I'm Kendall, and I'm Bree, and this is the 20th episode of When the Light Goes Out.
Hey everyone, it's our 20th episode. Fuck yeah, we've been fucking it up so far. I'm so proud of us.
Woo, shout out to Kendall for fucking it up.
Putting shit together every week, oh my god. It's a light, but it's cool. Again, we do this all for you,
and we love you guys so, so much, so it's great.
I definitely just hit the mic. I'm so sorry.
Oh, you're fine. Oh yeah, we got new mics, so not new mics. We both have matching mics now, so we're getting even better on you guys.
We're fucking it up on this bitch, and we also have a goddamn TikTok.
TikTok!
Go on to...
Welcome to the 21st century.
It took us long enough. Yeah, so you can go onto WTLGO Podcast. Yeah, that's us, right?
That is us.
That is us, and you can find us on TikTok at us, please. We'll be doing cute little, little clip-its and stuff like that throughout the next Who Knows How Long,
so that'll be fine. We are currently also filming from my phone because I am a dumbass, and I forgot the SD cards for the GoPro's at home.
No, I'm not. I'm a dumbass. Shut up.
Thank you.
I'm actually very smart. I went to college.
You did. You graduated.
Hey!
I just kidded.
Most of these clips are gonna involve me being in various blankets.
Okay, but y'all, if you go back to last week's episode, and Simon, you might wanna like, turn on the volume on this, her titties are like,
No, seriously, oh my god. I was like editing them, I'm like, damn this.
I grew them myself. Thank you.
It's okay.
Mine is my titties.
Mine is my ass.
My various blankets that you'll see throughout all the different clips.
Seriously, though?
I love that, though.
I watch it throughout every episode, and then me gazing off into the distance staring at my cats.
Yeah, I was gonna say, most of the time it's her looking at her cats, and then I'll get side-tracked by her looking at her cats,
and so I'll look at the cats.
Yeah, because I am in love with my cats.
You love the cats. They're so cute.
I love my cats. They're my pride and my joys.
I recommend if you are mentally unwell to buy a cat.
I recommend if you're mentally unwell to don't do what I do, which is drink every day.
Yeah.
Okay, I made that sound really bad. I don't drink like crazy amounts, but I do drink a lot of wine.
I just noticed you hit us with the Gucci glasses.
You don't have to say that.
Me and my Michael Kua's could never!
Shut up. We both had clear glasses. We both looked so amazing.
My Michael Kua said who is that?
You're like, whatever. You look amazing.
Okay, Bree is so amazingly pretty that it bugs me.
Stop. Okay.
But you know what? That's not what this show is about.
No.
It's fine.
We're not doing that.
I don't take compliments well, people.
It's okay. We get it.
Light skin pose.
Gosh.
So it's super cold outside.
That's super cold. Actually, it's actually warmer than it has been lately in the past month.
But it's super rainy. But you know what?
I would rather it be raining rather than be snowing.
So it's okay. I don't mind it that much.
Which is a perfect segue into our topic today, speaking of snow.
We were actually going to do Aliens this week for our 20th episode.
But last minute, when I was researching about Aliens in the corner,
I had seen this little topic about another topic that I was like,
huh, what is this about?
So I clicked into it and I was like, no, this is definitely going to be our 20th episode.
This is really creepy. This is really like a middle ground between...
Like, it's a good middle ground to me within like the realm of maybe not true crime.
Yeah, maybe. I don't know.
Could be.
Yeah, if you guys have conspiracies, let us know.
Because this is a really eerie, uncomforting, mysterious case.
I will say that.
So I'm really excited to share this one with you guys.
I did not do this via my notes on my laptop.
So I am reading off of my written notes today.
So I'll be here page flipping. I'm sorry, but you know, we'll do the best we can.
It's cool.
Hey, if you want to hear about Aliens, though, let us know.
We will definitely cover Aliens. Don't think that we won't.
We will. I promise.
If you guys want it.
If you guys want it, let us know.
You guys make a lot of the decisions and you make no decisions for us whatsoever so far.
But that's what I mean to say. It's not a bad thing, but it will help.
Tell us what to do.
It will help.
It would definitely help to get suggestions.
Give us feedback.
Yeah, because at the moment we're kind of just going off a weather of refined,
which is not a bad thing, but we want to hear what you guys think.
If you guys have any cases that are really interesting, if you have any cases that are,
you know, something that a lot of people haven't heard of because I feel like we do a lot of cases that are very popular.
Let us know.
We're always here for the lesson.
We're always here to take notes and yeah, so further ado, let's dive into this case.
Wait, I wanted to add on.
Don't tell it to me verbally, though, because I will forget.
Oh, good point.
Good point. You know what?
She has a good point. She has a great point.
Actually, I have the brain the size of a peanut.
