1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: Nothing's better than feeling comfortable in your own shoes. Maybe 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:05,760 Speaker 1: you're a parent raising a little rock star, or a 3 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:08,640 Speaker 1: technomad working from anywhere. All Birds wants you to be 4 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:12,520 Speaker 1: comfortable in your actual shoes too. They're wool runners, pipers, 5 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: and loungers are so cozy you might forget you're wearing them, 6 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:18,599 Speaker 1: and they're crafted from natural materials that tread lightly on 7 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,759 Speaker 1: our planet. So get comfortable in your shoes. Get to 8 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,760 Speaker 1: know the wool runners, pipers and loungers at albirds dot com. 9 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:41,239 Speaker 1: That's alllbi rds dot com. It could be said that 10 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: the history of life is a history of movement, a 11 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: vast dance of inexorable entropic change, from the propulsion of 12 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: the stars and the planets to the vibrating of subatomic 13 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 1: particles and the stretching of space itself. It's useful to 14 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: remember sometimes, but even the most solid seeming of objects are, 15 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 1: in one way or another, in a constant kinetic state, 16 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:09,760 Speaker 1: be that the glass in your window, the elements of 17 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: a diamond, or even the earth under our feet. Let us, then, 18 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:19,120 Speaker 1: for a moment, take one singular place and look upon 19 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:22,760 Speaker 1: it as an ageless being of omnipotence might observe it. 20 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:38,119 Speaker 1: You're listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard McClain Smith. At first, 21 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 1: we see a minute speck hanging in the depths of space. 22 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: Drawing closer, we see it is in fact a nameless 23 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:51,480 Speaker 1: planet moving around a nameless star. Drawing closer still, we 24 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: see on the surface of that planet, two gigantic land 25 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: masses are set on an imperceptible but devastating collision course, 26 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,559 Speaker 1: and on the edge of one we find our spot. 27 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: The movement of the land is generated in part by 28 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: the heat of the planet's core, a solid ball of 29 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: iron nickel raging at almost five and a half thousand 30 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: degrees centigrade that in turn heats a mantle layer below 31 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: the planet's surface. This outer shell appears to be a 32 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: static rock composed mainly of silicon, iron, magnesium, oxygen, and aluminium, 33 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: but of course it is not still. Instead, it bends 34 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 1: and creeps, cajoled by the planet's warm belly, expanding and 35 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: contracting in convective circles as the heat rises and falls 36 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 1: through the silicate layers. It is on this sea of 37 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: rock and waves of heat that the two land masses 38 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:53,360 Speaker 1: are being thrown toward each other and on this planet. 39 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:57,960 Speaker 1: By our measurements, the days last just over twenty two hours, 40 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: and oxygen levels in the air are fifty percent higher 41 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:05,200 Speaker 1: than anything we have ever experienced, and there is life 42 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:09,600 Speaker 1: in plenty across the continents. Owing to the humid climate, 43 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 1: the land is smothered in vast swamps and enormous trees. 44 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:19,959 Speaker 1: Amphibious creatures dominate, while giant invertebrate arthropods wiggle and cruel 45 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:25,960 Speaker 1: in abundance. Some even fly too, their twitching segmented bodies 46 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: lifted into the air by gossamer wings Over half a 47 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: meter in span. The two continents draw ever closer, until 48 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: finally they collide to form one giant singular mass. As 49 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: they merge, our spot is pushed and pulled as vast 50 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: splinterings of rock rise into the sky to form mountains 51 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: and rolling hills. Over time, the land beneath continues to 52 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: move and break apart into many separate pieces, and over 53 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 1: the land above, more and diff front creatures are taking 54 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:06,200 Speaker 1: their place, entire species rising into falling, while the planet 55 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: spirals on through space as it continues to orbit the 56 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: nameless star, a mere three hundred million orbits later, and 57 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 1: now the oxygen levels on the planet have depleted, the 58 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: days have become longer, and from out of a central place, 59 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:27,839 Speaker 1: what was once four legs has become two. In herds, 60 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: these strange bipedal creatures are dispersed throughout the planet. Eventually 61 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:37,160 Speaker 1: they will learn to give themselves names and names two 62 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: for the many things around them, including the very planet 63 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: they walk upon, which will become known as Planeta Zimna 64 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: jigu hen Song, or to others, planet Earth, and those 65 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:58,279 Speaker 1: creatures will learn to tell stories, bringing ever greater potential 66 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:02,720 Speaker 1: for change. For now, not only does the material world change, 67 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: but so too will the world that is mapped onto 68 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: it in the minds of the creatures who walk upon it, 69 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,599 Speaker 1: Entire worlds that two can rise and fall in a 70 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:19,039 Speaker 1: matter of moments. As for our spot, it will eventually 71 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: find itself nestled at the foothills of those same mountains 72 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:27,039 Speaker 1: formed three hundred million years ago, still surviving today as 73 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 1: one of the oldest mountain ranges on the planet. Those 74 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: mountains will eventually find themselves encased in a country named 75 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:41,920 Speaker 1: Rossia and will become known as Uralski Gorri, or as 76 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: the Ural Mountains. So let us now get closer in 77 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: time and space to the spot that we have marked. 