WEBVTT - Season 08 Episode 33: After the Sun Comes Rain (Pt.2 of2)

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<v Speaker 1>Hello, it's Richard mccleinsmith here with a quick update before

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<v Speaker 1>we dive into today's episode. Unexplained is very excited to

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<v Speaker 1>be a part of Crime Wave at Sea this November,

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<v Speaker 1>joining forces with some of the eeriest voices in the

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<v Speaker 1>world of true crime and the paranormal four nights in

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<v Speaker 1>the Caribbean, with amazing podcasts like Last Podcast on the Left,

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<v Speaker 1>Scared to Death and many more live shows Meet and greets,

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<v Speaker 1>Creepy Stories under the Stars and you can be there too,

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<v Speaker 1>but don't wait. Rooms are nearly sold out. Head to

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<v Speaker 1>Crimewave Atsea dot com forward slash Unexplained to grab your

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<v Speaker 1>fan coat and lock in your cabin. We'd love to

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<v Speaker 1>see you on board. You're listening to the second and

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<v Speaker 1>final part of Unexplained, Season eight, episode thirty three. After

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<v Speaker 1>the Sun Comes Rain, No sooner had Denis's body gone still,

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<v Speaker 1>Valentina knew only that she had to get away, though

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<v Speaker 1>whatever had killed her friends was coming for her too.

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<v Speaker 1>What followed was a blur of exhaustion and panic. First,

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<v Speaker 1>in her confusion, she thinks she can't leave the bodies

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<v Speaker 1>on the mountain. With Timor being the smallest, she raced

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<v Speaker 1>over to him and did her best to pick him up,

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<v Speaker 1>but he was far too heavy to carry. Still, with

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<v Speaker 1>the heavy pack on her back, she stared down at

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<v Speaker 1>the barely visible tree line a mile or so below

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<v Speaker 1>and started to run, feeling the adrenaline surged through her body.

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<v Speaker 1>She can barely feel the backpack as she moves. With

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<v Speaker 1>every step, she expected to feel the metallic tang of

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<v Speaker 1>blood in her throat, expected her legs to buckle underneath her,

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<v Speaker 1>and for her body to be consumed by convolis. She

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<v Speaker 1>felt unreal, like she was floating somewhere above herself, waiting

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<v Speaker 1>for the end to come, but it never did. Instead,

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<v Speaker 1>Valentina ran until her lungs were burning so much that

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<v Speaker 1>she finally had to stop for air, and even then

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<v Speaker 1>she kept moving, walking as fast as she could manage.

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<v Speaker 1>She walked for hours, as if in a trance. Fueled

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<v Speaker 1>by pure adrenaline. She had no way to process the

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<v Speaker 1>horror that she just witnessed, but her gut was telling

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<v Speaker 1>her to get as far away from that place as possible. Eventually,

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<v Speaker 1>as night approached, exhaustion forced Valentina to stop. When she

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<v Speaker 1>looked around, she saw that she was in a dense woodland.

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<v Speaker 1>She walked over to the base of a huge ancient

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<v Speaker 1>tree and slumped down against it, letting her pack slide

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<v Speaker 1>off her shoulders and onto the ground. It was only

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<v Speaker 1>then that she stopped moving that she realized just how

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<v Speaker 1>exhausted she was. Tapping into the little energy she had left,

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<v Speaker 1>she unpacked her bag and set up her tent. She

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<v Speaker 1>was too tired to even think about trying to start

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<v Speaker 1>a fire. She ate the scant supplying she had on her,

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<v Speaker 1>a bag of nuts and two energy bars, and then

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<v Speaker 1>crawled into her sleeping bag before the sun had even set.

