Book recommendations.

[Ms Diddles]

Hi Herlock,

I am still a little confused here. If they were killed by "a small team" would the search team have found their tracks?

c.d.

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree as above.

As well as the military, the local Mansi tribe and a group of escaped convicts were also theorised to be responsible.

Then there's the menk / yeti!

[Ms Diddles]

Thanks for this, Herlock.

So apparently the rescue team covered up what they found at the scene. Is that correct?

c.d.

Hmmmmmm!

I'm no expert, and it's a while since I read any books on this subject but IIRC the idea was more that the military had been involved and covered their tracks well before the searchers discovered the site.

The snow showed the prints of the hikers moving down the hill in an orderly fashion, but there were no extraneous prints at all, which one would expect to see if others were present.

I'm sure there was one weird report of a (military?) helicopter being seen at the site at the time of the disappearance, but I've a feeling that featured in one of the more obscure, less reputable books that I read and is not mentioned elsewhere.

It can probably be taken with a pinch of salt.

[c.d.]

Hi Herlock,

I am still a little confused here. If they were killed by "a small team" would the search team have found their tracks?

c.d.

[Ms Diddles]

It looks like the version on Kindle is just the post mortem which is a little strange. So if I do go for another book it will probably be between McCloskey and Eichar. Eeny meeny……..

Take your pick!

They each propose a completely different solution, but they are both quite good on the facts of the case and they're both well written as I recall.

[Ms Diddles]

I don’t think I could cope with another case Ms D even though all’s quiet on the Wallace front (thankfully) I’ve now transferred to the murder of Carrie Brown with Howard over on JTRForums. Another intriguing case imo.

Good to hear you're keeping busy, Herlock!

I still predict that if you read another couple of books on Dyatlov, you'll get hooked though....!

Resistance is futile!

[Ms Diddles]

You're right Miss D, it's a case that just keeps on confusing me.

Here is an an interesting link from the Igor Pavlov book.

Lot's of photographs and other source material.

1079 (dyatlovpass.com)

Thanks for that, Barn!

I'd heard tell of that book but had previously been unable to find an edition in English.

I've immediately taken the plunge and bought it!!

I think this is the one that was serialised on Russian tv some time ago....??

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hi Herlock!

IIRC Svetlana Oss has published two books; One is Don't go There and the second is just a transcription of the autopsy reports.

I have them both somewhere.

The autopsy reports are interesting, largely for what they don't include, and probably should!

I'd say that one is worth having.

Re Don't go There. I remember thinking it was OK, but I personally preferred the McCloskey and Eichar accounts by a mile.

It's a while since I read any of them though, so I can't recall what brought me to that conclusion.

When I get time I'll have a poke around among my Dyatlov books and try to refresh my memory and get back to you!

It looks like the version on Kindle is just the post mortem which is a little strange. So if I do go for another book it will probably be between McCloskey and Eichar. Eeny meeny……..

[Herlock Sholmes]

Herlock,

I seem to recall you warning me about the highly addictive and obsession inducing nature of the Wallace case.


The same applies here.

Be careful or before you know it you'll have remortgaged your house and be cutting about the Urals on a snow mobile, clutching a bottle of Russian vodka and rambling about "menk" and "mansi" and the KGB to anyone who'll listen.

Just saying.....!

I don’t think I could cope with another case Ms D even though all’s quiet on the Wallace front (thankfully) I’ve now transferred to the murder of Carrie Brown with Howard over on JTRForums. Another intriguing case imo.

[Herlock Sholmes]

Thanks for this, Herlock.

So apparently the rescue team covered up what they found at the scene. Is that correct?

c.d.

I don’t know if anything was actually covered up at the scene c.d. Ms D knows far more about this than I do and would probably know if any such suggestions have been made. I believe though that the people that discovered the bodies were, at least in part, volunteers. So just ordinary hikers like those that died, so I think that it might have been difficult to cover things up at the scene with them around? It would be easy for me to fall into the trap of assuming that everything written in the book that I read was correct which, to an extent, is unavoidable. The author for example states it as a fact that the eyes of two of the hikers were removed whilst they were still alive but, from reading other books, Ms D says that this is questioned and might not be the case. A natural disaster explanation is counter-intuitive and sounds close to insane on my very brief reading but many knowledgeable do think that it best covers the known facts. I also recall something about the government closing off a wide area around the site sometime after the investigation which naturally leads to accusations of some kind of governmental cover up (especially in Soviet-era Russia) but this might have a much less sinister explanation.

[barnflatwyngarde]

Herlock,

I seem to recall you warning me about the highly addictive and obsession inducing nature of the Wallace case.


The same applies here.

Be careful or before you know it you'll have remortgaged your house and be cutting about the Urals on a snow mobile, clutching a bottle of Russian vodka and rambling about "menk" and "mansi" and the KGB to anyone who'll listen.

