In mid-January, 1959, a groupe of students and recent graduates from Ural Polytechnic Institute departed from the city of Sverdlovsk, Russia on an expedition into the Northern Ural Mountain.s Each member of the group was extremely experienced in lengthy ski tours and mountain expeditions, and would all earn the distinguished Grade III hiking certification- the highest obtainable in the country, upon completing their journey. When the hikers hadn't arrived back home as expected, a search and rescue mission began. Over the span of the next few months, a horrifying discovery would be made: the bodies of all 9 hikers would be found scattered in various states of struggle, within a mile of their last campsite. Some with fatal blunt force trauma to their head or chest, many missing shoes and clothing, and another was even missing her tongue. The prosecutor at the time closed the investigation stating that "The hikers died of an unknown, compelling force." A vague determination that has left room for many theories in the past 60 years, ranging from UFOs to Government conspiracy. What caused these experienced hikers to flee their only shelter into total blackness, sub-zero temperatures, and imminent death that night in February, 1959?

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