Theories about the Dyatlov Pass Incident
Dyatlov Pass Incident Theories
The real mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Incident is to understand what really happened that terrible night back in 1959 when nine frightened hikers died on a lonely mountain far from home. The Russian authorities’ may-or-may not know themselves. The available evidence may-or-may not be wholly accurate.
For those who don’t already know the story – a team of nine people hiking in the Ural Mountains suddenly cut a hole in their tent in the middle of the night and fled to a nearby forest. In sub-zero temperatures their chances of survival were poor. They tried to make a fire and use what ever clothes they had but they all died. Investigations later found that some of them had sustained terrible injuries, missing organs and even had traces of radiation on their clothes. These people experienced something horrific and then died and no one really knows why. This is one mystery that deserves to be solved.
The Official Statement from the Russian Authorities
“As there was no evidence of a guilty party the reasons for the actions of the ski-team and their subsequent injuries is unknown. All that can be said is that they were the victims of a “Compelling Force”.
Even until today the authorities have failed to clarify what they meant by this statement. Were they referring to a physical force capable of inflicting the injuries, such as a shockwave, or were they referring to a mental compulsion – or perhaps both?
After many years and the tireless work of the Dyatlov Pass Foundation, the official investigation has been reopened by the Russian authorities.
There have been many theories regarding what happened. Here are a few to consider:
The Fear of Avalanche Theory
When the ski-team set up their last camp the slopes of Kholat-Syakhl (a Mansi name apparently meaning ‘Mountain of the Dead’) they chose a spot that has surprised both rescuers and investigators. It was highly exposed and just possibly in the path of a small avalanche should it occur. However, it was a good place from which to start the following day’s journey.
As very experienced skiers and hikers it is likely that the team was fully aware about where they were camping. Maybe they saw the risk as low and worth taking or were just too tired to relocate.
The theory suggests that regardless of their misgivings they stayed where they were. However, as night fell, and the wind rose, these misgivings may have turned to nervousness and finally fear.
Perhaps there were arguments and disagreements about what they should do. Then, to increase their anxiety, they could periodically here faint roaring and rumbling noises above the wind. Was this the sound of rocks and snow sliding down far mountains? Still, they had no choice but to stay where they were and prepared to sleep.
Suddenly they notice a far-off roar of noise that grows quickly loader. In their minds they can see the snow ice and rubble sweeping towards them. The noise now becomes very loud, and they panic. Perhaps someone screams “Avalanche!” Desperate to escape and with no time for fastened tent flaps, they slash through the canvas and, as a group, run to the nearest forest. All around them the roaring grows louder until they can hear nothing else. Finally, the sound fades away as they reach the shelter of a giant pine tree.
In their confused and exhausted state, they look back up the hill and imagine their campsite buried under the snow. They are relieved to be alive but also realise they’re in desperate trouble. Quickly they gather what firewood they can in the dark and build a fire. The team don’t realise that there has not been an avalanche at all. The sound that they had heard was the jet engine and “after burner” of a low flying Mig21 (Mig21f prototype) jet fighter or fighters (possibly a Sukhoi Su-9) on a night training mission above them.
It was these same jets and their engines that had been seen by another group many miles away and had been recorded as moving orange lights. (Please note that the noise created does actually sound a bit like an avalanche. It is higher pitched than its USA counterparts with a distinctive rattle.)
For a while the group remains together but as their situation deteriorates, they urgently discuss what to do. The wind is literally killing them. Slobodin climbs a tree to see if he can make out the camp. On the way down he slips and receives a minor skull-fracture. In desperation, Dyatlov decides to head back for the camp and see if he can access their supplies. He and two others (Zinaida Kolmogorova & Rustem Slobodin) set off but never make it. They die one-by-one of hypothermia.
The others wait. Perhaps they shout out to Dyatlov but hear nothing. They remain under the pine and while they do so both Georgyi Krivonischenko & Yuri Doroshenko die from hypothermia. Dubinina hates herself for what she does but she still removes Krivonischenko’s trousers to wrap around her freezing feet. This action suggests that at this time she was not as yet severely injured.
When Igor Dyatlov fails to return, the survivors assume that the camp site is gone and that Dyatlov is dead. They make the decision to move into the forest – possibly in search of a pine cave to shelter in. They abandon their dead comrades and walk 75m metres into and along the forest. Fate is against them and suddenly the ground gives way, and they fall into a ravine. Three of them sustain serious impact injuries. Dubinina and Nicolas Thibeaux-Brignollel die almost instantly. Alexander Kolevatov takes Dubinina’s hat and coat and tries to keep Alexander Zolotarev warm but cold and exhaustion quickly claims the lives of the remaining two survivors.
The rescuers found the campsite on 26 February 1959 and quickly discovered the first five bodies. It took a further three months to find the remaining four in the snow filled ravine. Apparently, radiation was identified on the cloths of some of the victims, but this may well have been from work they did at the polytechnic and thus nothing to do with the strange deaths.
The lack of bruising and hard-impact contusions on the bodies may or may not be true. However, bruises and the like form far more slowly in colder temperatures and in the case of people frozen to death may not form at all. Finally, after two months in the frozen snow there would be considerable tissue damage that could disguise existing bruises.
Perhaps the most mysterious part of the incident was the discovery that Dubinina’s tongue had been ripped from her mouth. In this theory, the explanation is that her mouth may have been open and her tongue available to a scavenger, such as a fox, that would take what it could and leave.
The reason for the Russian secrecy can also be explained if they were actually testing new jet fighters in the area and were thus paranoid about high levels of security. Also, they in no way wanted to be associated with the deaths of nine good citizens.
For the strange orange tan and so-called grey hair displayed by the victims this theory has no answer other than to say that it could be exaggeration, normal sunburn or even morticians at work.
This theory is a practical approach based on the evidence available. It takes all the key elements of the mystery and provides a cause-and-effect chain where the components do fit together in a plausible way.
It’s not without problems though. Would the skiers really be fooled by a jet flying overhead? Once they reached the trees would they not have realised that there had been no avalanche and immediately return to their tent? How could three people sustain such crippling injuries by falling into a shallow ravine?
The biggest problem with this theory is the fact that the team knew that the chance of an avalanche was tiny, and they also knew that by cutting and fleeing their tent they were probably going to die from exposure. They would have actually had more chance of surviving a tiny avalanche if they stayed in the tent and dug themselves out later. A study of the photographs confirms that there was actually only tiny chance of an avalanche and the team would have known this. Finally, the investigators found no trace of an avalanche at the site.
However, after completing the 2019 investigation, the Russian Authorities stated in 2020, that the cause of the accident was just an avalanche.
The Mansi Natives Abduction Theory
This was actually the first theory to emerge but was quickly discredited by the Russian authorities. In this theory the skiers, who are inside their tents, are surprised by Mansi native intruders. The intruders cut open the sides of the tent and force the partially clothed skiers down the hill to the forest.
It is the intruders that build a fire for skiers and force them to wait in the freezing cold. After a while two of the skiers die from hypothermia. Dyatlov and two companions make a run for the tents? Exhausted before they even start, they collapse on the way and die. The remaining survivors are forced to march into the woods and made to stand at the edge of a convenient ravine but not before they take what clothes they can from their fallen comrades.
Nicolas Thibeaux-Brignollel is struck over the head with a weapon crushing his skull. Dubinina keeps shouting at the attackers to stop so they force her to the ground and kneel on her chest thus breaking her ribs they then rip out her tongue. Half dead, they throw her into the ravine. They attempt the same on Alexander Zolotarev but only succeed in breaking his ribs. Alexander Kolevatov doesn’t wait but jumps after them and tries to save his injured companions. The attackers leave them all for dead.
This was a theory apparently suggested at the time and dismissed. The reason for this was that according to the investigators there was no evidence of any other people in the vicinity. This is a dubious assessment as the whole area would have been walked over and examined by the rescuers before the investigation began. In addition, almost 23 days had passed before the discovery of the first set of victims. Snow and wind could have concealed many things during this time.
One proponent of the abduction theory suggests that the Russian authorities knew that the Mansi had been involved but covered this up so as to avoid yet another tribal and ethic issue. In short, they wanted to avoid internal unrest and possibly low-grade military fighting.
There is a very good reason for doing this – oil. A little-known fact about this case is that in 1957 and 1958 the Soviet Union was desperately seeking increased oil production and had secretly decided to exploit the rich reserves in the Khantia-Mansia region. In 1960, the year after the event, one of the biggest oil exploitation projects began in this district. It is easy now to see what motivation the Russian authorities would have to avoid internal conflict. In addition, even now some 30 years after the USSR broke up, it is clear that many of the components of the Soviet Union were not that friendly – Ukraine, Georgia, etc.
This theory discounts the orange lights, strange tans, grey hair and radiation as actually unrelated to the main event.
This theory has some merit and is not dissimilar to actual recorded events where tourists have been abducted merely for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, there is one major flaw in this theory. The victims do not appear to have been robbed and the campsite had clearly not been ransacked. Many of the items that the ski-team had with them would have been highly valuable by Mansi standards and would have almost certainly been taken. They were not. Still, it has been pointed out that according to the Mansi (Vogul) code, killing intruders might have been acceptable, but robbing them would not.
Over the years the Mansi have been repeatedly questioned about the event. Not one shred of evidence has been found that they were involved. Perhaps the most compelling argument is that the had no reason to attack the camp. The mountain has often been said to be sacred to the Mansi people but that just isn’t true. Also, the name of the mountain has been mistranslated by the media – it is actually called The Mountain of the Swirling Winds.
Finally, according to Valery Anyamov, a middle-aged Mansi man based at Ushma and who works in the forest as a warden: “If any of our people had been involved in that crime, they would have thrown us all into prison because it was a cruel time. In those days people were executed by firing squad without investigation or trial.”
The Weapons Testing Theory
This theory proposes that on the night of the 2 February 1959 certain military tests were conducted extremely close to the where the ski-team had camped. The authorities conducting the tests would have probably been unaware that the ski-team was even in the vicinity. The weapon, if it exists at all, was probably an air burst concussion device with a chemical warfare component.
Whatever happened, it panicked the skiers who fled for the safety of the forest. They stayed under the pine tree until Dyatlov, and his two companions decided to venture back to the camp. Unfortunately, the cold overwhelms them, and they die on the way.
Under the pine tree two further members die. The survivors try to wait it out, but a second device is detonated overhead severely injuring three of them. Once again, they are panicked into moving. After stumbling through the woods, they reached the ravine. They clearly tried to survive but, in the end, all four died and were covered with snow. Dubanina’s tongue is later taken by a scavenger.
This theory covers everything raised as a question by the evidence – just not very convincingly. Why test a weapon in this place when they had far better sites that they could use? Why did this weapon inflict such serious damage to some of the group but not others? Surely a blast sufficiently strong to crush a skull and break multiple ribs would have damaged the tents and or parts of the trees? However, this is still the theory proposed by Yuri Kuntsevich, head of the Dyatlov Pass Foundation. Oleg Arkhipov, a researcher, and author from nearby Tyumen claims that the original investigator Lev Ivanov was warned off the case and later sent to an obscure town in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Ivanov admitted these facts in 1990 and actually apologised the families of the victims. But …surely toxicology tests would have shown up evidence of chemicals sufficiently strong to change the victims’ skin colour. According to Oleg, test samples went missing after the autopsy possibly because they revealed things people wanted to hide.
He also points out that it wasn’t regular police that guarded the bodies after they had been recovered and taken to Ivdel but KGB agents. Finally, he points out that a large barrel of alcohol was delivered to the holding station. Far too much for sampling or to drink. He suggests that it was there as a rough-and-ready way of wiping away radiation contamination.
The Toxic Snow / Drugs Theory
This theory claims that the ski-team probably melted contaminated snow for drinking water and subsequently experienced disorientation and hallucinations that caused them to behave as they did.
For individuals that were supposedly hallucinating and disorientated they actually behaved in quite a rational manner. They managed to start a fire from wet wood, used clothes from their dead companions, tried to return to the camp for supplies and tried to take care of each other to the very end.
