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[dramatic music]
- [Liam] The Dyatlov Pass incident
is the story of the death of nine student hikers
in the Ural Mountains.
It's often referred to as Russia's greatest mystery.
In 1959, after failing to report back,
nine students were found frozen to death
in sub polar conditions.
- When I was working for the Moscow Times newspaper
and I came across the information
about the Dyatlov Pass mystery,
the difference between all kind of mysteries
and this particular one,
is that it's very well documented.
There is criminal case.
There are pictures.
There are diaries.
There are still witnesses who were there, a rescue party.
So one can still do investigation.
- [Liam] Found without their winter clothes
miles from their shredded tent
and with no sign of an avalanche or natural disasters.
Yet somehow, they suffered injuries
that crushed their bodies
and horrifically for some,
their tongues and eyeballs were missing.
- It appears that the officials involved at the time
of the autopsies basically tried to sweep this entire thing
under the rug,
trying to make it look like some unfortunate accident.
- [Liam] Mysterious lights were seen in the sky
and the Russian KGB swarmed the site,
clouding the whole story in 60 years of mystery.
Today, there are two sides to this case.
What was reported by the official investigators at the time,
which seems almost willfully incomplete.
And then there's the years of conspiracy theories
of Soviet government coverups and military tests.
- The cover-ups are so farfetched I think.
They're a way for people to explain
the unexplainable or the unexplained.
Whereas the reality is some cases are just tough to solve.
- [Liam] The story has inspired many Russian TV shows
and documentaries pedaling armchair theories
from alien visitors to the Russian Yeti.
[dramatic music]
- [Liam] With so many conflicting stories,
I've come to Russia to ask the question,
what is the true story of the Dyatlov Pass?
[dramatic music]
I became obsessed with this story after reading
the hundreds of bizarre and unusual theories.
Military coverups, UFOs
and even a Russian Yeti have been blamed.
But I soon realize the real story is even more sinister
than I ever could have imagined.
Using the hikers' actual photos and diaries,
this is what we know so far.
In January, 1959, a team of 10 young hikers
led by group leader, Igor Dyatlov,
began the doomed expedition deep into the Ural Mountains.
10 days into their journey,
and the team reaches the peak known to the locals
as the Dead Mountain.
Then, something goes terribly wrong.
In the middle of the night, for reasons unknown,
the hikers cut their way out of the tent.
Tracks showed they fled down the mountain
in freezing conditions
without winter clothes or boots.
Weeks after they were due to report back,
search parties were sent out, only to uncover the worst.
They were found more than a mile away,
each one suffering inexplicable injury.
Ranging from cuts and bruises to fractured skulls,
broken ribs and even a missing tongue.
The Soviet government closed the case
and sealed the records,
stating only that the hikers had frozen to death
for reasons unknown.
Renewed interest began more than 30 years later
after the fall of the Soviet Union.
And the original case file was released to the public.
Searching through hundreds of online articles,
I started to spot some inconsistencies.
That's when I found a group of Russians
dedicated to uncovering the truth.
I reached out to Yuri Kuntsevitch
founder of the Dyatlov Foundation
in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
I asked a lot of questions,
hardly expecting to receive a reply.
And then I did.
[dramatic music]
What started out as a somewhat obsessive Google search,
just got very real.
I think I've always been obsessed with trying to figure out
why things are the way they are.
And I don't like, we don't know, as an answer.
I've always loved exploring weird
and sometimes dangerous locations.
And I think that's what brought me
to documentary filmmaking in the first place.
I started my filmmaking career 20 years ago
in television news.
And I realized pretty early on,
if you want to get the real story,
you have to get out and talk to people.
And this story is driving me crazy.
I keep watching so many online videos and podcasts
all repackaging the same information.
But that's not an investigation.
It's not adding anything new to the story.
Before I decide if I should go to Russia,
I have someone closer to home that can help me understand
the hikers story.
Svetlana Oss is a Russian journalist,
now living in the US.
She broke what was probably the first English language story
on the Dyatlov group for the Moscow Times in 2007.
She has since written one of the most well-researched books
on the subject.
And I'm keen to learn more from her about this case.
- There is so much behind the story.
There is so much information that need to be considered.
Some people believe that aliens killed them.
Some people believe it was American spies
who are responsible.
There are so many crazy stories
that it was sex responsible for some tension
among the group members and they just killed each other.
I think all these theories are pretty weird.
- [Liam] The unusual details in this case
have given rise to so many strange theories.
The first and perhaps most confusing
is that the criminal case appears to have begun
before the hikers were even reported missing.
- This is a criminal case. I believe you have it.
It's a new cover.
- [Liam] Okay.
- Some people believe that the very fact
that we can find six here says that the authorities
knew something before, that they wanted to hide something.
- [Liam] What's unusual is that the hikers
were not due to report back
until at the very earliest, the 12th of February.
So how could a case have been started
a week before anyone would have even suspected
they were missing?
For many, this has been one of the most compelling arguments
for Soviet government coverup.
But for me, it's proof that there's so much
that's misunderstood about this case.
There's another document in the file,
which we know from its detail
was clearly from an interview conducted in March,
but it was accidentally dated the 6th of February.
And it's this date that was copied in error
to the front cover.
A simple clerical error igniting years
of conspiracy theories.
But the mysteries certainly don't stop there,
and others are harder to explain.
I'm convinced more than ever
that if I want to find the truth, I have to go to Russia.
I keep telling myself it will be safe,
but without knowing what actually happened to the hikers,
how can I be sure?
[dramatic music]
Having filmed documentaries around the world,
I'm used to a certain amount of the unknown.
But this is my first time in Russia,
and certainly, my first time without a production team
or support.
Unsure how welcomed we would be
by the Russian government for investigating this case,
my cameraman and I have flown in under the radar
and told as few people as possible.
Easier for us to go unnoticed perhaps easier to go missing.
[dramatic music]
Yuri Kuntsevitch was just a young boy
when he attended the funerals of the hikers in 1959.
He himself joined the university's Explorers Club
and has since been on many winter expeditions,
including several to the Dyatlov Pass.
