1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum here. Today's episode contains some violent imagery, so 3 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 1: if you're not up for that, go ahead and skip 4 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: this one. Forget the unknowns surrounding Amelia Earhart's fate or 5 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:22,079 Speaker 1: who really shot JFK. One of the most enduring unsolved 6 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:24,880 Speaker 1: mysteries of the twentieth century is what happened to nine 7 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: hikers found dead at the now named diet Love Pass 8 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: in the Ural Mountains of Russia in nineteen fifty nine, 9 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: And although it happened decades ago, government officials in Russia 10 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:38,239 Speaker 1: are once again working on a preliminary investigation that can 11 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: ultimately reopen the case in an effort to resolve its 12 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: unanswered questions and give some peace to the families who 13 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 1: never really understood how their loved ones died. The odd 14 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: series of events started in the winter of nineteen fifty nine, 15 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 1: when savvy outdoorsman and twenty three year old college student 16 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: Igor diet Love assembled a group of ten people to 17 00:00:57,840 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 1: go on a skiing and hiking journey through a north 18 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 1: stretch of the Ural Mountains in what was then the 19 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,280 Speaker 1: Soviet Union. The adventure wasn't just a group of crazy 20 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: college kids on a lark. They didn't pack booze or cigarettes. 21 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: It wasn't a vacation. It was a mission. All of them, 22 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: eight men and two women, were experienced outdoorsy types with 23 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 1: Grade two hiker certifications including ski experience, and the one 24 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: hundred and ninety mile that's three hundred and six kilometer 25 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: journey would qualify them for Grade three status, the highest 26 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:30,400 Speaker 1: possible certification in the country at the time. On January 27 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: they set out into the cold and snow. Almost immediately, 28 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: one man felt physically unwell and turned back for home. 29 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:38,959 Speaker 1: He couldn't have known at the time that his ailments 30 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: would save him from certain death. The nine others continued onward. 31 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,680 Speaker 1: On January thirty one, the group reached a critical way point, 32 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: a valley that marked the approach to what would eventually 33 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: come to be called Diet Love Pass. There they stashed 34 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: extra gear and food that they need for their return trip. 35 00:01:57,120 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: The following morning, they began their ascent, hoping to push 36 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: over the pass and then make camp, but a fierce 37 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: snow storm pushed them off their intended route and onto 38 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: the slopes of a mountain which, in the language of 39 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: the indigenous people who lived there means dead mountain. The 40 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: altered route meant that the team had to choose a 41 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: new campsite rather than retreating to a more protected area. 42 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 1: They opted, for whatever reason, to camp on the mountains 43 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,680 Speaker 1: exposed slopes. Perhaps they simply didn't want to lose the 44 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: ground they had gained. Maybe they were too cold and 45 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: weary to fall back. In any case, they pitched their 46 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: large shared tent, where they would soon be subjected to 47 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 1: temperatures that nose dived to around negative forty degrees in 48 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: both fahrenheit and celsius. Researchers know this much thanks to 49 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: journals and film recovered from the camp, but much of 50 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:46,079 Speaker 1: what transpired during the next two days is hard to understand. 51 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: The group failed to arrive at a rendezvous point at 52 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: a predetermined time, so search and rescue teams, including army units, 53 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: set out to find them. Three weeks later, on February 54 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: ninety nine, the searchers finally located the rue and camp 55 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: amid a string of truly weird circumstances. How weird, let 56 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:08,359 Speaker 1: us count the ways. The tent was half covered with snow, 57 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: torn open from the inside, was no one around the 58 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: group's belongings, including vital necessities like shoes, had been left behind. 59 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: A line of footprints indicated that the nine people had 60 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: walked away at normal speed, but some just wore one 61 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: shoe or were totally barefoot. About a third of a 62 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: mile that's about half a kilometer away, there was evidence 63 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 1: of a campfire along with the shoelace and mostly naked 64 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: remains of two group members. Within several hundred feet between 65 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: the campfire and the tent, they located three more bodies, 66 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: frozen in poses that made it seem as though they 67 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: were attempting to return to the camp. It wasn't until 68 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: May fourth of that year that the weather warmed enough 69 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: for investigators to track down the other dead, whose remains 70 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: were found a few dozen feet from the chaotic campfire. 