No, I don't seriously hallelujah like preach because you know what?
Everyone comes up to me and whether it's like in person, like I have friends or I don't know.
I just always have people verbally tell me, Hey, do this story and I like forget because I don't write this shit down right away.
So definitely email us or, you know, DM us whatever you need to do.
Send it somewhere.
We look everywhere.
We look in all of our inboxes.
We'll be looking for you.
Nice.
So without further ado, let's dive into this case and it is a story time.
I'm excited.
Grab your spooky blankets and your cats.
Because it's story time.
Because it's story time, mother fuckers.
Sorry. I need a minute for my eyes to like adjust.
I've been looking at the ring light.
Guys, this ring light is so bright.
When I look away from the ring light, like all I see is a circle and like, oh shit.
I couldn't see the notes.
Just a minute.
Let my eyes adjust.
You can't look at the ring light. You have to look at the phone.
Okay.
Yeah. My dumb ass will look at the sun and be like, what's going on?
I don't see the ring light anywhere, but I'm looking directly at the phone.
Yeah.
That does help.
Oh, you're right.
Yeah, my dumb ass.
Focus your eyes.
But that light is blinding.
It's bright.
That's for sure.
I hope you all can tell.
That's for sure.
I hope if you can't see my pores, it's not bright enough.
All right.
So without further ado, this is the chilling case of the Diet Love Pass mystery.
No, this really is a mystery, guys.
It is.
Definitely.
Buckle your seatbelt.
Strap in.
Because it may not be a long episode, but it will be a really interesting one.
It'll sit on your mind for a couple of weeks.
I assure you.
All right.
So this is a mysterious case of nine Russian student hikers that died in the northern
Ural Mountains from odd and unknown circumstances between February 1st and February 2nd of 1959.
These students have been found frozen to death in sub-polar conditions without wearing any
winter clothes and miles away from their tents.
That was also found completely shredded.
Yet the surrounding area showed no signs of natural disasters such as an avalanche or
anything like that.
The way some of these bodies have been discovered is very gruesome, by the way.
So like I said, it's a.
It's a mystery.
Yeah.
So I've been deeper and deeper.
I have telling you guys, researching this case, listening to documentaries, reading everything
I could about this case, I don't know.
I really don't know.
Anyway, look at it.
I get stuck at some kind of like dead end because I think about, you know, maybe this
was going to happen or maybe this happened or whatever.
But you know what?
We'll go over conspiracies.
You guys can let us know what you guys think.
And with that, let's just keep going.
So what is truly the helltale about this case is that once found, it seemed as if officials
handling this case tried to hide evidence and deeming the student deaths accidental,
quote unquote.
Clearly that's not the case.
Ultimately, we find that there are so many different conspiracy theories for years that
people theorize that this could be the doing of a handful of things.
And like I said, we'll just cover the series at the end.
So the story goes, in January 1959, group leader Igor Dyatlov led an expedition of 10
young college students throughout the Ural Mountains to conduct research.
And what this basically was was a university explorers club kind of such at the Ural Polytechnical
University.
Don't know a lot about explorers clubs, but it does sound fun.
Don't know if I could do what they did, but hey, I'm not a climate person.
I am not like nature type person.
I wouldn't say I wouldn't go on a hike, but I couldn't do it and blow zero weather.
So funny is I literally just had this conversation with someone with actually my class.
My co-workers shout out, hey guys, about like being, I guess outdoorsy and I always say
how people would never picture me as an outdoorsy person, which in theory I am not.
But if someone were to invite me or like whatever, like I would go, if my friends were to invite
me or if I really wanted to go, like I would go.
We'll see the other thing.
Just because I wouldn't want to miss out.
Yeah.
The other thing too is like, and in terms of like this case being that what happens happens
and a mountain range with like seriously like just freezing snow.
We live in Michigan already.
We know what snow is like.
I don't like it.
I don't either.
I, you couldn't pay me enough money to go on a camping trip in the wilderness with snow.
Like it's just not a thing.
No, I would never like camp in the snow.
I hate like, well, that's what I'm saying.
Like I like would enjoy like camping or like going out.
I do like when I'm out nature.
Yeah.
I don't hate it, you know, but like never would I ever in snow.
I hate being cold.
I hate the snow.
I don't even like rain.
I don't like being wet like like no, like swimmings fine.
Yeah.
Like rain.
Like that's just like kind of like you're kind of wet.
Yeah.
Like damp.
I hate it.
Either way.
I don't, for me personally, I prefer the rain over snow.
I can't do snow.
Guys, I don't know.
I hate it.
Is it every Michigan or don't know?
Is it every West or?
No, it's people like the charm.
Some people like it.
I don't.
I, the only, the only reason I would ever like the snow is to go skiing or snorboarding.
I have even done that.
