Unsolved story. The death of the Dyatlov group... (40 photos). The death of the Dyatlov detachment: Which version is the most plausible

The history of any country is fraught with many mysteries. We do not know whether Atlantis actually existed, for which the Egyptians built monumental and majestic pyramids, where the burials of the greatest commanders of the ancient world are located - Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great. And there are a lot of such unsolved secrets. One of them is a terrible story that happened in a place that is now called “Dyatlov Pass”. What really happened here more than half a century ago?

Background

In January 1959, a group of skiers from the tourist club of the Ural Polytechnic Institute went on a hike for 16 days. During this time, they planned to travel at least 350 kilometers and climb to the tops of the Oiko-Chakur and Otorten mountains. The hike belonged to the highest category of difficulty, since its members were experienced hikers.

Place of events

The tragedy, the mystery of which has haunted researchers for several decades, occurred on the slopes of Mount Kholatchakhl, located in the Northern Urals. The mountain at the Dyatlov Pass (as the place of the tragedy is now called) is also known under another, ominous name - “mountain of the dead.” This is what they call it Mansi - representatives of a small nationality living in that region. Later they began to talk about it in connection with the tragic death of members of the Dyatlov expedition.

Chronicle of events

The trek of 10 group members started on January 23. From this moment the history of the Dyatlov Pass began. Six were students (including the head of the tourist group, Igor Dyatlov), three were graduates, and one was an instructor.

On the twenty-seventh, Yuri Yudin was forced to leave the route due to illness (radiculitis). He was the only surviving member of the expedition. For four days the group walked through completely deserted places. On January 31, tourists went to the upper reaches of the Auspiya River. The plans were to climb to the top of Mount Otorten and then continue the hike further, but due to strong wind The summit could not be reached that day.

On February 1, the participants of the hike set up a storage shed with some of their belongings and food and began their ascent at about 3 p.m. Having stopped at the pass, which now bears the name of Igor Dyatlov, at 17:00 in the evening the participants of the hike began to set up a tent for the night. The gentle slope of the mountain could not threaten the Dyatlovites in any way. The details of the last hours of the tourists’ lives were determined from photographs taken by the group members. After eating, they went to bed. And then something terrible happened, forcing experienced tourists to run out naked into the cold, cutting open the tent.

Search for the missing group

The mystery of the Dyatlov Pass shocked the first witnesses who arrived at the scene of the tragedy. The search for tourists began two weeks after what happened at night on the slope of Mount Dead. On February 12, they were supposed to reach the village of Vizhay - the final point of the hike. When the tourists did not appear by the appointed time, the search for them began. First, the search group went to the tent. One and a half kilometers from her, at the edge of the forest, next to a small fire, two bodies were found, stripped down to their underwear. Dyatlov’s body lay 300 meters from this place.

Zina Kolmogorova was found at approximately the same distance from him. A few days later, the body of another victim, Slobodin, was found in the same area. Already in late spring, when the snow began to melt, the bodies of the remaining group members were found. The case was dropped due to the lack of any plausible versions of what happened, and the authorities called the cause of the death of tourists an irresistible force of nature. Six people, according to medical experts, died from hypothermia, three from severe injuries.

Dyatlov Pass: versions of what happened

The tragedy that occurred on the Mountain of the Dead more than half a century ago was kept secret for many years during the Soviet period. If they talked about it, it was only by those who were directly involved either in what happened or in the investigation into the deaths of tourists. Of course, such conversations at that time could only be conducted in private; ordinary people should not have known about what happened in the Ural Mountains. In the 1990s, for the first time in the means mass media messages appeared about those distant events. The mystery of the Dyatlov Pass immediately interested many researchers. What happened on the slope of Mount Otorten went beyond an ordinary accident or natural disaster. Soon the name of the place where the young tourists died became known to everyone - “Dyatlov Pass”. Versions of the tragedy that happened grew and multiplied every day. Among them there were quite plausible attempts to explain the events that took place, and many completely fantastic assumptions. The mysterious Dyatlov Pass - what really happened? Let's look at the current versions of the tragedy in more detail.

Version 1 - avalanche. Proponents of this theory believe that an avalanche hit the tent with the people in it. Because of this, it collapsed under the load of snow, and the trapped tourists had to cut it from the inside. There was no point in being in it anymore, since it no longer saved me from the cold. Hypothermia led to the fact that the subsequent actions of people were inadequate. This led to their death. Severe injuries found in several people were the result of the avalanche. This version has many shortcomings: neither the tent nor its fastenings were moved. Moreover, the ski poles stuck into the snow next to her remained untouched. If tourists were injured as a result of an avalanche, how to explain the lack of blood in the tent? Meanwhile, one of the dead had a depressed skull fracture.

Dyatlov Pass - what really happened? We continue to consider the most plausible versions of the terrible tragedy that happened half a century ago.

Version 2 - tourists became victims of some missile tests conducted by the military. This theory is supported by the slight radioactivity of the clothes of the victims and the strange orange color of their skin. But there was no training ground, airfield or any structures belonging to military units nearby.

Version 3, which tries to explain what happened at the Dyatlov Pass, also implies military involvement in the deaths of tourists. Perhaps they became unwanted witnesses to some secret tests being carried out in that area, and a decision was made to liquidate the group.

Version 4 - among the group members were representatives of the KGB, who carried out a secret operation to transfer radioactive materials to foreign intelligence agents. They were exposed, and the entire group was eliminated by spies. The disadvantage of this version is the difficulty of carrying out such an operation far from populated areas.

Mysterious Dyatlov Pass - mystery solved?

All versions that try to explain what happened to members of a group of tourists in 1959 have significant shortcomings. But there is a simpler explanation given by experienced climbers and tourists. The sleeping guys could have been frightened by a layer of snow falling on the tent. Deciding that it was an avalanche, they could leave the shelter in a hurry, having first cut the wall of the tent. Retreating to the forest, they managed to stick ski poles into the snow so that they could later find a place to spend the night. And then, in the beginning of a snowstorm, three strayed from the group and went to the stream, to the cliff. The snow canopy they fell on could not bear the weight and collapsed. Having fallen from a great height, all three were fatally injured. The rest died, as the investigation established, from hypothermia. This is the most rational explanation of the mysterious events that occurred with the participants of the hike.

The 1959 tragedy in the Northern Urals in cinema

Many documentaries and feature films are devoted to the mysterious events that happened with the Dyatlov group half a century ago. Unfortunately, in most cases the emphasis is not on attempts to seriously investigate what happened, but on the mysterious and terrible events of that night. Among the latest interesting films on this topic is the investigative documentary film “Dyatlov Pass. The mystery is revealed,” created in 2015 with the participation of the REN TV channel. The creators of the film not only tried to find an explanation for the tragedy that happened, but also presented the viewer with several new versions of events.

Conclusion

So far, researchers do not have access to secret archives that may contain answers to all questions. For many enthusiasts, the Dyatlov Pass still remains cherished. What really happened that night from February 1 to 2 with a group of young tourists? While all information about this tragedy is kept secret, any of the versions discussed above has the right to exist. Let's hope that someday the story of the Dyatlov Pass will be completed.

The only survivor of the group, Yuri Yudin, died in 2013. He was the first to identify the belongings of his dead comrades, but subsequently did not take an active part in the investigation. According to the will, the urn with Yudin’s ashes was placed in Yekaterinburg in the mass grave of seven participants in the ill-fated 1959 campaign.

The Mystery of the Dyatlov Pass

The mysterious death of the group in the Northern Urals still haunts people's minds. There is something mysterious about the tragic events of February 1959. Psychics, ordinary people, professors and writers are wondering what could have happened on that fateful night when students, having cut open the tent, ran out naked into the cold. Towards my death

More than half a century ago in the Urals, under unclear circumstances, a group of 9 students of the Ural Polytechnic Institute died. The leader of the group was fifth-year student Igor Dyatlov, and the pass was later named in his honor.

Monument to the Dead

A film was made based on this incident. “The Mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Incident” is a feature film directed by Renny Harlin, partly based on real events that occurred in the winter of 1959 in the Northern Urals. The film premiered on February 28, 2013 simultaneously in Russia. It premiered in the US (limited release) and UK in August 2013. In the USA, the film was released under the title Devil's Pass (Russian: Devil's Pass).

Many documentaries with investigations, assumptions and versions have also been released. One of them is presented on this site: http://russia.tv/video/show/brand_id/39685/episode_id/281403

Yuri Koptelov, one of the participants in the 1959 investigation.

The film is based on a tragedy that occurred in Sverdlovsk in 1959, when a group of students led by Igor Dyatlov went on a ski trip but never returned.

Vladimir resident Viktor POTYAZHENKO participated in the search for the missing UPI students. He told us about the tragedy that shook Sverdlovsk, and also shared his opinion about the death of the tour group.

We hoped until the last

Sasha Linney, vlad.aif.ru: - How did it happen that you participated in the search for Igor Dyatlov’s group?

Igor Dyatlov

Viktor Potyazhenko: - At that time I was 26 years old, I served as a helicopter flight commander of military unit 32979. It was actually called “separate-mixed aviation squadron of the district commander.” It was considered secret. On Soviet Army Day, the operational duty officer suddenly calls us from the military district: “Comrade Potyazhenko, immediately fly to Ivdel, a big tragedy happened there. The general will fly with you. The Yak-12 and AN-2 aircraft will also fly.”

Lyudmila Dubinina

S.L.: - Were you briefed by NKVD officers before the flight?

Kolmogorov

V.P.: - Nobody gave instructions.

Dyatlov Pass. Halt

S.L.: - What were your thoughts before departure?

V.P.: - I thought, if a general is flying, it means there is a serious emergency somewhere in the Urals. We flew to Ivdel. The general went to find out the situation. He came back and said - you sit here for now, I’m going on a plane now and will look at this area. He arrived and said: “The area is simple. Mountains are mountains, you can fly calmly. I’m flying home, you stay here as the senior aviation commander.” Colonel Ortyukov, a senior teacher of military affairs at the UPI, was assigned as the senior officer. We were faced with the task of conducting aerial reconnaissance and finding the missing group, delivering people and cargo to the search site.

S.L.: - Was the flight to the “Mountain of the Dead” difficult?

V.P.: - It was difficult to land the helicopter. Ortyukov, the district or regional prosecutor, or someone else, I don’t remember, came with me. Several specialists who brought a radio station to keep in touch with the airfield.

S.L.: - Did you notice anything unusual?

V.P.: - A dog handler and two search dogs flew with us. At the airfield the animals behaved calmly, but they growled at strangers. When we landed on the mountain, the dogs refused to get out of the helicopter and whined. The dog handler was surprised that they behaved this way.

Where did they disappear to?

S.L.: - When was the tent of the missing students discovered?

V.P.: - “Mountain of the Dead” is elongated, I sat lower. I turned around, started to take off, flew about 700 meters, and saw a small square below. I show Colonel Ortyukov - look what it is, it looks like a tent. You can't sit down, the slope is too high. We arrived home. Ortyukov says - go rest, tomorrow we’ll see what to do. In the morning we wake up, Ortyukov has already come for us. He says that yesterday I contacted the radio operators, and based on a tip, they found a tent covered with snow. We'll fly there now and see. This time we had a prosecutor, an investigator, Ortyukov, and a correspondent with us. They arrived and said - let's go look at the tent. And I, the cab driver, was not part of their group. They went, and I followed. Let me see what it is, I think.

S.L.: - What did you find in the tent?

V.P.: - We approached a tent, covered with snow on one side, the wall was cut from the inside. Inside, things were untouched: clothes lay, sleeping bags, a flask that smelled of alcohol, a camera, a piece of sausage, meat, a broken piece of bread, apparently ate. When I looked into the tent, I noticed a “combat leaflet” glued to the wall. This is what we did in the army. On the piece of paper, “Evening Otorten” is written boldly in pencil.

S.L.: - The students jumped out of the tent “who was wearing what”?

V.P.: - The investigator showed traces of students running out of the tent. Ortyukov said they found corpses. We began to follow the tracks down. We see one corpse lying, then two more. In the evening we found another one. The corpses were numb and frozen. It was obvious that the students ran out in whatever they were wearing when they were getting ready to go to bed. There was no outer clothing. Felt boots, jackets, hats - everything was left in the tent.

S.L.: - Have you communicated with local residents - Mansi?

V.P.: - I brought them to the search site. Their answer is yes, why do we need this? We warn people not to go to this mountain. This is a sacred area, we go around it.

S.L.: - They say the corpses were orange.

V.P.: - I saw ordinary corpses.

S.L.: - Did you sign a non-disclosure agreement about what you saw? Did you discuss the tragedy?

V.P.: - Then for several days I simply transported search soldiers. The soldiers are not from the NKVD, mostly guards from the camps. I didn't sign anything. At the search site they discussed it. We arrived at the airfield - silence. What did you see - who cares?

S.L.: - When did you find the rest of the participants in the hike?

V.P.: - At the beginning of March, another corpse was found. On May 5 they said - come, we found the last ones, we need to pick them up. The corpses looked different from those in February. I remember someone wanted to watch them, I said - no need, they are so scary that it will be bad.

S.L.: - Were you thanked for your help in the search?

V.P.: - The director of the institute invited me and the crew to UPI. They thanked me and gave me a Zorkiy-4 camera. The director told me - if you want to study with us, we will register you.

S.L.: - Where were the dead students buried?

