Why The Dyatlovites May Have Died Due to Exposure to BZ/Substance 78I would like to put forward the hypothesis that the Dyatlovites perished during a Soviet military chemical weapons experiment due to exposure to 3-Quinuclidinyl Benzilate, known to the US government as Agent BZ and the Soviet government as Substance 78.
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Background: Chemical Weapons Testing in the 1950sIt is important to first establish the climate of chemical weapons development during the 1950s Cold War period. The United States’ once-top secret chemical weapons project, MKULTRA, was underway by 1953. The MKULTRA program took a keen interest in drugs like LSD to see if a militarized version could be useful. At first, LSD (and other chemicals) were tested as a so-called “truth serum” that would make lying under interrogation difficult or impossible. It was quickly discovered that LSD often disrupted the target’s brain too much, and sensible interrogation became impossible.
It was then theorized that this disruptive effect could be used against military operatives as well as foreign governments and their officials, essentially shutting down the enemy from the inside. According to Wikipedia: “Sidney Gottlieb, the chemist who directed MKUltra, had other ideas: he thought [LSD] could be used in covert operations. Since its effects were temporary, he believed it could be given to high-ranking officials and in this way affect the course of important meetings, speeches, etc. Since he realized there was a difference in testing the drug in a laboratory and using it in clandestine operations, he initiated a series of experiments where LSD was given to people in "normal" settings without warning.”
This illustrates the ethical environment—or lack thereof—in the chemical weapons testing protocols in the 1950s. The US government was willing to test chemical weapons on unsuspecting people, causing several known deaths from various chemicals over the years (the operation ended in 1973).
But what about Soviet chemical weapons testing?
The Russian chemical weapons program started back in the 1920s, and by the 1950s was in overdrive. According to nti.org, “U.S. Army Major General Marshall Stubbs estimated that in 1959 the Soviet Union possessed modern and efficient chemical weapons, sufficient protective chemical equipment for large-scale warfare, and plentiful decontamination equipment. Soviet Marshall Vasily Sokolovsky’s 1962 Military Strategy guide, in which he “recommended [chemical weapons integration] frequently within the framework of various tactical operations,” reflected Stubbs’ assessment. Sokolovsky believed chemical weapons could inflict significant casualties, hamper troop movements, and impede enemy activities if employed in a large surprise attack. Such a scenario became more conceivable in 1959, when the Soviet Union began production of sarin on an industrial scale.”
“Congressional overseers, terrified of Soviet military superiority, were ready to lend support. The Red Army had an extensive chemical-warfare program, and evidence suggested that it had an interest in “psychic poisons,” used to trigger mental illness” (The New Yorker).
I’m sure the fact that both the US and the USSR were engaged in an escalating chemical and nuclear arms race in 1959 is a surprise to few reading this. But the Dyatlov Pass Incident doesn’t involve LSD or Sarin or possibly any chemical you’ve likely heard about.
Substance 78In 1951, the Swiss pharmaceutical company Hoffman-LaRoche, developed the chemical 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate while investigating antispasmodic agents. It wasn’t a success for that task, but, according to Wikipedia, “By 1959, the United States Army showed significant interest in deploying [3-Quinuclidinyl Benzilate] as a chemical warfare agent. It was originally designated "TK", but when it was standardized by the Army in 1961, it received the NATO code name "BZ" . . . The agent commonly became known as "Buzz" because of this abbreviation and the effects it had on the mental state of the human volunteers intoxicated with it in research studies . . . work proceeded [on BZ) in 1964 when a general envisioned a scheme to incapacitate an entire trawler with aerosolized BZ; this effort was dubbed Project DORK. BZ was ultimately weaponized for delivery in the M44 generator cluster and the M43 cluster bomb . . .”
In the Soviet Union, it was known as Substance 78. Both the US and the USSR were trying to find a military use for it in the mid 1950s. It is possible that the Soviets began experimentation on BZ/Substance 78 even before the US did.