So I can't even tell you what it's like.
Literally no.
All right.
Oh, sorry.
Oh my God.
It's got a little like, I've been having a headache all day.
I don't know what that's about.
Sorry guys.
I don't know.
What's going on with me?
I mean, it's the snow.
All right.
So exploring mountains for these students was a hobby.
And most of, if not all, were experienced hikers who knew the methods and techniques
of hiking and dangerous climates.
And the most experienced was the student Igor Dietlove, who was also the group leader
of this expedition.
This was a guy that knew nothing but hiking.
He specifically was skilled in survival techniques.
And again, he led nine other students that trusted that he could lead very well.
So Yasi was also a, you know, student, but this man knew a lot about the history.
He knew a lot about how to get around the nature.
He knew a lot about how to survive nature.
He knew all these things about it.
And I would suggest that that's something you would need to know if you're going to
lead a, a pack of students.
So yeah.
For sure.
I would go in the line with someone who like doesn't know.
That's like how letting me like lead you throughout the woods.
Don't don't do that.
Yeah.
Don't follow.
Listen, I am getting better at North, South, East and West.
Are you really?
I don't know how to do that still.
So you have to teach me how to do that.
Cause I fucking will get lost in the minute.
I walk into any kind of wooded area.
My mom, well, like woods, I would have a hard time, but like if I'm in like a city, I can
like figure it out.
Oh, city.
I got that shit.
Yeah.
When I go to New York, I got that subway like it's nothing.
I can figure out the North, South, East and West, but if I was in the woods, I think I'd
have a hard time.
No, we're done.
I'm gone.
Don't look for me.
I'm probably gone.
I'm done.
So, so another student that went on this expedition was Zina.
I'm going to try to pronounce it last time.
Right.
It's Colomagrava.
I think I said that right.
Don't speculate that Igor and Zina actually may have been involved with each other romantically,
but other sources provide stronger evidence to insist that it may have just been Igor
that was attracted to Zina being that, you know, they hung out a lot.
They were friends that kind of knew each other.
And the weird thing is that though Zina had more eyes for another guy that was a part
of this trip.
And his name was Yuri Dorashinko.
So one thing about this case is that there are two Yuris.
One thing I noticed about, I don't know if it's specifically like German kind of things,
but I noticed that a lot of these people have the same names, like same last names or same
first names.
And there's two Yuris in this case.
So if I say the last names, just know there's two different Yuris going on.
I don't want to confuse you guys that don't know anything.
But there was a guy named Yuri, Yuri Dorashinko.
Yuri Dorashinko was the third member of the Diet Love Pass expedition.
Yuri was kind of the eye candy type of guy and he had this charming look to him.
He was coming from a poor and very low income household, so he was very humble.
And one time even on the expedition managed to scare off a whole ass bear to the point
where the bear hat ran off and Zeno was there during that expedition.
So it kind of makes sense.
Why kind of like a guy who can fight off a bear.
I mean, if I saw a man fight off a bear, I'd fall in love with him too.
That is pretty impressive.
That is impressive.
I can't say that's something everyone can do.
Simon, are you going to fight off a bear for me?
Simon, if you fight off a fucking bear, I'm marrying you too.
Just saying.
So Luda Mila also goes by Luda, I kind of go by Luda instead, was the first student
on this excursion to the Ural Mountains.
Again, very experienced in tourism.
A very small girl with a lot of might.
One time she had been accidentally shot in the leg by a hunter and on a retreat she had
fought through that wound the rest of the trip.
She is strong as hell.
How did a hunter accidentally shoot a person?
I don't even know that part.
I feel like that would be a little difficult.
That is grounds for, you know, some hefty fines, but I can say that my girl Luda, she
made it through.
She a bad bitch.
I needed to go be friends with Miss Maria from last episode.
Let me tell you, these women, these women do it for me.
All I'm saying is.
I love it.
So then that takes us to the next student who is a fifth student.
His name was Rustam Salabhitan.
Yeah.
Okay.
We're going to keep going.
I would hope.
So Rustam had been the most athletic in the group of nine.
He mostly spent any spare time outside of his studies training for the harsh climates
and just travels in general.
So he was very knowledgeable about how to stay, you know, alive.
And the whole point of me even telling you the reasons is because let me get closer and
closer into the reasons that they were found.
It's going to, it's going to be strange because people are again, students that know how to
survive the wilderness and the fact that they're found the way they were.
They have training experience.
You don't just go out to a mountain climb and not climb, but like a mountain hike, not
knowing what to do.
It's one of those things you just need to know how to do if you're going to do it.
And they knew how to do it.
Like they had done it before.
Yeah.
For years.
They knew things like.
Yeah, definitely.
They were experienced.
So that brings us to Sasha Kulitoba.