V.P.: - They decided to hush up the “lost” case. At first they wanted to bury the students right in the mountains. But parents and relatives were outraged. There were strikes, the whole of Sverdlovsk was buzzing - it was illegal, it was wrong to bury in secret. They brought the bodies to Sverdlovsk. They wanted to bury him in a common grave, without a procession. The people were indignant. As a result, they buried him in Sverdlovsk the way the relatives wanted.

Failed tests?

S.L.: - What are your thoughts about the death of the Dyatlovites?

Dossier

Victor POTYAZHENKO was born in 1933 in the Azerbaijan SSR. Graduated from the First Helicopter School in the city of Pugachev. He served in the village of Aramil in military unit No. 32979 as deputy squadron commander. He left for Chelyabinsk as a squadron commander. He worked for 8 years in Izhevsk as deputy commander of an aviation training center. Moved to Vladimir in 1975. Aviation Lieutenant Colonel. Master of Sports of the USSR, champion of the USSR in helicopter sports.

V.P.: - Margarita Ivanovna (the pilot’s wife) answered this question: - I was a radio operator at the Ivdel airfield. A radiogram came from the search site: “Our rocket has landed. Find out what kind of rocket." The soldiers who worked there all fled. I sent a telegram with a request to Sverdlovsk and Moscow. They answered me - there was no launch in that area. But the search engines saw something unusual.

S.L.: - Your wife told about the radiogram. Didn't anyone from the search engines tell you about UFOs?

V.P.: -On April 1, when the search for the missing was still going on, I flew to the Otorten area. A lieutenant from the search group told about an unusual phenomenon. The soldiers came to the tent in the evening, had dinner and went to bed. The orderly was reading the newspaper and “guarding” the stove. He sat there, then he suddenly felt a jolt - it was bright in the tent, the sun was shining. Overslept! "Rise!" - shouts. He jumped out into the street and saw a huge glowing “donut” hanging over his head. The soldier is in the tent - guys, come out and look. While they were sorting it out, everything disappeared, pitch darkness. The lieutenant woke up. They began to count each other. One disappeared - he ran outside to the toilet. Let's go look for him. The lieutenant brought everyone back so they wouldn't get lost in the darkness. The missing person later returned. It turns out he went to the toilet, saw a bright glow, then darkness, nothing to be seen. He hears echoes from all sides - his name is called. He stood there until his eyes got used to the darkness.

S.L.: - Maybe the Dyatlovites were killed by a rocket?

V.P.: - The crew and I assumed that while the people were in the tent, some kind of flying rocket exploded. The students studied nuclear physics. Perhaps they thought it was a nuclear explosion. Where can you protect yourself from radiation exposure in the mountains? Everyone jumped up and ran into the valley. They thought that after the shock wave left they would return for things. When the crew and I came down, it was striking that the trees above the snow were one color, and where the snow had fallen, they were a different color. No one identified violent bullying of students. Some of them had injuries, like from a blast wave, when a person is crushed by something “strong” of unknown size. Some say the students went blind running out of the tent. But since the fire was lit, it means they saw...

Anatoly Gushchin - The price of state secrets is nine lives

The price of a state secret is nine lives?

The first radiogram about the tragedy in the mountains arrived in

Tragedy at the Mountain of the Dead: documents and versions

In the very north of the Sverdlovsk region, where the crystal clear tributary of Lozva, the Auspiya River, originates, there is a mountain that many now know about - Kholat-Syakhyl. Mountain of the Dead, in Mansi. According to legend, once upon a time - a very long time ago - an entire group of Voguls died on it. How this happened and why, probably no one knows anymore. However, old-timers associate the chilling name with that long-standing tragedy.

But forty years ago, in February 1959, Mount Kholat-Syakhyl once again confirmed its sad right to be called by this terrible name - not far from it, on the gentle eastern slope of Mount Otorten, nine tourists from the Ural Polytechnic Institute died under mysterious circumstances.

This mystery still worries many people, and it has not yet been revealed.

Since the beginning of democracy and openness in the country, interest in it has flared up with renewed vigor: the opportunity has arisen to openly discuss previously taboo topics and put forward bolder assumptions. Numerous newspaper publications appeared - journalists substantiated their versions, and direct participants in the search for missing tourists broke their prescribed vow of silence. It has been almost ten years since everything related to the investigation of this extraordinary incident has ceased to be considered secret; The criminal case itself, opened then on the fact of the mysterious death, has also been declassified. The regional prosecutor's office provided me with the opportunity to get to know him without delay. Moreover, the Deputy Prosecutor of the Sverdlovsk Region, Viktor Petrovich Tuflyakov, kindly agreed to give the necessary professional explanations on all the questions that arose in my mind while reading the investigation materials.

However, as the details became clearer, the darkness around the mainspring of events thickened more and more. And the point of the essay, which I now decide to offer the reader, is not to finally shed light on the true cause of the incident, but to convey the feeling of the hellish abyss on the edge of which I found myself, having studied a heap of documents and listened to the testimony of many eyewitnesses.

But let's take it in order.

Nothing predicted...

Ten of them went on the hike: Igor Dyatlov - the leader of the group, Lyudmila Dubinina, Alexander Kolevatov, Zinaida Kolmogorova, Rustem Slobodin, Yuri Krivonischenko, Nikolai Thibault-Brignolles, Yuri Doroshenko, Alexander Zolotarev and Yuri Yudin.

The youngest of them was Dubinina - twenty years old. Dyatlov was twenty-three. The oldest was the instructor of the Kourovka tourist center Zolotarev - thirty-seven years old.

Slobodin, Krivonischenko, Thibault-Brignolles had already graduated from UPI by that time and were working as engineers. The rest were still students.

But in general, the group was experienced, “sung”, on hikes, including in the Northern Urals, having gone more than once.

And how well everything started that time!..

From Kolmogorova’s diary: “January 23. On the hike again! We are sitting in room 531. Or rather, we are not sitting, everyone, on the contrary, is feverishly scurrying around: stuffing stewed meat and condensed milk into their backpacks.

Yu. Krivo: - Where are my pimas? Shall we play the mandolin on the tram? Oh, damn, they forgot the salt - 3 kg.

Slavka Khamzov came.

Hello! Give me 15 kopecks. Call.

Everyone reached into their pockets and counted the money. The room is such an exciting mess...

Here we are on the train. Many songs have been covered. We leave for our places at 3 am. I wonder what awaits us on this trip? What's new? Yes, the guys today solemnly took an oath not to smoke during the entire trip. How much will do they have, will they be able to live without cigarettes?

The taiga flashes outside the windows..."

"January 24. At 7.00 we arrived in Serov. At the station we were greeted inhospitably: a policeman did not let us into the premises. Yu. Krivo suddenly started singing. In an instant he was grabbed and taken away. The police sergeant explained the internal rules at train stations, where it is forbidden to disturb the peace passengers. This is perhaps the first station where singing is prohibited..."

From Yudin’s diary: “We arrived in Serov. We leave for Ivdel at 6.30 pm, settled in a school near the station. We were greeted very warmly. The caretaker (cleaning lady) heated water and provided everything we needed.

I was free all day. During the break between shifts, we organized a meeting with students. There were so many of them!.. And everyone was so curious.

The guys didn't want to let us go. We sang songs to each other. Almost the entire school accompanied us to the station. When they boarded the train, the guys even roared. They asked that Zina be their counselor.

In the carriage. A debate about love, clearly provoked by Kolmogorova..."

From Krivonischenko’s diary: “On January 26, 1959, we slept in the so-called “hotel.” Some were in beds for 2 people, and some were on the floor. We got up at nine. We agreed that we would be transported to the 41st precinct in a GAZ-63 car , in the back. We left only at 13.10. We arrived at 16.30. We were freezing.

On the 41st we were greeted warmly and given a separate room in the hostel. We talked for a long time with the workers.

The attendants cooked lunch. Rustic plays the mandolin..."

From Doroshenko’s diary: “27.1.59. The weather is good, the wind is at our back, tailwind.

We agreed that the backpacks (backpacks - A.G.) would be transported to the 2nd Northern on a horse. (From the 41st to it - 24 km.) And you yourself - with your legs.

We heard a number of prohibited prison songs (Article 58). We bought 4 loaves of soft warm bread. Two pieces They ate it right away. Yes, Yura Yudin suddenly fell ill...

2nd North is an abandoned village of 20-25 houses. Only one is suitable for habitation. The stove was smoking heavily. They exchanged jokes until almost 3 am..."

From Thibault-Brignolle’s diary: “January 28. The weather is smiling at us - 8 degrees. It’s a pity to part with Yudin, but...

It took a long time to get ready: we lubricated the skis, adjusted the bindings. We left at 11.45. We go up Lozva. There is ice in places. Often you have to stop.

At 5.30 - halt. Today is the first night in a tent. The guys are fiddling with the stove. Dinner. Then we relax for a long time by the fire. Zina, under the guidance of Rustem, tries to play the mandolin. Another discussion. Of course, about love. We get into the tent. The suspended stove glows with heat...

(We note in passing that the hanging stove was made by Dyatlov. - A.G.)

From Dyatlov’s diary: “January 30. Today is the third cold night on the shore. The stove is a great thing.

After breakfast we walk along Auspiya, there is ice again... We meet the Mansi camp. Weather: during the day - 13, in the evening - 26. A sharp drop. The wind is strong, southwest.

The deer trail ends. The snow depth is up to 120 cm. The forest is thinning. There are dwarf and ugly birches and pines. Feels the height. It's late in the evening. We are looking for a place to bivouac. We quickly made a fire and set up a tent..."

From Kolmogorova’s diary: “January 30. It got colder. The attendants (S. Kolevatov and K. Thibault) took a long time to build a fire. There was no desire to get out of the tent. Around 9.30 - passive ascent...

And the weather! The sun plays like that. We are walking, as yesterday, along the Mansi trail. Sometimes we notice notches and scratches on the trees - Mansi “writing”. In general, there are a lot of incomprehensible, mysterious signs. The idea arises to give a name to our hike - “In the Land of Mysterious Signs.”

The path goes to the shore. We're losing track. We're crashing through the forest. But soon we turn onto the river again - it’s easier to walk along it.

About 2 o'clock - lunch: loin, a handful of crackers, sugar, garlic, coffee.

I'm in a good mood.

At five o'clock we stop for the night. It took us a long time to find a place. We returned 200 meters back. Dead wood, tall spruce trees. There's a fire right there! Kolya Thibault changed his clothes. He begins to argue with Kolevatov over which of them should sew up the tent. But then he takes the needle himself.

Today is Sasha Kolevatov's birthday. Congratulations, we give you a tangerine. He immediately divides it into 8 slices..."

From Dyatlov’s diary: “January 31. We are following the old Mansi ski trail. Apparently, having left the reindeer, he continued skiing. The trail is poorly visible, we often get lost. We cover 1.5 - 2 km in an hour.

We are gradually moving away from Auspiya. The climb is smooth. The spruce trees ran out, and the rare birch forest disappeared. This is the border of the forest. Present The place is bare. You need to choose an overnight stay. We descend to the south - into the Auspiya valley. This is apparently the snowiest place. Tired, we set about arranging our accommodation for the night. There is not enough firewood. The fire was lit on logs; there was no desire to dig a hole. We have dinner in a tent. Warm...".

This is all that the guys themselves managed to tell about their last trip.

There are no other diary entries in the criminal case. Although the travelers definitely held pencils in their hands on the first of February - on that day a “combat leaflet” was published (more like a wall newspaper, but there is no sign that it was hung on any “wall” - whether in a tent, on the trunk of a neighboring tree - ) called "Evening Otorten".

The editorial read: “Let’s welcome the 21st Congress of the CPSU with an increase in the number of tourists!”

The article under the “Science” heading was clearly intended to create a “sensation”: “Recently, there has been a lively discussion in scientific circles about the existence of Bigfoot. According to the latest data, Bigfoot lives in the Northern Urals, in the area of ​​​​Mount Otorten.”

Of course, it is more than strange that on February 1 no one wrote a single line in their diaries. The resolution to terminate the criminal case says the following in this regard: “In one of the cameras there was a photograph preserved (the last one taken), which depicts the moment of digging up snow to set up a tent. (It’s not clear, in the forest, on the mountain? - A.G. ). Considering that this frame was shot with a shutter speed of 1/25 sec at an aperture of 5.6, with a film sensitivity of 65 GOST units, and also taking into account the frame density, we can assume that they started setting up the tent at about 5 pm. 02/1/59 A similar photograph was taken by another device (For some reason these photographs are not in the file. - A.G.).

After this time, not a single recording or photograph was found."

Well, there’s probably really little point in taking photographs after five, when it’s almost dusk. But God himself ordered me to write at least a few words! And not only “after this time,” but also in the morning. Until about three o'clock the group was in the Auspiya valley, building a storage facility for food.

Let's return to the document: “Knowing the difficult terrain conditions of height 1079, where the ascent was supposed to be, Dyatlov, as the leader of the group, made a gross mistake, which resulted in the fact that the group began the ascent on February 1, 1959 only at 15.00.

Subsequently, along the tourists' ski track, which had been preserved at the time of the search, it was possible to establish that, moving towards the valley of the fourth tributary of the Lozva, the tourists took 500-600 m to the left and, instead of the pass formed by peaks 1079 and 880, they came out onto the eastern slope of peak 1079.

This was Dyatlov's second mistake.

Having used the rest of the daylight hours to climb to peak 1079 in conditions of strong wind, which is common in this area, and a low temperature of about 25 degrees, Dyatlov found himself in unfavorable overnight conditions and decided to pitch a tent on the slope of peak 1079 so that the next morning, losing heights, go to Mount Otorten, to which there were about 10 km in a straight line.”

