In the bleak Russian winter of 1959, nine experienced hikers set out on an expedition. None of them made it back alive.
When their campsite was finally discovered, it told a chilling story: tents slashed open, bodies scattered across the snow. The hikers’ injuries were as baffling as they were gruesome. One had had his head stoved in; bits of bone had been driven into his brain. Others were missing their eyes and their tongues.
Had the hikers angered the local Mansi tribespeople? Had they witnessed a secret military experiment? Or had something even more strange and sinister unfolded on Dead Mountain?
[Apple] [Spotify] [Stitcher]
Further reading
On the Dyatlov expedition:
The Dyatlov Pass Mystery. By Lucy Ash. BBC News. December 2019.
Mechanisms of slab avalanche release and impact in the Dyatlov Pass incident in 1959. By Nature. Johan Gaume & Alexander Puzrin. 28 January 2021.
Has an Old Soviet Mystery at Last Been Solved by Douglas Preston. The New Yorker. 10 May 2021.
https://dyatlovpass.com
On USSR:
Transcript of Khruschchev’s Speech
The Real Secret of Khrushchev’s Speech. By Tom Parfitt. The Guardian. 24 Feb 2006.
The Secret Speech That Changed World History. By John Rettie. The Observer. 26 Feb 2006
Three Crucial Crises in the Development of the Khanty and Mansi Unique Culture by Victoria Vorobeva, Zoya Fedorinova, & Ekaterina Kolesnik. Nov 2015.
On Disinformation:
Hope For Cynics. By Jamil Zaki. 2024.