He was a sixth student of the group and he was pretty reserved and to himself, but was
always a huge contributor to his group.
And then we have the seventh and the oldest, which was 37 year old Simon Zolo Torgov.
Simon, uh, some, some young pieces such hurt names.
I'm so sorry.
Sam, you know, on Sam, you know, okay, I got it.
Then we have the seventh and the oldest of the group, which was 37 year old, same on
Zola Grav and same on that was the old kind of odd man out of the group.
He hadn't known any of the other students prior to their expeditions.
So what, sorry to cut you off.
No, go ahead.
So what are the ages of all of them?
So we have 37.
So they're all in their young twenties.
Like they're all except the only one that isn't is some, a semi on.
He is 37.
37.
Yeah.
So he's a student still at this college.
Okay.
And pretty much just like any college you go to, there's various ranges of ages, but
the thing about all these people actually that are, were going on this expedition was
that they're all friends.
Yeah.
And then he's just kind of random.
He was the on and out.
Yeah.
So it was kind of weird at first because he hadn't known anybody.
He was kind of there and he really wanted to go on this expedition for extra credit.
So he actually had joined this group a couple of weeks before and he was like, Hey, you know,
can I come on this expedition with you guys?
I know what to do.
They're like, yeah, why not?
They need 10 members.
So they were like, come on and he was like, cool.
So they brought him in and they actually all got along pretty well.
They all just became friends.
What a way.
Um, you will see pictures and I might say this again, not to be repetitive, but, um, there
are so many pictures throughout this expedition that the group took and it's just so chilling
to look at because you look at these pictures knowing that something very, very bad happens
only days before these pictures have been taken.
I mean, days after these pictures were taken.
So it's just, it's a, it's a, it's a very chilling just scene just to look at and they
all look so happy throughout it too.
And again, Igor was the leader of what would be a truly awful expedition and he lived and
breathed tourism, although Simon had been a soldier in the world with World War two.
So if the unlikely time came, he know enough about protecting himself and also stage and
staying alive and harsh conditions.
That's something he will also know as a soldier.
I, you know, and so although no one in the group really knew him at first, like I said,
they accepted him like they're like he was family.
So it was really nice for that reason.
Then we have Nikolai Vibhoy Riknolay.
I tried.
He had been the youngest but carried himself to be more of the serious and mature one in
the group.
He was closest to Simon, who was the 37 year old.
And according to their diaries or the group's diary that was later found, they just really
became good friends for the most part.
And I was just so sad because you look at, again, you look at these pictures, I'll post
on my Instagram and it's just, it just breaks your heart because they all look happy and
they all look so innocent and it's like, damn, this is, it gets you.
It really does.
And finally, Yuri.
Shit.
This is really hard.
Crevon Esquico.
I really tried to sound that one out.
Yuri was another one.
He was the other Yuri in this group.
He at the time was 23 years old and was the most comedic out of the bunch.
His numerous side even almost got their trip to the Ural Mountains canceled actually.
When the group had actually been waiting for their next train, Yuri had asked Lyda for
some cash to get coffee from the cafe.
Since Lyda held all the money for the trip, he's that's the reason he asked and she ironically
just told him no, don't know why, but she did.
And so he literally just grabs a cup and to start walking around the station with a cup
and just he starts singing for change.
And so as wholesome as cute as this is, the police caught him doing this and attempted
to arrest him for doing it.
Yeah, hand handling for duplicity or double debt dealing, I guess, but you see this happening.
And so the group kind of goes out their way to kind of protect, like kind of defend him
and Yuri's defense.
So these officers and college kids are just having it altercation in the middle of a train
station.
And have in mind this is a very heroic and brave action because around this time in the
Soviet Union, police forces were not forces to be messed with at all.
So eventually the police officers let him and the group off of the warning and they
be able to carry on with their course to the mountains where we know something eventually
nothing good really happens out of that.
So yeah, really messed up.
Yeah.
Well, now I did list nine members of this group, but there is a 10th member and I did
say that at the beginning.
His name was and I lied.
There's three years.
There's three Uries in the story.
Now you forget about the third year.
I forgot about the third year.
There's a Yuri Yodan.
From what sources have to say about Yuri Yodan was that he was probably the most kind, hearted,
gentle, modest person of the group actually.
And just looking at the photos of this guy tells it all.
He had very kind eyes and gentle, gentle smile and you could just want to be his friend.
He was just so sweet looking.
And it's just.
So as a 10 hikers had eventually went from the train to a truck, several of the students
including Yuri Yodan sat in the bed of the truck and already Yuri Yodan had suffered
from radicalitis, which is a disease of the root of a nerve.
So already knowing it could potentially be a problem during the trip, he just tried to
brush it off.
But the caring of just happy equipment throughout it did not happen at all.