“According to the protocol of the route commission,” we read the resolution further, “the leader of the group, Dyatlov, on 02.12.59 was supposed to telegraph the UPI sports club and the physical education committee (comrade Ufimtsev) about his arrival in the village of Vizhay.

Since the deadline had passed and there was no information from the group, the students began to insistently demand that search measures be taken.”

Frankly speaking, not right away.

The death of the children becomes known

Nevertheless, even in those days, some thoughts began to creep in, one more terrible than the other. These were tourists who had recently returned from the north of the region, who were supposed to meet with Dyatlov’s group in the area of ​​Mount Oiko-Chakur on February 9-10. But this did not happen. But I remembered something else...

“That early morning,” journalist V. Vokhmin wrote in one of the Yekaterinburg newspapers in 1993, “Georgy Atmanaki and Vladimir Shavkunov got up at six in the morning to prepare breakfast. They lit a fire. The sky was cloudy, as often happens in February. Soon. in the east, at an altitude of about 30 degrees above the horizon, a milky-white spot spread out, quite impressive in size - 5-6 lunar diameters. The spot consisted of several concentric circles.

Look how the moon was sketched,” noted Georgy.

Firstly, there is no moon, and secondly, it should be in the other direction,” the comrade responded, after thinking for a couple of seconds.

At the same moment, a bright star flashed in the very center of the spot. A few more moments will pass, and it will begin to increase, rapidly moving to the west. And then it will appear as a huge fiery disk of milky color, 2-2.5 lunar diameters in size, surrounded by the same pale rings.

The guys stood as if under hypnosis, and came to their senses only when the disk began to fade. At that very second they rushed to wake up their comrades..."

The disappearance of Dyatlov's group and this strange object in the sky - all this was now involuntarily connected in the heads of Atmanaka and Shavkunov.

As is known from the case, on February 18, the city committee for physical culture and sports requested Vizhay. The next day the answer came: “Dyatlov’s group did not return.”

On the 20th they decided to send the chairman of the UPI sports club Gordo to Ivdel.

On the 21st, he flew to Ivdel on a special flight and began flying over the area where the route of the missing skiers lay.

On February 22, the UPI trade union committee set up a headquarters to organize searches. A group of search tourists was sent to Ivdel under the leadership of Slobtsov, an employee of the trade union committee of the institute, which the very next day was dropped by helicopter on the eastern slope of Mount Otorten.

On the 24th, local Mansi hunters were involved in the search for the Dyatlov group.

On the 25th, a group of tourists led by Grebennik was sent to the area of ​​Mount Oiko-Chakur. On the slope of Otorten - Axelrod's group. Another one - under the leadership of Karelin - has been prepared for delivery to the Sampal-Chakhl area.

On February 26, Slobtsov’s team on the slope of height 1079 discovered the tent of Dyatlov’s group, but without a single soul.

On the same day, all search teams were transferred to this place and set up a base camp just below the forest border.

“In total in the camp,” the document shows, “there were concentrated: Slobtsov’s group - 5 people, Karelin - 5, Axelrod - 5, Captain Chernyshev - 5, Mansi - 4, a group of detectives from senior lieutenant Moiseev with service dogs - 2 people. , radio operator - E. Nevolin.

Later, a group of athletes from Moscow and Sverdlovsk arrived, consisting of: K. Bardin, Baskin, E. Shuleshko, Korolev, a group of cadets from the Ivdellag sergeant school led by Art. Lieutenant Potapov - 10 people. and a group of sappers with mine detectors under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Shestopalov - 7 people.

The combined group was headed by the head of the search party, master of sports Evgeniy Polikarpovich Maslennikov, and captain A.A. Chernyshev became the deputy.”

Many of these people immediately after completing the search work gave detailed reports to the investigative authorities. The reports are kept in the criminal file, and we will get to know them later. But the search engines did not have the right to share their impressions with everyone to whom it was important and interesting: they were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement for what they saw for 25 years. (By the way, why would this be necessary if the guys died from a natural disaster or some other understandable reason? And another circumstance that is not without meaning: there are no non-disclosure receipts in the investigative file. It can be assumed that this was the setting: there are no traces of secrecy on paper so that later it would not occur to anyone, grasping the end of the thread, to unwind the ball of mystery.) After the deadline, some of them wrote memoirs, handing over the manuscripts, some for printing, and some just as a souvenir, to the UPI sports club.

On February 27 - according to some documents of the case, on the 26th - according to others, 1500 meters from the tent, at the border of the forest, under a cedar tree, the remains of a fire were discovered, and near it, the corpses of Doroshenko and Krivonischenko, stripped to their underwear.

The first radiogram about the tragedy in the mountains was received by UPI on February 28, that is, a month after the deaths of the tourists.

Just on this day, international competitions for the world championship in speed skating among women began in Sverdlovsk. That is, the closed city was flooded with foreigners like never before. And at this time, rumors spread throughout the institute, and then throughout the regional center, and the first, purely speculative versions appeared. Some said that this murder was the work of prisoners of Ivdellag, others suspected the Mansi, who allegedly dealt with the Russians for religious reasons - for desecrating sacred places - and hid the corpses.

By the way, the latest version was worked on persistently and for quite a long time. At least twice, the head of the Ivdel State Police Department of Internal Affairs, police major Bizyaev, received orders classified as “secret” demanding her verification. But the result was the same: Mansi had nothing to do with it. The Otorten and Kholat-Syakhyl mountains are far from the sacred places of Mansi.

Vladimir Askinadzi, already known to us, recalled: “Out of nowhere, suddenly a version appeared that the students could go abroad! Of course, we ourselves could not have thought of this (of course: the closest way from there to abroad is probably through the pole to America; add more mountains with their impassable snow, and thirty-degree frost - A.G.) Nevertheless, before leaving for the search as the leader of the group, the party committee of the institute told me in all seriousness that I would be there! looked carefully to see if there was any evidence confirming the Dyatlov group’s plans to leave the border.”

It was, of course, impossible to come up with a more ridiculous version of the disappearance of a group of tourists, but utter nonsense takes on some meaning if we assume that, having launched such a “duck,” someone unknown, but omnipotent, tried to cook public opinion to the fact that the corpses will not be found.

Or maybe, in fact, this option was actually being worked out somewhere - not in Mansi, but abroad? And so that no one asks questions.

What was found at the scene?

First of all - a tent.

This tent, apparently, had been with the Dyatlovites on more than one trip before and no longer looked like standard equipment, but a well-lived camp house, transformed by their hands in accordance with their tourist experience. It was gable, made from two four-person tents. From the entrance side, a canopy made of sheets was sewn to it - probably a convenient canopy in summer from rain and sun, and in winter from too much snowfall. The tent, as you already know, even had heating.

From the investigation reports: “The tent of Dyatlov’s group was placed on the slope of a spur, going in this place at an angle of 18-20 degrees. The entrance to it faces the pass. Under the tent, a platform was cleared on which the skis were laid.”

Apparently eight pairs were laid out, because the ninth, as stated later in the same document, lay tied up in front of the entrance to the tent.

And here's your first riddle: why is the tent placed on skis? Experienced tourists who have walked mountain routes more than once say that sometimes they do this in deep snow. But eight pairs of skis are not enough to cover the entire area of ​​Dyatlov’s tent, and laying them out at intervals in a lattice is risky: it’s easy to break.

“The tent was almost completely covered with snow: one skate was sticking out of it from the entrance. The entrance was open, and sheets protruded from it, serving as a canopy.

During the excavations, it was discovered that the slope of the tent facing the slope was torn, and a fur jacket was sticking out of the hole. The slope facing the descent was torn to shreds.”

What would this fur jacket in the hole mean? Who used it to escape the wind and frost?

“The things in the tent were arranged as follows: at the entrance there was a stove (it immediately begs the question: why wasn’t it hung up? And why wasn’t it flooded when setting up for the night? And it definitely wasn’t drowned, otherwise, thrown onto the floor in the confusion, it would have started a fire . - A.G.), buckets (one contained a flask with alcohol), saw, axe. A little further there were cameras.

At the far end they found: a bag with maps and documents, Dyatlov’s camera, a jar with money, Kolmogorova’s diary (there is no mention of when the last entry was made in it. - A.G.). Dyatlov’s and Kolevatov’s rain jackets were also lying there. In the corner there was a bag of crackers and a bag of cereal.

To the right (from the entrance) against the wall were the rest of the products. Next to them is a pair of boots. The other six pairs of shoes lay against the wall opposite.

Felt boots, 3.5 pairs, were found approximately in the middle of the tent. Near the crackers is a log taken from the last night’s place.”

It would be interesting to know how it was established that - from the past. Moreover, for some reason there is nothing in the case about the penultimate overnight stay, as if professional investigators should not have been interested in this story.

“The backpacks are laid out at the very bottom of the tent. Padded jackets (quilted jackets) are placed on them, and blankets are placed on top. (According to other indications, the blankets were crumpled and frozen. - A.G.) There were also several pieces of loin skin. Warm things lay on top of the blankets, most of them..."

Please note: everything there was in relative order, there was no upside down in the commotion. There were bags of crackers and cereals, and in the confusion no one caught them with their feet or scattered a single grain. So, maybe there was no commotion? Then how to explain the torn walls of the tent? However, no, not even torn, but cut from the inside, as established by the examination.

The examination of the tent was carried out by the Sverdlovsk Research Forensic Laboratory about a month and a half after it was found - started on April 3, completed on April 16. Here are excerpts from the document signed by the senior expert, senior research fellow Churkina:

“As a result, it was established that damage was found on its surface as a result of exposure to some sharp weapon (knife), as well as ruptures.

Damage No. 1 is in the form of a broken straight line, with a total length of 32 cm. On top there is a small puncture of tissue measuring 2.2 cm. The corners of the hole are torn.

Damage No. 2, No. 3 have an uneven arched shape. The approximate lengths are 89 cm and 42 cm. There are no flaps of tissue on both sides of damage No. 3. (That is, they form a hole. - A.G.).

Research has established that on the inside of the tent, near the edges of the cuts, there are superficial damage to the fabric in the form of minor punctures, tears and thin scratches. Everything is rectilinear in shape.

The nature and shape of all these damages indicate that they were caused by the contact of the fabric on the inside of the tent with the blade of some weapon (knife).”

Who and why “touched the fabric with the blade of the blade” if there was no commotion?..

One way or another, the rugged tent was empty...

But down the slope stretched from it (from the entrance or from a cut hole in the wall? This is not mentioned in the document) tracks - 8-9 pairs. They are quite well preserved for about 500 meters. The trails of tracks were located close to one another, converged and diverged again. Some of them are left with almost bare feet, others with felt boots. Near the forest, all traces disappeared - they were covered with snow.

But whether the ski track leading to the tent was preserved is again not stated in the investigation documents.

In the direction indicated by the tracks, only much further from the tent, the bodies of five dead were discovered. Kolmogorova’s body is at a distance of 850 meters, Slobodin’s is a kilometer away (Rustem was found last of the five, on March 5), Dyatlov is about 1,180 meters away, and Doroshenko and Krivonischenko are 1.5 kilometers away, near a fire pit under a cedar tree. They all lay on the same straight line, along the direction of the prevailing wind and within the hollow.

Kolmogorova was discovered by a search dog. Zina lay under a ten-centimeter layer of snow on her right side. She was dressed - compared to others - quite warmly, but without shoes. The position of her body, arms, legs seemed to indicate that in the last minutes of her life she was struggling with the wind on the slope.

Dyatlov was lying on his back (he was visible from under the snow), with his head towards the tent, as if he had his hand wrapped around the trunk of a small birch tree. Clothing - ski pants, long johns, sweater, cowboy jacket, fur vest. On the right foot there is a woolen sock, on the left - a cotton sock. The watch on my wrist showed 5 hours 31 minutes.

Doroshenko and Krivonischenko, slightly dusted with snow, were found next to each other. Doroshenko was lying on his stomach. Below him is a tree branch broken into pieces (as if Yuri fell on it with great force - but why and from where?). Krivonischenko was lying on his back. Both of them are almost naked. Both are wearing only cowboy shorts and long johns, and thin socks on their feet. However, this is recorded in the protocol. If you believe the photographs of the victims taken on the spot, then one of them was lying completely barefoot. The underpants are torn almost along the entire length of the leg. However, it is clear that the bare leg is not damaged - not bleeding. But if he ran one and a half kilometers through the prickly snow, it would have been torn all over like sandpaper; Even thin socks would be torn to shreds. How did he run these one and a half kilometers? Of course, the examination could easily establish whether the person fled or not, but for some reason this question did not arise before it...

Slobodin was lying in approximately the same position as Kolmogorov. He was dressed relatively warmly - a black cotton sweater, underneath - a cowboy shirt, buttoned up with all the buttons. (In the patch pocket, fastened with a safety pin, there is a passport, money - 310 rubles, a fountain pen.) Under the cowboy shirt - a warm, warm, brushed knitted shirt, on the body - a T-shirt. Ski trousers, with a belt. In the pockets there is a box of matches, a penknife, a comb in a case, a pencil, and a cotton sock. Under the trousers there are blue satin trousers, on the body there are long johns and briefs. On the right foot, shod in a black felt boot, there are socks: cotton, then vigone, another cotton one, followed by vigone again. There is no felt boot on the left foot, just socks, put on in the same order. (His second felt boot, as stated in the case, was found in the tent). The “Star” watch on my wrist showed 8 hours 45 minutes.

