Mountain of the Dead by Keith McCloskey

described similarly by Mansi hunters, tourists (i.e. hikers/skiers), meteorologists, the military and occasional observers. There are three possible explanations for these lights: they were tests of missiles, they were UFOs (or alien craft), or they were afterburners from Soviet fighter aircraft. Theorists in connection with the Dyatlov incident have focused on the presence of large lights in the night sky on 1 February. These lights were described as bright orbs and were seen by another group of ski hikers/tourists about 30 miles (48km) south of the Dyatlov group’s location. The UFO theorists claim the brightly lit orbs were responsible in some way for what happened to the Dyatlov group. Yet there is nothing to support the theory other than the fact that some members of the group suffered massive injuries that appeared to have no immediate rational explanation. There were no unexplained tracks or traces around the tent, along the route the party took, or around the areas where the bodies were found to suggest there was anyone or anything else there.
    One further item that the UFO theorists have alighted on is the last photograph in one of the cameras that was found in the tent by the search parties. When it was developed, this photograph appeared to have been overexposed and showed what appeared to be bright lights against a black background, which gives some credence to the UFO theory, or at least to the theory that the bright orbs that had been observed in the sky had something to do with what happened to the group. However, it is also possible that the photo was genuinely an overexposure. It has also been suggested that the overexposure of that particular photo was caused by a member of the search party, who may have picked up the camera and accidentally caused the camera to take a picture that was badly exposed.
    If the orbs had come close to the tent, one would have expected the members of the group to observe them in puzzlement at first, as presumably no noise was made by them. The evacuation of the tent in a complete panic does not support this view and, if a picture had been taken of the orbs, it would seem to suggest that whoever took the picture had left the camera behind whilst running for his or her life. Whatever had happened strongly suggests that it happened in a matter of seconds and caused them to immediately tear their way out of the tent, which does not create a scenario for taking photographs.
    Other than the sightings of lights in the sky, much of which has immediate rational explanations, there is no other evidence to support the UFO theory, other than possibly the sheer strangeness of the deaths and where the bodies were found.
    According to data collected by the International Ufologist Union, in the first eleven months of 2005 there were 2,348 sightings of worldwide UFOs (reported in the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda dated 9 December 2005).
    One most unexpected supporter of UFOs being involved in the deaths of the Dyatlov group was Lev Ivanov, the lead criminal investigator on the case. However, other than the appearance of lights/fire spheres/glowing orbs in the night skies of the northern Ural Mountains there is no other firm evidence to back up the theory, other than possibly the serious internal injuries to Luda Dubinina, Semyon Zolotarev and Nicolai Thibeaux-Brignolle, which appear to be almost inexplicable.
Yeti/Siberian trolls
    In early November 2012 it was reported in the media that Professor Valentin Sapunov of the Russian State Hydrometeorological University claimed to have found hair in a remote Siberian cave a year previously, possibly belonging to a human-like mammal unknown to man. He had estimated that there were up to 200 yeti living in the Altai, Kemerovo and Khakassia regions of Siberia and explained that none had been sighted as they had an acute sense of danger. Sapunov’s claims regarding the hair were played down by Oleg Pugachev, Director of the Zoological Institute of the