Toxic snow, accidental ergot poisoning and even recreation drugs have all been suggested. The reality is that the behaviour of the hikers just doesn’t match the proposed cause, nor does it come close to explaining the injuries or the changes to the hikers’ physical appearance.
The UFO / Alien / Meteor Theory
The advantage of alien UFO theories is that you can invent anything to fit the facts. The main thrust of this theory about the Dyatlov Pass Incident is based on the strange lights in the night sky, tanned orange skin, weird injuries and (supposedly) high levels of radiation
In brief, this theory states that the Dyatlov group encountered an extra-terrestrial phenomenon and tried to flee the scene. It’s suggested that something alien was trying to get in through the main flap of the tent and the hikers, realising they were trapped, cut open the tent and fled down the hill. The alien followed them and inflicted the mysterious injuries.
According to Mikhail Sharavin, part of the original search Party, three of the team seemed to be heading back to the tent when they died. Dyatlov was found clutching a birch branch and Zinaida was found with bruises on her ribs consistent with being hit by a batten.
Could there be any truth in this version of events? For a start, the area is well known for strange lights and mysterious fireballs that seem to have a life and intelligence of their own.
On the night of the Dyatlov Pass Incident, several independent witnesses all claimed to have seen orange glowing orbs in the sky near to where the hikers were camping.
Members of the original rescue team, including Boris Sychev, actually saw these fireball phenomena while on the way to the incident site and were extremely perplexed with no rational explanation for what they had witnessed.
Finally, one of the last photos taken by the group clearly shows a mysterious humanoid figure lurking in the trees. It is usually described as a Russian yeti, but proponents of the extra-terrestrial phenomenon theory believe it could just as easily have been an alien.
Witnesses at the funerals of the hikers remarked that the victims had skin the colour of bricks and hair that had turned dirty grey. This was noted independently by both Yuri Kuntsevich and Tatyana Dyatlov as well as being mentioned in several reports. This change in skin colour is often attributed to exposure to sub-zero temperatures but those who witnessed the discolouration claim it looked much different.
No all out-of-space theories point to aliens. One version of this theory is that a meteorite exploded above them and they believed it was a nuclear weapon and ran for the shelter of the valley. Russian youngsters of the 1950’s, just like their western counterparts, were trained what to do in the even of a nuclear blast and the first rule was get out of the open and underground wherever possible.
The Argument Theory
This is pretty straightforward. The group had a fierce argument and one of the team slashed open the side of the tent and ran out into the cold. Others followed but became disoriented and lost. The injuries were all caused by accidents.
Nothing about this theory makes sense. Some of the group would have stayed to fix the tent. Those that left the tent would have dressed properly before going out into the cold. There was no evidence in any of the diaries that the group were growing hostile to each other. Leaving the tent was near suicidal and unthinkable.
The Infrasound Theory
This theory proposes that wind blowing around the tent created a “Karman vortex street” that created disturbing levels of infrasound that caused the hikers to panic and flee. There is something to this idea as the real name of the mountain translates to Place of the Swirling Winds. Would it have been enough to panic nine experienced hikers? Probably not.
However, one of the Dyatlov Pass researchers suggests that the infrasound experienced by the team was anything but natural. They point to a nearby airbase that was secret at the time and suggest that an infrasound weapon may have been tested at this time.
We do know from declassified records from this time that both Russia and the USA were messing about with a wide variety of alternative weapons from mind control experiments such as MK Ultra and trans dimensional travel such as the Philadelphia Project. The theory proposes that the team were exposed to the sound test and went temporarily insane.
The Russian Yeti
According to this theory, the group were attacked by the Russian equivalent of a yeti. Bizarrely, there is actually some evidence for this suggestion. Shortly before the incident one of the team took a photo of a blurred humanoid figure coming out from behind a tree. The image is not recognisable as a person from the group and does appear somewhat hairy and ape-like. Sceptic claim it is one of the team wearing a coat while proponents of the theory point out the image looks nothing like a person.
A violent animal like attack would explain some of the injuries and would explain why the group ran from the stricken tent. However, no yeti has ever been biologically identified and there was no evidence of an animal on any of the hikers.
Other theories
Some of the other theories surrounding this case include:
- The skiers were mistaken for escaped ‘Gulag’ prisoners from Ivdel.
- They accidentally drank methanol and went crazy
- A wolverine got into the tent and sprayed them with its skunk-like scent
- The youngsters took drugs either on purpose or accidentally
- They were suffering from near asphyxiation caused by a build up of gas in the tent.
- They had been in a fight some days earlier and they had been followed and attacked.
- The USA had secret agents in the area spying on missile launches and were discovered by the team.
While every theory on this page has some merit, none of them are perfect and many of them are easily challenged. The truth is that even after two investigates more than 60 years apart, there is no explanation that can offer and undeniable answer.
For now the deaths at Dyatlov Pass remain unsolved and the mystery remains very much alive.
Reinvestigating the The Dyatlov Pass Incident
During the night of the 1st of February 1959 a team of nine experienced cross country skiers abandoned their tent in the Russian Ural Mountains and fled to a nearby forest. They were in such a hurry that they were only partially clothed and cut though the sides of their tent to save time. The temperature outside was minus 15 degrees. Within hours they were all dead. Rescuers recovered their bodies at two separate times and discovered that while some had frozen to death others had sustained injuries. Reports have made claims of high levels of radiation, strange lights in the sky, missing body parts, strange orange skin tones and even the possibility of UFO involvement. Now we seek to understand the truth about what really happened. These pages are being regularly updated as new findings and information becomes available.
OVERVIEW OF A DISASTER
In brief, the rescuers and later investigators discovered that during the night, and for an unknown reason, the ski-team had apparently ripped or cut open their tent from the inside and fled from it into the snow in temperatures of approximately -15 to -18 degrees Celsius where there was a cross wind of approximately 10 – 15 kilometres per hour (20 – 30 knots). While not as cold as the -30 degrees often reported these were still very harsh conditions and survival would be limited to between three to eight hours depending on whether those involved could keep moving. At least five of the team had fewer cloths on than would have been expected and some may even have been barefooted. Within six to eight hours every member of the ski-team was dead.
The corpses were discovered at various distances from the camp site and showed little immediate outward sign of injury but on investigation it was discovered that two victims had a fractured skull (one severe), two had broken ribs, and one was missing her tongue. In addition, two of the victims’ clothes were discovered to contain trace levels of radiation. Russian investigators finally closed the case stating only that “a compelling unknown force” had caused the deaths. Again, this is a mistranslation that has added to the misunderstanding. In actual fact the correct term is “Force Majeure” and is an expression that is simply used to describe something significant that cannot be easily explained. It is also often reported that after the event the area, now loosely known as Dyatlov Pass, was immediately sealed off by the authorities and access forbidden for at least three years. Again, this implies much more than actually happened. The area was restricted but only to amateur ski-sports enthusiasts and only for reasons of safety.
There is only really one incredible mystery and it is this. Why did nine people flee from their tent in conditions that were almost certain to result in their deaths?
PURPOSE OF THE TRIP
According to Dr Vladimir B. group ski activities of this type were fairly common although each had their own somewhat different purpose. In his experience of Russia at the time the usual reasons were Sporting, Sightseeing (Aesthetic Appreciation) Social and Exploratory. The various teams would be made of people with varying degrees of appreciation for these interests. In the case of the Dyatlov Team their focus was on the Sporting Challenge of trip and in particular they aspired to undertake an excursion of the highest level of difficulty.
It is often stated that the purpose of this particular trip was to reach the mountain “Gora Otorten” but, in fact, the proposed route was much further. After Otorten the team planned to travel 100 kilometres southwards along the main ridge of the Ural Mountains up to Ojkachahl Peak. From this point they intended to follow the (Northern) Toshemka river thus passing 100 miles to east of the town of Vishay (Vizhaj). Today, with the availability of advanced equipment such a route would only be considered “average” in difficulty but in 1959 is was one of the hardest that could be undertaken.
As more becomes clear it seems that Igor Dyatlov had intended this trip as “training” for a future expedition possibly to the the sub polar or even polar / Artic regions. According to B. E. Slobtsova formal training did not exist at this time for such ventures and depended on experience gained during trips such as the Dyatlov team were undertaking.
THE SKI TEAM
The Dyatlov ski team was made up of eight men and two women who, except for Alexander Zolotarev, were mostly students or graduates from the Ural Polytechnic Institute located in Ekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, and now renamed the Yeltsin Ural State Technical University. Georgyi Krivonischenko, Rustem Slobodin, and Nicolas Thibeaux-Brignollel were engineers. Igor Dyatlov and Zinaida Kolmogorova were students of the Radio Faculty, Lyudmila Dubinina and Yuri Yudin were studying Economics, Yuri Doroshenko was studying Power Economics and Alexander Kolevatov was a student of the Geo-Technical Faculty.
Alexander Zolotarev was a ski / tour instructor (a professional travel guide) and wanted to go together with Dyatlov’s team to add performance points to his degree and so achieve promotion to the rank of “Master” or Expert instructor. This was and still is the practice in Russia.
Zolotarev did not know the other team members but was recommended by friends of the team from the sports club. He was accepted into the team and according to the diaries he co-operated and worked well with all of them. It is worth noting that Sports Associations were common at this time as was the willingness for people, who shared an interest such as skiing, to cooperate with each other where possible.
Igor Dyatlov (23)(Игорь Дятлов) Group’s Leader
Found 2nd – 26 Feb 1959
Where: Between Forest and camp site
Wearing: Not known
Injuries: None recorded as unusual
Cause of Death: Hypothermia
Georgyi Krivonischenko (24)(Георгий Кривонищенко)
Found 1st – 26 Feb 1959
Where: Forest edge Under pine tree
Wearing: Bare foot (socks) & wearing only underclothes
Injuries: None recorded as unusual
Cause of Death: Hypothermia
Yuri Doroshenko (21)(Юрий Дорошенко)
Found 1st – 26 Feb 1959
Where: Forest edge Under pine tree
Wearing: Bare foot (socks) & wearing only underclothes
Injuries: None recorded as unusual
Cause of Death: Hypothermia
Zinaida Kolmogorova (22)(Зинаида Колмогорова)
Found 2nd – 26 Feb 1959
Where: Between Forest and camp site
Wearing: Not known
Injuries: None recorded as unusual
Cause of Death: Hypothermia
Rustem Slobodin (23)(Рустем Слободин)
Found 2nd – 26 Feb 1959
Where: Between Forest and camp site
Wearing: Not known
Injuries: Minor skull fracture
Cause of Death: Hypothermia
Nicolas Thibeaux-Brignollel (24)(Николай Тибо-Бриньоль)
Found 3rd – 4 May 1959
Where: Forest Ravine 75m from main pine tree
Wearing: Better dressed
Injuries: Severely crushed skull
Cause of Death: Fatal Injuries & Hypothermia
Lyudmila Dubinina (21)(Людмила Дубинина)
Found 3rd – 4 May 1959
Where: Forest Ravine 75m from main pine tree
Wearing: Better dressed – also wearing Krivonischenko’s pants as shoes
Injuries: Missing Tongue and oral cavity, Many broken ribs
Cause of Death: Fatal Injuries & Hypothermia
(Trace Radiation)
Semyon (Alekseevich) Zolotarev (37)(Александр Золотарев)
Found 3rd – 4 May 1959
Where: Forest Ravine 75m from main pine tree
Wearing: Better dressed – also wearing Dubinina’s coat and hat
Injuries: Many broken ribs
Cause of Death: Fatal Injuries & Hypothermia
(Trace Radiation)
Alexander Kolevatov (25)(Александр Колеватов)
Found 3rd – 4 May 1959
Where: Forest Ravine 75m from main pine Tree
Wearing: Not known
Injuries: None recorded as unusual
Cause of Death: Hypothermia
Yuri Yudin(Юрий Юдин)
Fell ill and returned home before the event
Survived
THE EVENT TIMELINE
This timeline has been put together based on available evidence, life expectancies after injury, passing-on of clothes, travel times, estimates of survival in extreme conditions and best probabilities. Since preparing our original, we have also gained access to the official timeline published in 2006. When reconstructed in this way most of the components do start to fit together. For example it seems to have troubled investigators that only two members had traces of radiation. However, the timeline clearly shows that the source of contamination was originally Dubinina’s cloths which were later worn by Alexander Zolotarev. These were the only two members to have trace radiation. Having said all of this – it is still an estimate based on supposition and calculation.