(By the way, Dyatlov has a watch on his hand, Slobodin has a watch, there will be other watches in the records of this case - and every time the investigators diligently record the time when they stopped, although it is obvious that this time does not mean anything. And For some reason, many really important details, as we have already seen, were not of interest to criminologists.)

They found five - and the case stalled: they could not find four more. There were even proposals made to suspend the search until spring. But here they were already pushing from above: look!

The party takes control

Rumors wandered around the city, people were seething, asking questions, letters and telegrams were flying to Moscow.

It was no longer possible to pretend that nothing had happened; the authorities, according to the custom of that time, had to take the situation under their vigilant control. For this purpose, on March 5, an emergency search commission of the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU was created, headed by the deputy chairman of the regional executive committee, Pavlov, and the head of the department of the regional committee of the CPSU, Philip Ermash, the future head of Soviet cinematography. Ermash kept the first secretary of the regional committee, Kirilenko, informed about the events, and he kept Khrushchev himself informed. How could the search be curtailed?

Meanwhile, by this time the number of search engines had noticeably decreased. Next groups The UPI party committee had difficulty recruiting volunteers: classes were going on, the session was approaching - life went on.

It must be assumed that the funeral of the first batch of victims was a difficult test for the party commission: the city was electrified with rumors, the funeral ceremony could gather many thousands of people; although the people were accustomed to obedience, having not forgotten the “leader and teacher” in six years, but if such a crowd gathers, guess how it will behave. The authorities took precautionary measures: they split the crowd in advance, identifying burial places in different cemeteries: four in Mikhailovsky, and one (Yuri Krivonischenko) in Ivanovsky, which by that time was considered already closed. And one more preventative measure: less information. They say that on the eve of the funeral, the secretary of the UPI party committee tore off the funeral announcement from the wall in the lobby: they say, what kind of amateur activity is this?

On the day of the funeral, the funeral procession moved from the physics and technical college dormitory along Lenin Avenue to the square in front of the UPI. However, they did not reach the square: at the intersection with Kuzbasskaya Street (two years later it was renamed in honor of Gagarin), the path was blocked by police who had come from nowhere: turn left, they say. To the left means straight to the Mikhailovskoye Cemetery. And no rallies for you...

Later, I learned from the relatives of L. Dubinina and R. Slobodin that the regional committee was generally against the funeral in Sverdlovsk. He insisted that they be buried in Ivdel, near the place of death. He especially put pressure on parents - members of the CPSU, and called on them to be conscious. But they courageously stood their ground and did not give in to persuasion.

The silence of newspapers and radio seemed completely indecent in those days. Although journalists have made attempts to write about this more than once. The Ural Worker's own correspondent, Gennady Grigoriev, reported the material as soon as he learned about the tragedy. But they did not publish it. As it turned out later, the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Khrushchev, suggested that the secretary of the regional committee, Kirilenko, not rush into publications. Like, they’ll find everyone else, then we’ll see.

When they were found, Gennady Konstantinovich, updating and expanding the material, again offered it to the newspaper. But the editor again shelved the manuscript: he could not publish it under his authority, and the regional committee did not give permission.

In order to publish, regional committee officials later explained, it was necessary to inform Khrushchev about this, but Kirilenko did not want to call him on this issue, to remind him of the tragedy.

Grigorieva’s refusal to publish was then motivated as follows: “A lot of time has passed, old man, is it worth stirring up all this again, upsetting the parents and relatives of the victims once again?..”

Ends don't meet

The last four corpses - Dubinina, Zolotarev, Thibault-Brignolle and Kolevatov - were discovered only on May 4. They lay under the very bank of the river, under a thick layer of snow, not very far from the fire, near which the bodies of Doroshenko and Krivonischenko had previously been found.

The investigative documents containing a description of this terrible find contain many contradictions and mysteries.

The most complete data is provided in the resolution to dismiss the case, signed by the prosecutor-criminologist from Sverdlovsk, junior counselor of justice Lev Nikitich Ivanov. Here are the numbers: the bodies were found under a four-meter layer of snow 75 meters from the fire pit under a cedar tree. And this is what they looked like: “The dead Thibault-Brignolles and Zolotarev were found well dressed. Dubinina was worse dressed - her faux fur jacket and hat were on Zolotarev, Dubinina’s bare leg was wrapped in Krivonischenko’s woolen trousers.”

The fact that these four were wearing some of the clothes of Doroshenko and Krivonischenko - trousers, sweaters - is also mentioned in other documents. It is also mentioned that other items of clothing belonging to two tourists found earlier were also lying here. Someone else's clothes had straight cuts - apparently, they were removed from corpses. When, by whom, for what purpose? One can, of course, assume that someone tried to save the children who were freezing here, but still alive, with these clothes. But three of the four were so crumpled that, according to the forensic expert, they could hardly have remained alive longer than Doroshenko and Krivonischenko, from whom the clothes were cut off. And it’s hard to believe that Kolevatov (the only one of the four who did not have serious bodily injuries) managed to light a fire and walk from the fire to the snow hole (back and forth a hundred to a hundred and fifty meters in deep snow), so that later everything still freeze next to these three. Yes, and his traces would probably have remained - but there were no traces!

“Near the corpses they found Krivonischenko’s knife, which was used to cut young fir trees at the fire,” the resolution further states. And again the question: how was it established that the fir trees were cut with this particular knife? The question for the essence of the matter may be insignificant, but when the investigator once (remember the log “from the last stop?”) and again passes off assumptions as established facts, the thought inevitably creeps in about adjusting the results of the investigation to a predetermined scheme.

The clothes from the dead bodies could definitely have been cut off by that knife, since the clothes are here and the knife is also here. Or maybe the tent was cut with the same knife? It was not difficult for experts to confirm or refute these assumptions, but for some reason (why?) No one raised this question with them.

“Two watches were found on Thibault’s hand,” the resolution written by investigator Ivanov further states. “One showed 8 hours 14 minutes, the other showed 8 hours 39 minutes.”

“A forensic autopsy established that Kolevatov’s death was caused by low temperature (frozen). He had no bodily injuries.

The death of Dubinina, Thibault-Brignolle and Zolotarev was a result of multiple injuries.

Dubinina has a symmetrical fracture of the ribs: on the right - 2, 3, 4, 5, on the left - 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. In addition, there is extensive hemorrhage in the heart.

Thibault-Brignolle has an extensive hemorrhage in the right temporal muscle, which corresponds to a depressed fracture of the skull bones measuring 9x7 cm.

Zolotarev has a fracture of ribs on the right 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 along the peri-thoracic and midclavicular line, which led to death."

Here's a new mystery: four corpses are nearby, but three seem to have been put through some kind of terrible thresher, and the fourth has no injuries. Freeze - that's all. Or maybe it was Kolevatov, who by some lucky chance did not get into that thresher, then cut off the clothes from the dead Krivonischenko and Doroshenko in order to save his severely crippled, but then still living, friends from freezing? Probably, it would not have been so difficult for criminologists studying the crime scene based on fresh tracks to verify such an assumption, but for some reason this question did not interest them. Now, forty years later, we can only speculate based on the protocols they compiled, and the key details are not found in the protocols. Well, at least: how was Kolevatov himself dressed when he was found?

But still, the document answers one question that was asked both then and later by many, although, you see, somewhat evasively:

“The investigation did not establish the presence of other people, except for a group of tourists, on February 1 and 2, 1959 in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bheight 1079.”

Well, okay, maybe they appeared here a little earlier? Or later? For there were finds here that made us assume that someone had visited this place (more on them a little later). But the document does not clarify this issue and therefore ends with a pacifying conclusion:

“Taking into account the absence of external bodily injuries and signs of struggle on the corpses, the presence of all the values ​​of the group, and also taking into account the conclusion of the forensic medical examination on the causes of death of tourists, it should be considered that the cause of their death was a natural force, which people were not able to overcome ".

In parallel with Sverdlovsk resident Ivanov, the prosecutor of the city of Ivdel, junior justice adviser Tempalov, also conducted his investigation into the tragedy in those days. In his protocol, the place where the corpses were found is indicated with slightly different numbers: “50 meters from the cedar (Ivanov had 75. - A.G.), 4 corpses were found in the stream - three men and a woman. They were dug out from under the snow 2 deep - 2.5 meters (Ivanov’s snow layer thickness is 4 meters. - A.G.).

The corpses are in the water. The men lie with their heads downstream of the stream, the woman - against the stream.

The woman's corpse has been identified as Dubinina. She is wearing the following clothes: on her head - a balaclava, on her body - a yellow T-shirt, a cowboy shirt, two sweaters, leggings, ski trousers. On the feet: on the left - 2 woolen socks, on the right - half of a wrapped beige sweater.

All the corpses showed signs of decomposition. Two of them lie, as if hugging each other, without hats, wearing rain jackets.

Up the stream, six meters along the tracks, a flooring was discovered at a depth of 2.5 meters. The snow deck consists of 14 fir and 1 birch tops. There are things on it."

It is not clear what kind of flooring this is, who, when and why it was built. And just imagine how much work it took to cut it with a knife (what else? There’s no mention of a saw) fifteen - well, not branches. Which of the dying people found so much time and energy? It was obviously easier to get to the tent, and there were warm blankets, a stove, and food.

And it’s unclear about things. For some reason, there is no complete list of things found at the scene of the tragedy in the case file. There is only a protocol for the inspection of things found in late February - early March. But there is no addition to it, dated early May. It’s a pity: perhaps it would help clarify something in Tempalov’s protocol: “Half of a beige sweater was found 15 meters from the stream, under a tree. Half of the ski trousers were found at the place where the tops were cut off for the decking. 15 meters from the decking towards the forest An ebonite sheath for a knife was found, the same ones were found under the snow at the site where the tent was discovered. A white metal tablespoon was also found nearby..."

These same ebonite scabbards are especially mysterious, especially since I did not find any other mentions of them in the case. They do not appear either on the list of identified or on the list of unidentified things by Yudin.

Oddly enough, he didn’t recognize a lot of things at all: glasses (- 4 by - 4.5 diopters in a green case; people with such myopia are not often found among tourists; if there was such a person among the Dyatlovites, it was not difficult to identify the owner of the glasses), axes - two large and one small, two-handed saw in a case, skis - 1 pair, ice ax - 1 pc. Boot covers - 9 pairs (all torn), mittens - 20 pieces. Utensils: 7 spoons, 5 mugs, three aluminum cups.

Of course, he and the group did not reach the forest, and therefore might not have seen some things. But skis, axes, saws, ice axes are not needles. And they hardly appeared in the detachment until January 28, when they said goodbye to their sick comrade. Moreover, they said goodbye already in an abandoned village, after which the route turned to places that were completely uninhabited.

Meanwhile, Yudin cannot be denied his powers of observation: he even knew who owned which soap...

Two more details noted in this protocol also seem strange: the things found in the backpacks were folded chaotically. And Dyatlov was dressed, according to Yudin, in his sweater, which he gave to Kolevatov when leaving.

There are a lot of questions with this confusion in clothes. The case says: “The moment of the disaster caught the group while changing clothes. Therefore, leaving the tent was extremely hasty. The tourists clearly understood that leaving the tent in this form would be death. But they left. Consequently, the reason that forced them to leave it could be only fear of immediate death."

It is difficult to comprehend the logic of a criminologist: in order to avoid immediate death, tourists rushed towards... certain death?! Most likely, he wanted to say something else - that some sudden and unknown horror shackled their minds and forced them to flee, without thinking about the consequences. This version would explain both the unflooded stove and the mixed-up clothes. But new questions would arise: why are the things in the tent stacked in relative order? Why wasn’t there any of the sweat-wet clothing left behind by the tourists? The tent inspection protocol does not clarify the situation. On what then is the investigator’s statement about the disguise based? Or is the solution to the problem again adjusted to fit a ready-made answer?

Mysteries multiply

A forensic medical examination of the first five corpses was carried out on March 8. The four found later - on May 9, in the morgue of the central hospital of the department, post office box N-240, under the leadership of the forensic expert of the regional bureau of forensic medicine, Boris Vozrozhdenny.

Reading the reports of forensic medical research is, of course, not for the faint of heart, but in our case we cannot do without it. They still give a more complete picture than a condensed, brief resolution to terminate the case, in which the prosecutor-criminologist L. Ivanov does not even pay attention to minor scratches and abrasions on the corpses. But in vain. After all, it’s one thing when they were received at the moment of death, and another thing when scabs formed on them, because this means that they began to heal, and this, as you understand, is possible only during life.

About Rustem Slobodin, the report of investigator Ivanov only says that, unlike his comrades, who had numerous minor injuries, he was found to have a large, about 6 centimeters long and up to a millimeter wide, crack of the skull and post-mortem divergence of the temporo-parietal sutures - on the left and on the right. And in the report of the forensic medical examination of the corpse, an incomparably more complex picture is presented: “In the middle part of the forehead there are small abrasions of a brown-red color of parchment density, slightly depressed. Above them there are two linear scratches under a dry brown crust up to 1.5 cm long, located parallel to the brow ridges at a distance of 0.3 cm from each other... In the area upper eyelid on the right is a brown-red abrasion measuring 1x0.5 cm. In the area of ​​abrasions and scratches on the face, there is hemorrhage into the underlying soft tissue. The cornea is cloudy, the iris is grayish-brown, the pupils are dilated... On the back of the nose and in the area of ​​the apex of the nose there are soft tissues of brown-red color. At the tip of the nose there is an area of ​​soft tissue under a dry brown-cherry crust measuring 1.5x1 cm. The mouth is open. There are traces of dried blood coming from the opening of the nose."