He's now at the very center of this story
as curator of the Dyatlov foundation.
His home office
has become a real life treasure trove of documents,
evidence and personal belongings from the hikers.
Some of which are at the very heart of the mystery.
Tell me, I know there is a famous flashlight
that was found on the tent.
Is this the flashlight?
So someone threw it on top of the scene.
That's unusual, isn't it?
The cameras found in the tent and on Zolotaryov,
along with several rolls of film,
give us some of the best evidence in the case.
Yet none are as mysterious as the famous 34th frame.
This last picture taken by the hikers
is just one of many strange details that have convinced Yuri
and his colleagues that this was no accident.
But if something scared them out of the tent,
why didn't they just return when the threat had passed?
Why would they leave behind their warm clothes and boots?
Everything they needed to stay alive.
[upbeat music]
- They were a young people and they were friends.
They all were students at Ural Polytechnical University.
For them going to mountains to challenge
their elements was something really exciting.
Igor Dyatlov was considered
to be the most experienced member of the Explorers Club.
This guy was kind of not interested in anything else
but in what we call tourism, going to mountains.
It was like his passion.
Zina, she had such a bright personality.
She was in many expeditions.
Some people think that Igor really was involved with Zina,
which is not true.
Probably he was into her
because we know that her picture was found in his pocket.
We know by now that she was not interested
in Igor romantically
because she liked another guy, Yuri Doroshenko.
We just know that he came from a very poor family.
He was a very brave person.
On one expedition,
there was a bear approaching the tent.
Having nothing in his hands,
he confronted the bear and made the bear leave.
And of course, Zina saw this and she was really impressed.
Maybe it was the moment when she fell in love.
But this was over by the time the expedition was scheduled,
they still were on good terms.
- [Liam] Much of what we now know
from the group's journey comes from their very own diaries,
which were found abandoned in that tent.
- Lyudmila was experienced in tourism too.
She looked like a really shy, cute girl
but she was very strong.
Once she was even shot in her leg by mistake by some Hunter.
And she persevered through that.
Rustem Slobodin was the most athletic guy in the group.
He was really well-trained physically.
I know that the father of Rustem just couldn't believe
that Rustem couldn't make through that.
Sasha Kolevatov was a cool guy among them.
We don't see him often on pictures.
He was a very private person.
- [Liam] One member of the team
proves to be even more enigmatic to this day.
37 year old Semyon Zolotaryov wasn't previously known
to the rest of the group
but he had requested to join the expedition
just weeks before their departure.
- [Svetlana] He was working as instructor of tourism.
He also needed one more expedition
for some upgrading in his work.
- [Liam] An experienced outdoorsman and soldier,
Zolotaryov was awarded medals for his service
in World War II.
And despite the age difference,
it seems Zolotaryov was quickly accepted into the group.
- [Svetlana] We know that the students
kind of embraced this guy.
He got really well with the rest in the group.
Well Thibeaux, he could make friends easily.
Pretty soon, he has become inseparable with Zolotaryov.
Thibeaux was pretty mature and serious guy
despite being very young.
- 23 year-old Yuri Krivonischenko was considered the joker
amongst the group.
And his playful antics almost changed
the entire course of events.
- [Svetlana] They were awaiting for their next train.
He asked, "Lyuda, can you give us some money
for going to the cafe?"
She had all the money for the trip.
And for some reasons she said no.
- The whole group asked the officers to let Yuri go,
which was pretty brave of them.
Because at that time in Soviet Union,
you don't want to mess with police.
The very fact that the whole group spoke up for Yuri,
testifies that they were really, really great friends.
- [Liam] There was a 10th member
of the doomed expedition.
The only one who would return alive.
- Yuri Yudin is an enigma person.
Girls trusted him.
He was not cool.
He was not sarcastic.
He was just kind and a good friend.
Yuri had to quit the trip.
I know that he suffered a great deal because of this.
He told me, "If I could ask God only one question,
that would be what happened to my friends?"
- Dyatlov and the team are commemorated here
at the Yekaterinburg cemetery.
It's a powerful moment for me.
And a reminder that these people weren't just some story
on the internet, but were real people with real lives,
families and friends.
Being here makes me realize
that if I really want to understand what happened to them,
I need to understand their journey.
I have to attempt to retrace the hikers' steps
to the Dyatlov Pass.
Named after the expedition leader, Igor Dyatlov,
the Dyatlov Pass is a dangerous place to reach
in winter even today.
But I found someone willing to guide me
on what should be an eight day expedition
to the sub polar region of the Ural Mountains.
I'm told if anyone can get me there, it's this man.
- How's the weather looking?
- It's getting better, yeah.
- Yeah.
What's the route, it's a train up.
- Okay, straight to there.
- When we get to the Pass,
we will stay one night, first night.
- But if anyone was to get hurt or anything like that,
what's the plan to get...
- To get out.
- [Interpreter] There is no exit.
- So, the camera gear is all pretty much ready
and yeah, tomorrow we go on our journey to the Dyatlov Pass
and I'm pretty excited for the adventure of it.
I've got to admit.
But at the same time, apprehensive.
It's serious undertaking.
I was told that we needed to upgrade our winter equipment
because some of the stuff I brought wasn't good enough.
I think there's no messing around with this.
I mean, this is serious conditions.
We can't forget that a number of the hikers died
from hypothermia and that's something we've really got
to take into consideration.
Tomorrow, the journey begins to the frozen wilderness
and the very mountain where the Dyatlov group
spent their last night alive.
[dramatic music]
What do you think might have happen to them?
- Yeah, your opinion.
- [Liam] Facing increased media attention,
the prosecutor's office launched a new investigation in 2018
and its recent conclusion backed the avalanche theory.
The report stated that the hikers fled their tent
at the first signs of an avalanche on Mount Kholat-Syakhl.
Descending far from the tent
without the winter clothes or boots,
they subsequently died from hypothermia and natural events.
The finding seems to present a simple conclusion
to the case, but for many, it doesn't hold up.
Vladislav Karelin was a fellow hiker
and friend of Dyatlov.
He joined the search efforts to find his friends.