| 25-Jan-59 | Unknown | First traveling by train, the group arrives at Ivdel (Ивдель), a central city of the northern province of Sverdlovsk, Oblast where they stay the night. |
| 26-Jan-59 | Morning | The group catch a lift with a truck that takes them to Vizhay where they stay the night. |
| 27-Jan-59 | Unknown | The group starts their march towards “Gora Otorten” (map reference: ) from Vizhay. |
| 28-Jan-59 | Unknown | Yury Yudin becomes ill and turns back to Vizhay. The others continue their trek towards Gora Otorten by following the valley and river. |
| 31-Jan-59 | Unknown | The group reaches the edge of the highland zone where they will break away from the River. They spend the day preparing for the climb. According to the “March Plan” they intended to leave a stock of supplies in a corn chandler’s shop. However another account suggests that they actually constructed a shelter in a nearby wooded area for the same reason. |
| 01-Feb-59 | Morning | The group set off for what will be their last campsite. The distance they will travel is not great and is only about 2.5 miles – although a steep incline through the forest as well as weather and snow conditions may have made the journey very slow going. |
| 01-Feb-59 | 4.00pm | Towards the evening of the 2nd of February they find themselves on the slopes of Kholat-Syakhl (a Mansi name, meaning Mountain of the Dead). They set up camp on the exposed slope of this mountain some 10 miles from their destination – Gora Otorten. Evidence from the photographs suggests that they were in a positive frame of mind. They had cleared the trees and skiing should become easier from this point to the mountain |
| 01-Feb-59 | 6.00pm – 7.00pm | The group eat a meal. |
| 01-Feb-59 | 7.00pm – 10.00pm | Tired, at least some of the Group settle down for the night. This is apparently evidenced by the fact that at least some of them were not fully clothed when they abandoned the tents. The temperature outside is bitterly cold – some say as low as -18 degrees Celsius. (To be honest, it is strange that they took off any clothes at all in these hostile temperatures. When members of the team camped near Berlin, Germany, in early December 2004 the temperature dropped to minus 17 degrees Celsius and we slept with all our cloths on including our boots.) Whatever the conditions, some of the Group felt relaxed enough to undress. This is perhaps the strongest evidence that they were not experiencing anything significantly out of the ordinary. |
| 01-Feb-59 | Estimated: 9.30pm – 11.30pm | The Dyatlov Pass Incident (Accident) Begins! The timing of this is calculated based on the undigested food in the stomachs of the deceased. The group, in various states of undress, cut or rips through the sides of the tent(s) and flees downhill to the nearest forest. There is no doubt that they are scared and in a hurry. They know they will not survive long in the outside temperature so must be fleeing for their very lives. Why they should need to cut through the tent is bizarre in itself? Had they tied the fastenings shut and didn’t have time to untie them? These and other still unanswered questions will be raised later to this section.Tracks found in the snow suggest that the group was scattered at first but came back together some distance (+/-300m) down the slope. |
| 01-Feb-59 | Estimated: 10.00pm – 11.00pm | Desperately cold but clearly in mortal fear of returning to their tents, they light a fire. For possibly two hours they remain where they are. The fire helps but Igor Dyatlov knows that it is not enough to keep them alive. The “great” pine tree is lower than the campsite and broken branches suggest that at least one of the team tries to climb it to see if they can view what is happening. Desperate and disoriented three members of the team decide to try and return to the tents. Igor Dyatlov, Zinaida (Zina) Kolmogorova and Rustem Slobodin make this superhuman effort. Already near dead from hypothermia, or something else, they fail to make it and collapse at various intervals. Their deaths are inevitable. They are found separately at 300, 480 and 630 meters from the pine tree. |
| 02-Feb-59 | Estimated: 12.00pm – 1.00am | When the leader of the team fails to re-emerge, the remaining members of the group wait for some sign of hope. Two further members, Georgyi Krivonischenko and Yuri Doroshenko die from cold while waiting. (It may be that these two died before Dyatlov decides to try for the tents and their deaths may have been the catalyst for the decision) The remaining members of the Group are desperately afraid. |
| 02-Feb-59 | Estimated: 12.30pm – 1.30am | The members of the group that are still alive take the clothes from the dead bodies of their comrades. In particular, Dubinina wraps her feet in the trouser no longer needed by Krivonischenko. Straining their eyes they look in the direction of the tents. Finally they make the decision to move further away along and into the woods. It is likely that it was at this time that the injuries sustained by this group occur. The survivors make it a further 75 – 700 metres into and along the woods before descending into a ravine. They huddle together but it is clear that Nicolas is dead. They wait and as they do Dubinina dies from chest injuries and hypothermia. Alexander Zolotarev takes (or is given) her coat and hat to try and keep himself warm. |
| 02-Feb-59 | Estimated: 12.45pm – 1.45am | Alexander Zolotarev dies from a combination of chest injuries and hypothermia. |
| 02-Feb-59 | Estimated: 9.30pm – 11.30pm | Alexander Kolevatov, frozen, afraid, alone and exhausted drifts off to sleep – he will never awake. |
| Post event – date and time unknown | Unknown | Between the time of her death and the discovery of her body three months later something examines the bodies lying in the ravine. Dubanina’s head is thrown back with her mouth open just as it was while she took her last dying breath. Her tongue may already be frozen as something rips it, and possibly the lining of her oral cavity, from her body. |
| 12-Feb-59 | N/A | This is the date that the Dyatlov Ski Team were meant to arrive in the town of Vishay and send a telegram announcing the completion of their route. They do not arrive and obviously no telegram is sent. This is the first real indication that something has gone wrong. However, a later converstation with B. E. Slobtsovym sugests that the team had planned an extention to their trip and would hav only arrived in Vishay on the 14th. |
| 20-Feb-59 | Unknown | Relatives of the missing skiers pressure the management of the Institute into dispatching a search and rescue party. |
| 21-25 February 1959 | Unknown | An initial failure to find the skiers results in the military and civilian authorities becoming involved in the search. Soldiers and officers take part and both planes and helicopters are dispatched to the area. The first sighting is made by the pilot of a plane. |
| 26-Feb-59 | Unknown | The searchers find the abandoned camp on the eastern slope of mountain 1079 – Kholat Syakhl. The tent was badly damaged. A chain of footsteps could be followed, leading down towards the edge of nearby woods (on the opposite side of the pass, 1.5km north-east), but after 500 meters they were covered with snow. At the forest edge, under a large old pine, the searchers find the remains of a fire, along with the first two dead bodies, those of Krivonischenko and Doroshenko, shoeless and dressed only in their underwear. They are buried under snow.The branches of cedar, under which they were lying, were broken at a height of about 5 meters. On the trunk of a tree forensic doctors found traces of skin and other tissues. With this evidence it is believed that they climbed the tree and broke off branches until their hands were literally raw. |
| 26-Feb-59 | Unknown | Three hundred meters from the fire and in the direction of the tent searchers find the body of Igor Dyatlova. He is laying on his back with his head towards the tents, one hand is holding a small birch tree branch and the other is shielding his head. |
| 26-Feb-59 | Unknown | 180 m from the body of Igor Dyatlow and in a direction towards the tent the searchers find the body of Rustem Slobodin. He is lying face forward in the snow. Slobodin was also found to have a skull fracture of about 17 cm in length. however, experts have determined that his death was most probably from hypothermia. |
| 26-Feb-59 | Unknown | A further 150m from the body of rustem Slobodin and even closer to the tent, the searchers discover the body of Zinaida Kolmogorov. Traces of blood are found nearby. (We don’t know the source of the blood yet.) It is worthy to note that it was Zinaida, a woman, that made it the furthest. |
| 04-May-59 | Unknown | Second group is found buried in a ravine under 4 metres of snow. Ludmila Dubinina is found to have a symmetrical fracture of several ribs one of which may have pieced her heart causing extensive extensive cardiovascular for 15-20 minutes after the injury. Alexander Zolotareva is found to have broken ribs on the right side. |
The original mystery was reported in Russian. By looking at these and comparing them to English versions we have identified quite a number of components that seem to have been lost in translation. These “facts” may-or-may not be true but are as follows:
The Victims of Tutankhamun's Curse Revealed
THE CURSE OF TUTANKHAMUN FACTS
If you’re reading a website about mysteries and haven’t already heard about the Curse of Tutankhamun, then you are definitely in the minority. Here are the basics that just about everybody remembers.
“Once there was a boy king of Egypt called Tutankhamun. He was buried and his tomb lay undiscovered for thousands of years. A team of archaeologists eventually found the tomb and opened it. Many of them later died in mysterious circumstance.”
This was the mystery that has launched a thousand movies. Well, a good few dozen at least. The best and most recent has to be ‘The Mummy’ series starring Brendon Fraser and Rachel Weisz.
Some say the curse was nothing but coincidences but there is no denying that many associated with the discovery of the tomb did die in unfortunate circumstances. Here’s a list pf some of the people who died or suffered. You can make up your own minds.
DEATHS AND DISASTERS
Howard Carter the archaeologist and his sponsor Lord Carnarvon discovered the burial chamber of the forgotten boy-king hidden in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt on 4th November 1922. According to the legend the curse started to take effect almost immediately.
1922
Golden Bird: According to the legend, Howard Carter had brought a pet canary to the dig site and some say that that one day it started singing furiously as Carter walked over where Tutankhamun’s tomb would be found prompting speculation that this was an omen. The day after the tomb was opened a serpent got into the bird’s cage at Carter’s house and killed it. Many saw the snake – a cobra – as representing the spirit of the dead pharaoh and the legend of the curse began.
While this story has been told many times in many publications, the precise source of the information is vague. In one version the canary actually belonged to one of Carter’s friends.
1923
Carnarvon: The first to be struck down was Lord Carnarvon who funded the excavations. He was bitten on the cheek by a mosquito. He died delirious with fever within seven days on the 5th April 1923. What is even stranger is that he died precisely five months to the day after discovering the tomb. It is said that x-rays of Tutankhamun showed that he had a small scar on his cheek in exactly the same place where Lord Carnarvon was bitten.
It is true that Lord Carnarvon was bitten on the cheek by a mosquito that became infected and resulted in septicaemia. It is also true that Tutankhamun had a small scar in roughly the same place that Lord Carnarvon was bitten.
(Source National Geographic / http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2005/06/king-tut/williams-text)
Susie: According to family members of Lord Carnarvon his dog Susie let out a howl of anguish at precisely the same time Carnarvon died and then died herself. What makes this so spooky is that Susie was back at home in England some 3,500 miles away. The story was told often by his son – George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon.
Cairo Blackout Deaths: The story goes that on the night that Lord Carnarvon died there was an unexplained blackout in Cairo. The following morning two bodies were found that some curse researchers claim were Egyptian labourers who had worked on the dig with Howard Carter.
George Jay Gould, an American railway executive, died in the French Riviera on May 16, 1923 after he developed an unexplained fever following a visit to the tomb.
Prince Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey: He was a 23-year-old Egyptian prince who was shot by his French wife of six months – Marie-Marguerite – on the 10th of July 1923 at the Savoy Hotel. Shortly before this event he had visited the tomb of King Tutankhamun and had his photograph taken there.
Aubrey Herbert, the half-brother of the recently deceased Lord Carnarvon, died on the 23rd of September 1923 of blood poisoning after a routine dental operation went strangely wrong while he was attending a private hospital in Park Lane. He had only just come back from his own trip to Luxor in Egypt.