Effects of BZ: Case Reports (From The New Yorker)According to The New Yorker’s Raffi Khatchadourian from interviews with MKULTRA scientists:
“Infinitesimal amounts could send people into total mental disorder. BZ is an anticholinergic, similar to atropine or scopolamine, which are used in medicine today. At high doses, such drugs trigger delirium—a dreamlike insanity usually forgotten after it subsides. Sim, one of the first doctors to try BZ, later proclaimed that it “zonked” him for three days. ‘I kept falling down,’ he said. ‘The people at the lab assigned someone to follow me around with a mattress.’”
“Exposed soldiers exhibited bizarre symptoms: rapid mumbling, or picking obsessively at bedclothes and other objects, real or imaginary. ‘Subjects sometimes display something approaching wit, not in the form of word-play, but as a kind of sarcasm or unexpected frankness,’ [the chief psychiatrist Ketchum] wrote in a report for Sim. The drug’s effect lasted for days. At its peak, volunteers were totally cut off in their own minds, jolting from one fragmented existence to the next. They saw visions: Lilliputian baseball players competing on a tabletop diamond; animals or people or objects that materialized and vanished. ‘I had a great urge to smoke and, when I thought about it, a lit cigarette appeared in my hand,’ a volunteer given a drug similar to BZ recalled shortly after the experiment. ‘I could actually smoke the cigarette.’”
“Soldiers on BZ could remember only fragments of the experience afterward. As the drug wore off, and the subjects had trouble discerning what was real, many experienced anxiety, aggression, even terror. Ketchum built padded cells to prevent injuries, but at times the subjects couldn’t be contained. One escaped, running from imagined murderers. Another, on a drug similar to BZ, saw ‘bugs, worms, one snake, a monkey and numerous rats,’ and thought his skin was covered in blood.”
Army intelligence officer Ronald “Zadrozny’s drug-induced madness lasted for thirty-six hours. He saluted imaginary officers, at one point believing that a drape partitioning the toilet was a group of men. He became panicky, and stayed up nights, pacing and mumbling, trying to escape, either by the door or through a medicine cabinet. At one point, as Zadrozny began to improve, he sat in front of the switchboard, pencil in one hand, receiver in the other, ready for a communiqué.
‘You can’t hear anything unless you have the telephone up to your ear,’ another soldier explained.
‘It wasn’t working with electrodes,’ Zadrozny mumbled.”
The results of BZ weren’t always just psychological, even in the lab. One soldier “went into critical condition after breathing in BZ in a wind tunnel; his temperature spiked to 103.6°, and his head started shaking spastically. He was sponged with ice and alcohol, and given antidotes. After six days, doctors released him, noting that he ‘appeared quite normal.’”
The Soviets and BZ/Substance 78The following quote from the same The New Yorker article illustrates that the Soviets were interested in BZ and were testing it to keep up with the US:
“The Soviets were not ignorant of BZ, after all. Vil Mirzayanov, a chemist who conducted secret weapons research for the Soviet Union, told me that Moscow never had more than a halfhearted interest in LSD, and that its interest in BZ was strictly to keep up with Ketchum’s program. ‘We knew the West had developed this weapon, and we were trying to copy it,’ he said. Soviet scientists, who called the formula Substance 78, conducted their own clinical trials with it and manufactured tons of the drug at a plant in Volsk. ‘But, for the military, it was absolutely useless,’ he told me. ‘Soldiers began to act like in a dream. They were not thinking; they don’t need weapons—very nice, very good. The main problem was, How do you use it? For military people it was fantasy.’’
Effects: Clinical Signs for AnticholinergicsWhat are the effects of BZSubstance 78?
BZ is what is known as an anticholinergic chemical. It acts much like common poisonous anticholinergic plants like datura, henbane, deadly nightshade, and others.
Common side effects:
- dilated pupils (mydriasis)
- delirium/hallucinations/delusions
- increased body temperature (hyperpyrexia)
- lack of muscle control/coordination (ataxia)
- farsightedness (difficulty seeing)
- reduction in glandular secretions (xerostomia(dry mouth))
- reddened skin
- bronchodilation
- afraid of light (photophobia)
- urinary retention (much like hypothermia)
- agitation
- decreased intestinal transit (food slows in GI tract)
A useful medical trauma mnemonic for anticholinergic plant poisoning in the emergency room:
- Blind as a bat (ciliary muscle paralysis)
- Dry as a bone (anhidrosis [no sweating])
- Red as a beet (peripheral vasodilation)
- Fast as a fiddle (tachycardia [fast heartbeat])
- Hot as Hades (hyperthermia [overheated])
- Mad as a hatter (delirium, coma)
What is interesting about BZ/Substance 78 in comparison to, say, amanita muscaria or LSD ingestion, is that the effects are very similar amongst all who take it. LSD can be a very subjective experience, and 9 people under the influence of LSD would probably have 9 very different experiences. BZ, however, acts on a different, “deeper” part of the brain using different chemical pathways, which results in similar presentations between people. That is, all 9 hikers would probably get hot, dry, have dilated pupils, hallucinations, etc.