Once again, because it is relevant to the story, when you go and you hike up a side
of a mountain below zero weather, you'll need layers.
Oh yeah, no kidding.
It's gonna, Tuesday night, Tuesday is gonna, it's gonna cause frostbite.
It's gonna cause hypothermia.
That little Canadian goose ain't gonna do much for you.
It's really not.
No, not at all.
The freezing temperatures, you better layer that up.
You layer it.
Yes.
Some long johns, some long johns.
Three pairs of long johns.
One pair of pants.
Five pairs of jackets.
Five socks.
Cause let me tell you, the minute your pinky toes start hurting, it's gone.
It's over.
Hypothermia.
It's over.
It's gotcha.
Over.
So maybe after an hour or two later of driving to the central point to start hiking, the
snow really got more dense and harder to get through.
And they are just trying to really not get stuck into the snow.
The roads were just barely paved.
And they even really helped some guys pass by that were stuck in the pile of snow themselves
with their trucks.
So that was just so nice of them to do in the first place.
I would like to add to this.
I mean, this is a lot worse than let's say Michigan weather, but for all the people who
don't deal with snow, driving in snow is literally so.
Oh, it's terrible.
It can be very difficult and it can be very scary.
So imagine for the Michiganders out there for all of our friends and family listening,
imagine Michigan, but like on crack.
Yeah.
With the snow.
Pretty much what this is.
Yeah.
You're right on point there.
I can't imagine having to go through the Ural Mountains with a truck, not unless any kind
of car or myself.
Imagine a little.
Yeah.
Can imagine.
I get scared just driving alone here.
So the fact that they have that going on truly terrifying.
And like I said, they were nice enough to help a group of guys that were stuck themselves
and it's just so, it's just so innocent.
I love it.
The 10 group members temporarily stopped at a log admin site called settlement 41, which
is a kind of like a rest stop for hikers.
And the men that had worked on this property expected their rival.
So they helped them settle in and everything.
Fortunately, so probably the last time that anyone would see this group alive.
The next day, the 10 students woke up and left their truck to travel to the next cabin
settlement on foot.
This next stretch of trail had taken them literally seven hours to ski hike through.
Seven hours of ski hiking.
That's like a whole shift.
Oh my God.
Yeah, it really is through the snow, through the tundra.
And okay, so let's imagine that.
Now let's imagine trying to walk through snow.
Now times that by the skis.
So now you're carrying a little weight on your feet.
That is true.
In the bags, in the stuff you're carrying.
That by the shit you're carrying.
Now times that through dense snow.
Like you're not walking like just, you know, on a little bit of snow.
No.
Like you're like in there.
You're trucking through that shit.
So not only like no wonder it took seven hours because you can't walk through it fast.
That's a good point.
Like there's no way you can walk through that fast.
Like you were like out in these trenches.
Yeah.
See, this is why you're my, this is why you're my co-host here.
You're so funny.
You're so smart.
I'll be bringing up the good points.
You'd be bringing up those facts.
And the commentary.
I don't even think about that kind of stuff.
And the commentary.
You're so funny.
Love.
L-O-L.
Love.
All right.
So, like I said, yeah, the 10 students had woke up.
They left their truck to travel through this tundra for seven hours on skis.
And now, literally, now the cabin settlement they had reached after the first one they
had initially went to was not like the same thing.
This next little cabin structure that they ran into was literally right out the movie
wrong turn or something because it was terrifying.
The cabins were abandoned for seven years prior and it had been forced labor camps for
criminals.
And when the students reached it, it was a very rundown set of cabins and it just sat
frozen just for years.
Wait, go back forced labor camps?
Yeah.
For seven years prior, it had been just abandoned like that too.
So like I said, something out of a horror movie.
Yeah, okay.
It was insanely creepy.
And most of the cabins were completely damaged.
So they had to end up bearing with one that was still intact.
But this is when Yuri Yodin really started to getting a pain in his leg from the radical
Ida side I talked about earlier.
And so his psychotic, is it psychotic nerve?
Had became inflamed.
So he was very heartbroken because he couldn't go on with the rest of the group.
And so the rest of the group and him had ended up having to find a first aid post that they
had traveled past a couple of days back and just ended up dropping them off.
And Yuri had set his goodbyes.
Excited to see the photos when they returned and Yuri would later find out that he'd be
the only one that would return from this expedition alive.
So it's truly heartbreaking.
I don't remember that there was a survivor.
Yeah, there was one survivor.
I know this case, but I feel like I never actually really researched into it.
And I actually didn't know that there was one survivor.
Yeah, there was.
Imagine, imagine being like, because of your, you know, your disfunctionality is I don't
know what you want to call it.
Is that a good term?
That's so bad.
I guess because of, you know, something that's going on with you, you know, medical wise,
keeps you from going on the trip you really want to go to.