Ahmed Kamal Bey (Pasha) was Egypt’s first Egyptologist and a scientific pioneer in his own country. He visited the tomb of Tutankhamun and died shortly afterwards probably from a lung infection.
1924
Archibald Douglas Reed was an English scientist, employed by the Egyptian government who was in charge of taking x-rays of the mummy before it was removed to the Museum of Cairo. According to many sources, he fell ill the morning after the X-rays had been completed. By the 15th of January 1924 – within just three weeks – he was dead of an unidentified illness.
Hugh Evelyn-White (1874-1924) was an English archaeologist and coptologist. He was educated at King’s School, Ely. In 1909 he joined the Metropolitan Museum of New York’s expedition to Egypt, remaining with them until 1922, except for a period when he served in World War I. He was one of the first to enter the mortuary chamber, where the mummy of the pharaoh was found. He returned to Leeds in England and worked as a lecturer at the University. In 1924 he shot himself while travelling in a cab. In order to explain this desperate act, he wrote in a letter: “I have succumbed to a curse which forces me to disappear.
Sir Lee Stack, Governor-General of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, was one of the first people to visit the tomb of Tutankhamun. Six months later while he was being driven from the Egyptian War Office in Cairo to his official residence, he was shot multiple times by a group of students. He died of his wounds three days later on the 19th of November 1924.
1926
Professor Aaron Ember was one of the leading Egyptologists in the United States and was recognized in Europe as an expert on ancient Egypt. He was head of the department of Egyptology at the Johns Hopkins University. He died on 1st June 1926 after his house caught fire and he delayed leaving until he had rescued an original version of the Egyptian Book of the Dead he’d been working on. Some say it was a book sent to him by Howard Carter.
1928
Arthur Cruttenden Mace was a member of Howard Carter’s team during the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb (KV62) in 1922, and provided an invaluable help to Carter during both the excavations and the drafting of the first volume of The Tomb of Tut.ankh.Amen. In 1924 his health started to mysteriously deteriorate, and he left Egypt never to return. He died on 6 April 1928 after having written a letter claiming that he was being poisoned by arsenic.
Sir Bruce Ingham received a gift from his friend Howard Carter some years after the discovery of the tomb. It turned out to be a paperweight made from a mummified hand wearing a scarab bracelet that was allegedly inscribed with “Cursed be he who moves my body. To him shall come fire, water and pestilence.” Within a short time, Sir Bruce’s house burned down. When he set about having it rebuilt a flood washed away the new foundations. The new house was finally built and mysteriously burned down again.
1929
Howard Carter’s personal secretary, Captain Richard Bethell, was found dead in bed in 1929. However, according to both old and more recent news reports he had been smothered to death while staying at an exclusive Mayfair club in London on the 15th of November 1929.
1930
Edgar Steele (24 February 1930): only four days later, Edgar Steele, 57, who was in charge of handling the tomb artefacts at London’s British Museum, died at St Thomas’ Hospital after a minor stomach operation.
Lord Westbury (20 February 1930): Bethell’s father, Lord Westbury, 77, was believed to have thrown himself off his seventh floor St James’s apartment. Bethell’s father committed suicide in suspicious circumstances in 1930. What made this event even more bizarre, was that the apartment was filled with unregistered items taken from King Tutankhamun’s tomb, that had been gifted to him by his son.
Now that’s quite a list but it’s not complete. According to various researchers there should be even more names. Some of these include:
- Joel Woolf
- Edouard Neville
- Professor La Fleur
- William Henry Goodyear
- Bernard Greenfell
- Lady Almina
- John Maxwell
… and even the nurse who attended to Lord Carnarvon during his illness!
Information about these people and the way that they died is difficult to validate. For now, they must remain just a few of the extras in this chilling tale of a cursed tomb and the boy king Tutankhamun.
FACT OR FICTION?
The accounts of the curse mostly originate from 1920’s-era newspapers, well known for sensationalism and exaggeration of the facts to make great headlines. Reliable records of what happened to Carter’s people after they left the dig are hard to come by. References to the simultaneous death of dogs, the canary, and the lights going out in Cairo are found only in these newspaper reports and so should be considered anecdotal at best.
According to the Los Angeles Times, more than 14 people directly associated with the Egyptian excavations died in mysterious or unpleasant circumstances.
There is one last twist to the story. It’s often been said that the curse of Tutankhamun was untrue because Howard Carter, the man who actually opened the tomb, lived for another 17 years after its discovery.
However, according to those that knew him, he was often depressed after his discovery and unhappy for most of this time. He never married or had children. Some say he was in love with Lord Carnarvon’s daughter and pined for her most of his later life. He later contracted Hodgkin’s Disease. In 1939 he died alone in his London flat aged just 64. After his death, his executors found at least 18 items that Carter had secretly taken from Tutankhamun’s tomb. Most of these were eventually returned to Egypt and the curse seemed to stop claiming victims.
Suspicions Still Linger Around the Tragic Death of Actress Natalie Wood
A TRUE HOLLYWOOD STAR
Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko, the daughter of Russian emigrants, was a famous Hollywood actress almost as popular as Marilyn Monroe. She first appeared on movie screens at the age of four and continued acting until her death. By the age of eighteen, Natalie Wood’s filmography already consisted of more than 15 roles.
Audiences remembered Natalie Wood for many brilliant performances in such popular films as Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Big Races (1965) and others. Her most iconic roles were in the musical “West Side Story” and the movie ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ starring James Dean who, by coincidence, would also die unexpectedly.
By the age of forty-three, she had everything she could want: wealth, recognition from fans and critics, marriage and two lovely children. Her portfolio featured more than 40 films three Golden Globes and three Oscar nominations. She was flying high and then suddenly died in mysterious and suspicious circumstances on 29 November 1981.
DARK WATERS AND TRAGEDY AT SEA
At the age of 19, Natalie married the famous actor, Robert Wagner. Six years later, they divorced, and after another eight years, after putting aside their past issues, they once again got married. Wood and Wagner lived together until the tragic death of the actress. Many still believe that if it were not for this strange marriage, the famous Hollywood star would probably have lived a lot longer.
According to some reports, marital relations between Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner were not great to say the least. Despite 13 years of marriage and two daughters, the couple often had quarrels. Some say that Robert Wagner was jealous of her success and there were claims made that both actors had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, which only made things worse.
On 29 November 1981, Wagner and Wood went on a boat trip on their beautiful yacht ‘Splendour’. Their special guest was actor Christopher Walken, with whom Natalie was working on the movie ‘Brainstorm’. Cristopher Walken was also at the peak of his career having just won an Oscar for his performance in the critically acclaimed movie – The Deer Hunter. Captaining the yacht was the skipper Dennis Davern.
According to some versions of the story, a little after midnight, Robert went to his wife’s cabin to say goodnight, but Natalie was not there. Concerned, he gathered the others and together the men searched the yacht. It was only after an hour and a half that Wagner finally called for help, announcing the disappearance of his wife. At first this seems odd as the yacht was only 55 feet in length and would have only taken a short time to search. However, the yacht’s dinghy was missing. Did the men onboard think that Natalie had taken the small boat and headed for the island?
BODY FOUND & AUTOPSY
Dawn saw the start of a coastguard search but before long the lifeless body of Natalie Wood was found by fishermen on the shore. Not far from the body was the missing dinghy from the Yacht. Investigation of the little boat revealed scratches that resembled fingerprints, as if someone tried to get into it from the water and could not.
The investigating Coroner, Thomas Noguchi, interviewed Wagner, Walken and Davern and it was decided that during the night, Mrs. Wood was awakened by the impact of the boat on the side of the yacht. The actress decided to tie it tighter, climbed into the boat, but could not cope with the rope and the boat fell off dragging Natalie fell into the water. Unable to get back onboard, she drowned. This version was supported by the fact that Natalie Wood drank had been drinking. It seemed obvious that the death was the result of an accident and Thomas Noguchi closed the case.
SUSPICIONS FROM THE START
Many people, particularly the friends and fans of Natalie Wood felt that something was wrong with the version of events that had been accepted by the police and shared with the media. They claimed, correctly, that Natalie had a serious fear of drowning and, as a child, had been traumatised by a psychic who told her she would die in dark waters. Records show that while filming in the water with Tony Curtis she had experienced a dramatic panic attack. The idea that she would get into a tiny boat in the middle of the night in a choppy sea is said to be ridiculous and psychologically impossible unless she was fleeing for her life. In addition, the autopsy report showed that Natalie had an abrasion on her left cheek as well as bruises on her body and arms. No sensible explanation for these injuries was put forward at the time.
Rumours of foul play persisted for decades but were given significant support when Dennis Davern, the skipper of the yacht, released new information in 2011. His new testimony prompted the resumption of the investigation into the death of Natalie Wood.
GOODBYE NATALIE, GOODBYE SPLENDOUR
According to Marti Rulli, author of ‘Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour’, in her Reel Talk interview with The Hollywood Kid, Dennis Davern noticed that things started badly on the night of the29 November 1981. Alcohol was drunk, and arguments broke out. At one point Wagner is said to have lost his temper and smashed a champagne bottle. After this Natalie went to her cabin at the rear of the boat and Walken went to his at the front. Davern admitted that he had later seen Wagner and Wood have a terrible argument. When he tried to intervene, he felt threatened by Wagner and feared for his own safety. Shortly after this all went quiet and Wagner claimed that Natalie Wood had disappeared.
Davern claimed that he wanted to call the coastguard immediately, but Wagner insisted that they ‘not rush’. Then Davern wanted to turn on the searchlight, but Wagner forbade him to do this, explaining that he wanted to avoid the hype.
When Wagner did decide to call for help, he chose to ring the restaurant where they had eaten earlier rather than call the police directly. It was the restaurant that later involved the authorities.
Later, in the morning, Wagner allegedly told Davern, that he would be grateful if, when talking with the investigators, he said that everything on the yacht was “quiet and peaceful”, and people that helped out would not go unrewarded. So, while Davern didn’t lie he also didn’t say then what he had seen.
According to Marti Rulli this information was checked during a polygraph test conducted by the LASD (Los Angeles Sheriff’s) Department and was assessed to be accurate.
The investigation was resumed in 2011, and the original autopsy reviewed. It was concluded that shortly before her death; Natalie Wood was beaten by an assailant and that the bruises were received before she went into the water.
MORE EVIDENCE EMERGES
Investigators also received a statement from former stockbroker Marilyn Wayne. In it, she said that on the night of November 29-30, 1981, she was aboard a yacht, anchored around 40 ft from the Splendour. “The porthole was open, and in the middle of the night my friend John and I were awakened by a woman’s cry:” Help, I’m drowning. ” Then they heard another voice – a man’s: “Hold on, we are coming to you.” They did not hear anything else, and in the morning, upon learning about the death of Natalie Wood, they decided not to get involved in case they were charged with failing to help.
Although nobody has yet been charged with the murder or manslaughter of Natalie Wood, the ongoing investigation did force the court to change the official wording of death from “accidental drowning” to “drowning and other unknown factors.” With this, there is still hope, however unlikely, that the mystery will continue to be investigated and one day solved.
THE THOMAS NOGUCHI CONNECTION:
Thomas Noguchi was the LA Coroner who originally examined Natalie Wood’s body and declared accidental drowning. It is worth noting that this is the same man who declared Marilyn Monroe’s death a suicide and performed the autopsy on US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy after he was assassinated. All three of these cases remain shrouded in mystery. Shortly after his autopsy on Natalie Wood he was demoted to physician specialist.
Nearly 40 Years and the YOGTZE Murder Remains Unsolved
Gunther Stoll was an ordinary 34 year old food engineer living in Anzhausen, near Frankfurt, in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1985. It’s worth noting that this was before the fall of the Belin Wall and while a pro-communist government was still active in East Germany. The cold war was still very much a concern amongst German citizens. Just over one year earlier in 1983/84 the popular German singer Nena had released her hit single 99 Red Balloons predicting an accidentally nuclear war set off in east Germany.
