Otorten mountain of the dead. Otorten - the mountain about which there are legends

Mountain Otorten located in the Northern Urals. You can get there on foot from the abandoned village of Ushma (100 km from Ivdel) through.

The pass and the Mountain of the Dead located nearby are notorious for the fact that in 1959 tourists from the Dyatlov group tragically died there. What is known about Otorten? One of the most competent researchers of the Northern Urals, Alexander Matveev, claims that this name, which has been established on the map beyond a height of 1234 m, is erroneous. In fact, the Mansi call this mountain Lunt-Khusap-Syahyl, which means "Mountain of the goose nest."

The fact is that the southeastern slope of this mountain is steep and breaks off to the Goose Nest Lake, from where the Lozva River originates. According to the Mansi legend, during the Flood, the only goose was saved in this lake, and Otorten from the point of view of the Mansi, this is a completely different mountain - 1182 m high, located a few kilometers northeast of the peak 1234 m. " The mountain that blows the wind"

Fragment (about 7 minutes) of the film TAU "Mystical campaign 2 series"

In 1999, exactly 40 years after the tragedy of the Dyatlov group, tourists from the same UPI under the leadership of Sergei Markov decided to repeat their route. They called their journey "The Mystical Campaign". The film in 2 episodes can be found and viewed on YouTube.

The Markovites went on the route on the same dates at the end of January and, having climbed the Dyatlov Pass, they even tried to find the place of the Dyatlovites' tent as accurately as possible. We set up camp and spent two nights at this place. From February 1 to February 2, on the night when the tragedy occurred exactly 40 years ago. This time everything worked out well. The next day, the guys held a radio bridge with Yekaterinburg, explored the surrounding area, found a cedar, near which the Dyatlovites allegedly tried to escape and nailed an icon to it, honoring the memory of the dead. Then Markov's group went to Otorten. When climbing Otorten, tourists saw an unusual atmospheric phenomenon - the Halo effect.

Daughters of Otorten. Mansi legend.

On the b/w photo we are on Otorten in the campaign 3 k/s 1989

Once upon a time there lived a young shepherd named Otorten. He had a bow and sharp arrows, he was known as a brave and strong man. He knew the habits of animals, he could talk with the wind and birds. He was cunning and dexterous. So he lived completely alone, until finally, somehow, walking along the Tosemya River, he met a beautiful girl with blue eyes like lakes, moreover, tender and slender. It looks like the Tosemya River turned into a girl. She shouted to him: "Hide, Otorten! The Siverko wind is flying behind you! Come to me, hide under the shore, I will cover you!" And Otorten turned into a large stone, and the waters of the Tosemya River caressed him with a murmur. And then two streams formed, as if their two daughters: Pechora and Vishera. Year after year they expanded, and finally they say to their father: "Let them go free!"

Otorten became stern and threw off the stones, chained his daughters into stone cliffs. So a couple of years went by. Geese flew in and said: "We don't have enough water!" And the geese of the Mansi people are sacred birds. And Otorten relented and said to his daughters: “Okay, I will open my stone shoulders and let you out, let there be a lot of fish in you, let forests grow along the banks and geese and other birds swim and nest on you.” The daughters rejoiced, burst out into the open, flowed through the meadows. They did not know that their father had two other daughters - Lozva and Sosva, but they were on the other side of the mountain. Probably her father loved Sosva more and gave her a strange fish - the famous Sosva herring. Nowhere else is there. Well, something like that.

We stopped at the western slope of Mount Otorten. Even last night we had an argument, most did not want to waste time on this mountain. They wanted more to civilization, to families. But when, already on the spot, I told the team that it was only about two kilometers in a straight line to the top of Otorten. Oleg and Serega immediately said: "Let's go." Regina had long wanted to go there, of course, and I wanted to climb this mountain. Sergei also decided to go to Otorten, although yesterday he did not support this idea. But here, standing almost two steps from the top, apparently, he could not resist. In total, five people went up the mountain, the rest remained to rest in cars or on the ground. It was hot, but at this height the wind blew everyone.