78 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:01,839 Speaker 1: The Ural Mountains form a natural order between Europe and Asia, 79 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 1: running two and a half thousand kilometers through western Russia, 80 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,279 Speaker 1: from the coast of the Kara Sea to the northwest 81 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:12,039 Speaker 1: border of Kazakhstan, and just to the east of the 82 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: central Urals, we will find our region of interest. In 83 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,799 Speaker 1: seventeen twenty three, Peter, the great leader of the Russian Empire, 84 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:25,839 Speaker 1: establishes a town here that will be named Yachitterimborg after 85 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: his wife Yiketerina. Due to the abundance of minerals, vast 86 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:35,240 Speaker 1: resources of timber, and the deep waters of the Ist River, 87 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:39,359 Speaker 1: the location was a place of great natural beauty, but 88 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: also a prime location for what would become the administrative 89 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 1: mining capital of the Russian Empire. Just under two hundred 90 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: years later, and the city is firmly established as a 91 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: focal point for the country's growing industrial appetite. And in 92 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: that time so much has changed, not that we might notice. However, 93 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,800 Speaker 1: certainly the surrounding land and even the city, to all 94 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: intents and purposes, has remained fixed. But even as we 95 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:17,040 Speaker 1: look upon it now, invisible changes are taking place. As 96 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 1: a primary industrial hub, Yukaterimburg has found itself a beating 97 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 1: heart of a new world that has materialized around it. 98 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: Having been a town built by royal decree to excavate 99 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: natural resources that would then be turned into capital and 100 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: wealth for a fortunate few, it is now a symbol 101 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: and ode to those that generated the wealth, not through 102 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: some strange alchemy, but through the blood and sweat of 103 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: the many hands that scraped it from the earth. And 104 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: so it is that, at the beginning of the century 105 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 1: we find in our spot the same furnaces burning, and 106 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: the same coal brought from the land by the same hands, 107 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: But the status of those hands has been elevated. Two 108 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: thousand and two hundred miles away, on April sixteenth, nineteen seventeen, 109 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: a train will pull into Finland Station in Saint Petersburg, 110 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: carrying a man whose words, on stepping onto the station 111 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 1: platform will bring further winds of change. We watch as 112 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: they provoke an internacene war, turning the people of the 113 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:31,280 Speaker 1: nation against each other in brutal and devastating ways. Back 114 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: in Yakaterinburg, there is a mansion house belonging to a 115 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:39,000 Speaker 1: merchant named Epatiev, but as we avert our gaze for 116 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:42,280 Speaker 1: a moment. A year has passed, and when we look 117 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 1: again we see the same bricks and mortar standing in 118 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:50,200 Speaker 1: the same place, only now there is no Epatiev and 119 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,920 Speaker 1: the mansion has been renamed the House of Special Purpose 120 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 1: of the Ural Soviet Committee. A year later, in the 121 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: spring of nineteen eighteen, seven highly prized prisoners a family 122 00:09:04,160 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: will be escorted to Yakaterinburg and imprisoned in this House 123 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: of Special Purpose. We see them now in the early 124 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: hours of July seventeenth, nineteen eighteen, as they are raised 125 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: from their beds and taken to a small room. They 126 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 1: are told to sit and wait for a truck to 127 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 1: come and take them away. But the truck never comes, 128 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: only a hail of bullets and thrusting bayonets that ends 129 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: with the walls dripping in blood and the prisoners lying 130 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: dead on the ground. We watch as the bodies are 131 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: taken to an abandoned mine shaft and one by one 132 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: are dropped to the bottom of it. It is the 133 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 1: last time that Russia will ever know a royal family. 