Here we could also extract control information from the inspection report of the tragedy site: was there blood somewhere on the snow or on clothes? But there is not a word about that. Not in any document.

We read the report further: “The right half of the face is somewhat swollen, there are many small abrasions of irregular shape of parchment density under a dry crust, partially extending to the chin. On the left half of the face there are small abrasions of the same nature, among them one abrasion measuring 1.2 x 0.4 cm under a dry brown crust in the area of ​​the zygomatic tuber... On the left neck there are small abrasions of a dark red color... In the area of ​​the metacarpophalangeal joints of the hands, protruding parts of soft tissue measuring 8x1.5 cm, covered with a dry parchment-like crust along the ulnar edge. on the left hand there is a brown-cherry colored area of ​​parchment density measuring 6x2 cm..."

And here is the conclusion: “The damage was received during life, as well as in the agonal state and posthumously.”

As you can see, forensic expert Vozrozhdeniy describes all the pathologies he discovered with commendable scrupulosity. And yet, it turns out, he still makes a very significant mistake. As specialists from the regional prosecutor's office explained to me, intravital and postmortem injuries should not be lumped together; one should write specifically: these were received during life, but these were received after death. For often very serious circumstances are hidden behind this difference. Here's how it is in this case: a whole bunch of intravital injuries are described that were not fatal (Slobodin died from hypothermia after all - the expert has no doubt about that). Then how does a person get serious post-mortem injuries?

The same negligence (if such a definition is appropriate) is found in other forensic documents in this case.

The report on the examination of the corpse of Lyudmila Dubinina states that on the surface of her left thigh there is a diffuse blue-purple bruise measuring 10x5 cm with hemorrhage into the thickness of the skin, there is no tongue in the oral cavity... “The death of L. Dubinina,” the forensic expert concludes, “ occurred as a result of extensive hemorrhage in the heart, multiple bilateral fractures of the ribs, profuse internal bleeding into the chest cavity. These injuries could have occurred as a result of exposure to great force, resulting in a severe closed fatal injury to the chest. Moreover, injuries of lifelong origin are the result of exposure to great force. force followed by a fall or throw."

“Lifelong”, according to the norms of language, should mean either “for the rest of life” (in this context, complete nonsense), or “after life” (and then what kind of “fall”, what kind of throw could befall a dead body?). However, from the context it can be assumed that most likely for the investigator, “lifetime” is the same as “lifetime.” Well, then there are no special questions. And yet: if an unknown force smashed the girl to the ground while she was still alive, then how could it be that there were no scratches or abrasions on her body, but only one large bruise on her thigh?

The same goes for Alexander Zolotarev: “Rib fractures are the result of a large force impacting the chest during a fall, compression or throwing.” But there are no scratches or abrasions.

There is a complete mystery about Dubinina’s lack of language: no and no, as if this is in the order of things.

In Nikolai Thibault-Brignolle, in addition to a depressed comminuted fracture, the length of one of the cracks in the skull is 17 centimeters. Investigator Ivanov does not write about this in his decision, although after dissecting the corpse he additionally questioned B. Vozrozhdenny about this serious injury. This conversation was recorded.

Question: “What force could have caused Thibault-Brignolles to receive such a wound?”

Answer: “As a result of a throw, a fall, but, I believe, not from the height of my height, that is, I slipped, fell and hit my head. An extensive and very deep fracture of the vault and base of the skull was received by a blow equal in force to being thrown by a car moving at a high speed.” speed."

Question: “Can we assume that Thibault was hit with a stone that was in the man’s hand?”

Answer: “In this case, soft tissue would have been damaged, but this was not detected.”

The documents on the causes of death of Krivonischenko and Doroshenko note that they received abrasions, scratches and skin wounds when they fell on snow, ice, or stones. And investigator Ivanov will later add: and when climbing for knots for a fire on a cedar tree. But there is no evidence of this in the examination. Why did the criminologist need this tree climbing?

So, everyone fell, but the nature of the injuries was different. But what kind of force abandoned tourists like that? Was there a hurricane wind? But the tent above has not been torn down, the trees - pines, cedars - stand intact.

It is worth adding a few more important circumstances - the forensic medical examination notes a peculiar, reddish-purple skin color in all the victims. Moreover, both the face and the legs and torso. Has anything been done to explain its cause? Everyone has dilated pupils (what follows from this?), and the absence of alcohol in the body. Everyone also took food at the same time - 6 - 8 hours before death.

After autopsy of the corpses, parts of the internal organs were taken from all of them for chemical and histological analysis. The results of these studies are unknown. In his subsequent documents, criminologist Ivanov does not even remember them.

There is another mysterious page that appeared in the case not immediately, but in mid-May: a physical and technical examination of the clothes of the last four victims for the content of radioactive substances. Its results were either withdrawn as irrelevant to the case, or returned again. Ultimately, the case was never included in the dismissal order.

“As a result of dosimetric measurements of solid substrates of clothing,” says the examination, “the maximum load was set on a sweater - 9900 dispersion/min. from 150 sq. cm. On other “substrates” it is significantly less. Experimental washing of clothes showed that contamination is removed, percentage wash rates range from 30 to 60 percent.

When determining the type of radiation, it was established that the activity occurs due to beta particles. Alpha particles and gamma particles were not detected.

The lack of appropriate instruments and conditions in the laboratory did not allow radiochemical analysis to determine the chemical structure of the emitter and the energy of its radiation."

Where did the radioactive dust come from on the clothes of the four? Is it a lot or a little - 9900 decays per minute?

Here is the answer given to a corresponding request by specialists from one of the laboratories of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences: “Unfortunately, the examination data on the contamination of the clothes of dead tourists available in the case is not enough. They raise new questions: what device was used to determine the level of contamination? Was there a natural radiation background at the scene of the incident? How was it determined that there were no gamma and alpha emitters?

Based on the maximum contamination level of 9900 dispersion/min. for 150 sq. cm of surface, then calculations show that the level of “phonation” of the sweater is only slightly higher than the natural background in Yekaterinburg - 10 - 18 microR/hour.

It can be assumed that such an increase in radionuclide contamination is the result of atmospheric fallout from nuclear weapons tests at northern test sites. It is noteworthy that it was on the sweater that the maximum levels of contamination were found. This may be due to the rather high sorption properties of the material, which could absorb radioactive substances from melt water."

Note that the distance from Ivdel to Novaya Zemlya in a straight line is about one and a half thousand kilometers, quite a trifle for a radioactive cloud.

That is why, probably, investigator Ivanov either hid the pages of the examination, then filed them back into the case. Most likely he simply did not know what to do with them. Although these beta radiations may have had something to do with the death of the group...

The contradictory picture of the death of tourists, which cannot be explained from the standpoint of everyday experience and common sense, captured in the protocols and acts of the investigative case (something leaked into everyday life), prompted the invention of the most fantastic versions of what happened. Moreover, there was no shortage of “building materials” for such versions: just when public opinion was agitated by the death of students, mysterious phenomena began to be observed in the Ural skies.

The machinations of aliens - or?..

On March 31, 1959, one of the military units guarding a prison camp in the north of the Sverdlovsk region was alerted.

“On March 31, 1959, at 4 o’clock in the morning,” the father-commanders telegraphed to the higher command after lights out, “in the southeast direction, the orderly Meshcheryakov noticed a large ring of fire, which moved towards us for 20 minutes, then disappearing behind a hill. Before that As it disappeared, a star appeared from the center of the ring, which soon grew to the size of the Moon, and then began to fall down, separating from the ring.

The strange phenomenon was observed by all the personnel, who were on alert. Please explain what this is and its safety, since in our conditions this creates an alarming impression. Avenburg, Potapov, Sogrin."

This was not the first alarm signal for an inexplicable reason. A month and a half earlier (the death of the Dyatlovites was not yet known), an unusual report was received addressed to the head of the Ivdel police department: “On 2/17/59 at 6:50 a.m. local time, a strange, luminous, moving star with a tail appeared in the sky. dense cirrus clouds. Then the star freed itself from its tail, became even brighter and flew away, as if inflating, forming a large ball shrouded in haze. The star moved from south to east.

"Technician-meteorologist Tokarev"

By an inexplicable coincidence, on the same day - February 17, 1959 - a sensational article at that time under the heading "An Unusual Celestial Phenomenon" was published by the Tagilsky Rabochiy newspaper: "Yesterday at six o'clock 55 minutes local time in the east - southeast at an altitude of 20 degrees from the horizon, a luminous ball the size of the diameter of the Moon appeared. At about seven o'clock, a flash occurred inside it and the very bright core of the ball became visible. It itself began to glow more intensely, and a luminous cloud appeared near it and spread to the entire eastern part of the sky. a second flash occurred, it looked like a crescent moon. Gradually the cloud grew larger, and a luminous point remained in the center.

A. Kissel, deputy head of communications at the Vysokogorsk mine.”

By the way, this is the only note about a UFO in the Ural sky that was leaked to the regional press in 1959. But soon after the funeral of the first five Dyatlovites, more precisely on March 29, a small article “Fireballs” appeared in the Ural Worker about a mysterious phenomenon that allegedly took place in a completely different part of the planet: “Residents of New Zealand witnessed an unusual phenomenon: two large fireballs swept over the southern part of the northern island of New Zealand. One of them fell into the sea at a distance of 80-140 kilometers east of Wellington. The fall of the ball caused a powerful shock wave that shook buildings in coastal areas, breaking windows in many houses located several kilometers away. from the coast. The glow of the ball was so strong that it was clearly visible even in bright sunlight. It is believed that the fireballs are large meteorites."

Since the times of Tsar Saltan, it has been known that many miracles happen “overseas”, so newspaper sensations of this kind do not particularly excite public opinion. However, celestial cataclysms of this magnitude, if they actually happened, could not be ignored by the scientific community. Meanwhile, the New Zealand balls did not become a new likeness of the Tunguska meteorite - having appeared one day in a newspaper article published almost in the opposite point of the globe from the place of the incident, they disappeared without a trace. By the way, that publication does not contain a link to any news agency or other source of information. And a suspicion involuntarily creeps in: was it not a “duck” fabricated by the KGB in order to misdirect public interest, to distract it from certain circumstances that were supposed to be hidden?

For it is unknown how it is in New Zealand, but in the Urals some fireballs were actually observed. They were also seen - by the way, right in the area of ​​the Mountain of the Dead - by UPI students looking for their missing friends. One of them, V. Meshiryakov, like the Dyatlovites, then kept a diary, diligently recording his every step in it. Subsequently, this diary mysteriously disappeared from the dorm room. But other impressions do not have to be recorded on paper: living memory stores them no less firmly. Therefore, many years later, the owner of the disappeared diary remembered well that he had seen “the same byaka” - those same fireballs - in the sky near Otorten.

“I didn’t feel any fear. I noted the time and began to carefully examine the object as it approached, since the flight path was approaching. When it passed the ridge, it became visible quite clearly. It was a ring of smoky color, some kind of gas. This the gas, without changing its boundaries, seemed to oscillate and flicker. The stars against the background of the object were first lost, and then the ring seemed either transparent or hollow inside. In a calm voice, I said into the darkness of the tent: “If anyone wants to look at this.” byaku, come out."

It seemed to me that everyone was already asleep, but the group immediately jumped out onto the “street.”

A bright star in the center of the ring, moving with it, suddenly slowly began to descend down, without changing its brightness and size. When the ring approached the mountainside, the star was already at its lower edge.

Soon the object disappeared behind the nearest slope, and we were still standing, waiting for something.

About a minute or two passed, and then it seemed to us that behind the mountains, where the ring had disappeared, a beam of electric welding flashed, so that the contours of the ridge stood out.

We didn't get any sounds.

The entire flight of the ring took 22 minutes. By all accounts, the distance from us to the object at the closest point was no more than 3-5 kilometers.

There was no longer any question of sleep! If the route of the ring had deviated by a few degrees, we argued to each other, it could have covered both us and the former camp of the Dyatlov group on the slope!

We were sure that this was precisely the answer to the death of our comrades.

In the morning they sent a radiogram describing a strange object. The answer did not come immediately, but only the next day with hints that, they say, we understand, we are tired, our psyche began to fail.

We gave the second one, military-style, dry and laconic. Soon, despite the wind in the mountains, a helicopter arrived, quickly loaded us all up, and within an hour we were sitting at the airfield in Ivdel, recovering from an almost vertical descent from a height of 400 meters, as a result of which some had bleeding from their ears.

There, one of the leaders of the search expedition approached us and frankly advised us to remain silent about everything. I took this advice as an order and for the first time in so many years I am putting this story on paper just now..."

So, has the answer really been found? Are these flying objects the killers of people in the mountains?

In 1990, Sverdlovsk journalist S. Bogomolov, who was investigating the deaths of students, received exactly this answer from Lev Nikitich Ivanov himself. The same investigator who led (or rather confused) this complex and secret case.

Here is a transcript of this conversation.

“I have my own explanation of what happened,” said Ivanov. - You can even put it in the headline in the newspaper - “The prosecutor-criminologist believes that the tourists were killed by a UFO!..” By the way, I assumed this even then. I don’t presume to say unequivocally whether these balls are weapons or not, but I am sure that they have a direct connection to the death of the guys.