For Gunther Stoll, his life was nowhere near ordinary and he often told his wife that it seemed to him that someone was watching his movements. However, his wife did not attach any importance to this as his family believed he had a mild form of paranoia. However, as the old saying goes: “Just because you are paranoid does not mean they’re not out to get you!”
On the evening of 25 October 1985, Gunter Stoll again mentioned the mysterious pursuers to his wife and then said: “Now everything is clear to me!” He then wrote on a piece of paper the word ‘YOGTZE’ before crossing it out and leaving the house for a bar in Wilnsdorf. Before he could start drinking, witnesses claim he apparently fainted and hit his face on either a table or the bar itself.
Apparently, this did not upset him much, as he immediately left the bar. Two hours went past before he pitched up in the town of Haiger and went to the house of his mother’s old friend, Erna Hellfrits. She wasn’t pleased to see Gunther so late at night and she advised him to go home. Gunther replied: ” Something very terrible is about to happen tonight,” (German: Die Nacht passiert noch etwas. Was ganz Fürchterliches!) and then left.
Later that night, around 3:00am, two truck drivers reported seeing a Volkswagen Golf crashed in a ditch approximately 100km from Haiger, along with a man wearing a light-coloured jacket who might have been injured. As they stopped to help, they claim the man ran away. Stoll was found naked and wounded in his wrecked car. He told the police that he was attacked by four people who were traveling with him, after which he died on the way to the hospital.
At first the investigators doubted his story but as a result of the investigation, it was found that he had received injuries that were probably caused by having been hit by a car. Any evidence of the mysterious “passengers” was never found. The injuries sustained by Gunther Stoll could not have been self-inflicted and the police could not find his missing clothes. The police decided that Stoll was not injured while in his own car. They started to suspect that the engineer was hit by a car, and then put in his own car to hide the evidence.
The police reviewed around 1,200 possible suspects but were unable to find the killer. Various theories immediately began to appear around Stoll’s death. The fact that he believed he was in danger and had said so started to make his alleged paranoia seem more realistic. Perhaps the most mysterious aspect of this case is the word ‘YOGTZE’ which has been thoroughly investigated by the police and cryptologists. No explanation has ever been found. It does start to look like Stoll did indeed have something to fear.
The meaning of YOG’TZE has never been figured out. Some claim it means YOGurt and the Food Flavouring TZE while others suggest that it an anagram for Zygote. One researcher noted that if you turn the letters upside down you can read the numbers 027,906. If you switch the G for a 6 then the word becomes YO6TZE – the call sign of a radio station in Romania.
Although it is possible that Gunther simply went off the rails and was hit by another driver who tried to hide the evidence it does start to feel as if maybe the engineer did know something and was the victim of a well-planned murder.
Should the Mysterious Death of Princess Diana be Investigated Again?
The tragic death of Princess Diana is a mystery – not perhaps because of conspiracy nor because it is unusual for people to die in car accidents. It is a mystery because so many millions of people from around the world still believe that it is.
Why do people feel as they do? Some will answer that the “convenience” of her death is too much to be a coincidence while others may simply be unable to accept that such a prominent, almost iconic, heroine could die in a way so pointless.
The simple truth is that many people just feel that there are still far too many unanswered questions.
Princess Diana as she was known to the British public and, to a lesser extent, the world will be remembered by history. While her actual personal achievements were modest, her media impact can only be described as a global phenomenon rivalling that of Marilyn Monroe who also died in mysterious circumstances
Born Diana Frances Spencer, she was the youngest daughter of Edward John Spencer, Viscount Althorp and his first wife, Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp, nee the Honourable Frances Burke Roche.
At a fairly young age Diana experienced the unpleasant divorce of her parents based on her mother’s apparent affair with Peter Kydd. Although Diana originally stayed with her mother in Knightsbridge, London, following an unpleasant divorce, her custody was later transferred to her father.
Her engagement to Prince Charles became official on the 24 February 1981 and they were married at St Paul’s Cathedral on the 29 July 1981. Diana Spencer thus became Diana, Princess of Wales. Millions of people, captivated by the shear romance of the event, watched the wedding either live or on the television. It marked a new chapter in the history of the British monarchy. It turned out to be a turbulent one that would batter the House of Windsor with wave after wave of negative publicity.
As report after report emerged it seemed that Princess Diana’s marriage was not a happy one and as rumour became likely-reality and then fact, the British media and international paparazzi began to resemble a pack of wolves and hounded the Royals – something they had never done to this extent before.
Allegations of adultery, psychological illness and bizarre behaviour plagued Princess Diana. Charles too was scrutinised and his relationship with Mrs Camilla Parker-Bowles became increasingly exposed. His popularity fell as did hers. Discussions suggesting that Charles should never ascend to the throne and should pass the crown straight to Prince William were common in British households.
On 24 November 1992 The Queen gave a speech at Guildhall to mark the 40th anniversary of her Accession. In it The Queen referred to recent events as part of an ‘annus horribilis’. (A Horrible Year) (Report: British Monarchy Media Centre)
As each year passed the media circus increased thus adding even more pressure to the doomed marriage. Each report on the lives of Princess Diana and Prince Charles became more damning. In the end, divorce! On the 15th of July 1996 the divorce of Princess Diana and Prince Charles was finalised in the High Court. Critically, Diana was allowed to retain the title “Princess of Wales.”
No matter what has been “spun” by the media, one can only speculate about how Princess Diana really felt about the divorce. The terms were allegedly very restrictive although it appears she ignored many of them. In a psychological sense, she must have had many mixed emotions.
It was likely that she hoped, now her marriage to the future King of England was over, she would be allowed to regain some aspects of a normal life. If so – she was wrong
Still the press and media pursued her so they could report on her activities. She sold newspapers. For Princess Diana it was a love hate relationship she had sometimes used and encouraged while at other times she despised. There is no doubt that at times she must have despaired of ever having private life again. A little over a year later Diana, Princess of Wales, was dead.
How the Events Unfolded
Officially, Princess Diana left the Hotel Ritz in Paris at 12.30 am on 31 August 1997 together with her boyfriend, Dodi Al-Fayed, their driver Henri Paul, and their security bodyguard, Trevor Rees Jones. The used the rear exist of the hotel to avoid the Paparazzi and drove swiftly away in a black 1994 Mercedes-Benz S280 (registration no. 688 LTV 75).
The paparazzi found out what was happening and pursued the car until it reached the Pont de d’Alma road tunnel. Exactly what happened next is uncertain as a critical road camera had malfunctioned. It appears that the Mercedes may have clipped an unidentified white Fiat Uno and lost control. Seconds later it crashed head-on into Pillar 13 and spun out of control until it came to a rest against the tunnel wall.
The paparazzi, who had been following the vehicle, arrived at the Alma underpass at different times. The first to arrive were probably Serge Arnal, Christian Martinez and Stéphane Darmon soon followed by Serge Benhamou. From the moment they arrived they took photos of the crash. Many of these have never been seen by the public.
According to official reports Dodi Al-Fayed and the driver Henri Paul were killed instantly. Diana was thrown violently around the interior the car and then slid forward under the front seats thus sustaining serious internal injuries including damage to her heart. It took a considerable time for emergency services to get her out of the car and during the race to the hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière she suffered two heart attacks. After many attempts at resuscitation failed, she was pronounced dead at 4 a.m. local time.
Although Trevor Rees-Jones, the bodyguard, was nearest to the point of impact he was the only one to survive the crash.
What exactly happened in the underpass remains unknown as there is no actual visual recording of the incident. This and other factors have led to persistent questions being asked.
Scott Baker Inquest
In the words of Lord Justice Scott Baker, who headed up the most in-depth inquest into the Death of Diana:
“Why, you may ask, are we doing this 10-years after the event? Because memories fade, possible witnesses have died or disappeared and, uniquely to this case, quite literally millions of words have been written by a great many people expressing views on what did or did not happen.” (Report from: www.scottbaker-inquests.gov.uk.”)
The Scott Baker inquiry genuinely seemed to be tackling the more difficult issues surrounding her death and have kindly permitted material displayed on their official website to be reproduced.
The Scott Baker Inquiry listed twenty “issues” or unanswered questions. These were:
- Whether driver error on the part of Henri Paul caused or contributed to the cause of the collision.
- Whether Henri Paul’s ability to drive was impaired through drink or drugs.
- Whether a Fiat Uno or any other vehicle caused or contributed to the collision.
- Whether the actions of the Paparazzi caused or contributed to the cause of the collision.
- Whether the road/tunnel layout and construction were inherently dangerous and if so whether this contributed to the collision.
- Whether any bright/flashing lights contributed to or caused the collision and, if so, their source.
- Whose decision it was that the Princess of Wales and Dodi Al Fayed should leave from the rear entrance to the Ritz and that Henri Paul should drive the vehicle.
- Henri Paul’s movements between 7 and 10 pm on 30 August 1997.
- The explanation for the money in Henri Paul’s possession on 30 August 1997 and in his bank account.
- Whether Andanson was in Paris on the night of the collision.
- Whether the Princess of Wales’ life would have been saved if she had reached hospital sooner or if her medical treatment had been different.
- Whether the Princess of Wales (Diana*) was pregnant.
- Whether the Princess of Wales (Diana*) and Dodi Al Fayed were about to announce their engagement.
- Whether and, if so in what circumstances, the Princess of Wales (Diana*) feared for her life.
- The circumstances relating to the purchase of the ring.
- The circumstances in which the Princess of Wales’ (Diana*) body was embalmed.
- Whether the evidence of Tomlinson throws any light on the collision.
- Whether the British or any other security services had any involvement in the collision.
- Whether there was anything sinister about (i) the Cherruault burglary or (ii) the disturbance at the Big Pictures agency.
- Whether correspondence belonging to the Princess of Wales (Diana*) (including some from Prince Philip) has disappeared, and if so the circumstances.
(report source: www.scottbaker-inquests.gov.uk.)
These questions were good! They did tackle many of the concerns that a worldwide public seem to be aware of with regard to the death of Diana. Were they satisfactorily answered? In most cases the public feels they were not.
For example: Whether the British or any other security services had any involvement in the collision?
How was this question answered? They asked the head of the British Secret Services, Sir Richard Billing Dearlove, if MI6 (SIS) was involved. He said no. That was enough – question closed. However, Sir Michael Jay, The British Ambassador to France when the crash occurred, did admit that there was an MI6 team at the Paris embassy at the time of the incident but said he didn’t believe they had anything to do with the case. Some people feel that this is preposterous and should have been investigated further – but it seems that it wasn’t.
MORE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Question: Why did Henri Paul use the route that he did when a better one would have avoided the tunnel?
Question: Why did the British Government wait 10 years before a formal inquest?
Question: Is it true that the RAF team, that flew Tony Blair from his constituency of Sedgewick to meet the Princesses body in London, had actually been put on standby two days before – while the Princess was still alive?
Question: Is it true that two diplomats working for the secret intelligence service MI6 were operating at the British Embassy in Paris during the weeks before Diana’s death? What was their reason for being in Paris?
Question: Why was British Government protection of Diana allegedly withdrawn after her divorce from Prince Charles – she was still the mother of the future king of England?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=391065&in_page_id=1770 )
Question: Were the cameras in the tunnel out-of-order? If they weren’t working, then what were the circumstances surrounding their failure?
Question: Would it have been possible to switch the blood samples from Henri Paul? If so, is there a “certain” way to retest perhaps using DNA to verify the sample?
Question: What is the hand gesture she is making in the photograph produced – Sunday People 15-02-1998 Shown on the Official inquest site?
Question: Report Question: Is it true that Rees-Jones, an apparently broken man after the crash, was soon appointed to a high-powered security job with the United Nations.
Question: Why didn’t they wear seatbelts?
Question: Why did the bodyguards, Trevor Rees-Jones and Kez Wingfield allow Henri Paul to drive the car?
Question: Is it true that Jean-Paul Andanson, the alleged owner of a mysterious white Fat Uno and whose almost unidentifiable body was found in a burnt-out car in the woods near Nantes, an apparent suicide by fire, also had a bullet hole in his head?
