Possible resolution to the 9 dead Russian hikers mystery
In 1959, nine Russian hikers died in an extremely unlikely set of circumstances. I shan’t rehash everything here, so do read the linked post. But I happened to be hanging out with my friend Greg last weekend and he imparted to me an interesting theory he had about what caused the deaths of the Russian hikers. It seems plausible to me, much more plausible than anything I came up with (and certainly better than the laughable alien theories).
Russia entered the nuclear era with a bang, not a whimper. They saw nuclear technology as the next revolution in generating electricity. As such, they strove to use it everywhere, even when the safety concerns would seemingly override the value of using nuclear (but that’s Communist Russia for you). In particular, Russia employed a great number of Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs). The particular model they used was about one meter by one meter by two meters, small enough to fit in pretty much any building. It generated energy not by conducting full-scale atomic fission like in a nuclear reactor but by harnessing the heat given off by the radioactive decay of Strontium 90. It’s the same technology we use to power our spacecraft which journey far away from the Sun (beyond the usefulness limit of solar panels).
The U.S.S.R. employed up to a thousand RTGs that we know of, many in remote lighthouses and navigation beacons. They are slowly being phased out with solar cells and battery packs today, but that technology wasn’t around in the 50s. All they had were the RTGs. And while the radioisotope source in the RTGs is theoretically well-encapsulated inside of a double layer stainless steel, aluminum, and lead casing, it’s easily possible for anyone with tools to gain access to the inside, inadvertently exposing themselves to a deadly dose of radiation.
With all of the background on RTGs taken care of, we return to the case of the nine dead Russian hikers. It is Greg’s theory that they stumbled across an RTG (which is not at all impossible given how widely they were used). The RTG was broken open, either by the hikers themselves, some outside actor, or a simple manufacturing defect. It was giving off heat and the hikers took it back to their tent to keep warm with, possibly mistaking it for some kind of heater. When they realized the true nature of it, probably after experiencing the onset of radiation sickness, they departed their tent in a hurry, stopping not even to put on their clothing.
But it was too late. They had already received a fatal dose of radiation, which they would have died from were it not from dying of weather exposure first. This theory explains many of the facts about the case: why the men fled a perfectly good tent, why they were found with high levels of radiation exposure, even why the military helicopter pilots refused to transport the bodies. The presence of the RTG isn’t mentioned in any of the surviving reports because it was covered up (this was Soviet Russia), and they authorities figured they would rather have the deaths remain an anomaly than have their prized nuclear technology be considered dangerous.
This theory explains pretty much all of the facts of the case except one: how did four of the deceased end up with severe internal injuries yet no internal wounds? The coroners noted the injuries were possibly caused by collision with a vehicle, except that there was no vehicle anywhere in sight. So maybe the source of radioactivity was part of some secret testing or training, and the hikers were first discovered alive by the military and then eliminated, leaving only corpses and a cleaned up scene for the hikers’ friends to stumble upon much later during the recovery search? Can you come up with a better theory?
In the end, I suspect we will never know the truth. The Communist government of Soviet Russia seems to have had good reason to cover up the particulars of this case. So in the end all of the facts were recorded as anomalous, while truthfully, there were people involved in a cover-up effort who knew exactly what happened.
March 10th, 2008 at 01:06
I mentioned a similar theory earlier, and the problem is that there’s no reason for a RTG to be in the area.
