The Dyatlov Pass Incident

[Richter]

The way the Wiki article reads it's any story with Ithaqua.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

The way the Wiki article reads it's any story with Ithaqua.

Sounds about right...

[Triple Zero]

We should ask that Watson robot that beat everyone at Jeopardy.  It might be able to make sense of this.

Unless it was the culprit, obviously, in which case we would be hilariously, utterly, doomed.

Sounds like a plan.

But I think it's more likely that it's that new language-learning sensor project from the DOD*. And we're going to need Watson as an ally because it's the only thing that can think fast enough to out-think our upcoming Skynet-overlord.



*that travelled back in time to make this happen

[Cain]

Bump.

Found some pictures of where the incident took place.  Avalanches can be ruled out, for sure.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/53210514

The whole region is full of gently sloping hills.

[Cuddlefish]

This is... weird.

My money is on some four-dimensional Lovecraftian Ice demon.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

In a proper world, this would be the case.

However, they probably ate bad food or something.

This depresses me.

[BadBeast]

Something fucking weird happened. There's just enough detail to crowbar your favourite conspiracy theory around it. Then LoF it until the tit squeaks. I love stuff like this.     

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That's an incredibly beautiful region.

[Cain]

So here's an interesting thing I didn't know about the guide for the group involved in this incident:

Semen Zolotarev was born in 1921 and was the oldest in the group at 32. He was a Cossack, and served in World War II from October 1941 till May 1946. Survival rate for his generation born in 1921/22 was 3% so Zolotarev was very very lucky man. Additionally he introduced himself as “Sasha” or “Alexander”, instead of his real name. There is no credible evidence of why he chose to do this. It is known that he joined a Communist party after the war, and it is noted being a Cossack from the South it is highly unusual that he never got married, never had any kids and had numerous strange tattoos that he hid under his clothing. These tattoos included his birth year “1921”, a military slogan as well as letter Г+С+П=Д. The last was common among Soviet soldiers who served together for a long time. Russian letter “Д” could stand for “friendship”. Three letters were first letters of the three soldiers. “С” stood for “Семен” or “Semen” in Russian. Others two names are unknown. Another unusual fact is that records show Zolotarev received a full six months of training in 1941, at a time during the war when most soldiers were given a few days at most then rushed to the front, and officers three months to train. He not only survived but won 4 medals, which was unusual as the Kremlin did not honor many Chechens or Cossacks, deeming them too politically volatile. If things weren't odd enough, after investigators looked into his official records they discovered that while he mentioned these medals on his job applications, he did not include the serial numbers, names, locations of the battles, or units he served with... and yet the papers were accepted and filed despite these numerous omissions.

The obvious conclusion is that he was either a political officer of some kind, or else possibly military intelligence.  Maybe, at the outside, some kind of Red Army early commando unit formation.

That may account for some of the military interest in the case, perhaps.

[East Coast Hustle]

This has been my favorite "unexplained weird shit" thing for years now.

[Ⅎuᴉzz]

Having read through the thread and analyzed the information present I have come to the following conclusion:

Nuclear Yetis. Yep.

The broken bones, displacement of the group and missing tongue? Yeti attack.
The radiation? Also, the yetis. All fantasy creatures are horribly radioactive, don't you know.
That's why we keep them in Imaginationland.

[Doktor Howl]

Having read through the thread and analyzed the information present I have come to the following conclusion:

Nuclear Yetis. Yep.

The broken bones, displacement of the group and missing tongue? Yeti attack.
The radiation? Also, the yetis. All fantasy creatures are horribly radioactive, don't you know.
That's why we keep them in Imaginationland.

Actually, they're in Cleveland Heights.

[Ⅎuᴉzz]

Having read through the thread and analyzed the information present I have come to the following conclusion:

Nuclear Yetis. Yep.

The broken bones, displacement of the group and missing tongue? Yeti attack.
The radiation? Also, the yetis. All fantasy creatures are horribly radioactive, don't you know.
That's why we keep them in Imaginationland.

Actually, they're in Cleveland Heights.

That explains a lot.

[Doktor Howl]

Turns out it may have been ultra-low frequency sound caused by winds.  The right frequency can make people display aberrant behavior, from depression to panic attacks to outright hallucinations.

Sound caused by wind on the mountain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n_vortex_street

[Doktor Howl]

On the other hand, the katabatic wind idea is far more likely, and is known to have happened at least once in similar surroundings.

https://dyatlovpass.com/swedish-russian-expedition-2019