Question: Is it true that a week prior to the crash in the Point d’Alma Tunnel the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) conducted a dress rehearsal funeral for a member of the royal family?
Question: Is it true that Sir Robert Fellowes (currently Lord Fellowes) and once private secretary to the Queen and brother-in-law to Princess Diana was seen at the British Embassy in Paris on the night of the accident and did he insist that the regular wireless operator leave his post?
Question: Why did Sir Elton John use the song “Candle in the Wind” a song about Marylyn Monroe, another remarkable woman who also died in mysterious circumstances, to reflect on the life and death of Princess Diana?
At the time, Princess Diana’s funeral on 6 September 1997 was broadcast and watched by an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide. The outpouring of grief was enormous, and the outrage of the public could be felt everywhere.
Today, so many years later, it has become fashionable to be dismissive of the event almost as if people are embarrassed that they had shown so much emotion. The world has moved on and the word “conspiracy” has been used so much in connection with this mystery that to even discuss it today seems to class the speaker as part of the lunatic fringe. How convenient that would be if there really was a conspiracy.
One last thought about this mystery is this; Princess Diana, Dodi Fayed and Henri Paul all had people who loved them. They were all human beings not objects. Their parents, children, siblings, and friends certainly all have the right to know the truth. They also have a moral right, ignored as it so often has been, to the understanding of the general public that this was real. These people died. They are gone forever. No matter whether they were good or bad, no matter what happened, nothing will bring them back.
* The name “Diana” has been added to avoid confusion.
Everything Strange about Joseph Stalin’s Death
Everything Strange about Joseph Stalin’s Death
In the entire recorded history of mankind there are less than 25 people who deserve the title: Butchers of Humanity. Joseph Stalin is one of them.
If you don’t know who he was … you should. The son of a simple shoemaker he took part in the revolution that overthrew the Tsar of Russia in 1917 and later established himself as the most powerful dictator of the modern world. People remember the six million Jews murdered by Adolph Hitler but still seem surprised to find out that under Stalin’s insane regime more than 20 million people died as a result of his political policies. Many of these people dying in the frozen concentration camps of Siberia – the Gulags.
Towards the end of his life he was becoming increasingly paranoid, vindictive and unpredictable. On the night of the 1st of March 1953 he ordered his exhausted and frightened political associates (the Politburo) to engage in one of his all-night dinner parties at his residence in Kuntsevo. That he intended to soon have most of them exterminated or imprisoned is matter of historical fact. Some accounts claim that he made them dance wildly to an opera recorded entirely using the howls of Siberian wolves. That night he suffered a stroke and later died on 5 March 1963. His death was attributed to natural causes but was he really assassinated? Here’s everything strange about the Death of Joseph Stalin.
The Doctors Plot
As Stalin grew older, he became increasingly frightened that people were plotting to overthrow or kill him. He was correct to be concerned. His brutal regime had ensured that he had literally tens of thousands of enemies. His savage treatment of those often closest to him and his frequent leadership purges meant that just about everyone wanted him dead.
Stalin increasingly distrusted doctors and had, for quite some time, believed that they were working together to kill or disable the soviet leadership. The alleged Doctors Plot was revealed to the media during January of 1953 and many were arrested and tortured. Stalin’s plan was to create a media and public panic that would support his decision to exile all Jews to Siberia. The date for the final trial of the ringleaders was set for 5th March 1953 – by coincidence, the exact day Stalin died. There is some substantiated speculation that there was in fact a plot by Stalin’s doctors to shorten his life. Some claim this was organised by the Americans but, if there was a real plot, then it was most likely to have been organised by Latvia Beria one of Stalin’s closet cronies who has recent fallen from favour. The argument made is that the polit bureau plotters where terrified what might come out in the imminent trials and were forced to act to save their own lives by killing Stalin.
Insane or Not?
Various medical journals and independent researchers both from Russia and the rest of the world have tried to ascertain if Stalin was suffering from a severe mental illness. The general consensus is that while Stalin was suffering from hardening of the arteries and was clearly psychopathic, he was not mentally ill or impaired. He knew what he was doing and why. As such, his decision-making ability and particularly his ability to conceive long-term plans remained fully functional. With this in mind, it becomes clear that his concerns that he was being poisoned must be taken seriously and not simply swept under the carpet and labelled paranoia.
Here is an order we’ve never been given before
Stalin liked to keep an eye on his closest deputies and on the evening of the February 28-March 1st he invited them to join him for a movie at the Kremlin and then dinner at his Dacha in Kuntsevo on the outskirts of Moscow. The truth is that this was more of an order and Malenkov, Beria, Khruschev and Bulganin dutifully attended. According to interviews, Stalin was not in a good mood and was critical of the leadership. As the evening went on, he became more vocal, irrational and disoriented. Some more fanciful accounts even claim he made them dance to an opera recorded using the howling of wolves. He finally went to bed at around 4.30 am on the 1st March 1953 with orders that he was not to be disturbed – orders that people had learned to take very seriously on pain of death. His relieved guests were now free to leave – which they did.
Just after Stalin had retired for the night, the chief guard (assignee), Khrustalev, apparently said: “Well, guys, here is an order we’ve never been given before. The Boss said, ‘Go to bed, all of you, I don’t need anything. I am going to bed myself. I shouldn’t need you today.” This statement was entirely out of character and strongly suggests that Khrustalev knew more than he was letting on and wanted to make sure that nobody entered the room.
Let’s Not be Hasty Comrade …
Stalin did not appear all day and this worried the staff, but they dared not disturb him particularly as they had received an order from Khrustalev. Desperately concerned, they finally opened his door at 11.pm and found ‘The Boss’ lying on the floor near the desk in a pool of his own urine. According to reports he was conscious, mumbling but incoherent. He was lifted on to the nearby sofa and the phone calls were made to the senior members of the Soviet Politburo. What happened next is confused and debatable. The Politburo members, particularly Beria and Malenkov denied there was an issue and as a result Stalin was only seen by doctors on the morning of the 2nd March 1953 – some 13 hours after he had been discovered. By this time he was in a very bad condition. Based on behaviour, its fair to conclude that Stalin’s right-hand men were initially in no rush to save him.
Leeches, Injections, and Dubious Enemas
The doctors summoned were terrified. There are accounts that they used leaches to try lower Stalin’s blood pressure and injections of adrenaline and even enemas reportedly containing glucose raw eggs and other stuff. Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana, was summoned and reported that he looked dreadful while his son, Vasili, quickly became drunk and accused the doctors of trying to kill his father. The scene was chaotic and just about anything could have been administered to Stalin during this time. The truth is that other than Svetlana, everyone else felt it would be better if he died. They just needed him to live long enough to sort out what happened next and who would be in charge.
Stalin eventually died horribly on the 5th March 1953. According to Svetlana, “He suddenly opened his eyes and looked at everyone in the room,” she said. “It was a terrible gaze, mad or maybe furious and full of fear of death.”
Stomach Bleeding, Muscular Haemorrhages and Hidden Reports
If ever there was a smoking gun in the death of Stalin, this is it. An autopsy conducted after Stalin’s death did reveal a massive cerebral haemorrhage that, from the moment it formed, would have eventually killed Stalin. However, there were also many smaller muscular haemorrhages and severe stomach bleeding that were consistent with poisoning. (Surgical Neurology International 2013) Just as interesting is the fact that these reports were hidden and not made public for many years. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4524003/)
His Face Turned Black
According to Svetlana, her father’s face had become discoloured and blackened prior to death. While a darkening of the skin can occur after death due to post-mortem lividity, Stalin’s changed colour prior to his death suggesting possible poison. In addition, Svetlana describes Stalin as being in severe even agonising pain which is commonly associated with poisoning. Some modern doctors now believe that the drug Warfarin was given to Stalin during the dinner party and that it was this that this induced his fatal stroke. He was then given a second injection the following morning – some suggest the toxin thallium was used. Interestingly, Both Warfarin and Thallium are used in Rat poisons.
I did him in! I saved all of you.
According to Molatov, some two months after Stalin’s death, Beria actually said to him. “I did him in! I saved all of you.” This was recorded by Vyacheslav M. Molotov and published in 1992 as ”Molotov Remembers”. On the day that Stalin actually died, Beria laughed and summoned a driver to take him to the Kremlin. Who was the driver? None other than chief Guard Khrustalev who had given the original order for Stalin not to be disturbed.
Lavrentiy Beria may have tried to grab power but things didn’t work out to well for him. By the end of the year he had been executed by firing squad – not for killing Stalin but because he favoured a financial deal with the USA that would have seen massive reorganisation of the eastern bloc powers and the possible early reunification of Germany. Krushchev organised the coup and Beria was arrested in June – just three months after Stalin’s death.
No New Autopsy Just Two Slabs of Concrete
Over the years there have been several suggestions that Stalin’s body should be exhumed and tested for toxins in a way that wasn’t possible in the past. This has never happened. Apparently, he remains buried up against the Kremlin wall in relative obscurity. There’s even a joke that he’s buried under two slabs of concrete so he can never rise from the dead.
It’s unlikely that we will ever know what really killed Stalin. Even if his body was exhumed, the embalming process used on him is likely to mask any latent findings. What we do know is that most of the senior soviets involved with the death of Stalin went on to experience mixed fortunes.
The two that stand out are Lavrentiy Beria, head of the secret police, who was soon executed and Nikita Khrushchev who became Premier of the USSR. For the rest it was political intrigue as usual with some successes until one-by-one they were forced into retirement and sent to the back county to live out their lives.
Peter Lozgachev, Deputy Dacha Commander, stayed out of trouble, eventually retired and later helped to provide much information about the night that Stalin died.
Assignee Khrustalev, the guard that was appointed by Beria and who gave the unusual order regarding Stalin’s privacy, died of an unknown disease shortly after the incident. Coincidence – perhaps not.
Reasons why people wonder: Did Hitler Die in Berlin?
Did Hitler Die in Berlin? The Reasons Why People Still Doubt the Official Version of Events
Ever since the end of world War II some people have believed that Hitler did not die by suicide in his Berlin Führerbunker. It makes sense that some were desperate that he lived on to lead again while other were frightened that he might reappear like Napoleon and start another war. Other groups, particularly the future Israelis, were angry that he might have escaped justice as did many other Nazi leaders. Well, Hitler never did officially reappear, the mainstream NAZI movement quickly died away like rotten tree and, back in the 1950’s the real bogeymen weren’t runaway Nazis but the ever more powerful and aggressive Soviets.
Let’s go back to the end-days of the war which was going very badly for the Germans. With the vengeful Russians steamrolling in from the east and the American and British coalition advancing from the west, the situation was looking desperate.
Hitler retreated to his Bunker in Berlin. By the 27th of April Berlin was cut off and on the 30th of April 1945, at 3:30pm he and his new wife, Eva Braun, apparently committed suicide. According to Hitler’s wishes, their bodies were quickly and privately taken outside and cremated with petrol and paper by Deputy Führer Martin Bormann and Hitler’s chief valet, Heinz Linge. According to eyewitnesses, petrol was added several times. The remains, which were more than expected, were then said to have been interned in a shallow bomb crater. Continued shelling of the Chancellery buried the area in rubble. After much searching, the Russian secret service SMERSH allegedly discovered their bodies on the 2nd of May along with those of two dogs (Blondi and Wulf). They then informed the Russian leader Joseph Stalin who had been desperate for news. So … why do some people still believe that Hitler survived.
Lies, Confusion and Assumptions
From the moment that Hitler was supposed to have taken cyanide and shot himself there has been significant confusion and outright lies by those involved. Many of the key Nazi figures involved failed to survive or disappeared and even the Russians were less than accurate in their reporting. Those that did survive and testify were deeply biased as witnesses and quite capable of providing misleading information.
The truth is that whatever happened at 3:30pm in the Führerbunker happened in private. Only a few people initially entered the study where Hitler and Eva Braun had allegedly committed suicide. These were Bormann, Linge, Misch, Günsche and Goebbels and within 24 hours Bormann had disappeared and Goebbels was dead by suicide.
