50 Years ago and a day something unusual happened in the Ural Mountains. 5 decades is but a flash for the Count, but for the mortals who visit this website, it is possibly a lifetime. This event was significant enough that the pass on Ortorten Mountain where it happened was officially named for one of the 9 poor souls who hiked in, but never hiked out.

On February 2nd, 1959, Igor Dyatlov and 8 of his friends who were all cross-country skiers set themselves out to go on a camping trip roughly 1260 miles northeast of the aforementioned Battle of Kalka. They were killed. The only man, who survived, did so because he fell ill and had to break off from the ascent. His name is Yuri Yudin, and he is still alive today. He has no clues about what happened to his friends any more than anyone else, but whatever did happen was a state secret for quite some time. The matter was classified by the Russian government until 1993. Their first campsite on the mountain after hiking in was set up in the evening, 50 years prior to the very moment I am committing these words to my personal computer. Mr. Yudin knew that they were planning to stay out longer than originally intended, and he shared that news with the friends and relatives of the group, so there was no concern for their absence until 18 days later on February 20th.

This is where the mystery begins, and there are more details to be found in the cited references below, but the camp was found abandoned and their tent was cut open from the inside, as has been determined by forensic analysis. Everyone seemed to have fled the tent in varying states of disarray.  Some of the party was barefoot and some of them had only one sock on, others a single shoe. The trail of the fleeing skiers lead towards a forest, where they could have easily set their original campsite for cover, and simply disappeared. 2 young men were found at the edge of that wood, barefoot and in their underwear. 3 more bodies were found between those 2 and the camp. Those 3 were apparently trying to go back to the ruined tent. 2 months later the other 4  were found 82 yards away. These 4 suffered the worst trauma with broken ribs, and a crushed skull. 21-year-old Lyudmila Dubinina had her tongue cut out.

The official report states that the 9 were killed by an ‘unknown compelling force’. Witnesses camping 31 miles away reported seeing bright orange spheres in the approximate area the Dyatlov party was located. Reportedly the victims were all found to have an unusally darkened tone to their skin.

Many have posited the theory that the group was inadvertently killed by a poorly planned military exercise, including the possibility of a missile launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It was the only base in range at the time, but extensive and legitimate research shows that there are no records of anything having been fired. The most prominent investigator of what happened believes that it was a military exercise. He cites the skin tone, and compression damage that some of the bodies had. He is of course predisposed, and rightfully so, to think it is a state secret or a cover-up.

The Count is not so sure. He bears witness to a particular type of aircraft that is not of our standard realm that may have created all of these symptoms. The craft is nuclear powered and man-made, although the men who made it are not part of the world you and I know. He feels that one must take note of one of the most unusual aspects of this mystery. Why was poor Lyudmila’s tongue removed?

When trying to determine an accurate level of radiation poisoning in an animal of any species, the best tissue to test is dense tissue and the easiest place to find it is in the tongue, eyes and genitals. Nerve centers are the densest tissue sources. Why does one test for radiation? Some would say to evaluate what exactly happened to any subject that may have inadvertently been exposed to a nuclear blast. If the subject was present, why not collect the data? Others might also measure that radiation to try and determine what kind of device might have created it and was it known to man’s known world? Perhaps some of you are familiar with cattle mutilation in the southwest of the United States. Cows and even buffalo are sometimes found dead, drained of blood and with their eyes and tongues removed.

The Count tells me the Ural mountains are exceptionally beautiful. He marched throughout a great part of the range when he served directly under Subedei Ba’adur, known throughout history as ‘Subotai the Valiant’. Most notably at the Battle of the Kalka River in late March of 1223, where Ghengis Khan and his Mongols defeated the dog Prince Mstislav and the 78,423 men he brought from Kiev, even though they had only 36,212 men to fight them with. The Count feels that if Xerxes, as he is known today, had had  Sebedei under his command, he would have conquered all of the Earth. Time however often prevents great men from co-existing, and Sebedai and Xerxes missed each other by 800 years. What would have happened if they had met?  That story is for another time.

I wish to cite an outstanding article on the Dyatlov incident from “The St. Petersburg Times” – Issue #1349, dated Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 and written by: Svetlana Osadchuk.

You will also find many of the recovered photos from the incident here.

Coordinates: 61.754722, 59.462778

∞ Arenas