of gravitational anomaly contribute to the hikers’ deaths, or is this merely some sort of translation error?

Stay tuned. The investigation is slated to take place between March 10 and 10, 2019. Will Russian state news release the results of this investigation? That is, if any are found. It’s been over 60 years, after all. Will we ever be able to solve the mystery of the Dyatlov Pass incident?

Brett Tingley (CLICK HERE TO READ AND SEE MORE)