But how do you imagine this? After all, there are no traces of an explosion near Otorten and the surrounding area.

But it didn’t happen in the usual sense for us - like the explosion of a shell, a bomb. It was different, it was like a balloon had burst.

I guess it happened like this. The guys had dinner and went to bed. One of them came out of natural necessity (there were footprints) and saw something that made everyone immediately leave the tent and run downstairs. I think it was a glowing ball. And he finally overtook them, or it happened by chance, at the edge of the forest. Explosion! Three or four are seriously injured and die. According to forensic expert Vozrozhdeniy, it was something like a shock wave or impact, like in a car accident. Well, then the struggle for survival began. You know, so many years have passed, I’ve seen all sorts of cases in my life as a prosecutor, but I can’t forget this story... I don’t remember everyone’s names, unfortunately. The two who were found under the cedar... They tried to light a fire, climbed the cedar for twigs, and on its bark there were scraps of their skin and muscles... Their comrade, who had fallen behind due to illness, helped a lot. Yudin, it seems. He knew who was wearing what and helped identify who was wearing what. All the clothes were mixed up. They stripped the dead to save the living.

I am guilty, very guilty before the relatives of the guys - I did not allow them to see the bodies. The only exception was made for Lyuda Dubinina’s father - he opened the lid of the coffin to show that his daughter was dressed as expected. He lost consciousness.

One thing justifies me - I didn’t carry out my own will. Kirilenko was the first secretary at that time, but he did not directly interfere in the matter; I was “supervised” by Eshtokin, the second secretary. Several times during the investigation he called the regional committee. Gave instructions. Game, of course, by today's standards. I did not work out the version about luminous balls. So they “hushed up” the matter..."

When Lev Nikitich gave this interview, he was no longer working in Sverdlovsk, but as a prosecutor in the Kustanai region. The interview turned out to be one of the last in the life of the criminologist. Soon he was gone...

Tellingly, another investigator, Vladimir Ivanovich Karataev, names approximately the same reason for the deaths of tourists. In 1959, he worked at the Ivdel prosecutor’s office and also began to conduct an investigation, but was then removed. Some of his memoirs have already appeared in print. I think that to complete the picture it is worth citing them in their entirety.

“I was one of the first at the scene of the disaster. Quite quickly I identified about a dozen witnesses who said that on the day the students were killed, some kind of ball flew by. The witnesses - Mansi Anyamov, Sanbindalov, Kurikov - not only described it, but also drew (drawings) these were later removed from the case). All these materials were soon requested by Moscow, in particular by the deputy prosecutor of the republic, Urakov. I handed them over to prosecutor Ivdel Tempalov, who took them to Sverdlovsk.

Then the first secretary of the city party committee, Prodanov, invites me to his place and transparently hints: there is, they say, a proposal to stop the matter. Clearly, not his personal, nothing more than an order from above. I inform Tempalov, he calls Sverdlovsk and hears the same advice: there’s no need for you to bother there anymore, it’s time to stop the matter. At my request, Prodanov then called Kirilenko. And I heard the same thing: stop the case. Literally a day or two later I found out that Ivanov took it into his hands, who quickly rolled it up...

Of course, this is not his fault. They put pressure on him too. After all, everything was done in terrible secrecy. Some generals and colonels came and sternly warned us not to let loose our tongues in vain. Journalists were generally not allowed within range of the cannon shot. True, I did help one very smart one of them - Yuri Yarovoy from “On the Replacement!” He pushed him into the helicopter as a witness. I took risks, of course. And it would be bad for him if they found out who he was...

At first, Mansi was clearly blamed for the death of tourists. Many of them then passed through the pre-trial detention cell. There were even proposals to use torture against them, as in 1937. But, fortunately, it didn't come to that...

When the first group of Dyatlovites were anatomized, only a very limited circle of people were allowed into the morgue: everything was guarded by the KGB. I was there as a nurse.

Let me remind you that the cause of death of the first five people was named hypothermia. The forensic medical examination also had such preliminary information. But when one of the experts - his last name was Hans - opened the skin on the head of one of the corpses, he involuntarily screamed in an inhuman voice: the skull was roughly flattened! Others were also mutilated. I called the leadership of the State Emergency Commission in Lozva and reported on the circumstances of the autopsy. They send me away. What are you saying? What injuries could there be, are they frozen? If you don’t believe me, I say, come. But it seems they never arrived...

I remember well: in the morgue there were two large barrels of alcohol. After the opening, we all literally almost bathed in them - in this way we were disinfected, although we didn’t know from what...

The mystery of the death of the Dyatlovites haunted me for many years. It still worries me. When glasnost began, I even tried to find Yuri Yarovoy so that I could finally write the whole truth, but I found out that he died in 1980 in a car accident along with his wife...

I knew helicopter pilots in Ivdel - Gladyrev, Strelnik and Gagarin. Desperate guys. The car could even be parked in the yard of local residents. Somewhere soon after the guys died, I received a message: hunter Epanchikov found some strange piece of hardware in the taiga. We get into the helicopter and fly to it. Indeed, it was a curious piece of iron. But she was not interested in the investigation.

By the way, soon this wonderful crew of helicopter pilots crashed in the mountains, everyone died. There was a feeling that it was the death of the Dyatlovites that pulled behind it a whole chain of other deaths. Just a real Russian version of "Octopus"!

My conclusion regarding the death of the Dyatlov group is one: they were killed by the explosion of some kind of rocket that fell from the sky (one might say, a ball, a UFO). Because by the nature of the injuries, they were all lifted quite high and thrown, hit the ground..."

Probably, with this confession of a criminologist who studied the tragedy before it became the subject of incomprehensible intrigues of the “competent authorities,” we could put an end to our investigation. Even if these fireballs would remain a mystery for the time being. Not that important after all physical nature this clearly man-made phenomenon: it is enough to know that aliens have nothing to do with it (otherwise why would the state so zealously cover up all traces?), that the guys turned out to be accidental victims of some large-scale experiment, which even after everything that happened the country’s leadership considered inappropriate to declassify, perhaps , reasoning that you can’t resurrect the dead anyway. In a word, a normal tragic collision of the times of ideological unanimity and the Cold War.

That’s how it is, but it doesn’t turn out to be a beautiful tragic-sorrowful ending! Some small, but numerous facts annoyingly do not fit into the harmonious plot with fireballs. And, therefore, there is no way to put an end to this.

Complicating circumstances

We have already become acquainted with a number of facts that are inconvenient for the version with balls - I will remind you of some without returning to their discussion.

Ebony scabbard and many other things not identified by Yudin. And by the way, where are the knives from those sheaths? The investigation reports are silent about them.

There was relative order in the tent, from which the tourists ran out, according to the version of the investigator who closed the case, in terrible haste and panic. They ran out, but someone else managed to cut - from the inside! - with a knife that was never found, the strong canvas walls of the tent. Thoroughly shredded; Even if the knife is very sharp, you can hardly do this in a matter of seconds. And was he torn to pieces so that he could jump out through the hole? It was probably not difficult to determine from the tracks.

Skis, somehow very carelessly laid out under the bottom of the tent. What kind of skis were in front of the tent entrance? Was it Yudin or some others who identified them? Was it the ninth or maybe tenth (then where did it come from) pair?

However, it’s not even about the details: it’s the version with balls that makes you look at the whole situation from a different angle. How plausible is it that “balls of fire” (we will continue to call these “unidentified objects”) could cause horror and disastrous panic among seasoned tourists?

We will not discuss the reaction of the unit raised by alarm: the military was obliged to control the situation, to “keep a vigil.”

Remember better how V. Meshiryakov and his comrades in the rescue group perceived “this bad thing”: for 22 minutes they calmly watched the approach and disappearance of a strange celestial object, without at all trying to run somewhere. And even the Mansi forest people, who were interviewed by investigator Karataev, seeing the balls for the first time and, as it seemed to them, very close - literally hundreds of meters away from them, did not panic and did not run headlong, losing their minds from them.

So do we have the slightest reason to believe that the Dyatlovites - people with a good technical education, sober-minded, trained and more than once tested in difficult campaigns - could behave like the natives who fell on their faces in the thunder of gun shots, or the American Indians who were overwhelmed by the sacred awe at the sight of the horses brought by the Spaniards?

Of course, one can reason this way: the other witnesses were lucky - the mysterious taiga UFOs flew around them, and the Dyatlovites unfortunately found themselves at the epicenter of their destructive effect.

Well, it’s quite possible to imagine such a plot. The early February evening approached; after a difficult trek of many hours, the guys set up a tent and went inside to change clothes and get ready for dinner and overnight. And at that moment, somewhere beyond a nearby pass, a powerful glow arose, accompanied, perhaps, by an incomprehensible growing roar. The wall of the tent facing that direction lit up brightly. It doesn’t matter here whether you were scared or not scared: in any case, you have to admit, you won’t be able to sit in a tent. Some people jumped out in what they were wearing, some putting on felt boots and some padded jackets as they ran. And there - a wall of fire is moving straight towards them from the mountain. There is no time for reasoning here - they rushed down the hill with all their might, overtaking each other...

It’s just not clear why some of them were literally crushed by some terrible force, while others did not receive serious injuries and remained alive - only to die later an even more painful death, spending their last strength on how to... then help hopelessly crippled, but still showing signs of life, comrades, and fighting the darkness, cold and uncertainty.

And the most incomprehensible thing was discovered below - where the corpses were found. First of all, traces of a fire near the cedar tree, under which the bodies of Krivonischenko and Doroshenko were found. This is what one of the witnesses saw there - I quote the protocol: “Two or three meters from the corpses, behind a cedar tree, there were traces of a fire, quite large, judging by the fact that firebrands with a diameter of up to 80 mm were preserved, which burned in half. Under the cedar a a cowboy jacket, a handkerchief, several socks, cuffs from a jacket or sweater and many other small things, eight rubles of money, in banknotes of 3-5 rubles, about twenty meters around the cedar there were traces of how one of those present cut off a young spruce tree with a knife. About twenty such sections were preserved, but the trunks themselves, with the exception of one, were not found. It is impossible to assume that they were used for combustion. Firstly, they burn poorly, and secondly, there was a relatively large amount of dry material around... "

Yuri Krivonischenko’s father did not visit the scene of the tragedy, but carried out his own investigation, meticulously asking his son’s friends who participated in the search for the group for details. So his message to the prosecutor’s office can be considered a fairly reliable source of information. And this is what attracted the special attention of Alexey Konstantinovich: “The guys claim that the fire near the cedar went out not from a lack of fuel (near the fire - A.G.), but because they stopped throwing branches into it. This, obviously, could have been because the people who were at the fire did not see what to do, or were blinded. According to the students, a few meters from the fire there was a dry tree, and under it there was dead wood that was not used. If there was a fire, do not use ready-made wood. fuel - this, it seems to me, is more than strange..."

Even more strange in this case, I would add, is the statement of investigator Ivanov that the guys climbed the cedar tree to cut off knots with a fire knife. Although he had to somehow explain the testimony of another witness: “...The side of the cedar facing the tent was cleared of branches to a height of 4-5 meters. These damp branches were not used and were partly lying on the ground, partly hanging on cedar branches.” The investigator, as you can see, was careless: the fact that the branches were cut for a fire was another of his conjectures. Yes, it seems they were not cut off - here is the evidence of another search engine (from the investigative file): “The lower branches of the cedar (dry) at a height of 2 meters were broken off, at a height of 4.5-5 meters - too.” But this clarification does not simplify, but significantly complicates the search for the truth, because it is difficult to explain who, why and how broke off the cedar branches at a height of five meters from the ground. In addition, some of them were found under the body of Doroshenko, who was lying face down, with his hands under his head, just under the cedar tree. Under his corpse there were three or four cedar knots of the same thickness.” Another witness even claims (and I already mentioned this) that these twigs were broken as if Yuri had fallen on them with force. That is, he made a fire, climbed high on a cedar tree (although there was dry dead wood nearby) and fell flat, breaking off branches? Some kind of mysticism...

So, the trace of a large fire, about twenty young fir trees cut with a knife and who knows where they went, two birch trees, which someone also tried to cut, but did not cut off completely (another search participant mentions them): “The amount of work done around the cedar says that two people would not be able to complete it..."

Well, we can assume that Dyatlov and Kolevatov, who were not injured, were also there. (When the cited protocols were compiled, the bodies of Kolevatov and his three comrades were not discovered.) What then took them away from the saving fire? Desire to help others? But try to clearly explain how Dubinina, Zolotarev, Thibault-Brignolles ended up away from the fire, and, apparently, in a deep snow hole (who dug it, when and with what?) As forensic expert Boris Vozrozhdenny notes, the injuries to each of them were so devastating that death should have occurred within 10-15 minutes. If an unknown force had struck them while fleeing from the tent, then already near the cedar they should have been dead. But Dubinina is wearing clothes cut from Krivonischenko. So, he froze earlier and Kolevatov brought his clothes to her? How did he know where she was? (Unless he himself dragged the three of them there, but why?) And why couldn’t he then return to the fire, but stayed here?..

And Zolotarev, on the contrary, wears Dubinina’s clothes. When did he put it on? Another mistake in the tent?

Zina Kolmogorova could come and crawl into the light of the fire (as much as she could) - she was dressed quite warmly, but she had no shoes. Of course, the fire was not lit immediately; during that time it was possible to get frostbite. Maybe she called for help and Dyatlov moved towards her, but didn’t get there?