Mount Otorten has another name, known among tourists as the mountain of the Dead. While I was preparing for the trip, I read various information. People wrote that Mount Otorten has a sacred meaning among the Mansi and its name is translated as "do not go there." In addition, the gates of Otorten stand on the mountain, after passing through them, a terrible and painful death awaits a person. If a woman passes through these gates, then the Mansi will kill her. In general, a lot of superstitious nonsense was written by people who believe in mysticism.

In fact, the name of Mount Otorten, in Mansi Lunt-Khusap-Syahyl, is translated as Goose Nest Mountain, because of the Goose Nest Lake located to the south at the foot of the mountain. From this lake begins the river Lozva.

The name with a goose is associated with the legend of the Mansi, they believed or still believe that during the great flood, only one goose survived in this lake.

Otorten got its name by mistake from the nearby mountain Vot-Tar-tan-Syahyl, its translation is “Mountain that blows wind” or Wind Mountain.

I don't know which of the mountains blows the wind, but as we climbed Otorten, the wind got stronger and stronger.

So, Regina and I were the first to go up the mountain, a little later Seryoga, Oleg and Sergey caught up with us.

I had the coordinates of the Otorten gate, which was located on one of the peaks of the mountain.

The elevation difference was as follows: the cars stood at an altitude of 880 meters, the most high point mountains - 1234 meters, i.e. 354 meters. The difficulty was that the rise was not always the same. He then became gentle, then turned into steps, on which you had to practically climb. The higher we climbed, the more turds there were.

The guys quickly caught up and overtook, left with a margin. Sergey surprised me again, he hardly walked to the Manpupuner plateau and back, but here he walked on an equal footing with the athletes. And soon we practically stopped seeing them.

Climbing one of the last steps, the walls of Otorten opened before us - a rock, in some places just sticking out of the ground in pieces, and in some places forming a wall. Perhaps this also caused the Mansi to resemble a goose's nest.

The guys went to storm the mountain directly, my navigator showed that the gates of Otorten are to the right, so Regina and I went along a more gentle slope.

We climbed between the stones and saw the gates of Otorten, and we went to them.

There are more plateaus on the top of Mount Otorten, and rock ledges stick out here and there. There are some similarities with the city and the streets. On the neighboring mountain there is something similar, but in smaller numbers when viewed from Otorten.

When we reached the gates of Otorten, the wind just knocked down, we couldn't hear each other, even if we shouted. I don’t think it’s always like this here, there was a haze over the mountains in the distance, most likely it was a change in the weather.

We both passed through the gates of Otorten, nothing happened either immediately or later. Then Sergei found us, took a picture with him at the gate. And we continued to walk up the mountain.

First I went north, here it's just beautiful view to the mountains of the Northern Urals, as well as from any side of the top of Otorten.

Then the three of us went south, we found a sledge here, which surprised us a lot, was it really possible for someone to come here in winter.

Having passed to the south side of Otorten, we saw a lake, the descent to it is a steep hillock. There was someone near the lake, as we later found out, they were also autotourists.

In February 1959, a tragedy occurred on the slopes of Mount Otorten - under mysterious circumstances, death overtook a group of tourists. They were healthy young men who had gone to mountain hiking. A wide variety of assumptions were put forward regarding the cause of their unexpected, strange death: poisoning, overtaking ball lightning, the harmful effects of some rays, etc.

Despite numerous attempts to find an explanation for the tragic incident, it remained a mystery both for researchers of anomalous phenomena and for law enforcement agencies. But everything secret, if it does not become clearly unraveled, sooner or later opens the veil. In connection with the tragedy on the "Mountain of the Dead", a prosecutor's investigation was launched, which became classified. The journalists turned out to be more persistent in their search, but even they were moving towards the solution rather slowly. Only forty years later, after the declassification of the materials of the prosecutor's office, it was possible to imagine to a large extent all that had happened.

A group of students from the Ural Polytechnic Institute, led by an experienced leader Igor Dyatlov, went on a hike in the Northern Urals.

Why did the tourists go to the top of Otorten? Perhaps they were attracted by its mystery, which followed from the stories of the hunters, and even the translation of the name itself - "Do not go there." Here's what emerged from the investigation:

"... Having used the daylight hours to climb to the" peak 1079 "in conditions of strong wind, which is common in the area, and a low temperature of about 25-30 degrees below zero, Dyatlov found himself in unfavorable overnight conditions and decided to pitch a tent on slope "1079" so that in the morning of the next day, without losing altitude, go to Mount Otorten, to which 10 km remained in a straight line. One of the cameras retained a photo frame (taken last), which shows the moment of excavation of snow to set up a tent " .