134 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 1: Five years later, the war is over. Yukaterinburg remains, but 135 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:07,200 Speaker 1: now finds itself not in Russia but the Union of 136 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:11,960 Speaker 1: Soviet Socialist Republics, and though the name and rulers have changed, 137 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:15,280 Speaker 1: the minerals and oars in the ground are still very 138 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:20,000 Speaker 1: much in demand. To that end, a school has been established, 139 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: named the euro Polytechnic Institute, to promote better skills in 140 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:29,880 Speaker 1: the working classes to aid with increased production. The following year, 141 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:33,520 Speaker 1: we return to find the city as it was, only 142 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:39,560 Speaker 1: now it has a new name, spurred Lovsk. In the 143 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:42,680 Speaker 1: blink of an eye, just over thirty years have passed. 144 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:46,720 Speaker 1: It is nineteen fifty nine, and both spurred Lovsk and 145 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:50,320 Speaker 1: the euro Polytechnic as much as we left it. We 146 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:54,400 Speaker 1: see the building's familiar majestic architecture colonnaded at the front, 147 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:58,560 Speaker 1: underneath a vast pediment bearing the large embossed symbol of 148 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,360 Speaker 1: a hammer and a sickle. But in those thirty years, 149 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: as ever, so much has changed, and a new ruler 150 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,240 Speaker 1: has replaced the old, ushering an end to an era 151 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:15,120 Speaker 1: of almost unparalleled upheaval. In that time, an old enemy 152 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:18,920 Speaker 1: has risen and fallen from the west, and some considered 153 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:23,400 Speaker 1: enemies from within have fallen too, And now the deaths 154 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:27,800 Speaker 1: of over forty million people haunt the land. The mindset 155 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: of an entire country has been altered, and a new 156 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:37,160 Speaker 1: war stalks the people of this vast nation, a Lognoya Voina, 157 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:40,280 Speaker 1: or the Cold War, as it will come to be known. 158 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:45,560 Speaker 1: The new leader, Nikita Khrushchev, has promised a thawing of 159 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 1: the old ways, and a new generation are ready to 160 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:52,960 Speaker 1: embrace it, a generation embodied by the bright and enthusiastic 161 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:57,440 Speaker 1: students of the Ural Polytechnic Institute. And so it is 162 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: that on Friday, January the twenty third, nineteen fifty nine, 163 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:05,480 Speaker 1: finally we arrive at the beginning of one more story 164 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:09,720 Speaker 1: to scatter across the foothills of the Ural Mountains, a 165 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: story that is perhaps the most extraordinary of all the 166 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:17,080 Speaker 1: stories featured on the show so far, a chilling and 167 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:29,760 Speaker 1: profound mystery that remains to this day unexplained. We begin 168 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:34,320 Speaker 1: at the Ural Polytechnic Institute in Room five three one. 169 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:39,960 Speaker 1: Seven students are crammed inside the spartan dormitory, frantically shoving 170 00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:44,320 Speaker 1: various bits and pieces into backpacks, cans of meat, followed 171 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:48,400 Speaker 1: by packets of oatmeal, survival nights, and even a cooking stove. 172 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 1: Nothing is forgotten, but rather than chaos, it is the 173 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:57,440 Speaker 1: steady haste of a well oiled team. They are preparing 174 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:00,960 Speaker 1: for a difficult mountain hike deep into the euro towards 175 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: O'tauton Mountain. The journey will involve at least sixteen days 176 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: of trekking through the Siberian tundra on a path that 177 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:12,200 Speaker 1: many consider one of the toughest at this time of year, 178 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:15,959 Speaker 1: and it will need to be since all are hoping 179 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: to achieve their Category three hiking certificate upon completion. It 180 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:24,800 Speaker 1: is the highest awarded category in the country and one 181 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:27,520 Speaker 1: that will require the team to cover over three hundred 182 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:33,480 Speaker 1: kilometers of ground, spending at least eight days incompletely uninhabited regions. 183 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:39,240 Speaker 1: One boy, Yuri Krivneshchenko, looks perturbed for a moment as 184 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,079 Speaker 1: he hunts around the room, his face brightening into a 185 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 1: huge grin when he finally finds his leather boots. Yuri, 186 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:50,559 Speaker 1: also known as Gyogi, is the joker of the group 187 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:55,360 Speaker 1: and at twenty three, also one of the oldest. A 188 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:59,400 Speaker 1: recent graduate of construction and hydraulics. Back in September of 189 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:03,040 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty seven, Georgy had been assigned to work at 190 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 1: a secret nuclear facility called Chelyabinsk forty when the plutonium 191 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 1: plant experienced a catastrophic radioactive leak. Gyorgy was part of 192 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,520 Speaker 1: the team who was sent in to clean up the mess. 193 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:20,040 Speaker 1: He packs his leather boots away, then makes some space 194 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: for his much loved mandolin. Do you think I can 195 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:26,920 Speaker 1: play it on the train? He asks, of course, shout 196 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:31,600 Speaker 1: the others in warm reply. In the corner of the dawn, 197 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: keeping a watchful eye over the preparations is the diligent 198 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:41,240 Speaker 1: and methodical Alexander Kolovatov. At twenty four, Alexander is the 199 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: oldest member of the group. A kind soul with a 200 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:49,680 Speaker 1: ponchon for smoking antique pipes. Alexander was a distinguished student 201 