1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a 7 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: thousand words. Gallons of ink have been spilled over the 8 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: shaky film footage of a supposed bigfoot tramping through the woods, 9 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,199 Speaker 1: and one shadowy photograph of the Lochness Monster has led 10 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: to the creation of an entire mythology surrounding the creature. 11 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: But in the absence of photographic evidence, what do we have, Well, 12 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,319 Speaker 1: we have stories, and left on checked those stories can 13 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 1: take on lives of their own. In nineteen thirteen, German 14 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: captain Ludwig von Stein Zulautsnitz had been sent to a 15 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:10,479 Speaker 1: part of Africa that at the time had been under 16 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:13,400 Speaker 1: German control. Today we know the area as the country 17 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: of Cameroon, along the continent's western coast. Von Stein had 18 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: been tasked with the job of surveying the German colonies 19 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: there but started hearing strange tales of a giant reptile 20 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:28,360 Speaker 1: known to prowl the territory. The locals called it mockla membe, 21 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: which means one who stops the flow of rivers. As 22 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,319 Speaker 1: von Stein put it in his report, the animal is 23 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,279 Speaker 1: said to be of a brownish gray color, he wrote, 24 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: with a smooth skin. Its size is approximately that of 25 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: an elephant, at least that of a hippopotamus. It is 26 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 1: said to have a long and very flexible neck and 27 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: only one tooth. The reports went on to describe the 28 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: fates of those who had pursued the creature. Canoes were 29 00:01:56,080 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: capsized and entire crews killed, but not eaten. In Instead, 30 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 1: the animal was categorized as a plant eater, known to 31 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 1: leave behind massive footprints on its journey to devour its 32 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: next fruit tree. But von Stein was not the first 33 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: to allege that such beasts may be roaming the jungles 34 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 1: of Africa. Four years earlier, a man named Carl Hagenbeck 35 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,160 Speaker 1: wrote a book called Beasts and Men. Hagenbeck was a 36 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,639 Speaker 1: dealer of both wild animals and even people, creating zoos 37 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: in which he displayed actual human beings from places like 38 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: the Samoan Islands. In Beasts and Men, Hagenbeck described the 39 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: folk tales of the native populations that had been told 40 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: to him and other white travelers about a creature roaming 41 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,920 Speaker 1: the interior of Rhodesia in southern Africa. He also likened 42 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 1: its size to that of an elephant, but expanded on 43 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: that description by referring to it as half dragon and 44 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: some kind of dinosaur, seemingly akin to the Brontosaurus. Now, 45 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:54,519 Speaker 1: other witnesses had sighted the animal's length that somewhere between 46 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 1: fifteen to thirty feet, with a serpentine head and a 47 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:02,520 Speaker 1: long tail, not unlike a please or the Lucknus monster. 48 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:05,920 Speaker 1: But what was it? Really? Could there still be a 49 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: dinosaur wandering Africa millions of years after their supposed extinction? 50 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 1: The truth is doubtful. In eighteen forty two, palaeontologists Sir 51 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 1: Richard Owen coined the term dinosaur while studying some fossils 52 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: that had been discovered in southern England. From that point on, 53 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: the world had come down with the case of dinosaur fever, 54 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:30,639 Speaker 1: and many paleontologists began looking for fossils everywhere. The period 55 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: from about eighteen seventy two until eighteen ninety two was 56 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: known as the Great Dinosaur Rush, or my personal favorite, 57 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: the Bone Wars. The goal wasn't necessarily to further the 58 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 1: study of the extinct creatures. It was to become rich 59 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: and famous for finding the biggest and most impressive specimens. 60 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: Dinosaurs were simply on the brain for many people during 61 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 1: the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It's no wonder 62 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: that a massive creature only seen by indigenous locals might 63 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 1: be viewed by visitors as as the living embodiment of 64 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: the bones that had been unearthed many in fact in Africa. Unfortunately, 65 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: most historians and experts have a number of other explanations 66 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: for the Mokeli Membay's existence. Some say it could have 67 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:16,719 Speaker 1: been a rare black rhinoceros, while others claim it was 68 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: simply an elephant. Even with perfect twenty twenty vision, our 69 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,039 Speaker 1: eyes may deceive us from time to time. Those blurry 70 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:27,280 Speaker 1: shots of an aquatic seabeast in lochness nothing more than 71 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: a child's toy photographed in black and white. Sometimes we 72 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: see what we want to see. It appears the dinosaurs 73 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: of the Congo may have been hopeful fantasies from explorers 74 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: seeking the next big scientific breakthrough, but that hasn't stopped 75 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: modern scientists from looking themselves, because the stories still persist, 76 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: and sometimes the lore is too great to ignore, especially 77 00:04:51,040 --> 00:05:09,040 Speaker 1: when that lore is as big as a Brontosaurus. There 78 00:05:09,080 --> 00:05:12,880 Speaker 1: are few historical mysteries that captivate people like the Dyatlav 79 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:17,039 Speaker 1: Pass incident. In January of nineteen fifty nine, nine hikers 80 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: journeyed hundreds of miles into Russia's ural mountains, where they 81 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,599 Speaker 1: died under circumstances so strange nobody knew what happened for 82 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:29,080 Speaker 1: over sixty years, But recently, in twenty twenty one, scientists 83 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: found the answer in a very curious place. Before we 84 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:35,559 Speaker 1: go there, though, let's go back to nineteen fifty nine. 85 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:38,039 Speaker 1: It was the middle of the Russian winter and a 86 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,360 Speaker 1: college student named Igor Dyatlov was planning a hiking trip. Now, 87 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:45,040 Speaker 1: I know what you're thinking, that is the worst possible 88 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,720 Speaker 1: time to go hiking, and