83 year-old Alexsie, was close friends with the group
and also has serious doubts about an avalanche.
Perhaps the investigation photos from the time
explain why the lead investigator, Lev Ivanov,
felt that such an avalanche was implausible.
One of the last photos taken by the hikers
clearly shows ski poles placed at the front of the tent.
These ski poles seem to have been unmoved by any avalanche
when the search teams arrived several weeks later.
[dramatic music]
- [Liam] With little more than a few hours sleep
on the train,
we retraced the hikers' 50 mile journey to Vizhay by car.
The cramped vehicle seemed surprisingly capable
on these snow covered roads,
but that's not the case for everyone.
It strikes me just how important it is
to help your fellow traveler in these freezing conditions.
After all, you never know
when it might be your time in need.
And it's not lost on me that Lyuda's next diary note
on the very same stretch of road is an uncanny echo
of our own journey.
- [Liam] Vizhay was the last official village
on the hikers journey
and gateway to the Ural Mountains
for many adventurous hikers.
[dogs howling]
The team makes last minute preparations
for the ambitious journey ahead.
Our group of four will lead on snowmobile.
A backup team will follow a day or so behind on Husky sleds.
I'm curious to find out
what the team thinks about the mystery.
So tell me,
what do you think might have happened to the Dyatlov team?
- Do you believe
that's something that's possible that could have happened?
The Mansi are the indigenous people that have lived
in the Russian Siberian region for thousands of years.
Some members of a prominent Mansi family
even offered to help with the search efforts.
And as possible witnesses to the strange events,
I'm hoping to encounter some of the Mansi people
on our journey.
There's no backing out now.
Whatever happened to the hikers in 1959,
we'll just have to hope was a one off incident.
- [Narrator] "January 26"
- [Liam] Leaving the last real town
and any access to emergency services,
we follow the wide meandering path
of the frozen Lozva river.
We're traveling 100 miles on an eight day expedition,
through freezing temperatures
and dangerous conditions to reach the Dyatlov Pass.
The biting cold reminds me
that no one really knows what happened
to the hikers that night.
At a place called Mount Kholat-Syakhl
or in English, the Dead Mountain.
Four days into their journey,
and the group reached a small logging camp
called Settlement 41.
These hardworking men of the Urals
may have been among the last people to see the hikers alive.
- [Liam] The following day, the team negotiated
with one of the locals to take their packs by horse and cart
for the next leg of their journey.
But even without the heavy packs,
it took the team seven hours of tough ski hiking
to arrive at this derelict settlement.
Abandoned seven years earlier,
it was one of Russia's infamous gulags.
A forced labor camp for criminals.
Undeterred by its past,
the team found one hut still intact enough
to provide modest shelter for the night.
But for Yuri Yudin, the cold weather and arduous journey
had flared up his back pain, forcing him to make a decision
that would profoundly affect his fate.
- [Liam] Yuri said an emotional goodbye to his friends,
looking forward to seeing them again soon.
Oblivious to the events that would unfold
in just three short days.
Yuri died in 2013, age 75,
never knowing what really happened that tragic night.
At his request, he was buried in Yekaterinburg Cemetery,
next to his friends, reunited at last.
[dramatic music]
Our expeditions in the Dyatlov Pass
was about to face it's own challenges.
We reach a small frozen river outlet
that has partially thawed.
Worryingly, all around,
I hear the surface ice cracking beneath us.
Thankfully, we reached safety and a well earned rest.
- [Liam] It seems the group had no indication
that in just three short days, disaster would strike.
It may be hard to imagine that people would live here
but the Mansi and Khanty peoples of Northern Western Siberia
have called this area home for thousands of years.
These indigenous people traditionally survive
through fishing, hunting and herding reindeer.
Much of this way of life remains today.
Since the 13th century,
the two separate groups of Mansi and Khanty people
were often united in fiercely defending their lands
against the invading Russians.
But by the time of Soviet era Russia,
the indigenous way of life suffered greatly
as their lands were taken
and their numbers diminished.
Their shamans and even folk customs were persecuted.
So it was not unreasonable
that some of the Mansi and Khanty populations
had a distrust and resentment
towards the Soviet Russians.
Dyatlov and his team however,
were greatly intrigued by these indigenous people.
And we're excited to learn more
of their language and customs.
- [Liam] We arrive at a Mansi village,
some 25 miles away from the Dyatlov Pass.
And I'm keen to find out what the villages remember
about the incident.
This woman's father even joined the rescue team.
Do you like living here?
It's very cold though.
We're making a film about the Dyatlov team,
has she heard of them?
Several Mansi, well known and respected by officials
were hired as experts to help trace the missing hikers.
But as the only inhabitants of the area,
there was still an eye of suspicion on the local people.
As early theories emerged, investigators were interested
in a rumor that the hikers may have stumbled
onto a sacred Mansi site
and paid a heavy price for their trespass.
And when the hikers tent was discovered,
it was the strange cut marks that thrust further suspicion
on the Mansi people.
- [Narrator] Criminal prosecutor Lev Ivanov.
"It was established,
the group suddenly left the tent
and there is a reason to believe that the tent
was cut by someone.
Establishing if the tent was cut or torn apart
is essential to the case."
- We know that the first theory of Ivanov was murder.
He later said that the students could be scared
or forced off the tent only by the group of armed people,
at least nine of them should be there.
As the forensic investigation continued,
members of a nearby Mansi family, the Bakhtiyarovs,
were summoned for questioning about their sacred practices.
- [Liam] However, when the forensic report
on the tent came in, it revealed a shocking discovery.
It was indeed cut by a blade,
but astonishingly, the report said it was cut
from the inside.
The experts now believe the panicked tourists
cut their own way out of the tent.
It was then unlikely
that anyone was attacking them from the outside.
So the investigation into the local Mansi people
was dropped.
Lev Ivanov and his team were now left
with more questions than answers.
Just what were the hikers fleeing from?
Our journey has taken us deep into the Urals,
many miles away from the nearest town.
Home for the night will be the hunting cabin
owned by the Mansi we met earlier today.