71 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: Their bodies lodged in a creek bed. Autopsies show that 72 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 1: the first six hikers found died of hypothermia, but the 73 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: three found in the ravine suffered a variety of injuries, 74 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 1: including skull and chest fractures. One woman's eyes and tongue 75 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: were missing. Yet there was no sign of struggle, which 76 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 1: seemed to rule out foul play. Pictures recovered from cameras 77 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: at the scene seemed to portray a group that started 78 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: in high spirits but ended with dour and anxious faces, 79 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:25,280 Speaker 1: perhaps because they thought they were lost, or maybe there 80 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 1: was some other danger afoot. One photo shows tree markings 81 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: made by local Muncie people. Another shows an unidentified figure 82 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:36,840 Speaker 1: that some people believe could be an intruder or more outlandishly, 83 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: a yetti. Officials first suspected that the Munsey might have 84 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 1: been offended by the trespassers on their sacred land, causing 85 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,039 Speaker 1: them to lash out in violence against the hikers, but 86 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 1: in the end, investigators concluded that no one else was 87 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: on the mountain when the hikers died. By the end 88 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:56,839 Speaker 1: of May, the investigation was officially ended. The causes of 89 00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: death were listed as compelling natural force. Some documents were 90 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: then classified, and the area was closed to public access 91 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 1: for years following the instant. Given the circumstances, you can 92 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:12,159 Speaker 1: see how surviving family members might be unsatisfied with the 93 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:16,280 Speaker 1: government's vague conclusion. In the vacuum of an actual explanation, 94 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: many wild theories took root. One postulates that there was 95 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:22,880 Speaker 1: an avalanche, extreme high winds, or a wild animal attack. 96 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,160 Speaker 1: Another tells of a possible lover's quarrel combined with a 97 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:29,799 Speaker 1: psychedelic drug obtained from locals, causing a wild sequence of events. 98 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 1: Others think deep infrasound vibrations conjured by winds roaring over 99 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: the mountain pass incited panic in the group, since some 100 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: of the hiker's clothes were found to be radioactive. Perhaps 101 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:45,720 Speaker 1: they stumbled unwittingly onto a military weapons experiment, And of 102 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: course there's a theory that aliens were involved. Locals later 103 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: told officials that had spotted unidentified flying objects over the 104 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:54,480 Speaker 1: area the night of the deaths, though it was later 105 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 1: revealed that the military was testing parachute mines in the 106 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: region when the group was killed. Now more than sixty 107 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:04,600 Speaker 1: years later, the cases escalated from regional authorities to a 108 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: federal branch of the country's Investigative Committee, which obtained all 109 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: relevant documents regarding the deaths as part of the research process. 110 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,040 Speaker 1: To begin the fresh inquiry, officials whittled down their list 111 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: of possible causes to just three of the most likely hypotheses, 112 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 1: all of which centered on natural causes a hurricane, avalanche, 113 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 1: or snow slab. The idea was that did revisit the 114 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: area with those three possibilities in mind in hopes of 115 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: untangling the course of events, but investigators were dealt a 116 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: tough hand right from the start. None of the three 117 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: possibilities seems to explain why the hikers slashed through their 118 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:43,360 Speaker 1: tent and fled without any clothes, or why there was 119 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:46,480 Speaker 1: no real evidence that an avalanche had taken place. In fact, 120 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:49,279 Speaker 1: in more than one hundred subsequent expeditions to the area, 121 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: no one has ever reported avalanches in that area, or 122 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,599 Speaker 1: why the hiker's footprints were visible and not covered by snow, 123 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: further deflating the avalanche theory. Plus, although the tent collapsed laterally, 124 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:04,599 Speaker 1: there was no evidence of horizontal force that would have 125 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 1: indicated sliding snow and ice. All of the strange circumstances 126 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: so puzzled Theodora Hadgitzka that she launched Diet Love Pass 127 