I have been interested in the Dyatlov Pass mystery for over a year, and am continually surprised that the ingestion of fly agaric mushrooms do not appear to be considered a very likely rational theory as to the cause of this sad event.
It is abundantly clear that the hikers had become mentally deranged. They had left their shelter in the middle of the night to walk away without sufficient clothing and footwear to stay alive in subzero temperatures. Their injuries strongly suggest that they may have been experiencing psychotic episodes and fought violently amongst themselves.
Was the cause of poor Dubinina’s missing tongue for example, the result of her continuously talking, jabbering and shrieking until another group member, in the grip of his own psychotic rage, cut her tongue out to ‘shut her up’. Worse things have happened during drug fuelled violence. In any case, it is clear that the group had become massively deranged and the most likely explanation for this is the action of a chemical agent.
If you put this together with the fact that the Mansi were in the habit of leaving fly agaric mushrooms lying about in the forest to dry them out, then Occam’s Razor would suggest that this theory should be the first to be ruled out before proceeding to those of a more exotic variety. I suspect that the Mansi knew exactly what had happened immediately but kept quiet so as to not be blamed.
Here are the stomach and small intestine contents as per the autopsy reports:
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YURI DOROSHENKO
The ventricle (stomach?) contained about 150 cm3 liquid mucous mass of reddish color, A sour smell is felt by the sense of smell from the contents of the stomach. In the lumen of the small intestine contained a mucus mass of reddish color
YURI KRIVONISCHENKO
The stomach contained traces of slimy brown yellow mass. The lumen of the small intestine contained a mucous mass of brown-yellow color.
IGOR DYATLOV
The stomach contained about 100 cm3 of a liquid mucosal mass of brown-red color. In the lumen of the small intestine there is a mucosal mass of reddish color.
ZINAIDA KOLMOGOROVA
The gastric cavity contained traces of a dirty-yellow-colored frosty mucus mass. The lumen of the small intestine contained a mucous mass that was dirty yellow in color.
RUSTEM SLOBODIN
The stomach contained about 100 cm3 of a brown-yellow mucous mass. The lumen of the small intestine contained a mucus mass of dirty yellow color.
LYUDMILA DUBININA
The stomach contains up to 100 cm3 of dark brown mucosal mass. In the lumen of the small intestine there is mucosal mass of dirty yellow color.
SEMYON ZOLOTARYOV
The stomach contained traces of pale red mucosal mass. In the lumen of the small intestine there is a mucosal mass of dirty yellow color.
ALEKSANDER KOLEVATOV
The stomach contained up to 100 cm3 of a pale red slimy mass. The lumen of the small intestine contained a pale red mucosal mass with hints of yellow.
NIKOLAY THIBEAUX-BRIGNOLLE
The ventricle (stomach?) contained up to 100 cm3 of mucous mass of a red-yellow color. The lumen of the small intestine contained a slimy green mass with hints of brown.
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The most common contents appear to be a ‘mucosal mass of dirty yellow color’. Can this be ruled out as the digestive product of mushrooms? The group would have been totally naïve as to the effects of a strong hallucinogen, they could not have determined what was a safe dose, and thus could easily have lapsed into powerful drug induced psychoses without being aware of it.
I assume that the group had come across a stash of Mansi fly agaric mushrooms during their trip up to the pass. Being young and inquisitive they decided to try them out. There was probably a law against it but who would know? Dyatlov probably did not want the group to ingest them during the day as this would lose time and members of the group might wander off necessitating lengthy searches.
He therefore elected for this to occur at night while the group was sequestered in the tent. Unfortunately for him this would be the worst possible scenario as crammed up against one another in a tent at night in the middle of nowhere in winter weather would be an ideal environment for severe paranoias to arise.
Am I missing something here? Is there toxicology that rules out the fly agaric mushrooms?
Topic: Why is it not obvious that the culprit was hallucinogenic mushrooms (Read 530 times)