We settle down for the night on the hard floor
and I'm thankful for the warmth of this cabin.
60 years ago, the Dyatlov team didn't have this luxury
as they recorded their penultimate diary entry.
- [Liam] Today, we make the journey to the Dyatlov Pass.
But of course, nothing is guaranteed in the mountains.
- [Liam] So it could be quite different?
- How difficult is the journey today?
- We might fall off today?
- What started out as a little more
than a Google search has led me halfway around the world.
Exploring this desolate and beautiful land
so far removed from my modern day life,
brings me closer to Dyatlov and his team
than I ever thought possible.
I'm beginning to understand why they came here.
To challenge themselves physically,
to overcome the hardships,
and to explore the unknown.
Frustratingly, we've come as far as we can today.
The fresh snow is too deep and soft for our snowmobiles.
So we're about a kilometer away
from the Dyatlov Pass tent site.
We couldn't take the snowmobiles any closer
because this fresh snow, it's very sloping track.
And these are just too heavy for the snowmobiles.
So we're gonna make a base camp here tonight
and we can make the rest of the way on the snowmobiles
without the trolleys.
Hard work.
As we settle in for the night,
the team reminds me of perhaps
one of the more bizarre theories
that gained sensationalist attention.
- Go to forest.
- [Liam] The Russian Yeti.
The hikers created a peculiar document in the style
of a newspaper front page called the Evening Otorten.
A transcribed copy was included in the case files.
And one headline caused a greater sensation
than the hikers could have ever imagined.
- [Narrator] "In the recent years,
there has been a heated debate about the existence of Yeti.
According to the recent reports,
Yeti lives in the Northern Urals near Otorten mountain."
- [Liam] And with a few out of focus photos
on the team's camera, a legend was born.
- With this particular case for Yeti,
it's all about misinterpretations of the cultural thing.
It was entirely humoristic.
It was about making fun of each other.
And it's about picture.
If you look through all the pictures in this role,
all the film, it's obvious that this blurred picture
of the last one is one of the many in their roll.
- [Liam] As members of the backup team arrive at base camp,
we settle in for the night,
hopefully free from any wild beast,
oblivious, to the more real dangers of the storm
heading our way.
- [Narrator] Diary entry, Igor Dyatlov.
- [Liam] Dyatlov's word,
would be the very last left by the group.
His diary seems to foreshadow the terrible events to come.
The following day, the team left a cache of food
and equipment for their return journey to Mount Otorten.
The worsening weather
and deep snow forced them to build a camp
after traveling only a mile and a half
on to Mount Kholat-Syakhl, the Dead Mountain.
Before morning, all nine friends would be dead.
- When the group failed to come back to Yekaterinburg
on the 12th of February, no one was immediately alarmed.
The first person who was alarmed was Rimma Kolevatov
the sister of Sasha Kolevatov.
And she started to make telephone calls
to the Explorers Clubs, to the university.
- [Liam] It wasn't until February 21st,
over a week after the hikers were due to have sent word
of their return,
that the first teams of search parties were deployed.
However, with only a rough idea
of the team's expected location,
it would prove to be a difficult task.
The search teams comprised of professionals,
military and fellow student members
of the university's Explorers Club.
For those friends, this was still a rescue mission.
Evgeniy was a member of another hiking team
in a similar area.
His and Dyatlov's teams were expecting to connect
on their return journey.
An aerial search was conducted along with multiple teams
on the ground, and it would take several days
before the rescue has got their first clue.
The hikers partially snow covered tent.
Officially, the tent was found on February the 26th
by fellow student hikers, Boris Slobstov
and Mikhail Sharavin.
They were accompanied by a local forestry worker,
Ivan Pashin, who lived and worked alongside the Mansi people
in the region.
However, Pashin later stated in his testimony.
- [Liam] This statement was backed up
by his friend and fellow search team member, Cheglakov.
- [Liam] It's incredible to me
that these two men did not look inside
for any signs of the hikers or perhaps even more incredible,
that they didn't report such a huge finding right away.
Officially, it would take two more days
of aerial and ground searches
before Slobstov and Sharavin accompanied by Pashin,
spotted the tent on Mount Kholat-Syakhl.
As they ascended the mountain,
Pashin refused to go with them.
- For me, it speaks for the fact
that he has already heard something from the Mansi.
That something happened on the slope
but he felt like it's better to stay away from this matter.
They had also their traditions
and they didn't want anyone to mess with that.
- [Liam] As they approached their friend's tent,
it quickly became apparent that this was an unusual scene.
Along with the flashlight found on top of the snow,
what they found left inside was more worrying.
- [Liam] With no trace of the hikers,
finding their winter clothes and boots was unnerving.
The following day,
the search parties focused their attention on the tent site.
And further down the slope,
the rescuers found their next clue.
- [Liam] Later stories would suggest
that the hikers fled in a panic
from some terrifying event.
But the footsteps as seen by Slobstov
clearly show how the hikers walked
or marched side by side, away from the tent.
The searches followed the partially visible tracks
down the slope where the team uncovered
their first grisly discovery.
The bodies of Krivonischenko and Doroshenko
were found under a cedar tree
nearly a mile away from the tent.
Evgeniy Maslennikov,
head of the university sports club wrote:
- [Liam] Later that same day,
a thousand feet away from the cedar tree,
the team made another grim discovery.
The frozen body of group leader, Igor Dyatlov.
He had collapsed around a small birch tree
facing towards the tent,
suggesting that he was attempting to return.
- [Liam] Finding the bodies of the four hikers
was a devastating blow to the rescue party.
In the following days,
the search teams painstakingly probe the deep snow
for any signs of their comrades.
On March 5th, six long days
after the discovery of the first four bodies,
the searches uncovered another, Rustem Slobodin.
He too was found facing in the direction of the tent,
suggesting he was also trying to make a desperate return
to shelter and warm clothing.
All five of the hikers found so far
were flown to Ivdel for autopsy.
The searcher's grim task continued
and the days turned into weeks with no new clues
as to where the remaining four hikers could be.