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,480 Speaker 1: dot com as a comprehensive archive of many documents and 128 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: images related to the case. Born in Bulgaria, she's one 129 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: of the few people who's taken the time to translate 130 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: the many Russian files into English and has created a 131 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:28,840 Speaker 1: comprehensive database of all the photos, evidence, and theories, making 132 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: her an expert on the tragedy. In an email interview, 133 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: Hajitska said the information that's publicly available, either by ineptitude 134 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: or more ominously, by design, does not fully explain what 135 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: happened to the hikers. She's also far from convinced that 136 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: the government is trying to truly solve the case, rather 137 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: than using half measures to pacify families still yearning for answers. 138 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: After years of picking through the information, she has her 139 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: suspicions about what transpired on that frozen mountain. Her take 140 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 1: the hikers were murdered. Jetska thinks that something alarmed the 141 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 1: group and they clambered out of the tent. Then her 142 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: theory goes, armed people confronted them and there was a 143 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: brief scuffle. She said the hikers were marched down to 144 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: the tree line to die from exposure. They didn't know that. 145 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,400 Speaker 1: They thought the perpetrators were after their belongings, so they complied. 146 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: She thinks that's certain that their victims would quickly perish 147 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: in the life draining cold. The murderers wandered back to 148 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 1: the tent. Her theory goes that the half naked group 149 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:32,200 Speaker 1: frantically and perhaps miraculously managed to start a campfire. Which 150 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: alerted their foes, who rushed back down the hill to 151 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,680 Speaker 1: finish them off. By then, the three who were wearing 152 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:40,360 Speaker 1: more substantial clothing, had moved away from the fire in 153 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 1: a bid to create a shallow snow down in which 154 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,680 Speaker 1: to survive the night. But soon they two were found 155 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:49,680 Speaker 1: killed and then dragged to the creek. A. Jitsica said, 156 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 1: it still lacks the who and why, but this scenario 157 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:56,079 Speaker 1: explains the mysterious behavior of the hikers. It's a murder, 158 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: so it doesn't have to make sense. Little can be 159 00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: safely deduced from the fact, but at least there's no 160 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: doubt that somebody helped them die. She feels certain that 161 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:08,679 Speaker 1: the group was under attack in three separate instances, at 162 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:10,920 Speaker 1: the tent, then the tree line, and then at the 163 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 1: snow den. She said the whole ordeal must have taken hours, 164 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:18,160 Speaker 1: even if something scared them at the tent fireball avalanche. 165 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:20,600 Speaker 1: YETI that something had to follow them to the cedar 166 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:23,880 Speaker 1: after they had time to make the fire. That's because 167 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,720 Speaker 1: building a fire does take time, which means that the 168 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: hikers were under the impression that they would make it 169 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: through the night. They also had time and energy to 170 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:35,480 Speaker 1: make the den she believes this hypothesis shows a pattern 171 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 1: of assailants following the group and escalating the attack amid 172 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,760 Speaker 1: unbearably cold and perhaps blizzard like conditions where confusion and 173 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: panic affected all parties. To date, Russian authorities have not 174 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: released a statement regarding what's still considered a preliminary investigation, 175 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:53,800 Speaker 1: but they have assured the public that modern forensics and 176 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:58,520 Speaker 1: analysis will be used during this phase. Perhaps, with new insights, 177 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:01,680 Speaker 1: they'll finally rest real answers from the grips of an icy, 178 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 1: cold tragedy that seems frozen in time. Or maybe, just 179 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,440 Speaker 1: maybe those who really know what happened on the slopes 180 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:10,959 Speaker 1: of Dead Mountain will do everything they can to further 181 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:14,160 Speaker 1: bury the truth in an avalanche of half truths and lies. 182 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 1: Today's episode was certain by Nathan Chandler and produced by 183 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,960 Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio's 184 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. For more on this and lots of 185 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: other topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com, 186 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: and for more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the 187 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 188 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:36,120 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.