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<v Speaker 1>At first, she was afraid to close her eyes, afraid

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<v Speaker 1>that the horrific images of the day would be waiting

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<v Speaker 1>for her behind her eyelids, but in fact she fell

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<v Speaker 1>fast asleep within seconds. Her last conscious thought was the

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<v Speaker 1>desperate hope that she would wake up to discover this

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<v Speaker 1>had all been a dream. Valentina awoke early the following

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<v Speaker 1>morning with her heart pounding, heart, her chest tight, with

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<v Speaker 1>a terror that she couldn't immediately understand. Then the reality

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<v Speaker 1>of what had happened the day before hit her like

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<v Speaker 1>a freight train. Hideous images of her friends flooded into

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<v Speaker 1>her mind, The horror in their eyes as they'd collapsed

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<v Speaker 1>on by one, and the terror of being certain that

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<v Speaker 1>she was next. She forced herself to take deep breaths

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<v Speaker 1>as an eagle screeched overhead. She was all on her

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<v Speaker 1>own now, and she had to think rationally, one thing

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<v Speaker 1>at a time. Eventually, dawn broke and some of Valentina's

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<v Speaker 1>clarity returned with it. She dragged herself from her makeshift bed,

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<v Speaker 1>knowing only that she had to get out of the

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<v Speaker 1>mountains and find help. The Snezhnaya River was somewhere near.

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<v Speaker 1>If she could locate it, she thought she could follow

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<v Speaker 1>its fast flowing current towards civilization. Valentina un zipped her

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<v Speaker 1>tent and walked out into the chilly dawn. Looking at

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<v Speaker 1>her supplies laid out on the forest floor, she quickly

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<v Speaker 1>realized that she had a problem in her panic. The

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<v Speaker 1>day before, she'd brought only the supplies that she had

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<v Speaker 1>on her back. The group had divided up the communal

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<v Speaker 1>supplies among themselves, including the camping stove, spare clothes, and

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<v Speaker 1>most importantly, the food. As it happened, Valentina had very

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<v Speaker 1>little of the food and water in her own pack,

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<v Speaker 1>not even enough to get her through the day. Getting

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<v Speaker 1>back down to the base of the mountain would easily

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<v Speaker 1>take several days. She also felt the need to take

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<v Speaker 1>care of her friends in whatever way she could. She

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<v Speaker 1>began to realize that there was only one solution. At first,

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<v Speaker 1>it was unthinkable she couldn't do it, but the alternative

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<v Speaker 1>was certain death alone in the wilderness, and so, with

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<v Speaker 1>a pit in her stomach, Valentina set off back up

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<v Speaker 1>the mountain, back towards the place she'd just run so

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<v Speaker 1>desperately from. It's hard to imagine the fortitude that drives

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<v Speaker 1>her back up the slope to the site of the disaster,

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<v Speaker 1>tired and terrified, and aware that all that awaits her

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<v Speaker 1>is horror. As she neared the clearing where she knew

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<v Speaker 1>her friend's bodies lay, Valentina's chest began to tighten and

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<v Speaker 1>her palms began to sweat. Eventually, she reached what she

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<v Speaker 1>thought was the spot, but couldn't see anything. A small,

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<v Speaker 1>hopeful part of her wondered if they would still be

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<v Speaker 1>there at all. Perhaps whatever had happened to them was

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<v Speaker 1>some kind of temporary state, and they'd all recovered later

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<v Speaker 1>in the day. Maybe they were even looking for her

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<v Speaker 1>right now. But deep down she knew she was lying

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<v Speaker 1>to herself. Then she saw Denis to the rock he

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<v Speaker 1>tried to hide under his blood smeared face, lying up

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<v Speaker 1>in the snow. They were all exactly where she'd left them.

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<v Speaker 1>None of them had moved, the blood now dried on

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<v Speaker 1>their faces. Once again, she braced herself, fearing whatever had

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<v Speaker 1>killed them might still be present. But as the minutes

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<v Speaker 1>ticked by, nothing happened. She looked around and felt her

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<v Speaker 1>panic begin to fade. Strangely, for the first time since

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<v Speaker 1>this nightmare had started, she didn't feel afraid. She knew

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<v Speaker 1>what she had to do. First. Valentina collected a map, compass,

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<v Speaker 1>and some food from the various packs. Then she turned

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<v Speaker 1>her attention to the dead. Moving from one corpse to

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<v Speaker 1>the next, she palmed the lids down over their eyes.