[gentle music]
In a bizarre parallel to Dyatlov's journey,
our own expedition has been hit
by a savage blizzard and the dangerous drop in temperature
on the day we were due to make it to the Pass.
[dramatic music]
Nature calls the shots out here
and to try to make to the Pass today
would be far too dangerous.
The autopsy of the five hikers was conducted in Ivdel
by forensic medical expert, Vozrozhdenny.
Doroshenko, Krivonischenko, Dyatlov,
Kolmogorova and Slobodin,
were all found to have suffered various cuts and bruises
to the body.
Specific injuries included bruising cuts and abrasions
to the nose, eyebrows and cheeks.
Further bruising and abrasions were found on the knuckles
and the back of the hands.
Yet, under close watch from the party officials,
Vozrozhdenny concluded that all of these injuries
were simply as a result of falling over.
The official cause of death for all five
was stated as hypothermia.
- Today, if you see a guy, if you see his upper lip swollen,
a black eye,
and his fists scabbed over.
Do you think that he panicked
and he ran really fast and he threw himself
against the rocks?
No, your first thought is there must be a fight.
- [Liam] A rumor spread that perhaps the group
turned on themselves.
Investigator Ivanov feared that the party leaders
would use this to cover up the truth of the investigation.
Something he wasn't prepared to let happen.
In an effort to divert the growing attention,
the officials attempted to quietly bury the hikers
hundreds of miles away from their home city.
This only fueled conspiracy theories.
And under mounting public pressure,
the officials were forced to return the hikers home.
- Back in the city,
the people try to make sense of what have happened.
They questioned military authorities.
Why, how come, what could be?
In the middle of nowhere, why would they die?
And the funerals, they were just huge.
Just exactly what the authority wanted to prevent,
it happened.
There were thousands and thousands of people
who attended during the funeral.
- [Liam] Those that were there
remember being watched by the KGB,
stoking fears that the military were to blame.
Rumors of unusual lights in the sky, strange photographs
and secret military tests began to spread.
Vladislav Karelin and his team were hiking
in the Urals not far from the Dyatlov Pass
only two weeks after the tragedy
when they themselves witnessed an unusual celestial event.
Could Karelin sighting prove the hikers
controversial photo was in fact a real object.
Given the sightings in 1959,
many involved with the Dyatlov Foundation,
believe the military rocket theory is the most plausible.
Yet Karelin's own team also witnessed these lights
but it certainly didn't scare them
from fleeing the safety of their tent.
- Well, I don't believe there could be a rocket
or military experiment that injured the hikers.
Well, definitely there was something going on in the sky
at that period of time.
The event was pretty far from them
Since they were capable of taking pictures.
And it lasted at least one, two minutes.
It means, it was not threatening to them.
Certainly, the autopsy reports from the first five hikers
showed no obvious signs of injury from a missile blast
nor were there any signs of an explosion or debris reported
by the search teams.
With this frustratingly conflicting evidence,
the investigators could only hope that finding
the last four hikers would unravel the mystery.
[upbeat music]
Three months after the incident and the melting snows led
to a breakthrough.
Mansi native Kurikov,
spotted some cut branches,
only 150 feet from the cedar tree
that seemed to form a trail.
Along with his dog,
he discovered the remains of some clothing
which appeared to be cut by a knife.
The search team swiftly focused in on the area
and began to dig.
Buried under more than 10 feet of snow,
they found a small den.
Cut branches were laid to make a makeshift floor
but there was no sign of the hikers.
Fellow student hiker, Vladimir Askinadzi,
was one of the students tasked
with probing the area to look for his friends.
Buried 12 feet under the snow,
was the body of Lyudmila Dubinina.
She was found in a small ravine,
collapsed over a natural ledge.
The three remaining bodies
of Kolevatov, Thibeaux, and Zolotaryov
were found close to Dubinina.
They lay next to each other,
perhaps in a desperate attempt
to share body warmth in their final moments.
The bodies were carefully removed and carried back
to the evacuation point,
but the fears of military tests
and possible radiation contamination was rife.
The helicopter pilots fearing the risk
of radiation poisoning,
refused to transport the bodies until they were placed
in zinc lined cases.
The move suggested that even senior officials
were growing suspicious.
And the autopsy was about to reveal
some grim and unexpected details.
Thibeaux, although found dressed warmer
than the first five hikers had suffered a mysterious
and devastating blow to the right side of his head.
- [Liam] The examiners found that Kolevatov
was also dressed reasonably well
against the elements with ski jacket and pants.
However, his boots were missing,
and he too had some unusual injuries.
- [Liam] The examiner seemed to make little effort
to better understand the cause of these injuries.
Officially, he stated that they died from freezing to death.
Still, the mystery only deepened.
Zolotaryov, the oldest of the team was again found
with a basic level of clothing, under layers, ski pants
and a jacket with the upper buttons undone.
The examiner noted the horrific facial decay
presumably from the stream he was found in.
But it was the unexplained crushing impact
to Zolotaryov's chest that was most unusual.
- [Liam] Lyuda wore ski pants
which were badly fire damaged and two sweaters.
Missing her snow boots,
she had desperately wrapped a torn sweater around her feet.
She was found lying face down in a stream of melting snow.
The examiner stated this caused
the horrific decaying facial tissue and her missing eyes.
Incredibly, he also noted that her tongue was missing
without any further explanation as to why.
Shockingly, there was a similar finding to Zolotaryov.
Lyuda suffered a brutal impact to her chest,
fracturing multiple ribs
and was powerful enough to puncture her heart.
- [Liam] The forensic examiner's confounding conclusions
did little to explain the tragedy
and only raised more questions.
Lead investigator Ivanov have had little to work on.
And given the speculation of military tests,
he ordered the students clothes to be tested
for radioactivity.
Incredibly, some of those found in the ravine
showed above normal levels of radiation.
For Ivanov, there was no obvious answer in sight.
As the whispers of rocket, military tests
and now radiation spread,
the investigation was seemingly out of control.
The Soviet government frustrated
and unable to curb the rumors that implicated
their own military, summoned Ivanov back to headquarters
and ordered that the case be closed.
- No further investigation was carried out.
