Dyatlov Pass (USSR, 1959)

Unexplained deaths of nine hikers in the Urals; theories range from natural to anomalous.

The Dyatlov Pass incident (Russian: Гибель тургруппы Дятлова, romanized: Gibel turgruppy Dyatlova, lit. 'Death of the Dyatlov Hiking Group') was an event in which nine Soviet ski hikers died in the northern part of the Ural Mountains ridge in the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union on 1 or 2 February 1959 under undetermined circumstances. The experienced trekking group from the Ural Polytechnical Institute, led by Igor Dyatlov, went on a hike of the highest difficulty level at that time, and had established a camp on the eastern slopes of Kholat Syakhl mountain. Overnight, the group cut their way out of their tent with knives and fled the campsite, inadequately dressed for the heavy snowfall, strong winds and extreme cold temperatures as low as −40 °C (−40 °F). After the group's bodies were discovered, an investigation by Soviet authorities determined that six of them had died from hypothermia while the other three had been killed by physical trauma. One victim had major skull damage, two had severe chest trauma, and another had a small crack in his skull. Four of the bodies were found in May 1959 lying in running water in a creek, and three of them had damaged soft tissue of the head and face – two of the bodies had missing eyes, one had a missing tongue, and one had missing eyebrows. The investigation concluded that a "compelling natural force" (elemental force) had caused the deaths.