Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

Infrasound is low frequency sound below the range of human hearing. Humans can typically hear a range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz (20,000 Hz); infrasound occurs below 20 Hz. Though humans cannot hear infrasound, it can cause various uncomfortable symptoms like “nausea, severe illness, psychological disturbances and even suicide” (319). Infrasound can be caused by natural phenomena, including extreme weather, lightning, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, as well as man-made phenomena like sonic booms, nuclear detonations, diesel engines, or wind turbines. Many animals, notably whales and elephants, communicate using infrasound. Eichar theorizes that the extreme weather on Holatchahl, coupled with the shape of the mountain’s summit, could have produced infrasound on the night that the Dyatlov hikers died. The resulting physical and psychological distress the hikers experienced could have driven them to panic and leave their tent.

A Kármán vortex street is a natural phenomenon in fluid dynamics that occurs when two vortices are created “when wind of a certain speed hits a blunt object of a particular shape and size” (330). These vortices can be extremely destructive and powerful, sometimes creating tornado force winds. When Eichar speaks with infrasound experts, they suggest that the Dyatlov hikers might have been experiencing the psychological effects of infrasound coupled with the frightening noise and wind produced by a Kármán vortex street. From inside their tent, it might have sounded as though freight trains were passing back and forth just outside. Once they left the tent, the strong winds caused by the Kármán vortex street could have contributed to their disorientation, their apparent attempt to find shelter among the trees some distance from their tent, and the speed of their deaths from hypothermia.

The Indigenous Mansi people are original to the Khantia-Mansia region of Russia. According to the most recent census data, there are just over 12,200 Mansi people currently living in Russia and a smaller number living in Ukraine. Traditionally, many Mansi people were semi-nomadic, relying on reindeer, horses, and cattle as herd and transport animals. Some Mansi people continue this lifestyle, while others live settled lives; for instance, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin comes from a Mansi family. During the search for the Dyatlov hikers, many people remarked on how helpful the Mansi people were, joining the search party and sharing their knowledge of the terrain. Initially, some people suspected that Mansi hunters had infiltrated the Dyatlov camp, attacked the hikers, and murdered them. This theory was not supported by any evidence, and it is no longer a common theory to explain the Dyatlov incident.