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: in the field of nuclear physics who had also studied 202 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: in Moscow at a secret institute known as the Ministry 203 00:14:56,280 --> 00:15:00,480 Speaker 1: of Medium Machine Building before returning to Spurredlovsk to complete 204 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:06,560 Speaker 1: his physics major. Who has the salt shouted Zinaida Kolmogorova, 205 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:11,560 Speaker 1: or Zina as she is known to her friends. Although 206 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: only twenty Zena is in her fourth year of radio 207 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:19,359 Speaker 1: engineering and is a tough and experienced hiker, known affectionately 208 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 1: as the engine of the University, Zina's magnetic charm rarely 209 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: went unnoticed, not least by a number of the boys 210 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: in the team. Where at Doroshenko and Iger she asks, suddenly, 211 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 1: let me have fifteen cents to call them. The question 212 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 1: is directed at Ludmila Dubanina, the only other woman in 213 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:45,320 Speaker 1: the group. Luda is only twenty and the youngest in 214 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 1: the team. A focused and committed communist, the athletic Luda 215 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:53,880 Speaker 1: is practically a poster girl for the party, and like Zena, 216 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: is possessed of an inner steel equal, if not superior, 217 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: to any of her male compatriots. On one expedition to 218 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: the Sayan Mountains, she was accidentally shot by a tourist, 219 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:09,280 Speaker 1: but didn't complain once during her long and painful journey 220 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:14,560 Speaker 1: back home, except to apologize for troubling the group. Luda 221 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 1: hands Seena the fifteen cents from the pile of cash 222 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:22,640 Speaker 1: she is diligently counting up. Meanwhile, Rustick is teasing Collier 223 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: over who has more willpower to survive the trip without 224 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:31,320 Speaker 1: their beloved cigarettes. Rustick is Roostum Slobidin, another recent graduate 225 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:35,760 Speaker 1: of the institute. Unlike the others, Rustick comes from a 226 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:39,000 Speaker 1: wealthy family of academics, but he carries none of the 227 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:44,120 Speaker 1: sense of entitlement that such wealth can sometimes entail. As 228 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 1: perhaps the most popular member of the team, it would 229 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,160 Speaker 1: seem that Rustick had lived up to the Tartan name 230 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: that his father had bestowed on him as a symbol 231 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 1: of international friendship to all men and women. In marked contrast, 232 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:03,280 Speaker 1: Nikolay beau Brugnol's background could not have been more different. 233 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:07,840 Speaker 1: Born in a concentration camp, Collier had been brought up 234 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:10,840 Speaker 1: by his mother on her own after his French communist 235 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 1: father had been executed as part of Stalin's ruthless purges. 236 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:20,399 Speaker 1: Collier had graduated from the Institute in fifty eight after 237 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 1: majoring in civil engineering, and with a reputation for unselfish behavior. 238 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:29,679 Speaker 1: Was a man always looking to help others. Today holds 239 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 1: mixed emotions for Collier. He had promised to his mother 240 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,440 Speaker 1: that this trip would be his last, and he would 241 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:41,240 Speaker 1: miss moments like these the most. The giddy, nervous energy 242 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:47,000 Speaker 1: of the team. Just before the journey begins, someone throws 243 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:50,400 Speaker 1: a couple of bags to Yuri Yudin, who deposits them outside, 244 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:52,679 Speaker 1: ready to load onto the truck that will take them 245 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:56,720 Speaker 1: to the station. The twenty one year old Yuri, a 246 00:17:56,760 --> 00:18:00,119 Speaker 1: geology student at the institute, had endured a tough and 247 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:04,119 Speaker 1: impoverished upbringing, and also suffered greatly from rheumatism in his 248 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:08,280 Speaker 1: leg joints, but Yuri had always determined never to let 249 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: his affliction dictate his life. There is a great cheer 250 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:18,399 Speaker 1: when Yuri Dorishenko finally arrives to join the group. The 251 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:21,720 Speaker 1: much loved twenty one year old radio engineer had a 252 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 1: fearsome reputation, having once successfully fended off a black bear 253 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:30,639 Speaker 1: with nothing but a geologist's hammer. His entrance is followed 254 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:35,919 Speaker 1: shortly after by Eager Diatlov, a student of radio engineering. 255 00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:39,679 Speaker 1: Twenty three year old Eager was a formidable athlete and 256 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:44,320 Speaker 1: easily the most experienced hiker in the team. Strong, thoughtful, 257 00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:47,240 Speaker 1: and confident, he was a natural fit as their leader. 