In February of 1959, 9 hikers were found dead in the Ural Mountains of Russia. While the Soviet government claimed that there was an avalanche that wiped out the hikers, the case is deemed “cold” by many because of the grisly injuries and suspected foul play.
What Happened?
On January 23rd, 1959, 10 experienced hikers set out to the Ural Mountain Range on a winter trek. One hiker, Yuri Yudin, decided to turn back after about 5 days due to poor health—he was the only survivor. The rest continued on, taking photos of each other and recording diaries expressing their excitement about the hike. “I wonder what awaits us in this trip?” one wrote. “What will we encounter?”
On the 1st of February, the Russian hikers pitched a tent and settled in for the night. Hours later, all nine fled the safety of the tent and perished in the freezing, snowy conditions. The hikers had planned to send their sports club a message about three weeks after taking off, so when the club didn’t hear from them by February 20th, a search party set out to find them. The party found the remains of their tent on the side of Kholat Syakhl, a mountain in the range that translates to “Dead Mountain.” Inside were the hikers’ belongings—boots, clothes, and maps—along with some food laid out for a meal. The side of the tent had been slashed open from the inside, and the footprints left were evidence that they’d left without shoes on—seemingly a sign of just how desperate they’d been to get out.
Over 2-3 weeks, they recovered the bodies of 5 of the hikers spread out amongst the snow in various states of dress and inexplicably bizarre injuries. Several months later, they’d found the last 4 when the snow had melted, all with even worse injuries and little to no clothing on. Some of the bodies were radioactive, and a couple were missing an eyebrow or two from their face. Even more gruesome, two were missing eyes, with one even missing her tongue; another was missing teeth, and one even seemed to have bitten off a chunk of his knuckle. The government attributed these strange traumas to wild animals in the mountainous region, but many questioned whether an animal would do something like strictly eat the eyes or tongue of a corpse.
A criminal investigation was carried out by prosecutor Lev Ivanov, but it came to a questionable conclusion. “The cause of their demise was an overwhelming force which the hikers were not able to overcome,” the report said. Similar to the prosecutor’s claims, the Soviet government claimed the hikers had succumbed to a, “compelling natural force.” They then changed their conclusion to an avalanche in the mountain range.
Theories
There are many theories to this case that involve much more than the surface knowledge presented. Ranging from alien interference to a Yeti mauling, there are also ideas that serve us more as conspiracy theories than factual, evidence-based claims.
The theory of espionage is the most widely accepted. One member of the group was Semyon Zolotaryov, a 37-year-old veteran of World War Two—seemingly out of place in the group of college students. One more questionable character is Yuri Krivonischenko; he was a nuclear engineer who helped the Soviet government cover up a nuclear disaster on par with Chernobyl. The theory goes that these two hikers (and possibly a third) worked for the KGB and tagged along with the group to meet with CIA agents in the Ural Mountains. The CIA then found out that the spies were actually double agents sent to hand off fake nuclear codes during the cold war, and staged an ambush of the hikers.
One baseless theory is related to the indigenous people of the region; some speculate that the Mansi people attacked and slaughtered the hikers for staying on sacred ground. Zinaida Kolmogorov wrote in one of her diaries, “We often see Mansi signs on the trail, I wonder what they write about?” This theory has been widely debunked and was purely born out of racist ideologies of Mansi culture.
Regardless of what the Russian government has to say, there continues to be speculation about exactly what happened in those mountains; an avalanche doesn’t even begin to explain the bizarre nature of their deaths. Was it the U.S. government? Was it really an avalanche followed by wild animals? 75 years later, the case remains cold.