Many of the Dyatlovites had dilated pupils and urinary retention when examined at autopsy.
I put forward that:
- The increased body temperature along with increasing psychosis is an explanation for leaving the safety of the tent without proper clothing and not prioritizing body warmth.
- The progressive lack of muscle control and mental abilities made it impossible to run down the hill, even if desired. As muscle control continued to deteriorate, the Dyatlovites became unable to care for themselves, which resulted in the astounding death of 9 strong, healthy hikers.
- A reduction in saliva may have driven some of the Dyatlovites to seek the stream, resulting in crushing death under a heavy pile of snow. (Any Dyatlovite who decided to try to eat snow to counteract their thirst would likely meet a swift end due to hypothermia.)
- The tent may have been cut first due to venting aerosol/smoke or to look at the “attackers” and later due to increasing hallucinations/delusions.
- Most non-fatal injuries that look like “someone who just keeps falling down” is exactly that.
Why and How?First, why?
This is the difficult question of this hypothesis. We know that governments were testing such chemicals around 1959 to ascertain their effectiveness on the battlefield. However, the Dyatlovites are not a military group, even if some members are ex-military. Would the Russian government really be willing to dose nine unsuspecting civilians with a fairly untested psychogenic chemical, or was this a mistake? I cannot say. But this theory can be evaluated with both possibilities.
Maybe it was a mistake?The Dyatlovites were not supposed to be on the slope of Kholat Syakhl. Their route should have taken them closer to the treeline, but they decided to do a mountainside bivouac training exercise instead. Perhaps there was a planned military exercise to test Substance 78 on a tent of willing soldiers on another nearby mountain slope. But when the offensive team saw the large Dyatlovite tent on the slope of Kholat Syakhl, confirmation bias made them believe they had found their target. After dosing the Dyatlovites with BZ, they find to their horror the next morning all hikers dead.
Perhaps it was intentional?Perhaps the Soviet military had plans to test Substance 78 on the Dyatlovites. It’s hard to imagine the hikers consenting to have military weapons tested on them—the military has soldiers for that type of duty. But perhaps one of the Dyatlovites was working with the military. This person convinced the group to change their campsite from somewhere along the planned direct route to the exposed, cold slope of Kholat Syakhl. This open position made them an easy target. It’s also easy to watch the hikers’ movements from a clandestine location, possibly above the Dyaltovites’ campsite, with binoculars and a flare gun. The flares terrified the Dyatlovites.
Next, how?
The Dyatlovites were exposed on the ridge of Kholat Syakhl: a dark blob of tent amongst stark white snow. But how to dose the hikers with BZ?
There are many ways to administer BZ/Substance 78: it can be made into a solution or dispersed as a gas, including using explosives or pyrotechnics as the spreading device. It can be drunk in a drink or eaten in food.
The Russian website mypochki-ru.turbopages.org has detailed information on the administration of BZ/Substance 78. This excerpt is written about US weapons (from a Russian perspective), but a brief study of 1950s Soviet weapons indicates that the Soviets had their own version of most of not all the US’s means of chemical weapons dispersion. They write (translated from Russian):
“The US Army is armed with cluster aerial bombs and cluster (container) installations in BZ equipment, chemical "smoking" checkers. All ammunition is classified as Group A. They are encoded with two red rings and marked with the inscription "BZ GAS". Cluster aerial bombs are opened at a certain height from the earth's surface and disperse small-sized elements (bombs) equipped with BZ-based pyrotechnic mixtures. As a result of thermal sublimation, an aerosol cloud BZ is formed, which covers the target. One cluster bomb creates an impact zone with ICτ 50on an area of approximately 1.2 ha. Cassette installations dropped from aircraft contain several thermal aerosol generators, also equipped with pyrotechnic mixtures. The generators themselves can also be used by the ground forces. They contain 6 kg of BZ. The ground forces are also armed with chemical bombs that convert BZ into an aerosol by thermal sublimation. Each checker contains 5 kg of BZ and burns for 80 s. The most dangerous use of BZ is at night, in foggy conditions, in clouds of dust or smoke.”