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<v Speaker 1>She fetched our paullins from the group supplies, and tenderly

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<v Speaker 1>covered each of the bodies up. She didn't know how

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<v Speaker 1>long it would take for her to find help, and

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<v Speaker 1>she hated to think of her friends lying out there,

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<v Speaker 1>exposed to the elements and predators. Their deaths had been

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<v Speaker 1>anything but peaceful, but she felt some solace that at

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<v Speaker 1>least they were at rest now. Finding lud Miller's map

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<v Speaker 1>in the woman's pocket, Valentina poured over it, trying to

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<v Speaker 1>figure out the fastest route back down the mountain. Her

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<v Speaker 1>best chance was to try and make it to the

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<v Speaker 1>next stop off point, where they'd been due to meet

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<v Speaker 1>Ludmiller's daughter, Natalia the day before. Natalia and her group

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<v Speaker 1>would probably still be waiting for them, but leud Miller's

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<v Speaker 1>notes and drawings just seemed to swim in front of

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<v Speaker 1>her eyes. Valentina looked up and scanned the desolate mountain

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<v Speaker 1>slopes that stretched out for miles around. They hadn't seen

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<v Speaker 1>another tourist in days, so wait here in the hope

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<v Speaker 1>that somebody might find her was not an option. In truth,

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<v Speaker 1>her only hope was to head back into the wilderness

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<v Speaker 1>and try to make her way back to the bottom

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<v Speaker 1>of the mountain. Valentina took one last look around at

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<v Speaker 1>her fallen friends, then hoisted her stuffed backpack onto her

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<v Speaker 1>back and began to walk. The first time Valentina fled

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<v Speaker 1>down the mountain, she was operating in pure fight or

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<v Speaker 1>flight mode, almost blind with panic in the newly calmed weather.

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<v Speaker 1>Out of nowhere, Valentina spots a pair of power lines

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<v Speaker 1>in the distance. Knowing they must lead to human habitation,

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<v Speaker 1>she decides to follow them. It felt as though some

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<v Speaker 1>kind of guiding hand had revealed them to her. After

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<v Speaker 1>four days trekking under the power line, on August ninth,

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<v Speaker 1>Valentina found herself standing at the banks of the Schneschnaia River.

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<v Speaker 1>At first, this seemed like good news. The river was

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<v Speaker 1>one of the few landmarks she recognized from Ludmiller's maps,

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<v Speaker 1>and she knew that if she followed it, it would

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<v Speaker 1>eventually lead her back to the Marino village from where

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<v Speaker 1>they'd set out. But this wasn't an official hiking path,

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<v Speaker 1>and soon after she set out along it, the river

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<v Speaker 1>bank became too steep and treacherous to walk on. By then,

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<v Speaker 1>Valentina had also developed a painful cough and the beginnings

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<v Speaker 1>of a fever. She was weak and cold and dirty.

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<v Speaker 1>Valentina turned around and retraced her steps back to a

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<v Speaker 1>place where she could sit safely on the bank. She

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<v Speaker 1>slumped onto the ground, defeated. She couldn't follow the river

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<v Speaker 1>and it was too wide for her to get across.

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<v Speaker 1>Completely stuck, she began to accept that she would die

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<v Speaker 1>here alone, but she can't help thinking about her parents

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<v Speaker 1>and how she will look when she's found. Summoning her nerve,

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<v Speaker 1>she stripped off her clothes and entered the river, letting

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<v Speaker 1>the freezing water sleek the dirt from her skin. Finally cleansed,

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<v Speaker 1>she emerged from the river and got dressed. Reinvigorated by

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<v Speaker 1>the icy cold water, she once again picked up her

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<v Speaker 1>pack and continued along the river bank. Eventually, too tired

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<v Speaker 1>to go on, she sat down and fell into a

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<v Speaker 1>sleep of pure exhaustion. A few hours later, as she

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<v Speaker 1>drifted in and out of consciousness, she heard something in

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<v Speaker 1>the water. It sounded like laughter. At first, she thought

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<v Speaker 1>she was imagining it. After everything that had happened, she

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<v Speaker 1>was finally losing her mind out there in the wilderness alone.