Oh, girl on at least.
And it saves your life.
Like wait, he didn't go.
Oh, so he was.
So he was there on the expedition, but when they got into a certain point because of his
like, oh, he turned around.
Okay.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
I was like, like him for a second.
No, it's okay.
Okay, okay, okay.
I see.
So he like got to a certain point and then left.
I don't know what happened.
Okay.
So that doesn't really count.
Like, yes, he survived.
Yeah.
But he didn't actually survive.
He didn't actually get to the point that way.
Yeah, like there was no survival.
He just left.
Yeah.
But before anything happened, right?
Yeah, due to his radicalitis.
Yeah.
So good for him.
I'm glad he was living to tell a story.
Listen, I would not wish a medical condition on anybody, but who knew it could help.
He's probably happy.
He had that medical condition.
Right.
For that specific thing.
And I mean, for the moment, yeah, it did suck because I know he really wanted to be there
with his friends because again, these are all friends.
They're all, they all know each other for the most part.
And so obviously for your friend to not be able to join you on a trip for the rest of
the way and have to turn around.
But it wasn't for Yuri having this radicalitis.
He definitely was not survived.
So yeah.
There's no way that he would have.
Yeah, he might have saved them or could have saved them.
Maybe the way they were found.
Yeah, like we need to get to that point.
So you guys can like know what we're talking about right now.
So now there are nine members of the group and they continue to ski up the hike after
dropping Yuri off.
They had gotten to a river called River Lozva around 5 30 PM and the group just decides to
set up camp finally using the tents that they have brought.
Sight note real quick.
Igor, the one leading the group, bought a camera and there were two others.
I can't remember who, but there are two other members that had ended up bringing cameras
with them.
And like I said before, these students took so many pictures that we'll post definitely
on our Instagram and all.
But keep that in mind because it kind of comes back a little later with these conspiracies.
So just keep that in mind.
Anywho, Lita had documented in the group's diary how they stopped to set up camp, have
dinner, make a fire and just sing songs and tell stories to each other, which is again,
so freaking wholesome.
Can we talk about how she has a group diary?
That's so cute.
I know.
It was like a group diary too.
So they all like made notes in it throughout the trip.
So I think it would be like if it was, let's say specifically Lita who want to say something,
she would put her name Lita and then they would put the date and then they would put
their doing.
Like a little excerpt.
Yeah, a little excerpt.
Yeah.
And this was also found later on, which it's so good that they like doc.
Well, I mean, not that it did much.
I feel like for the investigation, but it definitely helped make for this documented
and had a lot of pictures and stuff.
And yeah, that they like left something behind, I guess.
Definitely.
Maybe for the family.
It's probably good.
Have to have something at least to know what led up to it and definitely maybe even helped
to even get to the certain point that that maybe investigators got to.
And just have a piece of them to like all the last smiling pictures.
Yeah, definitely.
Definitely.
January 30th.
Now miles and miles away from any civilization, Igor documents that the attempts have only
grew worse and the group continues to stop, set up camp and rest.
But this documentation would be the last journal entry in that diary.
I don't know.
Yeah.
So based on the found evidence, they staffed any and this is kind of smart.
They saw some food and the snow along the trail at like bigger trees or trees that kind
of look weird or anything like that.
So it would take some of the weight off of their shoulders, but they will also have food
when they would come back down the mountain.
So that's a smart idea.
Wouldn't think about that.
Only a mile and a half into their journey, the group had to set up camp because it was
so hard to walk through the snow and the blizzard that had started that they just couldn't go
any further that day.
So from the evening of January 30th to February 2nd would remain uncounted for.
Oh, so the group had been initially scheduled to return to Yida, Urineburg to school on
February 12th.
And keep in mind, they were not heard from after initially leaving in January.
So this is like weeks later that they were supposed to be home, but no one was super
alarmed when they didn't return right away because the families of this group were, they
knew that, you know, sometimes things get delayed when it comes to like tracking through
snow when you're going up the mountain, things like that, you know, you don't always come
back right away or right on time like you're supposed to.
Yeah, a lot of things go wrong.
A lot of things go wrong and unplanned for.
Yeah.
And look at the time, the time period, like you're not going to have phones.
We're in the 50s, right?
Yeah, you're not going to have that, you're not going to have a phone that just be that,
you know, hey mom, I'm going to be late.
Also, I don't know if it would work in the mountains.
No, it would not.
I was like, I feel like reception in the mountains would be kind of spotty.
Maybe.
If any.
You know, maybe.
Verizon, what you think?
Yeah, maybe Verizon.
That wasn't an ad, by the way.
Not sponsored.
So, like we said, there were group delays and they started to turn into weeks.