The strange circumstances and injuries
simply left unexplained.
Now, the case files hidden until the fall
of the Soviet Union will be the key to uncovering the truth.
[soft music]
We've traveled nearly 100 miles,
and we're just a few miles from the Dyatlov Pass.
Our expedition was forced to camp for the night
and take shelter from a brutal storm.
The worst seems to have passed,
but today's challenge
will be to navigate the deep snow.
It's snowing quite a lot.
And I know they're concerned about the safety of us
getting to the Pass
yesterday, I don't think it's gonna get any easier today.
I'm determined to get there.
So we'll take the snowmobiles as far as we can go.
And then we'll hike the rest of the way.
[intense dramatic music]
The heavy snow on the mountain is making it difficult
for the snowmobiles to stay upright or avoid rocks
lurking deceptively just below the surface.
Even a small injury out here could prove deadly.
This is our first steep slope we had come up.
It was a bit too steep for two people.
So we'll walk the rest of the way.
I think it's gonna be a lot more of that today.
This is tough conditions.
Leaving the snowmobiles behind,
we make the rest of the journey on foot.
Traveling a relatively short distance
of just a couple of miles
in this deep snow is incredibly slow going.
Finally, through the thickening skies,
the boot rock comes into view.
This was the landing area for the search teams back in 1959.
It's truly an incredible experience for me.
I can hardly believe I've journeyed this far,
and I'm almost at the very location
of the Dyatlov Pass incident.
The names of the nine hikers that died here
on February the 3rd, 1959, will forever be remembered
in this beautiful yet desolate place.
We still have a tough walk ahead of us
but I'm determined to make it to the actual location
where the Dyatlov group tent was found.
So we push on into darkening skies.
My journey has led me
through many incredible theories on this case.
And perhaps, the most shocking is about to be revealed.
Sakharova has studied the documents extensively
and found a number of problems starting with the tent.
The expert's opinions at the time suggested
that the tent was cut from the inside by the hikers.
This fact was instrumental in leading the investigators away
from any theory that the hikers may have been attacked.
If the findings from the tent examination
led the investigators away from the theory
that the hikers may have been attacked,
that may have also clouded their interpretation
of later evidence.
If Sakharova is right,
then the proof that the hikers were murdered
may well be right here in the autopsy reports
hidden in plain sight
but I'm going to need some help to decipher the clues.
- My name is Ken Holmes
and I was in the Marin County coroner's office for 36 years.
The last 12 of which I was the elected coroner.
And we handled all the death investigations that occurred
in the County of Marin.
I believe the autopsies probably are very thorough
but I would disagree with the accuracy
of the conclusions for at least seven of them.
The amount of trauma absolutely precludes any sort
of accidental fall, at least from their own height.
Certainly not just walking along in the snow
and falling down.
It appears that the officials involved
at the time of the autopsies,
basically tried to sweep this entire thing under the rug
trying to make it look like some unfortunate accident.
[dramatic music]
- My name is Mick Fennerty.
I'm retired special agent with the FBI.
And spent just over 20 years working for the FBI.
And I spent almost 15 years total
on our evidence response team.
The team responsible
for investigating our more complex crime scenes.
Many cases are filled with strange things.
But yeah, this one has several.
If you look at the simplest explanation,
the principal of Occam's razor
that the most simple answer
is often the most correct answer.
Hikers were forced out of their tent.
I mean, you just can't explain
why they would leave their boots,
unless they were forced out into the cold.
Why they didn't immediately return to the tent
knowing that they were gonna die of exposure
out in the cold without boots.
When you look at the wounds that were on the hikers,
I'm just not buying the accidental thing,
this was a homicide.
[dramatic music]
- These new experts have all suggested
that what happened to Dyatlov's team was no accident.
So we know that both Lyudmila and Zolotaryov,
both suffered bone crushing injuries to the chest.
And given the position of the bodies,
we know it couldn't have come from the same impact.
- My thinking is that he was laying down maybe on his back
and something very, very heavy dropped across him.
Could have been someone stepping on him or stomping on him.
Certainly possible.
The interesting thing is that the rib fractures
are all very high.
They start right underneath the collarbone
and only go about halfway down
which is not typical of somebody falling down on their own
or falling against rocks or a log.
So it's more likely that he was stationary
and something heavy came down upon him.
- [Liam] Lyudmila suffered similar,
but more devastating injuries.
- The rib fractures,
they were of such impact that the ribs flexed
after being broken and actually punctured the heart.
That takes an incredible blow.
And the ones that I have seen
is either in a motor vehicle accident
or a fall from a very high place,
and I'm talking about 50 feet.
She didn't just trip and fall and go down on her chest,
something very, very heavy fell against her.
Could one person do that?
Yes, but again, it would take a pretty hefty person.
If they were doing it on their own,
they would be probably jumping
or throwing themselves against her.
- Lyudmila was missing her eyeballs and her tongue.
The autopsy report said
this was because she was laying face down in a stream
underneath the snow.
Now that may attribute the soft tissue damage to her eyes
but the tongue is much bigger muscle.
To me, that seems strange.
Thibeaux was found in the same stream as these two,
except he had a massive fracture to his right temple.
Even the autopsy report said it was highly unlikely
he could have suffered this injury simply from falling over.
- He easily could have been struck.
The kind of blow that is described,
it looks like the head was unsupported.
In other words, it wasn't on the ground
where something hit his head so that he couldn't move away.
- Kolevatov was the fourth member of the team
to be found in the same stream.
Kolevatov actually suffered a really sizable wound
behind his ear, which is really unusual to do
by accidentally falling over.
The autopsy report also noted that his neck
had been damaged.
The first to be found by the cedar tree were Yuri Doroshenko
and Yuri Krivonischenko.
Doroshenko had cuts and bruises to eyes, nose, and lips.
But he also had bruising and abrasing
to the inside of the arms and into the armpits.
Krivonischenko, his injuries included bruising
to the forehead around the left temporal bone.
His knuckles and fingers were bruised and swollen
and he also suffered terrible burn to his left leg.