It’s a stretch to make all these assumptions, and the more stretches there are, the less confidence there is that this is exactly what happened. And another important circumstance is that, based on the nature of the injuries, the presence of clothing, the amount of work done, the location (near a fire, on a bare mountainside or in a snowy hole), the tourists should have died not simultaneously, but at intervals, maybe up to several hours. Meanwhile, according to the conclusion of the forensic expert, everyone had their last meal 6-8 hours before death, and this means that all of them - both those who were fatally injured and those who simply froze - died at approximately the same time...

And then there is an incomprehensible flooring near the location of the last four; and then there are things found where, in theory, they should not have been (for example, indoor slippers 10-15 meters from the tent); and here there are still quite a lot of unknown belongings (things not identified by Yudin have already been mentioned, but here is another typical example: “I personally saw,” Boris Efimovich Slobtsov, a participant in the search, told the investigator, “how a dark-colored cloth belt was discovered under a cedar tree with straps at the ends. I don’t know who this item belongs to and what it is intended for”)...

All this taken together involuntarily raises the suspicion that no matter how plausible the version with fireballs or some other “UFO” for military purposes may seem, it is unlikely that this drama would have happened without the participation of people unknown to us characters, who during the course of the action chose not to stick their heads out from behind the scenes.

Who else could be there?

A variety of versions have been put forward regarding this matter.

Since the first version of this essay was published - on the fortieth anniversary of the tragedy - in the newspaper “Uralsky Rabochiy”, it was to the newspaper’s address that letters of response and version letters began to arrive. There, in the editorial office, many of my meetings took place with people who had something to say about those ancient events.

And how many curious opinions I had the opportunity to read and listen to!

For the sake of curiosity, it’s worth quoting a letter from one Yekaterinburg pensioner: “What’s there to guess? In my opinion, everything is clear as day. The students were frightened by the connecting rod bear. He rushed at the tent with a roar, began to tear, they jumped out in what they were wearing, ran away, and then froze..." Is it necessary to discuss?

But here's a more interesting letter. It was sent by Ekaterinburg resident V. Korshunov. He said about himself that in 1959 he served in Ivdellag and at that time he had heard a lot about the deaths of students. Hence his version.

“In the summer of ’59, some people from the convoy liked to quote a rhyme about a camel:

He walked and chewed slowly, Walking with his beloved to the dunes, Then he kissed her and, as usual, spat.

They said that Igor Dyatlov wrote it. How could the convoy know these lines? From whom?

In those days, there was a secret military unit in Ivdellag - the “death squad”. In modern terms, special forces. He reported directly to Moscow. His task is to suppress riots in the camps, catch or eliminate escaped prisoners.

At the end of January 1959, having killed two guards, taking their clothes and weapons, four seasoned repeat offenders, led by a thief in law nicknamed Ivan, fled. A “death squad” was sent to catch them, without warning about the group of tourists who had gone to the mountains. On that fateful evening, the students, having previously learned several criminal songs on Vizhay, sang them in the tent. This is how an error occurred. The special forces, having confused tourists with prisoners, commit a grave crime - they break into the tent and inflict fatal blows on four of them with rifle butts.

What's next? They report what happened to the command via radio. In theory, a criminal case should be initiated, the special forces should be tried, and the entire secret department should be punished. It’s impossible, this is already revealing state secrets. The order comes to “cover your tracks.”

The investigation was then quickly closed due to this. At the same time, such mystery was created with the “flying balls” and missiles that the CIA even became seriously worried and soon sent a Powers reconnaissance plane, which was shot down over Sverdlovsk on May 1, 1960, just on the way to Ivdel..."

This is how all the i's are dotted in one fell swoop, even Powers' goal is explained. V. Korshunov’s version is all the more tempting because vague rumors about some connection between the deaths of students and the dangers of tourist trips to the “zones” have been circulating in Sverdlovsk all these forty years. And here - almost an eyewitness.

But it is not confirmed!

In a conversation with me, one of the participants in the search for the Dyatlov group, now a well-known expert on the North, Vladislav Georgievich Karelin, categorically rejected the “special forces” version. The fact is, he explained, that in the search brigade there was a whole unit of soldiers led by officers. They said that there were no reports of escapes from the camps at that time. In winter, prisoners rarely escape at all. Investigator L. Ivanov, who was in charge of the case, was also interested in this information. If there had been an escape, and even with the murder of the guards, the whole of Ivdellag would have known about it.

I’ll add on my own behalf: the message that Dyatlov allegedly wrote poetry is also not confirmed. No one had ever heard of such a hobby of his. Even relatives. Including his brother, who studied with him at the same time at UPI.

And it has not yet been confirmed that a special unit under the official or unofficial name “death squad” was stationed in Ivdel. The author of the letter himself could not help with this. Moreover, he even found it difficult to even name the names of someone with whom he himself served at that time and who could at least verbally confirm his story.

It is curious that V. Karelin, who so categorically denies the myth of the “death squad” today, was one of the first who, forty years ago, put forward a version about the participation of “behind-the-scenes” characters in the bloody drama. “My opinion,” he then stated for the record, “only an armed group of people of at least 10 people could have frightened the Dyatlov group this way...”

True, now he admits that this opinion was not entirely “mine.”

I should note that this line appeared in my protocol thanks to Lev Nikitich Ivanov himself. He forced it on me by asking a provocative question, and then demanded that it be included in the protocol. And here's why. In the first days of the investigation, Ivanov said only one thing: “The students did not die a natural death, it was murder.” We kept telling him about “balls of fire.” But he was adamant. Therefore, I tried to get this idea into the protocols. And he achieved this.

About ten days after the start of the investigation, Ivanov was recalled to Sverdlovsk, and then sent to Moscow for several days. And so, when he returned, we did not recognize him. This was a completely different investigator, who no longer said anything about the murder or the “balls”. And he often began to advise us one thing: “Match your tongues less”...

From all this it is impossible to draw an unambiguous conclusion that someone outsider took (or did not take) part in the tragedy, but it is clearly visible that the authorities who instructed investigator Ivanov reacted quite sensitively to this version: as soon as it began to take on flesh, it They immediately hastened to hush it up.

But since no one directly forced V. Karelin to abandon it - it was he himself, after much reflection, who considered it not convincing enough - it makes sense to get to know his current point of view more closely.

Not people, but rockets?

Vladislav Georgievich Karelin today explains the death of the Dyatlov group as an unsuccessful launch of a space rocket.

“It seems to me like this,” he argues. “On the day of the opening of the 21st Congress of the CPSU in the Kremlin, another rocket launch was carried out. But it turned out to be unsuccessful. That is why, apparently, as journalist Yaroslav Golovanov writes in one of his books, he was so nervous during the congress Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. And there was no report on another victory in space. The worst thing is that the flight path of this rocket and the path of the tourists crossed.

When we found the tent, I looked around very carefully. The first thing that caught my eye was that the snow a little lower down the slope seemed to have melted. Moreover, a strip of crust on which traces were preserved was quite clearly visible. But, according to our calculations, for some reason, not nine people, but eight. I have not seen a single one left by a bare foot. And the tracks from the tent did not stretch for 500 meters, as Ivanov says in his case, but only for 250 - 300. And then they got lost. Then they appeared again near the forest, under the cedar tree, where there was a fire and where the corpses of Doroshenko and Krivonischenko were found. By the way, the ski track along which the guys came to the slope was not visible.

It appears that the tragedy occurred while the group was in a tent. Perhaps she was getting ready for bed. At this time, someone, out of necessity - there was one "mark" - went out onto the "street" (one in a few hours of stay of nine people - still suspiciously little - A.G.) and noticed a powerful column of fire approaching at a low altitude . A few seconds later he became visible through the walls of the tent. There was a command to run and save themselves. People started jumping out wearing what. There was no time to wrap myself in padded jackets. And the pillar of fire is already nearby. The group, holding hands, rushed down. But the fire still covers them. The oxygen above them is almost burned out, they can’t breathe. In addition, tourists are blinded. It is possible that rocket fuel components also entered their respiratory tract. They get lost on the slope, fall on rocks and receive injuries that doctors say are incompatible with life. Those who find each other at the cedar tree try to fight for life, make a fire, but their strength is already running out. Soon they will freeze..."

At first glance, the hypothesis is quite logical. By the way, it turns out very similar to what we came up with when we discussed the version with “balls”.

This means that counterarguments can be put forward about the same.

But you can add others to them. Well, first of all, rocket scientists do not confirm that atmospheric oxygen is so powerfully burned out by fire escaping from the nozzles. You don’t even need to be an expert: after all, the rocket is designed to fly in airless space, there is no oxygen “from the outside”; everything needed to maintain the reaction in the nozzles is contained in the rocket fuel itself.

Another counter-argument: newspaper editors and individuals have already made official requests for Baikonur more than once. Here is a typical answer: “During the period you are interested in (from January 25 to February 5, 1959) there were no launches of ballistic missiles and space rockets from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. We unequivocally state that it is impossible for a rocket or its fragments to fall into the area you indicated.”

By the way, official requests to the Ministry of Defense yielded nothing. Although the famous rocket scientist B. Rauschenbach, responding to a request from the Ural Worker newspaper, expressed the conviction that the “ends” of this story should be sought precisely in the military department.

The scientist’s opinion was unexpectedly confirmed by a message from the former head of the party of the Sverdlovsk aerial photography expedition “Lesproekt” I.V. Silov. As it turned out from his letter, Baikonur most likely had nothing to do with it. The military missile range, covering several hundred thousand hectares - mostly swampy and inaccessible to humans - was quite close to where the tourists died. Just a little to the north, on the territory of the Tyumen region, in the area of ​​​​the sources of the Malaya and Bolshaya Sosva rivers.

“Unfortunately, I do not have official documents with seals on this matter,” the author of the letter stipulates. “We did not take aerial photographs of that area, but the Mansi from the village of Suevat-Paul, where I lived for a long time, claimed that all the “fireballs” were flying in that direction, along the eastern Ural ridge and disappeared just in that region. But technology is technology. It doesn’t always work like a clock. And then the technology was probably just being developed...

I believe this accident was due to the fault of the Main Directorate of Strategic Missile Forces."

The testimony of the former air reconnaissance officer is all the more credible since it is indirectly confirmed by other sources. Geologists who worked in those parts told me that they had heard more than once about “balls of fire” from the Mansi. The “balls” were supposedly an almost familiar sight for them, but they did not fly throughout the Northern and Subpolar Urals. Reindeer herders north of Saran-Paul did not see them. This means that we can assume that they either changed course, or few people saw them, since that area was almost uninhabited, or they actually ended their flight somewhere here.

Based on the information collected about the “balls” in the criminal case, it can be concluded that they were detected by people mainly along the Nizhny Tagil - Ivdel line. But whether residents of the Perm and Tyumen regions observed them or not, there is no data.

Although, as we already know from the media, strategic weapons were being tested in the Perm region in those years. Nuclear underground explosions apparently took place there - they were discussed, for example, on January 18 of this year in one of the broadcasts of Radio Liberty.

There are strange objects very close to the place where the students died. About 20-25 kilometers from Auspiya, an empty and very deep mine, which was built by the military, is still preserved in the rock. According to eyewitnesses - the former director of the Ivdel hydrolysis plant N. Kotegov and the now deceased game warden V. Akulov, before, about ten kilometers before reaching it, there were full houses hanging by the road: “Forbidden zone.” The prisoners did not cut down the forest in those places - relict mountain cedar forests.

I don’t presume to say exactly how one is connected to the other (“this mystery is great”), but only the “missile” version in the light of the above facts seems very much not without foundation. Moreover, a rocket is something much more real and understandable than the mysterious “fireballs”, which for some reason have not shown themselves in any way over the next forty years. And that is why today many of those who are still haunted by the secret of the long-standing tragedy and who shared their observations and reflections in the editorial office of “Ural Worker” are leaning towards the “rocket” version. Among them are Pyotr Ivanovich Bartolomei - now a Doctor of Science, professor of UPI (now USTU, Ural State Technical University), and in the past - also a participant in the search of the Dyatlov group; former radio operator of the search group Egor Semenovich Nevolin; retired major Agofonov, who served in Ivdel when the tragedy occurred. The brothers of Lyudmila Dubinina and Rustem Slobodin are also inclined towards the same version. All these people have different ideas about the damaging factors of the fatal missile (no one has declassified them), but they agree on one thing: student tourists became victims of missile tests. And it is high time, they insist, to lift the veil of secrecy from this crime.

Without knowing for sure what kind of missile there was (if there really was one), what its damaging factors were, one can fantasize almost limitlessly and explain almost all the mysteries that criminologists encountered at the scene of the tragedy. It can be argued, for example (go check it out!) that someone was thrown up by a blast wave and hit with force against stones, ice crust, or a tree, and someone at that moment found himself in a protected hollow, but was blinded by the brightest flash ... But no other traces of that blast wave were found there, and the pupils of all the dead were equally dilated.

And again it will be difficult to explain the illogical actions of the victims, the incomprehensible flooring and unidentified things...

In short, the “missile” version is convincing, but it is difficult to exclude the participation of outsiders in the tragedy.

That is why, over the course of forty years, these two versions not only coexist, but also gravitate towards each other, sometimes forming quite convincing symbioses.

Both rockets and people?