The first big lie was the announcement of Hitler’s death by the Reichssender Hamburg radio station. Admiral Donitz, Hitler’s successor, announced that the Fuhrer had died while fighting in Berlin – patently untrue. Various news reports and accounts started being published on the 2nd May 1945 and claimed so many different versions of what happened that no one knew what to believe. Times magazine ran several different versions and Louis Lochner, the Berlin correspondent for Associated Press wrote: “I still cannot escape the feeling that Hitler is some place where nobody expects him to be.” Times magazine first wrote on the 7th of May that there was doubt over how he died with reports from Sweden claiming he had suffered a brain haemorrhage. They later wrote on the 14th May, “Hitler has died more deaths in history than any other man”. The London Daily Express had already claimed, based on a tip off from intelligence sources, that Hitler had snuck out of Berlin and was on a submarine heading for Tokyo. Those that doubt what happened on the 30th April 1945 point out that historians often appear to have 2020 vision in hindsight but the reality is that the full and official account of what happened in the Führerbunker had to be pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle where half the pieces are missing, the picture on the box was the wrong one and the table used was very old an unreliable.
Here are the main reasons that people still doubt the official version of events:
Moving the Bodies – In Blankets (Linge)
Heinz Linge was Hitler’s valet and, by interesting coincidence, the name ‘Linge’ is French for laundry (weird). Linge immediately had the bodies wrapped in blankets before having them taken outside. Actually, very few people ever claimed to see the bodies and certainly not while they were being moved.
The Miracle Jawbone – and dental survival
The bodies of Hitler and Braun were taken into the ruins of the garden and, while still wrapped in the blankets, covered with petrol and set on fire. This is where things stop making sense. According to some reports, the fire was slow to take hold and Linge wanted it’ hot and furious’. Paper was added to the fire and more petrol. Most agree that the fire burned for at least two and a half hours. Based on tests done on pigs, the combination of petrol and the wick-effect of the blankets would mean that precious little would be left. However, the Russians agents later found a miraculously intact jawbone with complex and fragile, but strangely undamaged, dental work that could be conveniently compared to dental records. Perhaps this exactly what happened but even the most jaded of debunkers have to admit that it was odd.
Hitler’s Missing dentist
According to accounts from the bunker, Hitler’s personal dentist, Hugo Johannes Blaschke, escaped from the bunker on or around the 26th April 1945 and was later captured by American troops. As such, Hitler’s own dentist was never used to identify any dental remains of either the Adolf Hitler or his wife. However, as he left on an airplane it clearly proves that flights were still capable of leaving Berlin.
Identification of the Teeth
The teeth found by the Soviets were only a few and badly damaged although there was supposedly and intact jawbone. When SMERSH could not find Blaske (Hitler’s dentist) the job of finding someone was bizarrely given to Yelena Rzhevskaya a 26-year-old junior interpreter. They located an assistant of Hitler’s dentist – Käthe Heusermann – who had already been violated at least twice by Russian soldiers. They made it clear they want a positive answer. In a state of fear and shock, she agreed they were Hitler’s teeth based on a complex gold dental bridge that was part df the collection. (Researchers have pointed out that this bridge could have easily been removed prior to the events in the bunker that led Blaske to leave on the 26th April.) She was subsequently arrested and kept in a Russian jail for the next ten years.
When she was released in 1955 and repeated her story. It is generally agreed that Käthe was the only person to provide a positive identification of Hitler’s teeth. A major concern of alternative theorists is that the bridge was made of gold and given its exposure to the high temperatures of the cremation fire it should have been severely damaged. However, photos displayed in Russia in clearly show that this is not the case.
Chief Investigator Doubted Hitler’s Death
The investigation into Hitler’s death was carried out by Major Nikitine, Deputy Chief of Stalin’s own security police. He reported that they did find secret tunnels leading Hitler’s private room to an underground network of chambers and further tunnels. Three weeks after the ‘death’ of Hitler and sometime after the confirmation of the teeth, He stated that the Führer had neither shot himself nor been cremated, as generally believed, if indeed, he had perished at all. (http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,775644,00.html)
Joseph Stalin, the Russian Leader, believed Hitler was still alive
Joseph Stalin didn’t appear to believe Hitler was dead and had agents looking for him. According to the Daily Express (2018) Truman, the president of the USA, asked Stalin if Hitler was definitely dead. Stalin clearly answered ‘No.’ This would have been well after SMERSH supposedly gave Hitler and Braun’s remains to Stalin. Declassified records show that Soviet Agents continued the search for Hitler until Stalin’s own mysterious death in 1953.
A year after the fall of Berlin, Stalin ordered a second team to dig up the chancellery garden for more evidence that Hitler was dead. They found a skull fragment with a bullet hole in the crater where Hitler was said to have been buried. This would become part of the Hitler relics held by the soviets but still failed to convince Stalin.
Officer Marshall Gregory Zhukov denied a body was found
The Russian Commander in Chief for the defeat and occupation of Berlin, Soviet Officer Marshall Gregory Zhukov didn’t believe either. He clearly stated. “We found no corpse that could have been Hitler’s.”
Edgar Hoover, Head of the FBI and General Eisenhower (also President of the USA) had their doubts
Recently declassified documents reveal that Hoover wondered where Hitler really was and General Eisenhower is recorded as saying: “There is every assumption that Hitler is dead, but not a bit of conclusive proof that he is dead.”
Pilot testifies that He Flew Hitler to Denmark
In 1949, Captain Peter Baumgart, a former German Luftwaffe pilot and SS officer, insisted in front of a Warsaw tribunal that he flew Hitler and Eva Braun to Denmark on the 25 and 26thth of May 1945. They landed 44 miles from the Eiter River. Baumgart claimed that Hitler went on to embark on a submarine. (The Advocate newspaper 9 Feb 1949) – copy of paper below based on Fair Use as so many have denied it ever existed. Incidentally, the news was issued from London not the USSR) Is this true? Well, we do know that flights were still leaving Berlin as late as the 26th of April as one carrying five important individuals including Hitler’s private dentist were recorded.
(https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/69327754)
The FBI & CIA Kept Looking for Hitler until the 1960’s
The question that conspiracy theorists often ask is this: “If national security agencies were so sure Hitler died in Berlin at the end of the war – why did they keep looking for him?” For example, a recently declassified CIA document reveals that an agent – CIMELODY-3 – reported in 1955 that he had information and a photograph showing Hitler alive. The information had been supplied by Phillip (CITROEN), a former German SS trooper and claimed that Hitler was living in Tunga, Columbia under the name Adolf Schuttelmayor (misspelt by the CIA as Schrittelmayor).
Interestingly, ‘Schrittel Mayor’ can be translated as ‘Step Leader’ or even ‘Rising Leader’ however Schuttel translates as ‘Shaking Leader’ – both work. The CIA took the information seriously and passed it up the chain of command. Over the years there were many other sightings and rumours from South America linking Hitler to the fascist regime of Colonel Juan Perón in Argentina. These too were investigated.
(https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/HITLER%2C%20ADOLF_0003.pdf)
Hitler’s Russian ‘Skull’ turned out to be a Woman’s
In 1946, at Stalin’s secret instructions, a team reinvestigated the crater where Hitler was buried and discovered a skull fragment with bullet hole. This they said belonged to Hitler and was clear proof that he committed suicide. The skull was finally displayed in Moscow in 2000 as part of a war memorial. In 2009 Dr Nicholas F. Bellantoni, who serves as the emeritus state archaeologist of Connecticut, was granted access to Hitler’s skull and took DNA samples. Back in the USA the samples were tested and were clearly those of a woman aged between 20 and 40. No other DNA samples taken were ever confirmed as belonging to Hitler.
Russian Autopsy doctor admits he lied – and where are the photos?
There are some reports circulating still that Faust Shkaravsky, the doctor who autopsied Hitler’s remains, admitted later that he lied to keep Stalin happy and avoid any unpleasantness for himself. As part of this point, no photos of Hitler’s autopsy, the removal of his body from the Chancellery, his supposed internment at Magdeburg or his later re-cremation and disposal in either the sewer or river have ever surfaced.
Lots of other Nazis did Escape
One think that is often forgotten is that many Nazis did escape, and a large percentage were never found. Some of these were helped by Soviet and US forces in exchange for military secrets. Wernher von Braun, the man behind the American missile and space programme was just one such person rescued during Operation Paperclip.
By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1978-Anh.024-03 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5482979
The leader of another the escape network, this time NAZI, was Otto Skorzeny, an Austrian born German daredevil. As a commando leader, he was responsible for many daring raids and for rescuing the Italian Leader Mussolini from his mountaintop prison aided by the genius pilot Captain (Hauptmann) Von Gerlach. He was dubbed the most dangerous man in Europe. Literally days before Berlin fell, he was ordered by Hitler to go to Bavaria and take control of the German resistance movement and NAZI escape network. Some believe that, together with Gerlach again, he was responsible for flying Hitler and Eva Braun out of Berlin on the night of 29th of April 1945 and taking him back to Bavaria.
Why no DNA Testing?
Perhaps the most intriguing question of is this: “Why have the Russians never done open and in-depth DNA testing on the remains in their possession and allowed their finds to be peer reviewed? It’s a simple question and would end the debate once and for all – yet strangely, it has never happened!
Who Knows?
We are not saying that Hitler survived the war, or he didn’t – just pointing out the reasons why many people doubt the official version of events. However, there is no getting away from the fact that the only forensic proof is that a detached dental bridge from a dubious source matches an X-ray from and equally dubious source.
Surely in the 21st century with all our incredible technology we can do better than this?
Cleopatra Cause of Death? Suicide or Murder?
SUICIDE OR ASSASSINATION?
Egyptian Queen
69bc – 12 August 30bc
The death of Cleopatra is one of the most famous in all history. The Hellenic-Egyptian queen who had nearly brought about the downfall of the Roman Empire finally found herself a prisoner of Octavian Caesar – the man who would change his name and become one of the greatest rulers of all time – Augustus Caesar. But what was really Cleopatra death cause?
It was apparently Caesar’s intention to display Cleopatra, naked, whipped and as a slave, in all the cities and countries that she had once ruled as had been done to her own sister Arsinoe.
It seems that Cleopatra was desperate to avoid the humiliation and had an Asp (Egyptian Cobra) smuggled into her room and allowed it to bite her on her breast. Naturally, she died. This is one version of events.
A more controversial version is that Augustus Caesar simply wanted the rebellion of Mark Anthony and the chaos that it had caused to end. Displaying Cleopatra as a beaten Monarch wasn’t his style. He was a master of power-politics and would have certainly known that this would stimulate anger and support for the Egyptian cause. Much easier and better to give Cleopatra a reason to commit suicide and then have her killed by one of her own snakes. Ah … now that makes more sense.
In fact, Augustus believed that Cleopatra’s son, Cizarian, was a threat to his rule of the Roman Empire in the Middle East. Only days before Augustus arrived in Alexandria, Cleopatra had smuggled out 14-year-old son to Ethiopia. He too was eventually he was hunted down and killed.
There is a carving of a woman surrounded by a snake in the Egyptian Temple of Philae and this has sometimes been confused with Cleopatra. The carving is actually of the Goddess Isis and although the woman were said to be connected spiritually – they were clearly different. However, the carving may have contributed to the legend of how Cleopatra died.
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Everything Wrong About the Death Of Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was the ultimate Hollywood screen goddess. Her sudden and premature death rocked the twin Hollywood towers of fame and politics. Born Norma Jean Mortenson in 1926 she later changed her name to Marilyn Monroe as she believed it more suitable to a career as an actress and model. In 1946 she received critical acclaim for her acting and within ten years was a movie icon and worldwide sex symbol. Her strange death has attracted almost as much publicity as her life did.
Marilyn Monroe was found naked and dead in her room on 5th August 1962. The official verdict was self-administered Nembutal overdose, but many people believe she was murdered. The speculation started almost immediately when a pamphlet entitled ‘The Strange Death of Marilyn Monroe’ was self-published by anti-communist activist, Frank Capell in 1964. He proposed that her death was part of a conspiracy coordinated by secret government forces to protect the elite political Kennedy family from a sex scandal.
