Theories Discussion > General Discussion
Theory: Working Backwards
WarpedWing:
Very interesting take, amashilu. I, too, have been struck by that quote from Zolotaryov about the whole world soon knowing about the expedition. Prophetic, indeed, if he wasn't aware of the tragedy yet to unfold. I mean, I'm glad he was enthused about it, but he thought the world will be talking about a hike around some mountains? Really?
I've been intrigued by theories of some sort of experiment gone wrong. I'm not sure the injuries were due to an explosion. An explosion powerful enough to cause the damages on the trauma victims' bodies would likely disperse shrapnel, which would have left tell-tale lacerations on the victims (and tent/trees, etc.) at best, and shot them full of holes at worst. That being said, the reports of fire-damaged trees is interesting, along with reports of lights in the sky in the vicinity of the hikers. If the reports on lights in the sky are true, whatever happened may not have blasted the hikers away, but it may have directly or indirectly caused the hikers to perish through other means.
What if Zolotaryov was supposed to observe a military test on his fellow hikers but accidentally got "dosed" along with them?
But why any of this would happen is beyond me. That's the big pill that's hard to swallow. The government has plenty of soldiers to test military operations on. Why bother with student civilians?
If the government really was at fault, I don't believe that the on-scene investigators knew about it. They weren't very good forensic investigators, it seems, but they did seem truthfully perplexed at what happened. Which would be a perfect arrangement if and only if the crime scene was so perfectly scoured and sanitized as to be completely devoid of real clues pointing toward government involvement or anything beyond a natural death. Think of all the students traipsing around during the search! That is very, very difficult to do, especially in such a remote place. It would take a serious effort, and the likelihood that the government would be seen doing cleanup by, say, one of the Mansi, would be high. Helicopters, trucks, snowmobiles, etc., make a lot of noise too, and might seem out of the ordinary for that remote area. One would think it would have been easier just to gather the bodies and tent by sledge and make it all disappear.
GlennM:
Warped Wing, you are on point. Truth is simple, Conspiracies and cover ups are not. The more exotic the explanation, the more the researcher must allow as a possibility. At some point, you can't suspend your disbelief.
I can accept a seismic tremor or an aerial concussion sending a slab over the tent at elevation. 880 on 1079. I can accept a catabatic wind causing a snow buildup which precipitates a collapse of the cut in ledge at 880. I can accept hikers making a retreat to the woods and then suffering calamity. Conspiracy? Cover up? You don't leave corpses around. Dead men do tell tales. Again, good job.
WarpedWing:
--- Quote from: GlennM on September 09, 2022, 03:44:46 PM --- Conspiracy? Cover up? You don't leave corpses around.
--- End quote ---
Correct.
It'd be the easiest coverup in the world, honestly. Those involved could have transported the bodies a little bit more off the beaten path and they wouldn't have been found for years if not decades. All that would be left would be bones by the time anyone found them, if they ever did. Then the mystery could be simply, "they walked off and were never seen again." And if the bones were found one day, it really wouldn't matter. One thaw cycle and all (1950s) forensic evidence would be gone. The hikers' bones being found half a mile from their intended route would be no stranger than finding their tent up a barren, windswept hill.
amashilu:
--- Quote ---Those involved could have transported the bodies a little bit more off the beaten path and they wouldn't have been found for years if not decades.
--- End quote ---
A good point. Maybe throwing the 4 worst-injured bodies into a creek a mile away felt like that was "well off the beaten path" ?
They left the 5 others because their bodies could plausibly have "frozen to death."
The points that most stood out to me, in developing this theory, were:
* Zolotaryov told a couple groups of people before the hike that the world would be talking about this expedition;
Zolotaryov and TBO were well-dressed;
Zolotaryov had a surprise second camera around his neck when he was found;
Zolotaryov had set up the camera and was ready to take pictures;
Zolotaryov had not only the camera around his neck, but a notebook and pencil in his hand, when he was found;
The government was extremely interested in, and suppressive of, this case;
Lev Ivanov's horror and altered demeanor after the ravine-4 were found and he had seen their bodies, and his subsequent statement to his friend Bienko that these 4 did not die from natural causes;
The ice circle seen and identified by 2 different pilots as that made by a helicopter landing;
Some of the so-called investigators' apparent disinterest in the scene and failure to do a thorough investigation, which caused others present to be concerned or suspicious that they already knew something;
The one investigator whose name starts with O that I forget, but who was very excited to find Zolotaryov had a notebook and pencil in his hand when found but who then expressed anger or frustration that he hadn't written anything.
These, I hope, are all facts, not theory. I can't tie them all together any other way than this theory; they do make me lean strongly towards Zolotaryov being a government plant, performing some kind of experiment that went terribly wrong, and that he had taken TBO into his confidence and that is why the 2 of them were outside the tent, fully dressed, while the others were in the tent.
Jean Daniel Reuss:
--- Quote from: amashilu on September 10, 2022, 10:16:59 AM --- Reply #13
.....they do make me lean strongly towards Zolotaryov being a government plant, performing some kind of experiment that went terribly wrong,...
--- End quote ---
I had written a text that gathered some of your ideas (February 03, 2020, 11:04:13 PM).
This is a more complete and detailed text, but longer!
Theories Discussion ---> Altercation on the pass ---> Altercation on the pass : Reply #15
https://forum.dyatlovpass.com/index.php?topic=411.msg8382#msg8382
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