People did start to get worried and the first person to really reach out to anyone was Sasha,
Sasha's sister who had came forward to the university and explorers club and she was
just saying, you know, hey, I haven't heard from my little brother, is there, you know,
is he around?
Has he backed safely?
Things like that.
This goal was like, we haven't heard from them.
So that's when the panic begins and starts to break out.
On February 24th, a week and a half after the group should have been returned from home,
the first team of a search and rescue was sent to look for this group of people via helicopter.
While finding these students would not be an easy task because no one had specific coordinates
of where the group would be in this gigantic mountain of snow, the search parties consisted
of other students, a part of the university explorers club, military officials and professional
mountain hikers, but it still just took days and days before they would find the first
clue.
On February 26th, student searchers passing by had spotted a damaged tent partially covered
in snow.
The tent had been noticeably ripped open with a knife from the inside out as if someone
had tried to escape from it.
Not far from the tent was a flashlight sitting on top of the snow.
So the tent was covered in snow, but the flashlight they had found was seen sitting right on top
of the snow as if it was recently dropped.
This is on topic but off topic.
I wonder how they can tell how the tent was cut from the inside instead of the outside.
I wonder...
I think it was...
Okay, don't take my word for this because I don't know, but I think based on, in just
this case alone, I think when they had taken the...
Later on they'd taken the tent and they were like looking at it for any signs of...
Yeah.
I think they could tell because...
One of the fibers maybe?
The fibers were out versus in, if you know what I mean.
So they kind of folded out like as if someone was cutting from the outside.
So yeah, they could tell that it looked like someone was trying to escape out of the tent
and it's weird because again, I said in the beginning and I'm going to say it again,
no one confronted anyone about there being an avalanche.
Like no one said anything about there being an avalanche when they looked at the scene.
No one said anything about there being any kind of like big, you know, things that could,
you know, kill a person obviously other than the blizzard.
But again, when we get to that part, it's going to be a little weird because even in
a blizzard, you probably would get frostbite, you would probably get hyperthermia, you
would freeze.
They weren't found just like that.
So it's weird and it also makes you wonder like why would someone use a knife to cut
out of a tent if they have stuck in there.
Yeah.
If they're stuck in there or something like they have they have the zipper to get out.
Why did they use that instead of yeah, you know, you know, fair question.
Inside the torn tent were found food supplies and bags unfolded blankets and under the blankets
were their quilted jackets, storm jackets, boots and other winter clothes.
Weird.
Again, you would need that kind of thing if you're going to be in the tundra.
Yeah, like to wear it off your body, even asleep.
Like you would need that to stay warm.
Maybe not the shoes, but I could see you would need the shoes on or something.
But just seeing how you look at it.
I mean, if you're someone that likes to do this for a living and you go out camping in
the tent and the blizzard and the snow and you do mountain climbing stuff, if you know
this kind of stuff, let us know.
It's interesting.
I would probably see what my clothes on just I would do and it's weird that they find
all of everyone's stuff like just under the covers like that.
So, so the search parties decide to stay in that area to hopefully still find at least
at least one of the nine students out there.
The next day, a search group finds another clue about 20 miles away from where their
tent was found.
These searchers find footprints in the snow.
The shoe prints footprints.
The footprints tracks were found next to each other in pairs.
So it's as if people are walking side by side to each other and the evidence has shown
that these prints didn't show any sign of running.
So it literally was as if they're just walking through the snow barefoot.
So basically you look like these people are walking barefoot together from the campsite
and then the tracks spread apart going in different directions.
Shows down the slope from this tent, searchers found the frozen bodies of Yuri Dori Shinko
and Yuri Kruvishinko.
Their bodies were found laying under a cedar tree one mile away from the tent.
The two were found half naked wearing nothing but their checkered shirts and torn underwear.
A thousand feet away from that tree, another search party finds the cold frozen body of
a teen member Igor Dyatlov.
He was fully clothed only wearing light clothes, no jacket, under a birch tree wearing no shoes.
His body was facing the tent indicating that he anticipated to return to the tent.
Now beware, don't suggest it, but there are pictures online if you are so intrigued to
look at those.
I am not a huge fan of looking at corpses, but the many look it up, it's there, it's
all over the internet and it's pretty gruesome.
So just forewarning.
350 meters further uphill was the body of Zina Komagrov.
The one that Igor really liked by the way and had eyes for Yuri so that's that person.
Zina was found buried in snow laying sideways in the fetal position which is kind of, I
mean makes sense if you're kind of trying to keep warrant here but do that in the fetal
position.
She was not wearing shoes, a jacket or gloves at all.
So this is another person not wearing shoes, doesn't have a jacket on, it's weird.
So sadly because of the harsh temps and how deep the snow was, the search party couldn't
really look for any others, but then on March 5th, searchers recovered the body of Rustam
Solobun.
His body was faced down in the snow facing the tent indicating he tried to also return
to the campsites.