This is the assumption made in a conversation with investigator Ivanov by Lyudmila Dubinina’s father, a responsible employee of the Sverdlovsk Economic Council in those years (I quote the protocol):

“If some kind of projectile was launched, but it deviated and did not hit the intended test site, then, in my opinion, the department that fired this projectile should have sent aerial reconnaissance to the place where it fell and exploded. To find out what it could have done there and, of course, to provide assistance to possible victims. If this was not done, then this is a callous attitude on the part of the department towards people, be they tourists or hunters. If aerial reconnaissance was sent, then, presumably, it picked up the people...

I have not shared what is stated here with anyone, I believe it is not subject to disclosure..."

The reader, without my prompting, will see and appreciate the imprint of time on the psychology of a father who has just lost his beloved twenty-year-old daughter (let me remind you: it was Alexander Nikolaevich who fainted when he looked under the lid of Lyudmilin’s coffin).

And forty years later, essentially the same version, only without roundaboutness, without regard to “it’s possible or not,” was voiced on the Yekaterinburg city radio by journalist Nikolai Porsev and former UPI graduate, tourist and scout teacher of the Kirov district of Yekaterinburg, Yuri Kuntsevich, for many years who studied the Dyatlov group.

This is how I see this tragedy,” said Yuri Konstantinovich. - There was no tent on the slope. What's the point of putting it there? The forest is only one and a half kilometers away. The tourist camp was within the borders of the forest. The military is testing a new weapon, for example, a neutron bomb that had already been invented at that time - it kills all living things, but leaves natural and man-made objects intact. Let’s assume that the Dyatlovites were not injured and remained alive (neutron rays hit in a straight line, tourists were protected by folds in the terrain). But they saw the effect of the bomb. Curiosity takes over, they go to the hill to explore, and there are people there. Who? Those who are supposed to strictly guard state secrets. This unit flew in by helicopter to look at the test results. Dyatlov's group is heading straight towards them. What to do? The order comes: destroy! And the special forces carry out a terrible command. And then... Next is a matter of technology. Re-enactment of natural death in extreme conditions. What do human lives mean when it comes to state secrets? Don't the events in Novocherkassk in the 60s prove this?

Who knows, maybe that’s how it all happened. Although another option is quite realistic: all the Dyatlovites suffered, but remained alive. But this defeat is noticeable, it can no longer be hidden. What to do? Send them to doctors to get a diagnosis? This meant complete disclosure of state secrets.

Perhaps the Dyatlov group died not on February 1st, but a little later: after all, someone developed and coordinated the plan...

In this regard, it is logical to assume that no one dragged the corpses of the Dyatlovites along the slope. Most likely, they were carefully scattered from a helicopter, but from a low altitude. Is this why there are post-mortem injuries, but no bruises? And what kind of bruises or blood could there be on a dead man, perhaps already numb?

When they dropped the last four literally at one point, they made a deep well, a “hole,” in the snow. Freezing people were unlikely to be able to dig one of these on their own with their bare hands, especially in the center of a snowdrift, since they had to crawl quite a bit from the border of a deep, marked snowdrift to the hole. It is impossible even for a snowmobile to break through such snow. People would make a "hole" at the edge. Although why is it needed when there is a fire nearby?

As for the thickness of the snow, when the people were dumped, it was most likely really two meters. And a month later, by the time the search began, all three were already there. That's why none of the search engines came here to look. It could not even occur to them that someone could be there. Although some noted that tourists could not go far without skis.

This is such a terrible outcome...

It must be admitted that both versions of the version with the “cleansing” of the Dyatlov group by some special unit also have quite obvious flaws. If some talented (you can’t deny that!) director staged a picture of the natural death of tourists, then why were there no traces of “stage workers” in the snow? And isn’t there too much absurdity in the arrangement of “characters” and “props”? And if the corpses, without further ado, were scattered from a helicopter (one of them, falling, could actually break off the branches of a cedar, confusing the investigator), then how to explain the appearance on the ground of quite numerous unidentified objects, traces of some kind of intensive work in the area of ​​the fire (tree tops cut off with a knife, the platform) and the fire itself?

On the other hand, without accepting the hypothesis about the “behind-the-scenes” participants in the drama, many details of the picture recorded in the investigation reports simply cannot be explained. And according to common sense: if we take the “rocket” version as a basis (and most enthusiastic researchers today are inclined towards it), then it is completely natural to assume (as Lyuda Dubinina’s father did in his time) that after an unsuccessful launch of a rocket into the territory, where the disaster occurred, a certain special group was sent. What she saw there and how she behaved is another question. But there can hardly be any doubt that the search engines who arrived at the scene two weeks later saw a somewhat changed picture.

Terrible, irresistible force

Let me remind you once again of the words with which Junior Counselor of Justice Lev Nikitich Ivanov ended the text of the resolution to terminate the criminal case. Then, forty years ago, he expressed the opinion that the cause of the death of the students “was an elemental force that people were not able to overcome.” Today it is difficult to escape the feeling that in this seemingly bureaucratic formula he deliberately encrypted a deep thought that has not lost its relevance to this day.

He wanted to say - well, not directly, but at least to hint - that the terrible, irresistible force that killed the guys was the state. He himself understood this very well, but he did not dare to speak about it openly, because he, too, was forced to submit to that force.

There is no doubt - he was a talented criminologist, as evidenced by his subsequent successful career. It is possible that this career would not have been so successful if he had failed the case of the deaths of students. And it was very difficult: it was necessary to build a plausible version of what happened, excluding two main reasons, which for many who came into contact with the tragedy were quite obvious, but, alas, constituted a state secret. It is easy to guess that this is exactly the attitude he received during his repeated calls “on the carpet” - they were mentioned above.

Of course, his task was greatly facilitated by the fact that the great teacher of Soviet lawyers had died only six years earlier and society was not yet able (or rather, not bold) to demand evidence legal opinions. So Lev Nikitich could fearlessly allow himself, where he considered it necessary, to conjecture, add to, suggest to witnesses the direction of thought, but facts and testimony that “threaten” the revelation of the truth, he knew how to ignore, bypass, or even hide somewhere ( destroy?). Today, when you communicate with witnesses of those events, these investigative tricks somehow especially persistently catch your eye.

At one of the meetings in the editorial office of “Ural Worker” there was a person in whose soul the tragedy on the slope of Mount Otorten left, presumably, a particularly deep mark. I mean Yuri Yudin, the tenth member of the Dyatlov group, who, as you remember, left the route due to illness. He lived a long and meaningful life; Now he works as deputy head of the administration of the Perm city of Solikamsk. But he could...

Having fallen behind his comrades, he then went to Sverdlovsk, and then on vacation to Tabory, where his family lived. When I returned to the institute, everyone there was, as they say, on their ears...

When the corpses were discovered, Yuri began to be dragged first to the prosecutor's office, then to the gray house on Truda Square - to the regional committee. Looking at the student, confused and stunned by grief, the interlocutors soothingly laid their hands on his shoulders, asking him not to spread further and not to punish himself for not being close to the guys - he would not have helped them in any way and would also have remained on that pass.

It is psychologically understandable why in subsequent years Yuri Efimovich avoided touching anything that reminded him of the tragedy that fate had so inexplicably diverted from him personally. Some institute classmates could not understand his “indifference” to the mystery of the death of his comrades, and they blamed him for it.

But he responded to the invitation of the newspaper editors.

Now I’m carefully reading the criminal case,” said Yuri Efimovich. - There is no specific version yet, but some facts cause alarm and suspicion that the group did not die so easily. It is surprising that such material evidence as notebooks, photographic films. I would also like to look at the strange ebony sheath. But where are they?

I myself would add something to this list: where are the photographs mentioned in the case, taken by the Dyatlov group upon arrival at their last stop? Where are the results of the chemical and histological analysis of fragments of internal organs requested by the forensic medical examination? Where is the complete list of things discovered by investigators at the scene of the tragedy?

However, was there such a list? Today it is very striking that the investigator diligently avoided some facts and details. Or even deliberately distorted it. And the list in some cases would probably make it difficult to manipulate the facts.

For example, this is what I read in a letter from Nikolai Ivanovich Kuzminov from Nizhnyaya Salda: “In 1959, I served in Ivdel and took part in the search for Dyatlov’s group. We were led by the head of the military department of the UPI, Colonel Ortyukhov. We lived in a tent in the forest .

I remember how they found the last four. First, the Mansi Kurikovs discovered branches in the melted snow that seemed to have been thrown by someone. The chain of them stretched towards the ravine. We began to clear a deep snowdrift and soon came across a flooring made of spruce branches. There were some clothes lying on him. On the second day, they dug up the body of a man; there were three watches and two cameras on it."

As we know from the case, Thibault-Brignolle had two watches on his wrist, and they stopped at approximately the same time - about eight o'clock. By the way, like Slobodin. As for cameras, it’s also a mystery. The records say they were found in a tent. It is quite possible that the author’s memory is simply failing, but what if this important fact distorted in the case? And the chain of branches stretching towards the ravine is not just an expressive, but also a significant detail - but why is it not reflected in the investigative file?

Then Kuzminov’s words are quite interesting: “I cannot agree with the conclusions that the Dyatlovites were destroyed by the military. Nonsense, the journalist’s inventions! I believe that the tourists died because of the “fireballs” that we also observed one night, and then after 5-6 minutes we felt a clouding of our minds. They even began to wander around like sleepwalkers, in all directions... Later we were informed that this was a new type of hydrogen fuel being tested and there was nothing life-threatening in it...” Here, it turns out, are the versions. were discussed in the search camp. Were they somehow verified or were the witnesses simply ordered to remain silent, and the investigation turned into an imitation of the investigation?

Of course, such evidence cannot always be taken on faith. Assessing everything that I happened to read and hear after the publication of the newspaper version of this essay, I came to the conclusion that in the forty years that have passed since the tragedy, this story has acquired an incredible amount of speculation. And yet, doubts about the reliability of the materials of the criminal case are not the fruit of speculative fantasies.

Henrietta Eliseevna Makushkina testifies. Forty years ago she had a different last name - Churkina, and it was she who carried out the examination of the Dyatlov tent. This is what she says today: “It was not difficult to determine whether the tent was cut from the inside or the outside. However, along with this, we could tell the date of the cut with an accuracy of one day. And also the thickness of the knife blade. But these parameters are from us They didn’t demand it. The task was set specifically and only one: to say whether the cuts were from the inside or the outside. And that’s all we did...

I was also present at the medical examination of the corpses, which was carried out by Boris Vozrozhdenny. I remember well when they took off their clothes and hung them on ropes, we immediately noticed that they had some strange light purple hue, although they were the most different colors. I asked Boris: “Don’t you think the clothes have been treated with something?” He agreed.

When it was discovered that Dubinina had no tongue, we were even more surprised. "Where could he have gone?" - I asked again. But Boris just shrugged. It seemed to me that he was depressed and even scared."

These confessions are certainly not myth-making: the lack of relevant data in the investigative file is striking even to a layman...

Will this story have an end?

First of all, is it necessary? The parents of the dead children are no longer on earth - they, of course, would have been given bitter satisfaction by knowing the truth. The friends, peers, and college classmates of the victims have already entered retirement age, making way for new generations. There is no longer on earth that state that asserted its principles and priorities, regardless of human destinies and even human lives. What and to whom would it benefit today to establish the whole truth about that long-ago tragedy?

I least of all expect that resuscitation of a closed case forty years ago will help find one of the initiators or direct perpetrators of the murder and bring it to justice. Even if such a living participant in the dirty deed had been found, he would hardly have been able to take upon himself a significant share of the guilt, the full weight of which lay on the cruel and soulless state machine, of which (like investigator Ivanov) he served as a small cog. This means that an act of fair retribution would not bring the expected satisfaction to anyone.

But if the current state decided to clarify the situation by declassifying some documents, undoubtedly still kept in deep secrecy somewhere in the safes of the former KGB or military departments, this would be a strong and clear sign to everyone that it has now become, well , wants to become different... But there is no such sign!

There is also an important spiritual and moral aspect to this matter. The people's consciousness is fraught with confidence that the secret will certainly become apparent and that the truth will ultimately triumph over lies. But this does not happen by itself, but is achieved through the conscious efforts of people committed to the truth. Solving the mystery of the death of nine student tourists would increase the number of such people and would serve to strengthen the moral foundations of society.

But is it now possible to restore the true picture of what happened on that terrible February night on the snow-covered slope of a secluded mountain in a deserted taiga corner of the Northern Urals? After all, from the very beginning everything was so confused (and there is reason to believe that it was deliberate), and now, apart from unreliable investigative documents, there is almost nothing to rely on.

But it turns out that people are still alive who can report a lot of things that are not in the forensic reports.

And there are certainly documents lying somewhere that have not yet been claimed - someone knows about their existence.

I’ll end my long and sad story with an almost farcical story - but what if the tip of the thread leading to the ball is hidden in it?

The fact is that several years after the disaster, Yuri Krivonischenko’s father Alexey Konstantinovich, driven to despair by the chicanery of local servants of Themis, sent a letter to the CPSU Central Committee. So, they say, and so, I ask, as a communist, to inform the communists what the true reason for the death of my son is.

And what would you think - the answer came to him. Everything is as it should be: on a beautiful letterhead, in beautiful phrases. In a few words appropriate to the occasion, they expressed condolences to him, and also informed him that “those responsible for what happened were punished.”

Of course, this could have been a standard unsubscribe. Or maybe, in fact, there were authorities that, not everything, but knew such a high-profile case for certain, and the culprits - not supposed, but real - in their own way, in a party way, were called to account. Not for the death of people, of course, but for the fact that, because of some nine corpses, another terribly kept “byakka” almost became the property of the newspapers...