Here are some of the most sensible reasons why so many people still doubt that Marylin Monroe took her own life – either deliberately or by accident.
She Was Actually Happier at the Time
A lot has been written about how depressed Monroe was at the time of her alleged suicide. Mostly this focuses on her having been dismissed by the studio for being difficult and for her love life issues. However, according to people who knew her at the time, now backed up by historical records, she was actually, happy, upbeat, and looking forward to the future.
We now know that she had been expecting to be rehired by the studios to complete the film “Something’s Got to Give” (for double her initial salary) and was already talking to two well respected film directors – J. Lee Thompson and Sam Spiegel about new film offers. She was also reported to be excited about doing up her new home and being a more independent person.
Some of this information was provided at the time by Miss Pat Newcombe, a close friend and by Milton Rudin, Marilyn’s attorney. Nevertheless, the press pursued the story that she was depressed and therefore suicidal.
No Suicide Note!
There’s no doubt that Marylin had been depressed in the past and her issues with alcohol and sleeping medication were well known within her inner circle. She had previously tried to commit suicide – probably as a cry for help rather than a serious attempt. On both occasions she had left a specific farewell note. In this case there was nothing.
The room she was in was locked, maybe?
Much was made about the fact that the room where Marilyn died was locked and a window had to be broken by Dr Greenson to gain access to the room. There has been much doubt cast over this alleged finding.
Firstly, based on invoices found later, it appears that locks were fitted to the doors after her death – or were they changed? Secondly, friends of the star claimed that Marilyn’s housekeeper, Mrs Murray, had a master key to all the locks in the house. Also, depending on the type of lock fitted, it is possible to create the illusion of a locked room by using the bottle opener and string trick.
Photographs of the room taken immediately after Marilyn’s death appear to show the door did have a lock fitted and that a standard rotating key typical of the period was in the lock. However, other reports describe the lock as a twist latch as shown in the reconstruction. This makes no sense either as a twist latch always has a small slot on the outside, like many bathroom doors, that can be opened with any small coin in an emergency.
The broken glass was mostly outside.
According to Dr Greenson, he used an iron poker to break the window from the outside to access the room. Again, crime scene photos, now available and unmodified, clearly show that the glass was outside the room suggesting that the window had been broken from the inside.
Some people have claimed that some glass always falls outside when a window is broken. However, the crime scene images clearly show that the window that was broken was actually a small pane of glass. If any glass had fallen outside there would be none left to find inside.
Most peculiar is the fact that they chose to break a window. They could see that Marilyn was in bed and it would have made so much more sense to break in through the locked door. Was this bizarre behaviour carried out so that witness could insist that Marilyn had been alone in a locked room thus proving suicide?
Disappearing Bruises and Bloodstains?
It is now accepted that photos used in the media were airbrushed and retouched. One photo clearly shows a smear of blood on the wall. The same photo used later, plainly shows that it has been edited to remove the stain. While this is easy to do today, in 1962 it would have required a highly skilled professional to achieve this result.
Original reports stated that Marilyn had a bruise on her left hip that would be consistent with an injection, or several injections. This is recorded in the original pathology diagrams. However, later reports claimed that there was no sign of physical injury. But … original crime scene photos clearly also show a large bruise on her left shoulder.
Clean Sheets?
The first officer on the scene was Sergeant Jack Clemmons who reported that there was an unnatural atmosphere in the house and that certain aspects simply looked too neat, as if they had been carefully staged. He noticed that Dr Greeson repeatedly pointed out things that he suggested indicated suicide which Clemmons found odd. Most disturbingly, he noticed that the sheets seemed very fresh and could clearly hear Ms Murry hoovering carpets and doing washing at 4:30 in the morning. This behaviour he noted was at best bizarre and at worst deeply suspicious.
Position of the body raises questions
Officers and medical personal confirmed that Marilyn was lying face down with her arms by her sides. This was referred to as the soldier position. This is highly inconsistent with the claim of death by overdose as in most cases the pills cause violent cramps and vomiting prior to death. There was no sign of the twisting and turning that would be expected and no sign of any vomit at all.
Where was the Water?
The general story that was put out to the media was that Marilyn took between 40 and 50 tablets orally. However, there was no water in the room meaning that she would have had to take them dry. Tablets taken dry, and in that quantity, rarely dissolve completely but the autopsy found absolutely no trace of the tablets in her stomach or intestinal tract.
This was explained away by claiming that as the star was a regular pill taker and her system digested them much quicker. This is patently ridiculous. In 1982 a female patient of similar size and build complained of stomach pain and was x-rayed. White dots where immediately discovered along the digestive tract. These turned out to be tablets that had been taken 12 hours earlier without water and had failed to be digested.
As mentioned earlier, that number of tablets would have almost certainly induced vomiting or at least some regurgitation into the mouth. No evidence of this was found in the autopsy. A final concern is that Marilyn’s friends repeatedly claimed that they knew with certainty that the star could not take tablets without water and would gag even on a single small pill.
Why Move the phone?
When Marilyn Monroe was first found she was apparently holding a phone in her hand. For some reason, Dr Greenson saw fit to remove the phone which failed to appear in any of the crime scene photos.
Why did the occupants of the house wait four hours to call the police?
According to Police Sergeant Clemmons, in a 1992 interview: “Mrs. Murray told me that Dr. Greenson entered the room saw the pills and saw the body. At which time he called Dr. Engelberg…. [he] pronounced her dead…according to this story that I’m receiving at this time this is all occurring shortly after midnight. And I got the phone call at 4:25 AM. Now if this story is true, that means that these people are in this house for four hours with a dead body, so I asked them, why didn’t you call sooner, let us know sooner, no one wanted to answer me. They tried to ignore me.”
The Peter Lawford Connection
Peter Lawford was a British actor that married John F Kennedy’s sister in 1954. His connection with the Kennedy clan helped propel him to star status. Many believe that he repaid this support by becoming the ‘fixer’ for the Kennedy brothers – John and Robert.
Allegations persist to this day that Lawford was the ‘wrangler’ who managed the many Kennedy mistresses. If this was true, as many believe it was, then Lawford’s testimony that he spoke to Marilyn on the night of her death must be doubted. The key part of his statement to the authorities is that Marilyn sounded strange – as if she was drunk or had taken something. If he was working as part of the team to silence Marilyn, then his testimony was the perfect scene-setter for her apparent suicide.
The Missing Little Red Book
Marilyn kept a detailed diary known as her little red book. According to some who had seen it, she kept a detailed record of her sex life and things she had noted while around the rich and powerful men who overshadowed her life including the Kennedy brothers, John and Bobby, as well as Frank Sinatra and other leading figures of the time. Many of the people she brushed shoulders with were also allegedly linked to organised crime.
According to friends, she liked to be able to refer back to previous meetings and dates which, with her terribly busy schedule, were hard to remember.
After her death there was naturally an extensive search for the diary, but it was never officially found.
A suspiciously long Drive to the Coroner
According to many researchers and confirmed by news reports on the day, Marilyn’s body was taken from her house in Brentwood at 5:30am and driven to the nearby Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park & Mortuary where it was due to be embalmed. It should have been taken directly to the coroner at the county mortuary as embalming would render an autopsy nearly impossible. The instruction for this to happen originated from her house in Brentwood but no one ever accepted responsibility for the call.
Strangely, it is very difficult to find records of exact timings during this period. We do know that she was at the Westwood Village Mortuary for some time as her body was examined there by Hast & Abbot and allegedly hidden for some time away from the cameras of the paparazzi. Rough estimates suggest that the star’s body was out of sight for at least three hours and unattended by anyone prepared to claim being with her. The story that she was kept in a broom closet to hide her from the Paparazzi is bizarre to say the least and truly borders on the ridiculous.
Shortly before the embalming process was to begin her body was located by the coroner’s office and taken from the funeral home. Exactly what was done to her during this time remains a mystery but Ron Hast and Allan Abbott, the funeral morticians at Westwood, were critical of her appearance and disparaging about the state of her corpse.
Abbott later stated: ‘When we removed the sheet covering her, it was almost impossible to believe this was the body of Marilyn Monroe. She looked like a very average, aging woman who had not been taking very good care of herself. Her face was bruised and her legs unshaven.”
Autopsy Errors and Missing Organs
Usually, all autopsies on famous people were carried out by Theodore Curphey, the Chief Medical Examiner. However, Curphey insisted that this time a junior medical examiner by the name of Thomas Noguchi handle the case. Many years later Noguchi admitted that he still found the decision very out of character.
The first troubling inconsistency is that Noguchi described Marilyn as looking beautiful and clearly recognisable. This directly contradicts the description given by Allan Abbott from the Westwood Village Mortuary who described her ill looking and barely recognisable.
Noguchi did what he always did and examined every inch of her body with a magnifying glass on the assumption that every suicide might also me a murder victim. He could not find any obvious needle marks but did find a fresh and inexplicable bruise on her hip. Bizarrely, he recorded no other bruising although crime scene photos seem to clearly show additional bruising on her upper left shoulder and face.
Noguchi reported that he found no trace of the tablets in Marilyn’s stomach or vomit in her mouth. Again, this is inconsistent with most suicides that have used tablets. His report states:
“No residue of the pills is noted. A smear made from the gastric contents and examined under the polarized microscope shows no refractile crystals.”
Not all the organs were tested for toxicity, a mistake Noguchi admits. Although the chief Coroner quickly announced the cause of death was suicide, Noguchi wanted to conduct further tests on the extracted organs only to find they had been thrown away even though the autopsy report stated they should be kept for further examination. The report states:
“Unembalmed blood is taken for alcohol and barbiturate examination. Liver, kidney, stomach and contents, urine and intestine are saved for further toxicological study.”.
He admitted later that he should have tested all the organs but, as a very junior member of the team at the time, he didn’t want to upset anyone. This seems to imply that he was instructed to only test the liver and the blood.
Two additional findings in the report and their implications seem to have been overlooked or ignored at the time. The report stated:
- “The colon shows marked congestion and purplish discoloration.”
- “The clavicle, ribs, vertebrae and pelvic bones show fracture lines.”
To this date there as been no satisfactory explanation for the discolouration and potential damage to her rectal area and colon. These findings alone should have warranted further investigation but that was not the case.
It is worth noting that Noguchi’s involvement with the case of Marilyn Monroe didn’t in anyway damage his future prospects. To the contrary, he would go on to become a celebrity in his own right and known as the ‘Coroner to the Stars’. He would even act as the inspiration for a hit TV series – Quincy, M.E. which ran for 8 seasons.
An Affair with the Kennedy Brothers
It is now widely accepted that Marilyn Monroe had affairs with both John F. Kennedy, the then President of the United States of America, and his brother, Robert Kennedy, the US Attorney general. One of her last famous performances was to sing ‘Happy BHirthday’ to JFK in her famous super sexy way. What is often overlooked is that she also sang ‘Thanks for the Memory’ an allusion to her relationship with JFK. It was certainly brazen and must have seriously troubled JFK – particularly the line “thank you for all the things you’ve done”. Some researchers believe that it was this clip that focused too much attention on the relationship between Monroe and JFK and was the catalyst for her death.
It’s worth noting that within six years of her death both Kennedy brothers who had been such an influence on Marilyn’s last years would be dead by assassination. Just 15 months after her death, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dealy Plaza, Texas. Four years later, his brother, Robert Kennedy, was assassinated while leaving the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Within weeks of JFK’s Assassination his sister, Patricia Kennedy, would file for divorce from Peter Lawford, allegedly the last person to speak to Marilyn.
A Case for Assassination
It’s doubtful that the investigation into the death of Marilyn Monroe will ever be reopened. The truth about what really happened on that fateful night is now so confused and twisted that separating fact from fiction is close to impossible. If this happened today there would definitely been a more serious inquiry. For now, all we can do is remind people of all the things that remain wrong, mysterious, and unanswered about this case and hope that one day the truth will come out.