For me, what's really strange about the injuries
to both Krivonischenko and Doroshenko
was the fact that their injuries actually weren't so bad
with perhaps the exception of the burn
to Krivonischenko's left leg.
What was actually stopping them from returning to the tent?
Rustem Slobodin was found 500 meters
away from the cedar tree.
It looked like he was heading back towards the tent.
He was found with bruised knuckles
as well as bruising to the face and legs.
Rustem suffered a massive fracture to the side of his skull.
Rustem was probably knocked unconscious
and very near to where he was found.
So whatever struck him was a very different event
to what happened to the others.
Zina was found 600 meters away from the cedar tree.
She was found with bruising all around her face.
Zina also suffered a 30 centimeter long bruise
across the back and the kidney area,
which must've knocked the wind out of her.
But also she had bad bruising across both knuckles.
Again, was she fighting some attackers?
- Well, certainly you could make a case for that.
On the other hand,
you could also make a case
that over the course of the three or four days
before she died,
she could have done it scraping against ice accidentally.
I would say it looks to me like she was defending herself
with some of the bruises,
but then on her knuckles,
that's not indicative of a defensive wound
as much as it is of a thrusting from her standpoint.
- Igor Dyatlov was found lying again in the direction
of the tent, suggesting that he too was trying to go back
for supplies.
As a respected group leader,
I don't think for a second
he wouldn't have done his best to try and help himself
and the team.
The autopsy reports stated
that he had bruising to his knuckles.
But what's most interesting to me
was he had bruising and abrasions
to both his wrists and ankles
[Natalia speaking in foreign language]
- I have tried and tried and tried,
I've spent a great deal of time trying to come up
with a scenario that would cover the variety of injuries,
the spacing of the people
and where they're found and how they're found.
It's very difficult for me to come up with any scenario
other than there must have been some other people present.
[dramatic music]
- [Liam] Like every theory in this case,
there always seems to be one piece of the puzzle
that just doesn't fit.
In this case, it's the lights in the sky.
Karelin and others still believe that rockets
were in some way connected.
Yet, there's no evidence of an explosion at the site.
But could some rockets have affected the hikers
in another way?
- Any volatile gas that could have affected these people,
no way to prove it would be there after such a long time
in the snow.
But there didn't seem to be any description
from the lungs or the throats
for the type of injuries that we see with gas.
- But even if a chemical had affected them psychologically,
that doesn't explain how they later received
those violent injuries so far away from the tent.
In those conditions, it could have taken the group
more than an hour to walk that distance without skis.
Why would they walk relatively calmly for an hour
and then lose their minds
and inflict those injuries of themselves?
It just doesn't add up.
I do believe it plausible
that the Soviets were testing rockets over the Urals
at the time, but I just don't see any evidence
that it could have directly affected the group.
For me, I think the lights in the sky are red herring.
They've derailed the case for more than 60 years
and they continue to today.
But there's still another difficult piece of the puzzle
that has fueled the military conspiracy theories
for more than 60 years, radiation.
Two of the four hikers found in the ravine,
Lyuda and Kolevatov,
both wore clothes that tested positive for radiation.
For many, this is proof that some military weapon
killed the hikers.
But if that was the case, how come radiation wasn't found
on any other member of the team?
Again, we need to look for the simplest answer.
The sweater Lyuda was wearing
showed the highest levels of radiation.
But in fact, this sweater belonged to Krivonischenko,
who was found near the cedar tree.
It looks like Lyuda may have taken his sweater
after his death.
I've recently found a document
that shows that Krivonischenko actually worked
at a nuclear facility.
Which only a year and a half earlier,
suffered a major nuclear explosion.
The Kyshtym disaster was at the time,
the world's largest nuclear disaster.
And even today, it's the third largest
after Fukushima and Chernobyl.
Incredibly, most of us have never even heard of it.
And that's because it was almost entirely concealed
by the Soviets at the time.
In 1957, just a few days after the explosion,
hundreds of local villages had died of radiation poisoning
and more than 10,000 were subsequently evacuated.
Given that this was one of the world's first
major nuclear explosions,
it wouldn't be a surprise to me that the cleanup team
including Krivonischenko were unprepared and unprotected.
It's likely that he even suspected his authorities
of being careless towards their safety.
I've recently been sent a copy of a letter
written by Krivonischenko himself
that seems to express his frustration.
- The second positive test for radiation
was on Kolevatov's clothes.
Incredibly, I found that after graduation,
he too went to work
for a secretive nuclear facility in Moscow.
It's quite possible that he either came into contact
with materials from the Kyshtym site
or he may have simply worn the contaminated sweater
before giving it to Lyuda.
For me, the likelihood that the radiation
found on the hikers' clothes
came from an actual nuclear meltdown
where we know Krivonischenko worked is far more likely
than some experimental weapons attack.
So if rockets and radiation were explainable red herrings.
Why was the military still so eager to be involved?
- All of the secrecy was around this case.
Not because there was some military experiment
or rocket crash,
but because Lev Ivanov reported to his supervisors
that there were some strange phenomena in the sky observed.
They just didn't want any information out
before the investigation is done.
- [Liam] This was during the tensions of the Cold War.
The race for nuclear supremacy
was of the highest importance.
We now know that Krivonischenko and Kolevatov
had reasonable ways
in which they could have come into contact with radiation.
But importantly, from the Soviet's position,
that's two hikers who may have had access
to secret information or materials.
Finding the last four bodies must have been a relief
for the authorities.
They now knew that the hikers had not defected as spies.
But when Ivanov requested a radiation examination,
the Soviets were faced with a new challenge.
Information about the nuclear disaster at Kyshtym
might leak to the public.
This would have been a massive blow
to Russia's nuclear credibility.
Lev even wrote about his experiences
years after the collapse of the Soviet union
- The Soviet government had their answer,
the hikers had not defected.
The true cause of the tragedy
was of little consequences to them now.
And the truth about the Dyatlov Pass
was buried along with the hikers.
[intense dramatic music]
So if the Soviet government wasn't involved
in the hikers' death, who was?
The Dyatlov Pass is 50 miles away
from the nearest village of Vizhay.
