Nine experienced hikers fled their tent in the dead of night, choosing certain death in -40°F weather over whatever horrified them inside. Their half-cut tent was found a month later, still containing nine pairs of boots and the group's journals.
The 1959 Dyatlov Pass incident began as a routine winter expedition — nine students and graduates from Ural Polytechnical Institute setting out to earn their elite hiking certification. Led by 23-year-old Igor Dyatlov, they documented their journey with photographs and diaries until the night of February 1, when something compelled them to slash their way out of their tent, wearing only socks or a single shoe.
The first bodies were found near a cedar tree with broken branches 15 feet high, suggesting someone had climbed up to scan for the tent. More victims lay scattered on the slope in poses indicating they had tried desperately to crawl back to camp. The final four bodies weren't discovered until May, in a stream under 13 feet of snow, with inexplicable crushing injuries but no external wounds. Some were missing eyes, one lacked a tongue, and radiation was detected on their clothes.
Scientists now believe a rare delayed-release avalanche explains part of the mystery — the panic and the crushing injuries. But as former investigator Lev Ivanov admitted in 1990, authorities were ordered to suppress reports of strange lights in the sky that multiple witnesses saw that night. The case remains so significant that in 2019, Russian officials formally reopened the investigation after 60 years.

The Mikhajlov Cemetry in Yekaterinburg. The tomb of the group who had died in mysterious circumstances in the northern Ural Mountains. Public Domain, Link
Previously:
• K2 climber catches awesome footage of an avalanche headed straight for his tent (video)
• Avalanche buries 3 skiers near Anchorage, Alaska — could be 100 feet of snow
• Climber hangs on with ice axe as an avalanche rushes around him
• Beautiful Patagonia avalanche
• The horrors of an avalanche (and the beauty of really amazing online journalism)
• Watch a snowboarder survive an avalanche with an inflatable backpack