“Signs of [BZ] damage are manifested in dilated pupils, dry mouth, increased heart rate, dizziness, muscle weakness. After 30-60 minutes, there is a weakening of attention and memory, a decrease in reactions to external stimuli. The affected person loses orientation, phenomena of psychomotor agitation occur, periodically replaced by hallucinations. Contact with the outside world is lost, and the affected person is unable to distinguish reality from the illusory representations occurring in his mind. Negativism develops: the affected person constantly does the opposite of what is offered to him. He actively resists any impulse and has a negative attitude towards everything. During this period, unexpected outbursts of anger are not uncommon. The consequence of impaired consciousness is insanity with periods of partial or complete loss of memory.”
Essentially, there are countless ways that the Dyatlovite group could have been dosed with BZ/Substance 78. A BZ generator or a well-placed pyrotechnics bomb (it doesn’t explode, so no blast crater) up the hillside from the tent should have inundated the tent with noxious fumes, which would have been quite a shock. The flow of chemicals would have to be directly downhill if not directly into the tent structure via a canister. Some methods of administration could be eliminated if we knew the weather conditions exactly.
Frame 34I would like to suggest that Krivonischenko’s mysterious frame 34 is either a military flare to light up the target (the tent) or it is a pyrotehnic BZ bomb dispersing the chemical as the fine mist seen in the photo below. I have been unable to find any photos or videos of any of these military pyrotechnics chemical bombs, so more research must be done.
The sleuth “galfind” on the website taina.li did a fantastic job trying to scientifically recreate frame 34 using the same lens as the Dyatlovites had in their camera. To obtain the vignetting seen in frame 34, the photo must have been taken with the lens tube retracted, which makes the camera unable to properly focus, hence the out of focus shot. The sleuths were able to recreate the center octagonal shape by letting light hit the side of the lens at an angle (lens flare). They had more difficulty recreating the multiple spots of light. The last attempt shown on the forum post was in 2021, and illuminated bits of foil were used to represent the points of light in frame 34. Here’s what they ended up with:
Not bad at all. The only thing missing, as others on that thread pointed out, is the murky gray fog. We might have an answer as to what caused that now if it’s not simply a trick of the camera or film.
Krivonischenko’s camera was found inside the tent, and one can deduce from the case files that it was attached to a tripod. It had a broken light filter too. My theory is that one of the Dyatlovites stuck the camera out the side of (or a hole in) the tent with the timer on and took frame 34 in an attempt to capture what seemed to be an attack on the tent, possibly from above the tent’s elevation. I think that this pyrotechnic device, whatever it may be, wasn’t the first one the Dyatlovites saw that night: something must have first piqued their interest for them to have mounted a camera on a tripod at night. Something at night must be bright to be filmed, and an object that makes a lens flare must be very bright, indeed. The manual camera must be set up to take such a shot (aperture, shutter speed). Also remember, Zolotaryov was found with his camera around his neck. Something bright and strange at night was around the tent, and it was terrifying to the hikers.
Singe marks have been reported on the tops of trees in the forest. There appeared to be no pattern, i.e., no epicenter. The randomness could be explained by the randomness of pyrotechnics blowing downwind.
Cutting the Tent: An AsideOne thing that did strike me as strange was the following image from the forensic investigation of the tent fabric:
Forensic Tent Investigation, 1959
Look at the bottom photo, number 4. Notice the delicate slice that cuts diagonally right along the seam line. It is not impossible that someone randomly makes such a cut trying to, say, escape the tent under the snow, but it seems somewhat unlikely. It is very difficult to cut fabric, or even paper, when it is not pulled taut. If a fabric bunches up or becomes loose, making precise cuts becomes next to impossible. Note that the tent on the slope was not even put up with rope but just a few tent poles! The fabric would tend to bunch and tear if one continues to insist on putting pressure on loose fabric while cutting it with a knife.