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<v Speaker 1>But then she heard it again. She sat up sharply

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<v Speaker 1>and watched with amazement as a sequence of obscenely bright

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<v Speaker 1>catamaran rafts appeared from around the next bend of the Schnezhnaya.

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<v Speaker 1>At first, she tried to wave and shout, but no

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<v Speaker 1>sound would come out, as though she'd been drained of

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<v Speaker 1>all remaining energy. But as the faces of the rafters

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<v Speaker 1>came into focus and they appeared to be passing her by. Finally,

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<v Speaker 1>a great wail burst from her lips, and suddenly, without warning,

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<v Speaker 1>she was saved. The rafters secured Valentina on board one

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<v Speaker 1>of the catamarans, then pushed off from the shore as

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<v Speaker 1>fast as they could. They made their way down river

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<v Speaker 1>toward the town of Slutyanka, where they'd ultimately been heading. Valentina,

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<v Speaker 1>trembling throughout, seemed unable to speak, so they gave her

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<v Speaker 1>Valerian and courvalon herbal sedatives to help calm her nerves.

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<v Speaker 1>She explained that she'd been part of a group trekking

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<v Speaker 1>through the mountains, but all the others were dead. The

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<v Speaker 1>rest of the journey continued in a haunting silence. After

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<v Speaker 1>arriving in Sludyanka, Valentina was taken to the nearest police station.

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<v Speaker 1>But where before she was suffering from shock and exhaustion,

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<v Speaker 1>now the full force of everything that had happened came

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<v Speaker 1>rushing back to her. The magnitude of it all was

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<v Speaker 1>too much for her to process, rendering her semi catatonic

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<v Speaker 1>and mute for several more days. When Valentina finally began

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<v Speaker 1>to speak again, it said that she was barely coherent

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<v Speaker 1>and unable to articulate what she'd experienced. Her recall of

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<v Speaker 1>specific details was hazy, and she was unable to give

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<v Speaker 1>clear directions for where her friends had died. In any case,

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<v Speaker 1>the storm weather had continued to sweep across the region,

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<v Speaker 1>preventing any efforts to mount a search and rescue mission

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<v Speaker 1>to recover the bodies. Eleven days after Valentina was rescued,

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<v Speaker 1>a helicopter crew on the lookout for another group of

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<v Speaker 1>hikers who'd gone missing on the mountain spotted what looked

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<v Speaker 1>like an abandoned camp with six bodies scattered around it.

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<v Speaker 1>Another crew, led by much respected Russian search and rescuer

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<v Speaker 1>Eure Golias, was immediately dispatched to the location. Seeing the

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<v Speaker 1>bodies scattered beneath them as they came into land did

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<v Speaker 1>nothing to prepare them for the reality of what they

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<v Speaker 1>eventually found. The first to be examined was a semi

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<v Speaker 1>clothed temor lying exactly where he'd fallen. The rescue team

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<v Speaker 1>recoiled at the sight of him. Despite Valentina's best efforts,

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<v Speaker 1>he'd been exposed to the elements, not to mention all

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<v Speaker 1>manner of voracious insects and animals for nearly two weeks.

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<v Speaker 1>The eyes had long since disappeared, Worms crawled in the sockets,

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<v Speaker 1>Dried blood was still streaked across the gray, pallid skin,

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<v Speaker 1>his mouth still open in a spine chilling, silent scream.

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<v Speaker 1>It was the same for the other five. Each were

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<v Speaker 1>carefully wrapped up in body bags and packed onto the helicopter.

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<v Speaker 1>The bodies were flown back to nearby Siberian city ulan

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<v Speaker 1>Oot for further examination. Golias described the smell in the

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<v Speaker 1>chopper as unbearable. By now, Valentina had been able to

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<v Speaker 1>relay her full story to the police. She recounted everything

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<v Speaker 1>she'd witnessed in detail, how the group had all fallen

0:15:52.320 --> 0:16:02.000
<v Speaker 1>one by one, exhibiting the same bizarre and violent symptoms.