258 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:52,520 Speaker 1: He was also prodigiously talented, having designed and assembled a 259 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:55,119 Speaker 1: radio at the age of twenty that would later be 260 00:18:55,240 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 1: used on Class hikes. With the final checks complete, the 261 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: group gather their things and move out. Twenty minutes later, 262 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:07,919 Speaker 1: after a short tram ride to the city station, the 263 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,919 Speaker 1: team are settled into a Class three cabin as the 264 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 1: train pulls away from Sverdlovsk. Such moments are usually caused 265 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 1: for reflection, to be leaving behind your home town on 266 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:23,200 Speaker 1: a treacherous journey into the wilderness, but in this moment 267 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:31,320 Speaker 1: they are distracted by a stranger in their midst Are 268 00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:34,280 Speaker 1: you always taking care of your family? Do you often 269 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:37,400 Speaker 1: take care of others and not yourself? Now it's time 270 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:40,640 Speaker 1: to take care of yourself. To make time for you. 271 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 1: You deserve it. Tele Adoc gives you access to a 272 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,560 Speaker 1: licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling your 273 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:50,679 Speaker 1: best to feeling like yourself again. With tell adoc, you 274 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:53,520 Speaker 1: can speak to a licensed therapist by phone or video. 275 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:57,320 Speaker 1: Therapy appointments are available seven days a week from seven 276 00:19:57,359 --> 00:20:00,119 Speaker 1: a m. To nine p m. Local time. If you 277 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:05,159 Speaker 1: feel overwhelmed sometimes maybe you feel stressed or anxious, depressed 278 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:08,080 Speaker 1: or lonely, or you might be struggling with a personal 279 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: or family issue, teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed to 280 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:16,200 Speaker 1: facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy to 281 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:21,040 Speaker 1: change counselors if needed. For free teledoc therapy is available 282 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: through most insurance or employers. Download the app or visit 283 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:29,880 Speaker 1: teledoc dot com. Forward slash Unexplained podcast. Today to get started, 284 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: that's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained podcast. Eager introduces his handsome, 285 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 1: dark haired friend to the group as Sasha. At thirty seven, 286 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: he is considerably older than the others, and although not 287 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:57,119 Speaker 1: by any means old, he appears as if from another age, 288 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:01,040 Speaker 1: so the young students might be forgiven their palpable sense 289 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:05,560 Speaker 1: of trepidation when Sasha reveals a mouth full of gold 290 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:10,680 Speaker 1: teeth from underneath his wolfish smile. Their sense of unease 291 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: is not helped by the sight of a number of 292 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:17,439 Speaker 1: tattoos dotted about his body, but their unease is not 293 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,000 Speaker 1: out of rudeness, more from the tacit awareness that they 294 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:25,639 Speaker 1: are in the presence of a ghost. At thirty seven 295 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,240 Speaker 1: years old, Sasha is part of a generation of which 296 00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:33,920 Speaker 1: only three percent remain, having been decimated by the brutality 297 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:38,240 Speaker 1: of the Great Patriotic War. Though it is unlikely he 298 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:40,960 Speaker 1: would have forgotten much from the five years he served 299 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: from nineteen forty one to nineteen forty six, Sascha bears 300 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:49,199 Speaker 1: a constant reminder of those he had lost. Three initials 301 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 1: inked onto his skin, followed by an equal sign and 302 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:58,119 Speaker 1: the symbol for friendship. Semion Zolotatov to give him his 303 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:00,879 Speaker 1: full name, has been working as a tour guide in 304 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,199 Speaker 1: South Siberia, and like the others, is desperate to achieve 305 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:08,720 Speaker 1: his Grade three certificate. Before long, the team recognize a 306 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:12,439 Speaker 1: kindred spirit, and any initial sense of unease is quickly 307 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:15,639 Speaker 1: banished by the sound of Gyorgy's mandolin as he strikes 308 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:20,160 Speaker 1: up to play together. As the train speeds on through 309 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,239 Speaker 1: the ural countryside, they sing all the songs that they know, 310 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:28,959 Speaker 1: while behind them Sverdlovsk recedes further and further until it 311 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:34,639 Speaker 1: has entirely disappeared from view. Ten hours later, and the 312 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:39,200 Speaker 1: train finally pulls into Serov, a small town three hundred 313 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 1: and fifty kilometers due north of Zverdlovsk. With their next 314 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 1: train not due to leave until six thirty pm. The 315 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:50,439 Speaker 1: exhausted team are hoping to escape the cold and maybe 316 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: get some sleep in the station waiting room, but are 317 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:57,960 Speaker 1: disappointed to find it locked for the day. Georgi attempts 318 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:00,680 Speaker 1: to cheer up his friends with a comical bus routine, 319 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,520 Speaker 1: but his singing has attracted the attention of two guards, 320 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:08,399 Speaker 1: a sign perhaps that they have already entered a different 321 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 1: world to the one encased within their dormitory walls. The 322 00:23:13,040 --> 00:23:16,200 Speaker 1: guards grab Gyorgi from the platform and push him into 323 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: their office. A short time later, and a somewhat stunned 324 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:23,920 Speaker 1: Gyorgi is returned to the platform after being let off 325 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: with a stern warning for contravening Article two point three 326 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:33,800 Speaker 1: of the Internal Order at railway stations. Not wanting to 327 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,840 Speaker 1: hang around, the team head off in search of shelter 328 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,959 Speaker 1: when they come across an empty school hall. After knocking 329 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,320 Speaker 1: on the door, they are met by the kind face 330 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 1: of the school's janitor. Much to their relief, she takes 331 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,480 Speaker 1: pity on the young hikers and divites them inside to 332 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:55,560 Speaker 1: rest and warm themselves, but there is one condition. In return, 333 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:58,280 Speaker 1: they must give a talk to the school children before 334 00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:02,520 Speaker 1: they leave. A few hours later, and Zena and Sasha 335 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:05,640 Speaker 1: have the children hanging on their every word as they 336 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:08,920 Speaker 1: listen wide eyed and attentively to their tales of adventure. 