The absence of news from the Dyatlov group caused alarm, and several search groups were sent along the route of the tourists, and then teams of soldiers and officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, airplanes and helicopters of civil and military aviation.

The prosecutor's materials were documented in detail: "... on February 26, on the eastern slope of the '1079 summit', the group's tent was discovered with all the equipment and food. The tent and everything that was in it were well preserved. The location and presence of objects in the tent testified to the fact that the tent was left suddenly, simultaneously by all the tourists, and the leeward side of the tent, where the tourists settled their heads, was cut from the inside, in two places, in areas that ensure the free exit of a person through these cuts.

Below the tent, for 500 m, the traces of people walking from the tent into the valley and the forest are well preserved in the snow. An examination of the tracks (there were 8-9 pairs) showed that some of them were left with an almost bare foot (for example, in one sock), while others were left with felt boots. Neither in the tent nor near it were found signs of a struggle or the presence of other people."

A forensic medical examination found that several people died from the effects of low temperature (frozen), none of them had bodily injuries, apart from minor scratches and abrasions. But for three dead death occurred as a result of many severe injuries (fractured ribs, depressed skull fracture). All these protocol details are important in view of the subsequent conclusion and new questions that have arisen.

"... The investigation carried out in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bheight "1079" did not establish other people, except for the group of tourists Dyatlov. helps them, etc. The place where the group died, in winter time The Mansi is considered unsuitable for hunting and reindeer herding.

Taking into account the absence of external bodily injuries and signs of a struggle, the presence of all the values ​​of the group, and also taking into account the conclusion of the forensic medical examination on the causes of death of the tourists, it should be considered that the cause of the death of the tourists was an elemental force, which the tourists were unable to overcome. was signed by criminal prosecutor Ivanov and the head of the investigative department Lukin.

Note this inexplicable "elemental force." Let's look at the testimonies of those days. It turns out that on February 18, 1959, an article appeared in the newspaper "Tagil Worker" entitled "An unusual celestial phenomenon." It reported: "At 6 hours 55 minutes local time yesterday in the east-southeast at an altitude of 20 degrees from the horizon, a luminous ball the size of the apparent diameter of the moon appeared. The ball was moving in the direction of the northeast. About seven o'clock there was a flash near it , and a very bright core of the ball became visible, it itself began to glow more intensely, a luminous cloud appeared around it, bent towards the south.

The cloud spread throughout eastern part firmament. Shortly after this, a second outbreak occurred, it looked like a crescent of the moon. Gradually, the cloud increased, a luminous point remained in the center (the glow was variable in magnitude). The ball moved in the east-northeast direction. highest height above the horizon - 30 degrees - was reached at about 7 hours 05 minutes. Continuing to move, this unusual celestial phenomenon weakened and blurred. Thinking that it was somehow connected with the satellite, they turned on the receiver, but there was no signal reception. "This information was signed by the deputy head of communications of the Vysokogorny mine, A. Kiselev.

And a telephone message came to the Sverdlovsk City Committee of the CPSU from the search engines: "31.03.59 at 4.00 in the southeast direction, the duty officer Meshcheryakov noticed a large ring of fire, which moved towards us for 20 minutes, then hiding behind the height" 880 " "And before that, a star appeared from the center of the ring, which gradually increased to the size of the moon and began to fall down, moving away from the ring. An unusual phenomenon was observed by many people raised in alarm. Please explain this phenomenon and its safety, since in our conditions it produces disturbing impression. Avenburg, Potapov, Sogrin".

Forty years after the closing of the case, the former prosecutor L. Ivanov also gave his "testimony" to journalists: "In May 1959, we examined the surroundings of the scene and found that some young fir trees on the border of the forest were, as it were, burnt - these traces were not concentric or there was no other form, there was no epicenter.This was also confirmed by the direction of the beam or a strong, but completely unknown, in any case, energy, acting selectively: the snow was not melted, the trees were not damaged.