0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:09.400
<v Speaker 1>In ulan Ud, a pathologist carried out the autopsies despite

0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:13.480
<v Speaker 1>everything that Valentina had said. In the end, their conclusion,

0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:18.800
<v Speaker 1>perhaps somewhat surprisingly, was that all five students had simply

0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:22.920
<v Speaker 1>died from hypothermia, or, as they put it, froze to

0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:27.760
<v Speaker 1>death whilst hiking. Leud Miller is determined to have died

0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:31.160
<v Speaker 1>from heart failure, despite her being the fittest and most

0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:35.800
<v Speaker 1>hardy of the group, The only unusual finding, according to

0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:39.520
<v Speaker 1>the autopsy, was that all six victims had bruising on

0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:44.240
<v Speaker 1>their lungs and were suffering from protein deficiency or malnourishment,

0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.480
<v Speaker 1>which was assumed to have exacerbated the effects of cold,

0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:52.760
<v Speaker 1>and with that, there was nothing left to do but

0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:57.320
<v Speaker 1>buried the dead. A mass funeral was held in the

0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:01.520
<v Speaker 1>victim's hometown of Petra Pavel, where it said that almost

0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:05.679
<v Speaker 1>the entire city's two hundred thousand population turned out to

0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:10.560
<v Speaker 1>say their good byes. It wasn't long after news of

0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.720
<v Speaker 1>the tragedy broke in the press that people began to

0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:18.120
<v Speaker 1>question the official version of events. For one, the hike

0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.800
<v Speaker 1>took place in the height of Siberian summer. The mean

0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:26.960
<v Speaker 1>temperature in August is around fifteen degrees celsius at elevation.

0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:30.040
<v Speaker 1>In the rain, it would have been much colder, but

0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.399
<v Speaker 1>the group were well prepared and well dressed for the mountains.

0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:38.520
<v Speaker 1>After all, Ludemiler's daughter, Natalia's group were also in the

0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:43.120
<v Speaker 1>mountains at the same time and suffered no adverse effects.

0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:47.200
<v Speaker 1>When her mother failed to arrive at their designated meeting point,

0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:51.240
<v Speaker 1>Natalia didn't consider that the weather had played any part

0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:57.480
<v Speaker 1>in the delay. Valentina also stated clearly that the group

0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:00.800
<v Speaker 1>had plenty of food and had eaten break regularly through

0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:04.680
<v Speaker 1>the trip. Her friends had died two hours after they'd

0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:10.240
<v Speaker 1>eaten breakfast. The idea, as the autopsy claimed that they

0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:16.160
<v Speaker 1>were all severely malnourished, didn't make any sense. Hypothermia could

0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.520
<v Speaker 1>explain some of the bizarre behavior that the hikers showed

0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:23.200
<v Speaker 1>before dying. It's known to cause some victims to strip

0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:27.520
<v Speaker 1>off their clothes in what's called paradoxical undressing, and it

0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:31.760
<v Speaker 1>can cause convulsions and seizures, but it doesn't cause bleeding

0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:35.360
<v Speaker 1>from the eyes and ears, and it definitely doesn't make

0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:38.480
<v Speaker 1>a person bash their own head in against a rock,

0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:44.080
<v Speaker 1>as Valentina claimed to have seen Tatiana do. Pulmonary edema

0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:48.320
<v Speaker 1>can cause those things, a condition caused by the build

0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:51.600
<v Speaker 1>up of excess fluid in the lungs. It's a known

0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:56.639
<v Speaker 1>risk at altitude. Ordinarily, however, it's mostly only considered a

0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:00.720
<v Speaker 1>risk around thirteen thousand feet, not so and a half

0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:05.600
<v Speaker 1>thousand where lud Miller and her team were hiking. They

0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:08.560
<v Speaker 1>were seasoned hikers who had all climbed as high as

0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:14.040
<v Speaker 1>the Retranslator Mountain on several previous occasions without any issues.