Just saying.....!

You're right Miss D, it's a case that just keeps on confusing me.

Here is an an interesting link from the Igor Pavlov book.

Lot's of photographs and other source material.

1079 (dyatlovpass.com)

[Ms Diddles]

Thanks for that Ms D.

Herlock,

I seem to recall you warning me about the highly addictive and obsession inducing nature of the Wallace case.


The same applies here.

Be careful or before you know it you'll have remortgaged your house and be cutting about the Urals on a snow mobile, clutching a bottle of Russian vodka and rambling about "menk" and "mansi" and the KGB to anyone who'll listen.

Just saying.....!

[c.d.]

Thanks for this, Herlock.

So apparently the rescue team covered up what they found at the scene. Is that correct?

c.d.

[Ms Diddles]

Thanks Ms D. This is the problem with reading just one book on a subject as complex as this one. The avalanche theory just sounded totally unfeasible to me; more than a bit like the ‘official’ version but that opinion was based on things like the eyes (which the author didn’t question) and the wounds which appear to point to an attack by a human as opposed to an animal (or a Yeti) The author goes for the theory that one of the hikers was possibly giving away secrets so a small team was sent. The wounds pointed to torture. She doesn’t propose the theory as a ‘case solved’ at least but as one that she believed best explained the evidence.

Its easy to see how people get hooked on this case. It’s just so strange.

……

Ms D I’ve looked at the few books available and I’m considering getting Don’t Go There: True Mystery Of The Dyatlov Pass (2020) by Svetlana Oss which gets some good reviews. The problem is that when I clicked for the kindle version it comes up as Don’t Go There: The Post Mortem. The reviews are the same as for the paperback though. Do you know anything about this book? I’d prefer the kindle version but this made me wonder if the Kindle book is a different version?

Hi Herlock!

IIRC Svetlana Oss has published two books; One is Don't go There and the second is just a transcription of the autopsy reports.

I have them both somewhere.

The autopsy reports are interesting, largely for what they don't include, and probably should!

I'd say that one is worth having.

Re Don't go There. I remember thinking it was OK, but I personally preferred the McCloskey and Eichar accounts by a mile.

It's a while since I read any of them though, so I can't recall what brought me to that conclusion.

When I get time I'll have a poke around among my Dyatlov books and try to refresh my memory and get back to you!

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hi Herlock!

Yep! This one keeps me awake at night too!!

I've read pretty much all the available literature, and from what I recall some of the evidence mentioned above (the radiation levels / eyes and tongue removal pre mortem) is very much open to debate.

You'll see it contested in other books.

The autopsy reports are woefully vague too.

Then there's the intriguing detail of the missing person report pre-dating anyone knowing the hikers were missing.

I recall quite liking Donnie Eichar's book "Dead Mountain" although I'm not convinced by his conclusions (avoiding spoilers here!!).

There was also quite a good documentary released recently (2019 / 2020?), which I saw at a friends house through a haze of festive booze.

I can't recall the details (!), but I can find out if you're interested?

I was initially convinced that there was some kind of KGB conspiracy thing going on, but I now lean towards avalanche as the likeliest explanation.

Initially the thinking was that an avalanche was unlikely to have occurred at the location, but recent research has overturned that pretty convincingly.

It doesn't exactly explain all of the weird facets of the case, but simply playing the odds, I see it as the likeliest (if rather mundane) explanation.

If you decide to read a bit more about the case, please do post your thoughts.

I'd be interested to see what you think.....

Thanks Ms D. This is the problem with reading just one book on a subject as complex as this one. The avalanche theory just sounded totally unfeasible to me; more than a bit like the ‘official’ version but that opinion was based on things like the eyes (which the author didn’t question) and the wounds which appear to point to an attack by a human as opposed to an animal (or a Yeti) The author goes for the theory that one of the hikers was possibly giving away secrets so a small team was sent. The wounds pointed to torture. She doesn’t propose the theory as a ‘case solved’ at least but as one that she believed best explained the evidence.

Its easy to see how people get hooked on this case. It’s just so strange.

……

Ms D I’ve looked at the few books available and I’m considering getting Don’t Go There: True Mystery Of The Dyatlov Pass (2020) by Svetlana Oss which gets some good reviews. The problem is that when I clicked for the kindle version it comes up as Don’t Go There: The Post Mortem. The reviews are the same as for the paperback though. Do you know anything about this book? I’d prefer the kindle version but this made me wonder if the Kindle book is a different version?

[Herlock Sholmes]

The Keith McCloskey book "Mountain of the Dead" is a good one too.

I just checked with my friend, the documentary which we watched was called "An Unknown Compelling Force".

Thanks for that Ms D.