yeah, you're right, But Igor 89 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 1: was trying to get a high level hiking certification and 90 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,719 Speaker 1: to do that he had to complete a really difficult journey. Plus, 91 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: Igor wasn't going alone. He invited eight other hikers, mostly 92 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: friends from college, to accompany him. They set off in 93 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: late January headed into the Urals. Now the euro Mountains 94 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: run between Europe and Asia. They're sixteen hundred miles across 95 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: and reach over six thousand feet in elevation. During the winter, 96 00:06:14,279 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: the area is blanketed in several feet of snow and ice, 97 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:21,920 Speaker 1: and temperatures average around negative six degrees fahrenheit. The conditions 98 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:25,160 Speaker 1: are extreme, to say the least, but the hikers were 99 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 1: ready for it. They spent the next several days trekking 100 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: through snow, snacking on pork fat, and sleeping in a tent. 101 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: A few weeks later, though, the hikers were supposed to 102 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 1: return home, but they didn't show up. On February twentieth, 103 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:41,080 Speaker 1: a search party went to find them and soon discovered 104 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:45,040 Speaker 1: a strange and heartbreaking scene. The hiker's tent was found 105 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,920 Speaker 1: on the side of a peak called colat Siacle. The 106 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,840 Speaker 1: fabric of the tent had been partially buried in the snow, 107 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:54,359 Speaker 1: but the poles were still upright. Searchers looked inside and 108 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: found the hikers backpacks, food, and even their shoes, but 109 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,280 Speaker 1: no sign of the hikers themselves. And then they noticed 110 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: a slash mark on the side of the tent where 111 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:07,719 Speaker 1: it had been cut open from the inside. From this opening, 112 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: footprints in the snow led down the mountain and straight 113 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: to a gruesome scene frozen bodies of two hikers. Two 114 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: more were found further up the slope. All of the 115 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 1: hikers were barefoot, and some were only wearing their underwear. 116 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:23,520 Speaker 1: A few months later, when the snow started to melt, 117 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: the bodies of the last five hikers were found. They 118 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: were also half dressed, and some had inexplicable injuries. One 119 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: man had a fractured skull and one woman was missing 120 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: her tongue and eyes. It looked like something had scared 121 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: the hikers so badly that they tore their way out 122 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: of their tent and then ran barefoot into sub zero temperatures, 123 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 1: trying and failing to get away. As for what that 124 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: something was, well, the Russian government opened an investigation to 125 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: find out, but all they could say was that the 126 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:57,960 Speaker 1: hikers were killed by and I quote, an unknown compelling force. 127 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:03,320 Speaker 1: With no concrete answers, Conspiracy theories ran rampant. The hikers' 128 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:06,400 Speaker 1: deaths were blamed on everything from aliens to Getty's to 129 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 1: secret military weapons tests. Then, in twenty twenty one, two 130 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 1: Swiss scientists decided to get to the bottom of the mystery. 131 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,760 Speaker 1: They had a hunch that the datlav Pass incident had 132 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: a much simpler explanation. You see, throughout the years, many 133 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:23,680 Speaker 1: people suggested the hikers die during an avalanche, but a 134 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 1: few details made that seem impossible. The tent poles were 135 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 1: still upright, which you wouldn't expect in a major avalanche. Plus, 136 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,320 Speaker 1: the hikers had been camping on a relatively flat slope 137 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: in an area where avalanches have never been recorded. Regardless, 138 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: these scientists wanted to test their theory. They needed to 139 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: simulate the exact shape of the mountain and the weather 140 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: conditions on the night the hikers died. The technology to 141 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:49,000 Speaker 1: create such a simulation existed, but it came from an 142 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: unlikely place. The scientists made a few calls, and before 143 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 1: long they were in a meeting room in Hollywood, sitting 144 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 1: across from the animator who created the snow effects for 145 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:03,679 Speaker 1: Disney's hit Frozen. Using animation code from the movie, they 146 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:07,640 Speaker 1: created the most advanced avalanche simulation yet, and it revealed 147 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:12,040 Speaker 1: that an avalanche wasn't just possible, it was probable. You see, 148 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: there's a type of avalanche called a snow slab that 149 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: happens when a block of compressed snow and ice slides 150 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: down a mountain. Slabs can be relatively small, just a 151 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: few yards across, and still do serious damage. Based on 152 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:28,959 Speaker 1: the scientists calculations, this is what happened to the hikers. 153 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 1: A slab avalanche fell on their tent. A few of 154 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 1: the hikers were injured, one had a fractured skull. Afraid 155 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:38,200 Speaker 1: that more snow would fall on them, they cut their 156 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:40,640 Speaker 1: way out of the tent and fled without even putting 157 00:09:40,679 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 1: on their shoes. Sadly, they froze to death before they 158 00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:46,320 Speaker 1: can make it back to safety. It's a pretty simple 159 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:49,720 Speaker 1: explanation for a sixty two year old mystery, and it 160 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:53,200 Speaker 1: all happened thanks to a Disney animated film, which to 161 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:56,840 Speaker 1: me is an incredible example of how art and science 162 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:00,840 Speaker 1: can come together to help us make sense of our world. 163 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:08,440 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 164 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:12,360 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 165 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 166 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,559 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership 167 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 168 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: called Lore which is a podcast, book series, and television 169 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: show and you can learn all about it over at 170 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:36,720 Speaker 1: the Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.