0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:19.120
<v Speaker 1>One of the rescuer team, Valerie Tartanikov, was an expert

0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.840
<v Speaker 1>tour instructor in the area. He built a career guiding

0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:27.200
<v Speaker 1>tourists through the region. The death of the Corovinites, as

0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.840
<v Speaker 1>they became known, is a big mystery, he wrote. The

0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:35.440
<v Speaker 1>Tiger forest is not a desert, not polar ice. If

0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:40.080
<v Speaker 1>you're experienced like Ludmiller Coravin, if you're in the forest

0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:43.359
<v Speaker 1>in the summer, then it's impossible to die from the cold.

0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:57.479
<v Speaker 1>Twenty minutes to make a fire and you're saved. A

0:19:57.480 --> 0:20:00.720
<v Speaker 1>few days after the funeral, an article published in the

0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:07.240
<v Speaker 1>daily Russian paper Komsomolskaya Pravada accused the group's leader, Ludmiller Coorvina,

0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:12.600
<v Speaker 1>of being responsible for the deaths. Celebrated Russian rescuer euy

0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:16.879
<v Speaker 1>Go Elias did the same. According to him, when they

0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.760
<v Speaker 1>arrived at the group's dilapidated camp, they found only one

0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:24.160
<v Speaker 1>can of stew that he surmised had been divided up

0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:28.200
<v Speaker 1>between the seven hikers. There were no snacks or quick

0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:33.400
<v Speaker 1>protein fixes that climbers usually took on such arduous journeys.

0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:39.560
<v Speaker 1>Ludmiller was apparently well known for encouraging survivalist instincts among

0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:43.199
<v Speaker 1>her students, meaning she preferred to keep rations to a

0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:47.080
<v Speaker 1>minimum to force them to find their own food while outdoors.

0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:52.160
<v Speaker 1>Valentina seemed to hint at this when she told investigators

0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:56.399
<v Speaker 1>that they'd stopped frequently to harvest the nutrient rich gold

0:20:56.480 --> 0:21:02.800
<v Speaker 1>root or rodeola rosea that grows abundant in the area. Ironically,

0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:08.119
<v Speaker 1>it's particularly prized for its ability to help control stress.

0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:12.160
<v Speaker 1>But even if that were all true, a small degree

0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:16.119
<v Speaker 1>of protein deficiency does not result in anything like what

0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:21.879
<v Speaker 1>Valentina apparently witnessed. She also continued to insist, with no

0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:25.399
<v Speaker 1>genuine reason to say otherwise, that they had more than

0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:31.520
<v Speaker 1>enough food to complete each day's hiking. When Galina Nikolayevna,

0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:36.200
<v Speaker 1>Timor's mother was contacted many years later by the same

0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:41.400
<v Speaker 1>Komsomolskaya Pravda who blamed Ludmiller for the deaths, she refused

0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:44.680
<v Speaker 1>to speak to them, saying only that she had complete

0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:50.040
<v Speaker 1>faith in Ludmiller to look after her son. In the

0:21:50.119 --> 0:21:54.600
<v Speaker 1>decades since the Khmad Duban incident, many explanations have been

0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:59.200
<v Speaker 1>put forward to explain the bizarre event. Because the Russian

0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:02.639
<v Speaker 1>military had been known to use the Siberian Mountains to

0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:07.639
<v Speaker 1>conduct testing. Some have speculated that the hikers stumbled onto

0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:10.960
<v Speaker 1>something they weren't supposed to see and were killed for it.

0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:15.520
<v Speaker 1>Others have pointed out that Leod Miller was an avid

0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:19.600
<v Speaker 1>forager who taught the craft to her students. Perhaps one

0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:23.399
<v Speaker 1>of the group gathered poisonous mushrooms by mistake then fed

0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:26.560
<v Speaker 1>them to the others, leading to the mania displayed in

0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:30.640
<v Speaker 1>their final moments. One rumor was that the group had

0:22:30.720 --> 0:22:36.000
<v Speaker 1>unwittingly stumbled onto an old Soviet Union chemical weapons test site,

0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:39.920
<v Speaker 1>and that Valentina had in fact been rescued by state

0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:44.320
<v Speaker 1>security officers and forced to sign a non disclosure agreement.