337 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:13,080 Speaker 1: When it is finally time to go, the children have 338 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 1: to be peeled sobbing and crying from Zena before finally 339 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:21,640 Speaker 1: accepting her promise to one day return. The children wave 340 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:25,680 Speaker 1: and shout goodbye to their ten new favorite heroes as 341 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:30,520 Speaker 1: they watched them head back to the train station. Finally, 342 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:33,640 Speaker 1: the team are on the move again, and by midnight 343 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:44,920 Speaker 1: they have arrived in the small town of Evedale. Since 344 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: leaving spurred Lovsk, the gang had been shadowed by another 345 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 1: team of hikers from the institute, led by their good 346 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:55,879 Speaker 1: friend Yuri Blinoff. That night of January the twenty fourth, 347 00:24:56,359 --> 00:24:59,720 Speaker 1: they all sleep huddled together in the Evedale station waiting 348 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:03,359 Speaker 1: room until the following morning, when they catch the first 349 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:08,280 Speaker 1: tram to Evedale town center. The town is built on 350 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,320 Speaker 1: the confluence of the Evedeale River and the Lozla River, 351 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,879 Speaker 1: and like most towns in the region, Evedell had been 352 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,679 Speaker 1: established as a mining colony, in this case for gold, 353 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,800 Speaker 1: but in nineteen thirty seven the town had taken on 354 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: a second purpose, becoming the location of Evedel egg Gulag. 355 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:32,480 Speaker 1: The term is an acronym that translates to main administration 356 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:36,920 Speaker 1: of corrective labor camps. The camps had been set up 357 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 1: during Stalin's time partly as corrective facilities for criminals, but 358 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:46,280 Speaker 1: were often also used to dispense with political prisoners, a 359 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:48,800 Speaker 1: fact that would no doubt have crossed Collier's mind, at 360 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,000 Speaker 1: least as the hikers made their way into the town center, 361 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:56,920 Speaker 1: with some consideration perhaps for the desperate souls hidden away 362 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,639 Speaker 1: somewhere beyond the snow topped roofs of the town's outskirts. 363 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:04,280 Speaker 1: They don't have to wait long before their bus arrives, 364 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,359 Speaker 1: and soon after the team are moving through the white 365 00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:12,119 Speaker 1: blanketed countryside. As the bus forges ahead towards Vizza, the 366 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:16,159 Speaker 1: next stop on their journey. But there is something wrong. 367 00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 1: Alexander is missing. They must have left him behind at 368 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: the last toilet break. The team yelled to the bus 369 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:29,240 Speaker 1: driver to pull over. A quick headcount confirms their fears. 370 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:33,440 Speaker 1: Alexander is indeed missing, but there is nothing that can 371 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,919 Speaker 1: be done. With the bus on a tight schedule, the 372 00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:40,960 Speaker 1: driver has no choice but to continue the journey. But wait, 373 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: says Yuri. As far off, a small shape, steadily growing larger, 374 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 1: reveals itself to be a fully laden Alexander, sprinting with 375 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 1: all his strength toward them. I thought you'd left, he 376 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:58,400 Speaker 1: sputters between gasps for breath, Never say the others, as 377 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: they haul his exhausted body back onto the bus. Just 378 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:06,359 Speaker 1: after two pm, they arrive at Viza, and the hikers disembark. 379 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:16,359 Speaker 1: The town is a woodcutting settlement that served as a 380 00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:21,200 Speaker 1: central hub from which further outposts could be reached. From here, 381 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:25,280 Speaker 1: the two teams will go their separate ways. For Blinov 382 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:28,240 Speaker 1: and his team, a bus heading their way to Sector 383 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:30,960 Speaker 1: one oh five is due to leave late in the afternoon. 384 00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:34,840 Speaker 1: For Eager's group, however, they will have to stop here 385 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:40,600 Speaker 1: for the night. That afternoon, the team's many cameras, vital 386 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:44,560 Speaker 1: for recording evidence for their Category three certificates, are whipped 387 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,359 Speaker 1: out as they say their final goodbyes to Blinov and 388 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:53,000 Speaker 1: his team. Despite the minus seventeen degree temperature, the classmates 389 00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:56,399 Speaker 1: smile and fool around as they pose for one final picture. 