Likewise, the arced cut does not look random. It is clean, precise, and done delicately. It seems to me to be a slowly done cut rather than a quick ripping escape. Some cuts on the tent do seem to be ripped and rushed, but the photos of the tent are lacking, apart from a few up-close photos from the forensic examination.
The PanicIt’s possible that cuts to the tent were made to vent the choking aerosol. It’s also possible some were made to try to see the attackers. It’s also possible that at least one of the Dyatlovites started cutting the tent out of BZ-induced madness.
Eventually, the BZ started to take hold, and the Dyatlovites panic. They don’t feel right at all, but they don’t know why. The Dyatlovites’ knowledge of what was happening to them might depend on whether frame 34 shows a pyrotechnical BZ bomb or a cluster illumination flare. Something noticeable must have happened prior to frame 34 to have had the camera ready for a transient event. I might make the suggestion that since frame 34 was so poorly captured (lens tube pushed in), the photographer might have been under the influence of BZ at the time.
How the Dyatlovites FeltAccording to psychology.fandom.com, here’s how the Dyatlovites might have felt:
“The patient is often disoriented to time and place. Disturbances in judgment and insight appear. The patient may abandon socially imposed restraints and resort to vulgar and inappropriate behavior. Perceptual clues may no longer be readily interpretable, and the patient is easily distracted and may have memory loss, most notably short-term memory. In the face of these deficits, the patient still tries to make sense of his environment and will not hesitate to make up answers on the spot to questions that confuse him. Speech becomes slurred and often senseless, and loss of inflection produces a flat, monotonous voice. References become concrete and semiautomatic with colloquialisms, clichés, profanity, and perseveration. Handwriting also deteriorates. Semiautomatic behavior may also include disrobing (perhaps partly because of increased body temperature), mumbling, and phantom behaviors such as constant picking, plucking, or grasping motions (‘woolgathering’ or carphology).”
“Hallucinations resulting from anticholinergics such as BZ tend to be realistic, distinct, easily identifiable (often commonly encountered objects or persons), panoramic, and difficult to distinguish from reality. They also have the tendency to decrease in size during the course of the intoxication. This is in contrast to the typically vague, ineffable, and transcendent-appearing hallucinations induced by psychedelics such as LSD.
Another prominent CNS finding in BZ poisoning is behavioral lability, with patients swinging back and forth between quiet confusion and self-absorption in hallucinations, to frank combativeness. Moreover, as other symptoms begin to resolve, intermittent paranoia may be seen. Automatic behaviors common during resolution include the crawling or climbing motions called ‘progresso obstinato’ in old descriptions of dementia.
BZ produces effects not just in individuals, but also in groups. Sharing of illusions and hallucinations (folie à deux, folie en famille, and "mass hysteria") is exemplified by two BZ-intoxicated individuals who would take turns smoking an imaginary cigarette clearly visible to both of them but to no one else.[15] [Clarification] When one observed subject mumbled, ‘Gotta cigarette?’ His delirious companion held out an invisible pack, he followed with, ‘S'okay, don't wanna take your last one.’ In another test it was reported two victims of BZ played tennis with imaginary rackets.”
The Four Stages of BZ Poisoning:- Onset or induction (zero to four hours after exposure), characterized by parasympathetic blockade and mild CNS effects.
- Second phase (4 to 20 hours after exposure), characterized by stupor with ataxia and hyperthermia.
- Third phase (20 to 96 hours after exposure), in which full-blown delirium is seen but often fluctuates from moment to moment.
- Fourth phase, or resolution, characterized by paranoia, deep sleep, reawakening, crawling or climbing automatisms, and eventual reorientation.
Leaving the TentAt some point, probably between stages one and two, the Dyatlovites started to get very warm, stiflingly so. Their coordination was faltering along with their ability to reason, and they were having difficulty seeing.
The reason for descending from the slope is unknown, but they were not of totally sound mind when the decision was made. Perhaps they were trying to go back to the storage tent but got confused as to the direction. Perhaps they were terrorized by the experimenters as part of the experiment. Ignorant of the cold due to hyperthermia, the Dyatlovites descended towards the treeline. Running or grabbing their skis would have been beyond their physical and mental ability at this point.