Five of the nine bodies were found and sent to the autopsy professional and the final
four were the hardest and probably the scariest to encounter.
So before moving on to the next set of hikers, between the period of finding the first five
students and the last four students, an autopsy for the first five was concluded.
All five of these students suffered from various cuts and bruises.
There was bruising, cuts and abrasions to the nose, cheeks, eyebrows, knuckles, and
back of the hands and all five had similar cuts to themselves.
So again, they were found in different places, but all found with similar cuts.
The final autopsy deemed the cause of death being hypothermia.
So questionable.
Professionals of this mountain was a part of the search and were adamant that there
was no sign of an avalanche like I had said.
So later their skis were also found sitting upright.
I'm talking about the students.
And so when I say upright, they're just sitting in the snow.
And so you can obviously tell by an avalanche if an avalanche hat come down, their skis would
not be there sitting upright the way they were.
So that was one hit that this was not the due or cause of an avalanche.
And the second thing was that there was no sign of debris or anything anywhere.
So another kind of weird coincidence.
And it's weird because again, you'll see in the minute that the government had deemed
it maybe to be an avalanche or something of the sorts.
So three months go by because the search teams had to wait to find anything else till the
snow started to melt.
A mancy native, which mancy tribes also were residing in the lower mountains.
They're very known to be in this area, was walking his dog fairly close to where the
searchers found the two Uries under the cedar tree.
He spotted it cut up clothing remains and soon after the searchers back on.
Search groups dig through the snow in various areas when one group stumbles upon the body
of Luda Domina.
Her body was laying in a small ravine when they had found her.
Later on in the same area, they find the remaining bodies of Samyon, Nikolai, and Alexander.
What's really weird is in Simmone's frosted hands, they have found a notebook just clenching
his hands.
And when one of the searchers had pulled out of his hands and looked through it, it was
just blank and it was missing pages.
Isn't that weird?
Like weird, right?
Weird that he would be clenching on something that's blank.
Blank with ripped pages.
Also weird that there's blank pages, but it's also weird that there's missing ripped out
pages and like the fact that he's clutching onto it in his final moments, you would think
it'd be something important.
Something there.
Or something there.
That gives me chills.
There's nothing.
But then again, let's think about if pages were torn out after, how would they get it
out of his grasp?
But I mean, maybe the searchers had an easy time getting it out of his grasp and placing
it back.
Yeah.
Huh.
Fishy.
Very fishy.
Definitely weird.
So Nikolai's body was found dressed, but has suffered from a heavy blow to his head.
As if something had been hit like he got hit in the head with something.
Alexander was also reasonably dressed, but an autopsy had shown a undetermined wound
that was behind his right ear.
A misplaced neck and Simone, the oldest of the crew, was found with ski pants and an
underlayer shirt with a partially unbuttoned jacket and boots.
Though it appeared he suffered from a heavy blow to his chest, leaving fractured ribs,
but no sign of what it may have been that would be that heavy to cave in his chest.
So it's weird.
It's again, crazy to think that something could cave in someone's chest, but no sign
of what could have done it.
Even if he did find a body, there was no rock that he had found, nothing like that, but
something had caved in his chest and something had severely damaged Nikolai's body.
So Nikolai's head on something.
I feel like I have a few, well I'm going to wait until it gets into the conspiracies,
but I feel like I have a few theories, some of which we've already debunked in the thing,
but can we really debunk it?
Researchers today can even piece it together and it's still crazy to think that not even
the most biggest professionals in the world can figure out what happened to this case.
So I don't know, it's just so weird.
And I'm thinking too, I mean this case happened in the 50s too, so we have to keep that in
mind with the technology and the manpower, just everything.
I mean and even experience and stuff like that too, I feel like you can't rule out.
You can't rule out anything, honestly I feel like.
I don't know, especially in the 50s I feel like everything they debunked or everything,
like maybe it's just overthinking it.
I think it could be.
I mean it's like a piece of...
Because like what else would this, anyway?
No, no that's a really good point.
I haven't thought about it.
We'll see if it's part of your conspiracy.
Okay, that.
Well, sorry to say it and sorry to do it to y'all, but Leda had one of the worst discoveries.
Suna was found wearing ski pants that were badly damaged by fire and she was found wearing
two sweaters and no jacket or boots.
One foot was covered and wrapped in a sweater, assuming she had tried to keep her feet warm.
Searchers initially found her body face down in the stream of mountain snow.
When the rescue team attempted to recover her body they noticed something very terrifying.
Her eyes are missing.
And with that being said, we are going to end Episode 20 right here.
I am so sorry for that, but we did not realize that Episode 20 was going to be so long.
So if you'd like to hear Episode 21, you can stick with us till next week.
When the light...
Opens Episode 5