The only people known to go near the Pass
were the indigenous Mansi people.
And so, the Mansi were the original prime suspects.
- [Liam] Despite the suspicion,
the Mansi were quickly ruled out for two key reasons.
One, the investigators believe the hikers cut their own way
out of the tent.
Although I've already uncovered
that this was not definitively proven
and probably incorrect.
Secondly, the local Russians testified
that the Mansi were friendly
and some even offered to help in the search efforts.
But does a friend's recommendation
or being helpful to officials rule you out of suspicion?
- No, we certainly have seen in unsolved homicides
and all sorts of cases.
The perpetrator will come back
and insert themselves into the investigation.
That's something that's common.
The Bahtiyarov family lived in a nomadic camp of yurts
in the upper reaches of the Vizhay river.
One of the brothers, Peter Bahtiyarov said in interview,
- Yet just 10 days earlier, his brother Nikita,
who lived in the same family camp stated.
- [Liam] The testimonies were clearly conflicting.
And we now know there were more sacred places.
Closer to Dyatlov's route,
the hikers unknowingly took a photo
of what we now know was a sacred cave.
To the north, Man Pupu Ner was the most sacred place of all.
Its mighty towers tell the story of a great Mansi shaman
who turned giant warriors into stone
when they threatened to destroy the Mansi.
And at Mount Otorten,
the very destination of the Dyatlov team,
similar stone pillars are found.
During an interview, another member
of the Bahtiyarov family, Pavel,
stated that he never went near the mountains
where the Dyatlov team were found.
- [Liam] But despite insisting Mansi didn't go to this area,
there were signs that suggest someone did.
- There were people who were present in this area.
We know that there was a discovery of chum
like meters above the tent.
And the search parties saw this chum
and we have a picture of it.
- So the Mansi interviewed at the time
said they didn't go near the mountains
and they suddenly didn't hunt in the area.
But here we have proof that someone was.
Just because there were some indigenous people in the area,
that doesn't mean there was any real motive for an attack.
But when I dug deeper, there were signs that the Russian
and indigenous people's cohabitation
wasn't always harmonious.
In the 1930s, the Soviets formed a new town called Kazym
in the Siberian Mansi-Khanty region.
The idea was to bring schools and medical facilities
to the local people as part of the Soviet collectivization.
However, these changes were imposed on the locals
who were not given a say in the matter.
They were forced to comply with Soviet rules
and their children were forcibly taken
to attend boarding schools,
where they were forbidden to practice
their native language and beliefs.
Understandably, the local people were outraged and rebelled
against the authorities,
resulting in a number of deadly conflicts in the 1930s.
Following these clashes,
Mansi and Khanty culture was outlawed.
Sacred grounds were destroyed
And Sharmans practicing ancient rituals were imprisoned.
The outlawing of thousands of years of cultural belief
and history would have undoubtedly fueled
a bitter resentment towards the Soviet.
These rituals and practices were still officially illegal
when the Dyatlov group attempted to reach Mount Otorten.
Yet, signs of that tradition still persist today.
We now know there were sacred places in the mountains
and I'm not the first to wonder
if the Dyatlov group stumbled
onto a place of great importance to the Mansi.
Do you think it's possible
the Mansi might've killed the hikers
because they came across a sacred site
or perhaps, a sacred artifact?
Speaking with Alexey,
I'm reminded how dangerous and unfair it is
to make generalizations towards whole groups of people.
Since the Dyatlov incident, there have been no other reports
of Mansi attacking Russians over sacred land.
And certainly, my journey to the Pass
was met with a warm welcome.
But the evidence so far still suggest to me
that it was murder.
So I keep looking.
- Whoever attacked the students, they were flesh and blood
because students were capable of fighting back.
Generally, the people who lived in the area
they're called the Mansi.
There are yet another people called the Khanty.
They are not living there constantly,
but there were rumors that some of them,
just several of them were living secluded in the area.
And they were not friends with Mansi or with Russians.
- [Liam] Digging through the official reports,
I spotted a detail that might just provide
the biggest clue yet.
The official report from police officer, Gorbushin,
in the town of Ivdel.
He speaks of an informal conversation he had
with a member of the Mansi Kurikov family.
- [Liam] Later, a member of the Kurikov family,
Grigoriy, was officially interviewed.
- [Liam] Despite the police offices tantalizing
piece of information,
the suspicion that other indigenous people
were living in the area was not further investigated.
And there's one last clue.
A strip of dark material found at the cedar tree
where the first two bodies were discovered.
Search party member, Boris Slobstov wrote.
- [Liam] Despite the clues and evidence of violence,
the authorities dropped the search
for any possible attackers.
The truth of this unknown compelling force
has remained hidden under wintery snows
and tightly held secrets for more than 60 years.
- The crushing injuries and the skull fractures
because they're so different,
there had to be three or four assailants
involved in whatever this incident was.
And I don't believe that in any way,
could just be an accident.
- When you look at the wounds that were on the hikers,
I'm just not buying the accidental thing,
this was a homicide.
- I have a strong conviction that military people
wouldn't do it this way.
There is an expression in Russian.
If there is no body, there is no case.
[dramatic music]
- [Liam] From the beginning,
this mystery captured my imagination.
And after two years of studying the case,
it's become something more.
Every diary entry, every glance and every photo
seems to hide a clue like a distant voice compelling me
to join the search.
So this is roughly where the Dyatlov tent was found.
It's incredible to be here and I can see why they wanted
to be out here, it's beautiful.
And it's so isolated.
Like 100 kilometers away from any other village.
It must've been absolutely exhilarating for them
to have been hiking in these types of locations.
And it's still a mystery as to what happened
but I certainly understand better
why they came out here in the first place now.
[dramatic music]
In some small way,
I feel I've come to know the hikers.
I certainly wish I could have had the chance
to have met them.
I think we could have shared an adventure or two.
There may be more evidence
and theories surrounding this case to come.
But out of respect of the Dyatlov group,
I believe they should all be explored with an open mind.
We may be looking at it through different lenses
but our vision is the same,
to lay to rest the mystery of an unknown compelling force.
[intense dramatic music]