The Hikers’ DemiseIt’s difficult if not impossible to fathom all the carnage that followed. I hesitate to even come up with theories on how and why the hikers died. I do think that most if not all deaths can be explained by extreme physical and mental distress and inability to make good decisions.
Two hikers died by a cedar close to a campfire (is there a photo of the campfire?) with burned clothes and skin. As their minds faltered, maybe they (or their fellow hikers) put their numb, frostbitten appendages too close to the fire and burned them. These two (Krivonischenko and Doroshenko) might have been affected the most by the BZ and were the first to be incapacitated. Incapacitation and exposure in the Urals in winter leads to death quickly. Marks and injuries on the bodies point towards uncoordinated falls and thrashing on the ground (or a fall from a tree).
Many if not all hikers were together by the cedar at some point because some of the dead hikers’ clothes ended up on other hikers and at least one body was moved. Perhaps some of the more cogent hikers saw the frostbitten appendages of their dead comrades and realized that, even though they weren't feeling cold (some still had unbuttoned jackets when they died), their fingers and toes would freeze stiff and not work without extra layers.
The others may have been less affected by the BZ, or maybe the gap of time between Stage 1 effects and complete incapacitation was large enough that they were able to make an attempt at shelter in The Den. The hikers must have been trying so hard to maintain sanity and stay alive in a world that they suddenly didn’t understand. Their thirst had them seeking fresh, running water, and maybe that’s why they ended up in the stream. You can’t eat snow for thirst, and I have not read any reports that they had a vessel for melting snow. Out of thirst of to hide from real or imagined attackers, the Ravine Four (Dubinina, Zolotaryov, Kolevatov and Thibeaux-Brignolle) tunneled under the snow, perhaps in natural but very small “cave” between a layer of snow above the streambed and the thick snow bank above.
No one of sound mind would do this when better options were available, but hikers on BZ might. Digging around inside this ice/snow cave caused it to collapse, crushing and trapping the four hikers.
The remaining three (Dyatlov, Kolmogorova, Slobodin) died on the slope of the mountain in an apparent attempt to return to the tent. Perhaps they felt they had nothing to lose by climbing toward the attackers, or maybe the flares had stopped bombarding them and they felt they could return. Maybe their stupor was lifting. If we are to believe that the bodies lie where they died, the hikers’ orientation toward the tent seems to imply some sort of group coordination even at this late stage.
ConclusionWhat happened to the Dyatlovites after they were poisoned by BZ and left their tent might be impossible to fully pin down. The gradual incapacitation due to physical and mental breakdown in an unforgiving environment was more than the strongest Dyatlovite could handle. They never had a chance.
I very much think that if there’s any weight to this hypothesis, the death of the Dyatlov nine was not the goal of the experiment. The whole experiment was grossly mismanaged, however, and it had to be covered up. The Dyatlov Pass Incident was a colossal governmental mistake and one that the Russian government has kept well under wraps for many decades.
The investigation might have discovered the cause back in 1959 when samples from the first five corpses were sent out for forensic chemical analysis. The case files show the receipt of the samples on March 5, 1959 at the Regional Forensic Laboratory. However, five days later on March 10, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) concluded that the cause of death of the Dyatlovites was death by hurricane, asserted blame for the incident as widely as they could, and closed the investigation. Did the forensic analysis show something the CPSU didn’t want the world to see?
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-Quinuclidinyl_benzilatehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MKUltrahttps://mypochki-ru.turbopages.org/mypochki.ru/s/bi-zet-otravljajushhee-veshhestvo/https://nuke.fas.org/guide/russia/cbw/jptac008_l94001.htmhttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/12/17/operation-deliriumhttps://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/russia-chemical/https://taina.li/forum/index.php?topic=1258.540https://psychology.fandom.com/wiki/3-Quinuclidinyl_benzilate#Military_usehttps://www.chemeurope.com/en/encyclopedia/3-Quinuclidinyl_benzilate.htmlhttps://dyatlovpass.com/cpsu-special-reports-47
Topic: Why The Dyatlovites May Have Died Due to Exposure to BZ/Substance 78 (Read 22912 times)