Welcome to Unexplained Extra, with me Richard McLean Smith.

For the weeks in between episodes, we look at the stories that for one reason or other

didn't make it into the show.

For the last episode, when there's snow melts, we took an in-depth look into the unsettling

mystery often referred to as the Diathlon Pass incident.

The incident details the mysterious deaths of nine hikers as they attempted a challenging

trek through the Ural Mountains in Russia.

The hikers ate students of the Ural Polytechnic Institute in what was once known as Svirdlothsk

in Russia and their friend Sasha Koliatov had been making their way towards Otauton

Mountain on February 1, 1959, when they made camp on a mountain called Kolact Siacol.

That night, the hikers, for some inexplicable reason, were seemingly compelled from the

sanctuary of their tent and driven to their deaths in the snow and sub-zero temperatures

outside.

There have been numerous attempts over the years to unravel the mystery, with theories

involving everything from secret weapons testing, UFOs, the wrath of ancient gods, to

the possible involvement of mancy tribesmen or KGB, as well as natural disasters such

as high winds and avalanches.

But what seems key to any theory were the two startling revelations discovered by investigators

at the time.

One was that none of the group had been found with shoes and in many cases were woefully

underdressed, and the other that they appeared to have cut their way out of their own tent.

The revelations would suggest that most likely something unseen had induced a heightened level

...