390 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:01,960 Speaker 1: Moments later, Urient team scramble into the back of a 391 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,479 Speaker 1: flatbed truck and wave a fond goodbye to their friends 392 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:09,879 Speaker 1: as they pull away and out of the camp. For 393 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:13,280 Speaker 1: Eager's team, it will be one last night of domesticity 394 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 1: before heading off into the wilderness. The team are especially 395 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:20,960 Speaker 1: excited to hear of a nearby screening room and will 396 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,800 Speaker 1: pile in later that evening to watch a film called 397 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:28,400 Speaker 1: Symphony and Gold. Rustick finds time to write a postcard 398 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:32,200 Speaker 1: to his mother and Dorishenko and Alexander make a number 399 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:37,160 Speaker 1: of final checks and adjustments to the equipment. That night, 400 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:40,600 Speaker 1: with two crammed to a bed and Georgi and Sasha 401 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:46,080 Speaker 1: taking positions on the floor, the team sleep soundly. The 402 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: next morning, they are up and dressed early, eager to 403 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,560 Speaker 1: get on the road again. But something is bugging Yuri. 404 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,440 Speaker 1: A pain in his legs that had been steadily growing 405 00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 1: was threatening to become unbearable. Despite his misgivings, he was 406 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: determined not to let the others down and decided to 407 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,880 Speaker 1: ignore it for now. But there is also something else. 408 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:13,760 Speaker 1: The previous afternoon, an experienced forester had expressed concern about 409 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: the group's trip, thinking it too dangerous for them at 410 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:21,000 Speaker 1: this time of year. Eager had laughed it off in 411 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:25,600 Speaker 1: typically bullish style. After all, wasn't that precisely the reason 412 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:27,760 Speaker 1: that they were taking the trip in the first place. 413 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:32,040 Speaker 1: Yuri had laughed too, but as he prepared to board 414 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 1: the truck for their ride out of Vizi, it was 415 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 1: with the old man's words still ringing in his ears. 416 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:43,000 Speaker 1: The journey didn't help much either. Sitting at the back 417 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,120 Speaker 1: of the rickety open air truck, the team struggled for 418 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:50,440 Speaker 1: warmth and comfort, but as any traveler knows, it is 419 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:54,360 Speaker 1: from such experiences that true bonds are made, and before 420 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:58,040 Speaker 1: long the gang were once again singing songs and speaking 421 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:01,560 Speaker 1: of love and friendship as they traveled ever higher into 422 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: the frost bitten ural Mountains. Sector forty one was a 423 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:12,600 Speaker 1: worker's outpost occupied by roughly fifty woodsmen stationed on long 424 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 1: term contracts, many of whom had gone months cut off 425 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:20,040 Speaker 1: from the world. So it was with no little excitement 426 00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:23,240 Speaker 1: that the new faces of the young students were welcomed 427 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: into the worker's homes that evening. As for Datlov and 428 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:30,160 Speaker 1: his team, they were treated to a glimpse of another 429 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,800 Speaker 1: world revealed through the songs and poems shared by the 430 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:38,080 Speaker 1: workers that night, many of them illegal and punishable under 431 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:42,680 Speaker 1: Article fifty eight of counter revolutionary Crimes, but even for 432 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 1: the committed communist Luda, it was a night to remember. 433 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 1: The next morning, on January the twenty seventh, the team 434 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:55,840 Speaker 1: awake to find a beautiful, clear blue sky waiting for them. 435 00:30:56,600 --> 00:31:00,160 Speaker 1: After eight hundred and fifty kilometers, finally the time has 436 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,040 Speaker 1: come to put on their skis and begin the trek 437 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:14,960 Speaker 1: to a tort and mountain. A local man named Slava 438 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 1: offers to lend them his sled and horse to help 439 00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:21,560 Speaker 1: carry their heavy equipment to their next stop, a settlement 440 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:26,440 Speaker 1: known as North two. The settlement is an older geological 441 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 1: research site just twenty four kilometers to the north, now 442 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:33,760 Speaker 1: abandoned and home to a little more than two thousand 443 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: dilapidated cabins. It is late in the afternoon when Slava 444 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:42,480 Speaker 1: returns with his sled, but after securing the luggage and 445 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:46,320 Speaker 1: fastening their skis, the team are finally en route towards 446 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:51,040 Speaker 1: North Two. The journey takes them over the frozen waters 447 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:54,720 Speaker 1: of the Ushma River, deeper and deeper into the forest, 448 00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:57,880 Speaker 1: but the thin ice is proving tricky for the horse 449 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:02,360 Speaker 1: to negotiate. After two hours, the team have only made 450 00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:04,840 Speaker 1: it a third of the way, but as the winter 451 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,840 Speaker 1: sun drops down behind a distant ridge, the team continue 452 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:15,320 Speaker 1: on unperturbed. Another four hours later, and eager spots something ahead. 