Mansi people

And then there's the mink or secret military testing.

The local indigenous Mansi people have legends of the mink, a forest giant or yeti.

While early investigators briefly considered the Mansi themselves as suspects, there were no tracks other than those of the nine hikers.

More plausible, to some, is the idea of secret Soviet weapon testing.

The Ural Mountains were a hub for military activity.

So there was still lots of snowfall left.

Originally, in the 1959 investigation, the authorities ruled out Mansi indigenous people as attackers.

Only the hikers' footprints were found present, and they closed the case with the reason being compelling natural force.

And that wording was...

It's hard to take things at face value.

The way I've heard it described before, and I think this is a great way to put it, is that there's so many theories about this case and all of them describe something well, but none of them describe everything well.

None of them Like take the first theory, which we're just about to talk about, was that the Mansi Indians killed them, attacked them.

They were mad.

But when February 20th passed with dead silence, the sports club panicked.

A rescue operation took shape, combining local police, forestry workers, indigenous Mansi trackers, and military helicopters.

On February 26th, they found the tent.

The following morning, searchers began retracing the raised footprints heading downhill.

If you look up official documents in the Soviet Union and write down that an elemental force killed nine college students, people are naturally going to fill that void with monsters.

For 60 years, the Udlov Pass became Russia's Roswell.

First came the theory that the local Mansi tribesmen had ambushed the students for trespassing on sacred hunting grounds.

The police actually detained several indigenous hunters and interrogated them mercilessly.

And then they have all these injuries and one dies.

So, um, there's the Mansi people.

That was the tribe.

That's a theory that these people walked in and like saw these people like, Hey, you're on our land.

And even like the radiation, like there were elevated levels, um, But it wasn't like, holy shit, like there was a nuclear explosion here.

Like it's more like trace elements.

So it's just the other thing that's kind of interesting is that like the dead mountain thing, which is colloquial, but it's also like that Mansi tribe that lives out there.

They call it that because they just believe that mountain is cursed.

And then there's the Mink or secret military testing.

The local indigenous Mansi people have legends of the Mink, a forest giant or yeti.

While early investigators briefly considered the Mansi themselves as suspects, there were no tracks other than those of the nine hikers.

More plausible to some is the idea of secret Soviet weapon testing.

The Ural Mountains were a hub for military activity.

They suggest a yeti was responsible.

Basing their theories on the traditions of local indigenous Mansi people, who've historically shared legends of ape-like creatures dwelling in the tundra, supporters suggest such beasts would be capable of producing these destructive yet precise injuries.

Now, rather obviously, a pack of wolves or a bear could also cause similar injuries.

However, intriguingly, one hiker's final photograph shows a dark, hunched figure advancing through the snowy forest.

And then there's the mink or secret military testing.

The local indigenous Mansi people have legends of the mink, a forest giant or yeti.

While early investigators briefly considered the Mansi themselves as suspects, there were no tracks other than those of the nine hikers.

More plausible to some is the idea of secret Soviet weapon testing.

The Ural Mountains were a hub for military activity.

And then there's the mink or secret military testing.

The local indigenous Mansi people have legends of the mink, a forest giant or yeti.

While early investigators briefly considered the Mansi themselves as suspects, there were no tracks other than those of the nine hikers.

More plausible to some is the idea of secret Soviet weapon testing.

The Ural Mountains were a hub for military activity.