0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:48.760
<v Speaker 1>One possibility is that the group were poisoned by a

0:22:48.840 --> 0:22:52.840
<v Speaker 1>nerve agent like novi choc, but was somehow trapped in

0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:57.240
<v Speaker 1>the soil and vegetation, or carried unexpectedly through the air

0:22:57.480 --> 0:23:07.639
<v Speaker 1>by the storm. Novichok was developed by the Soviet Union

0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:11.120
<v Speaker 1>in the nineteen seventies and has been used against Russian

0:23:11.160 --> 0:23:16.240
<v Speaker 1>individuals in many high profile instances, perhaps most strikingly in

0:23:16.359 --> 0:23:20.440
<v Speaker 1>twenty eighteen, when it was used to assassinate Russian enemies

0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:25.160
<v Speaker 1>of Vladimir Putin in the United Kingdom. In March twenty eighteen,

0:23:25.560 --> 0:23:30.520
<v Speaker 1>former Russian spy Sergey Scripple and his daughter Julia were

0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:35.200
<v Speaker 1>found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury, South England, after

0:23:35.280 --> 0:23:40.120
<v Speaker 1>being exposed to novichok. The UK government accused Russian Military

0:23:40.200 --> 0:23:45.880
<v Speaker 1>Intelligence GRU of carrying out the poisoning, identifying two suspects,

0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:50.600
<v Speaker 1>Alexander Petrov and Russlin Boshirov, who were later revealed to

0:23:50.640 --> 0:23:56.560
<v Speaker 1>be GRU officers. The attack triggered a major international crisis,

0:23:56.680 --> 0:24:01.439
<v Speaker 1>leading to mass diplomatic expulsions and sanctions against Russia, but

0:24:01.640 --> 0:24:07.760
<v Speaker 1>several others were also unintentionally affected, including police officer Nick Bailey,

0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:13.000
<v Speaker 1>and months later, two civilians, Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgis,

0:24:13.080 --> 0:24:18.160
<v Speaker 1>who had accidentally handled a discarded perfume bottle containing the novichoc.

0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:24.679
<v Speaker 1>Dawn Sturgis died from the exposure. The incident marked the

0:24:24.720 --> 0:24:28.320
<v Speaker 1>first known use of a chemical weapon on European soil

0:24:28.560 --> 0:24:32.480
<v Speaker 1>since World War II, and raised a global alarm about

0:24:32.640 --> 0:24:39.520
<v Speaker 1>state sponsored assassination attempts abroad. A potent nerve agent, novichoc

0:24:39.720 --> 0:24:43.280
<v Speaker 1>could account for many of the symptoms that the hikers exhibited,

0:24:43.720 --> 0:24:49.399
<v Speaker 1>including convulsions, foaming, at the mouth and cardiac arrest. They

0:24:49.480 --> 0:24:52.760
<v Speaker 1>might also have been paralyzed by the novichoc and then

0:24:52.840 --> 0:24:57.040
<v Speaker 1>later succumbed to hypothermia, which would explain the coroner's findings.

0:24:58.119 --> 0:25:01.879
<v Speaker 1>Others have theorized that infracy might be to blame a

0:25:02.040 --> 0:25:06.000
<v Speaker 1>super low frequency audio that can prompt terror and panic.

0:25:06.800 --> 0:25:10.320
<v Speaker 1>It's a theory often applied to the Diatlov past mystery.

0:25:11.320 --> 0:25:15.080
<v Speaker 1>Proponents of the idea in the Kama Daban case wonder

0:25:15.119 --> 0:25:18.040
<v Speaker 1>if the power lines that Valentina followed to the river

0:25:18.400 --> 0:25:23.040
<v Speaker 1>may have been omitting the requisite electronic frequency to cause chaos.