453 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:19,520 Speaker 1: Under the soft light of the moon, they can just 454 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:22,680 Speaker 1: make out the shape of a hut against the tree line. 455 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:28,360 Speaker 1: As their eyes are just suddenly a sprawling pastoral ghost 456 00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:32,360 Speaker 1: town has appeared before them. They have reached the North 457 00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:37,440 Speaker 1: to settlement. The woodsmen had recommended one hut in particular 458 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:41,360 Speaker 1: that was still habitable, and somehow, after a short time 459 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:44,320 Speaker 1: stumbling around in the dark, they managed to find it 460 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:48,680 Speaker 1: that night. Approaching the log cabin on the edge of 461 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,360 Speaker 1: the forest under the moonlight, it is as if they 462 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,920 Speaker 1: have crossed some kind of threshold and stepped right into 463 00:32:55,960 --> 00:33:02,520 Speaker 1: a fairy tale. Old Slavic folk stories tell of a 464 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:06,560 Speaker 1: grotesque witch with fearsome iron teeth by the name of 465 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:09,480 Speaker 1: Baba Yaga, who lives in a hut deep in the 466 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:13,680 Speaker 1: heart of the forest. She is a complex creature that 467 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:19,520 Speaker 1: is sometimes good, but at other times utterly monstrous, given 468 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:24,640 Speaker 1: to eating her victims without a moment's hesitation. It is 469 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,720 Speaker 1: said that she travels in a large pestle and mortar 470 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 1: that flies through the trees with a sickening, grinding screech, 471 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:35,280 Speaker 1: and that her heart stands atop of a pair of 472 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:40,280 Speaker 1: chicken's feet. But there are no such feet under the 473 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:44,640 Speaker 1: cabin that night, and the air remains silent with the 474 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:48,840 Speaker 1: eerie quietude that only an abandoned village can conjure up. 475 00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:54,920 Speaker 1: Before long, there is life once again, and sector north too, 476 00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:58,600 Speaker 1: As the darkness of the cabin is illuminated by the 477 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:01,880 Speaker 1: sound of young voices, filled with the relief of finding 478 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:05,480 Speaker 1: shelter for the night, and then shortly after by the 479 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:10,400 Speaker 1: flickering glow of lamp light. A few of the boys 480 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:14,360 Speaker 1: volunteer to find firewood from outside by pulling up wood 481 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:18,280 Speaker 1: from some of the more dilapidated cabins. At one point, 482 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:22,200 Speaker 1: Rustick grabs at one, only to pull away in pain. 483 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:26,080 Speaker 1: He looks closely at his hand and sees a small 484 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:28,919 Speaker 1: pin prick from an old nail hidden in the dark. 485 00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:32,920 Speaker 1: He watches for a moment as the prick becomes a 486 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:38,480 Speaker 1: drop of blood on the surface of his skin. A 487 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:41,800 Speaker 1: short time later and the fire is roaring and filling 488 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:45,680 Speaker 1: the room with the comforting, sweet smelling smoke off the hearth. 489 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:58,880 Speaker 1: The following morning and Yearie Eudin's legs are finally given 490 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:03,319 Speaker 1: in after struggling even to stand. It is clear that 491 00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:07,000 Speaker 1: he is at the point of no return with Slava 492 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,600 Speaker 1: due to head back to Sector forty one that day. 493 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:15,200 Speaker 1: He has little option but to join him. With sincere disappointment, 494 00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:17,279 Speaker 1: he breaks the news to the rest of the group, 495 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,879 Speaker 1: who are all equally devastated to be saying goodbye so 496 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:26,080 Speaker 1: early to their friend. As a keen geologist, Ury is 497 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:29,680 Speaker 1: determined not to return empty handed and manages to corral 498 00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:32,120 Speaker 1: a small team to join him on the hunt for 499 00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:36,680 Speaker 1: some interesting samples to take back home, But despite the 500 00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:41,320 Speaker 1: area's abundance of precious stones and minerals, Ury is saddened 501 00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:45,240 Speaker 1: only to find quartz and Fool's gold hidden under the snow. 502 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,720 Speaker 1: With Slava eager to get going, Ury loads his pack 503 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,400 Speaker 1: on to the back of the sled and gingerly steps 504 00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:57,759 Speaker 1: into his skiths. The team say their final goodbyes and 505 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:00,680 Speaker 1: take one last picture of their friend before he leaves. 506 00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,280 Speaker 1: And so it is that, on the morning of Wednesday, 507 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:08,520 Speaker 1: January twenty eighth, that the ten strong team led by 508 00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:14,439 Speaker 1: Iger Diatlov becomes nine. Before he is out of sight, 509 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,600 Speaker 1: Yuri turns one last time to waive a final goodbye 510 00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:23,040 Speaker 1: to the team. He couldn't possibly have known then that 511 00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:25,920 Speaker 1: it will be the last time his friends will ever 512 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:36,360 Speaker 1: be seen alive again. All elements have unexplained are produced 513 00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:39,480 Speaker 1: by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the 514 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:41,640 Speaker 1: show on iTunes, and feel free to get in touch 515 00:36:41,719 --> 00:36:44,359 Speaker 1: with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard 516 00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:46,920 Speaker 1: on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your 517 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:49,520 Speaker 1: own you'd like to share. You can reach us online 518 00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:52,960 Speaker 1: at Unexplained podcast dot com or on Twitter at Unexplained 519 00:36:52,960 --> 00:38:45,840 Speaker 1: pod Now. It's time to take care of yourself. To 520 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:49,400 Speaker 1: make time for you. Tele a doc gives you access 521 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:52,319 Speaker 1: to a licensed therapist to help you get back to 522 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:56,360 Speaker 1: feeling your best. 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