Cold Case

A mysterious tragedy that killed nine students in the Urals in 1959 is suddenly making headlines in Russia. For reasons that are unclear, Russia’s Prosecutor General announced a new investigation into the Dyatlov Pass deaths, one of the most puzzling mysteries of the Soviet era, and a source of countless conspiracy theories.

It all began when a group of ski-hikers – all experienced members of a Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) outing club – set out on a trek through the northern Urals. When they did not check in on schedule, an aerial search uncovered a gruesome scene on Otorten Mountain – a place that is sacred to the indigenous Mansi people.

The hikers’ bodies were scattered across the snowy slope in various states of undress, and their tent was sliced open from the inside.

A criminal probe remained classified for years, and its conclusions were far from satisfactory. The students died on the night of February 1, 1959, and investigators ruled out criminal intent. But they also pointed to a “force” the hikers could not overcome. The nature of that force, or the cause of the students’ injuries, remained unknown. The lack of transparency surrounding the investigation led many to believe that the government was behind the killings.

As a result, the Dyatlov Pass mystery became the focus of endless speculation. Over the years, interviews with persons somehow involved with the case or with the hikers (who came to be known as the Dyatlov Group) led to various theories. Perhaps they were attacked by the native Mansi? Or maybe by a group of escaped convicts? Were they killed by a Soviet weapons test? Were they in fact spies who were intercepted by the KGB? Did they quarrel and kill one another, perhaps under some sort of psychogenic influence?

With time, the mystery has become a meme, but that one no one thought would be conclusively solved. So it was bizarre when, earlier this year, prosecutors held a press-conference in Yekaterinburg, promising to find the truth 60 years after the horrific event. Experts are going to travel to Otorten Mountain in March to assess whether an avalanche was involved. Most likely, investigators posited, the Dyatlov Group’s cause of death was related to the weather.

Do prosecutors have nothing better to do? wondered the online newspaper gazeta.ru. Do they need a bit of hype, some easy publicity generated by a long-buried cold case? Why don’t they dig into the country’s many cases of corruption instead?

The Dyatlov Case has inspired several books and movies, one of which is currently being filmed by the Discovery channel. Another, suggesting an other-worldly explanation, is about to air on Russian television. Even if prosecutors conclude that the students were buried by an avalanche, people will continue to invent stories, long after everyone connected with the students is dead.

The archive of the Dyatlov Group’s personal belongings, photos and videos is being donated to The Yeltsin Center, a Yekaterinburg museum, said the Foundation for the Memory of the Dyatlov Group. Russian President Boris Yeltsin (who was Sverdlovsk party leader in the late 1970s and early 1980s) reportedly was keen to solve the mystery.