0:25:24.480 --> 0:25:27.480
<v Speaker 1>The truth is, it's unlikely we will ever know what

0:25:27.720 --> 0:25:31.280
<v Speaker 1>really happened on that horrifying morning high up in the

0:25:31.280 --> 0:25:36.679
<v Speaker 1>wilderness of the Kahma D'aban Mountains. As for Valentina, the

0:25:36.760 --> 0:25:40.720
<v Speaker 1>soul survivor, after her friends were brought down from the mountain,

0:25:41.080 --> 0:25:44.800
<v Speaker 1>she returned to her hometown of Petro Pavel without speaking

0:25:44.800 --> 0:25:49.240
<v Speaker 1>to the press. There, she remained silent even to her parents,

0:25:49.600 --> 0:25:55.280
<v Speaker 1>before revealing only minor snippets. Years later, after completing college,

0:25:55.440 --> 0:25:59.640
<v Speaker 1>she left Kazakhstan entirely looking for a fresh start where

0:25:59.640 --> 0:26:02.720
<v Speaker 1>nothing could remind her of the nightmare In the mountains.

0:26:04.440 --> 0:26:08.080
<v Speaker 1>She's only spoken to the press once since, back in

0:26:08.160 --> 0:26:13.560
<v Speaker 1>twenty eighteen, when a reporter from Komsomolskaya Pravda tracked her down.

0:26:14.600 --> 0:26:18.160
<v Speaker 1>He found her living in a dormitory for food industry workers.

0:26:19.119 --> 0:26:22.679
<v Speaker 1>It's a somewhat depressing place, with thirty eight rooms to

0:26:22.760 --> 0:26:26.760
<v Speaker 1>one bathroom that seems to encapsulate the haunted life that

0:26:26.920 --> 0:26:31.879
<v Speaker 1>Valentina has lived. Angered at having her privacy so rudely

0:26:31.920 --> 0:26:36.719
<v Speaker 1>invaded at first, she refused to speak to the reporter entirely.

0:26:37.760 --> 0:26:40.800
<v Speaker 1>When pressed to give her conclusions on the whole event,

0:26:41.119 --> 0:26:45.760
<v Speaker 1>she replied, simply, what's the point now? It's all useless.

0:26:46.600 --> 0:26:54.960
<v Speaker 1>We can't bring them back. This episode was written by

0:26:54.960 --> 0:27:01.320
<v Speaker 1>Emma Dibden, Neil McRobert and Richard McLean Smith. Thank you

0:27:01.320 --> 0:27:04.600
<v Speaker 1>as ever for listening. Unexplained as an Avy Club Productions

0:27:04.640 --> 0:27:08.840
<v Speaker 1>podcast created by Richard McClain smith. All other elements of

0:27:08.880 --> 0:27:12.280
<v Speaker 1>the podcast, including the music, are also produced by me

0:27:12.800 --> 0:27:17.040
<v Speaker 1>Richard McLain smith. Unexplained. The book and audiobook is now

0:27:17.080 --> 0:27:21.200
<v Speaker 1>available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes

0:27:21.240 --> 0:27:25.720
<v Speaker 1>and Noble, Waterstones and other bookstores. Please subscribe to and

0:27:25.840 --> 0:27:28.960
<v Speaker 1>rate the show wherever you get your podcasts, and feel

0:27:28.960 --> 0:27:31.560
<v Speaker 1>free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas

0:27:31.600 --> 0:27:34.679
<v Speaker 1>regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you

0:27:34.720 --> 0:27:37.240
<v Speaker 1>have an explanation or a story of your own you'd

0:27:37.280 --> 0:27:40.040
<v Speaker 1>like to share. You can find out more at Unexplained

0:27:40.040 --> 0:27:43.320
<v Speaker 1>podcast dot com and reach us online through X and

0:27:43.440 --> 0:27:48.600
<v Speaker 1>Blue Sky at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com,

0:27:48.640 --> 0:28:30.600
<v Speaker 1>Forward Slash, Unexplained Podcast, Bold Connold Down.

0:28:31.960 --> 0:28:54.640
<v Speaker 2>Down Down Down, Down Down Down.

0:29:00.080 --> 0:30:21.040
<v Speaker 3>Bold, boldn.

0:30:00.960 --> 0:30:06.960
<v Speaker 2>No no no no