Incidentally, there was a lighthouse in the US experimentally fitted with an RTG in the mid-60s — Baltimore Light, which is about ten miles north of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
July 22nd, 2008 at 14:48
Your theory hardly explains anything… How did the woman lose her tongue? How could the military have hurt them from only the inside? If the hikers were capable of walking over 1 1/2 kilometers from the tent they probably weren’t so sick from the radiation poisoning huh? If they were so sick from the radiation poisoning how could they possibly get 1 1/2 kilometers away? They were in a rush because of iminent danger! Not to mention that they would not be able to move an RTG! Or get it open with their available tools! Are you seriously saying that they found an RTG and opened it? Also, why is the alien idea laughable? We live in 1 galaxy. There are literally billions of other galaxies… I believe that it is laughable to think that among those billions of galaxies there are no other planets capable of supporting life. Also, people make the argument that we can see light years away and the aliens would have to travel at light speed to get here unseen. This is not true… With todays technology we could easily get around 200 years ago without being seen. Human years are an insignificant amount of time compared to the existence of the universe. Thus, if aliens do exist, and their civilization has been around for a long time… then they can probably get around without us seeing them or knowing they are there. (Like a stealth plane would get around cavemen). Oh and by the way… I am an engineer.. not some kid… I have done my research… I do not know what happened that day.. nobody does.. but ruling aliens out as an impossibilty is ignorant. The universe has existed for billions of years…. It goes back to the saying “the more you know the less you know.” Anything is a possibility…. Or I guess you magically figured out aliens don’t exist in your human life time by visiting billions of galaxies… If that is the case then I apologize. However, technology is relative… every generation feels they are on the cutting edge.. The truth is that in 100 yrs from now all current technology will be obsolete. There will be technology people of today could not fathom… And we will probably have technology that would allow us to get around todays world unseen.. That is in 100 yrs… Think about the possibilities in billions of years… I also suppose you feel that astronauts are laughable too… Nasa astronauts somewhat recently held a press conference stating that the government is hiding information about UFO’s etc. If you don’t want to do your research you can probably find the hour long CNN w/ Larry King that he just did a few days ago to get you started… Actually do some research before you talk about the existence of Aliens… Do you know anything about Astrophysics?? I do! I think you are ignorant! wake up people
July 29th, 2008 at 16:17
To Anonomous:
Who says you can’t walk 1.5km immediately after radiation poisoning?
Woman without the tongue… assuming above theory is true, she is about to die naked in the snow from a combination of radiation exposure and hypothermia, I doubt she would even notice it if she accidentally bit her own tongue during whole ordeal.
When did Nasa astronauts “somewhat” recently held a press conference stating that the government is hiding information about UFO’s “etc.” ???
The one hour Larry King was an interview on some guy who claimed he filmed an UFO. Judging by King’s interview style, he hardly has the credibility for making the official announcement that “We are being visited by aliens”
I doubt you are an engineer, you certainly do not speak like one… and how does astrophysics relate to aliens? You wouldn’t have brought that up if you really knew about it.
July 29th, 2008 at 16:56
Good theory.. however it still doesn’t explain about the 4 deaths with fatal skull fracture and crushed rib-cage, without any external tissue damage. Doesn’t seem like a result of radiation poisoning.
July 29th, 2008 at 21:53
“In Soviet Russia, cover-ups discover you.”
December 12th, 2008 at 01:49
It is indeed a well thought out idea, but the one fatal flaw I find is this….
If the injuries were indeed caused by a crash from a vehicle ( a victim biting off his/her own tongue inadvertently as the result of a car crash is not at all unbelievable ) A, how did such a powerful vehicle that could climb the mountain and carry the military men for the cover up, not break or knock over any trees that would surly have been notice?
And most importantly… how is it possible to erase the tracks in the snow from both the vehicle and the person/persons needed to execute the actual cover up? A key piece of evidence included in the incident is that there were absolutely no other tracks in the area besides the doomed hikers.
June 29th, 2009 at 22:15
How can anyone even guess what happened if there was a cover up? Any of the ‘evidence’ you are trying to piece together may be (lies) part of the the cover up. Probably no one can figure it out because it’s impossible because there are too many lies mixed in w/ half truths.
July 18th, 2009 at 16:55
This is one of the better explanations I’ve seen.
Fascinating story isn’t it? I’ve been reading about the Dyatlov pass incident for the past 6 hours or so! Good to see that there are others as interested in it as I am.
Top blogging!
Jonathan
July 27th, 2009 at 22:35
An RTG is too large to bring into the tent they had. But, I think you are on the right track. These were students that went to a university that had close ties to the Russian military. Maybe they had an experimental heater similar to what you had described with the RTG. I found it odd that they decided to camp in the open, when they could have stayed in the forest, much more protected from the elements, that was only a mile away. They couldn’t go back for their cloths if they were radiated.
The others that were crushed? Military cover up, fall, avalanche, etc..
I read reports that the lady missing the tounge was found in a flowing strem…Easily could have happened after she died or from a fall, avalanche etc…
September 3rd, 2009 at 20:26
“end up with severe internal injuries yet no internal wounds? ”
I think you meant to say external wounds, right?
Very interesting case.
November 9th, 2009 at 22:14
Rabies explains all of the reported injuries and actions.
November 12th, 2009 at 14:22
Are there any pictures of this case?
does anyone know?
February 5th, 2010 at 18:57
I’ve heard they cut off the tongue or anus skin for testing levels of radiation on a human of which i believe has caused the tan skin grey hair. Strong radiation weapons could cause only internal injuries maybe? I guess it was all planned.