It seemed that when the tourists on their feet walked more than five hundred meters down the mountain, then someone dealt with some of them in a directed way. When I and the regional prosecutor reported the initial data to the first secretary of the regional committee, he gave a clear command - to classify all the work and ordered to bury the tourists in boarded up coffins, telling their relatives that they all died from hypothermia.

The incident, state of emergency, near Mount Otorten was out of the ordinary. That is why all the collected evidence is so important.

Here is a story from the investigation file of the meteorologist Tokarev: “On February 17, at 6 hours 50 minutes, an unusual phenomenon appeared in the sky - the movement of stars with a tail. The tail looked like dense cirrus clouds. Then this star freed itself from the tail, became brighter than all the stars and flew , began to gradually swell. A large ball was formed, shrouded in haze. Then a star lit up inside this ball, from which at first a small ball was formed, not so bright. The large ball gradually descended, became like a blur. At 7.05 it disappeared completely. Moved with south to northeast."

Similar information about the unusual movement of objects observed then in the sky was reported to the prosecutor's office by servicemen Savchenko and Atamaki, students of the geographical faculty of the Sverdlovsk Pedagogical Institute.

Careful study of the case led to the conviction that the reason for the death of tourists in the impact of these UFOs. L. Ivanov said after 40 years: “I guess it all happened like this. The guys had dinner and went to bed. One of them came out and saw something that made everyone leave the tent and run down. I think it was a luminous ball. it or it accidentally came out at the edge of the forest. Three are seriously injured. It was something like a strong shock wave or a blow like in a car accident. Well, then the struggle for survival began. Never have I seen a more vivid display of courage, such a fierce struggle for his life and his comrades. But strength breaks strength."

Ufologists, who analyzed what happened, came to this assumption. It is possible that the tourists who ran out of the tent were blinded by the rays of the UFO. They experienced a feeling of horror comparable to what people experience during earthquakes: for tens of minutes they cannot speak. There are cases when, under the influence of UFO rays, deterioration or loss of vision by eyewitnesses follows. Given this version, the reason for the stampede of the guys from the cut tent becomes clear.

Some time after the shock, they began to recover. But the blindness received from the rays disoriented them. Perhaps the stronger members of the group began to pass it, they crawled towards the tent. But there was not enough strength to overcome the ascent up the slope. The unnatural color of the skin of the dead also indicates the radiation received. Similar cases of burns and exposures similar to laser ones are also known when people approach certain types of UFOs.

Former prosecutor Ivanov believes that tourists were killed by a strong shock wave from an exploding UFO, and 40 years ago he simply tore out sheets with expert opinions that were not suitable for the "spontaneous" version (the experts themselves gave a non-disclosure agreement), classified the case and handed it over to the archive.

When searching for the causes of the mysterious death, they also remembered an amazing phenomenon that the inhabitants of the North often encounter. In winter, during the long polar night, when the aurora appears, some people fall into a strange state. They completely withdraw from the world around, talking excitedly with an invisible interlocutor, swaying to the beat of the music they hear alone. Often they move like sleepwalkers, without choosing a path, they leave home for the tundra. Having come to their senses after some time, people vaguely remember that they heard sounds of fabulous beauty and obeyed the Polar Star, calling to the true habitat - ancient land ancestors. The phenomenon was called "The Call of the Ancestors".

There is a scientific explanation for the strange effects of the aurora on the human psyche. The fault is, firstly, low-frequency electromagnetic waves reproduced by the aurora. Their range is 8-13 hertz, akin to the frequencies of the alpha and beta rhythms of the brain. Hence - the irresistible desire of a person to merge with something more reliable than himself. Secondly, such a natural phenomenon as the aurora is accompanied by infrasound. It is indistinguishable by ear, but biologically active. The human brain and cardiovascular system perceive sound in the infrasound range in a peculiar way, so the consequences for the body can be the most unpredictable. The existence of the "Flying Dutchmen" - ships without a crew - is precisely explained by the birth of infrasounds from storm waves. Under their influence, people experience incomprehensible fear, and even horror, in a panic, they begin to behave in a completely unreasonable way and eventually leave the ship. Maybe something similar happened to tourists in the Subpolar Urals in 1959? ..

There is another version that links all the testimony and documentary evidence. Quite earthly, also from the category of "X-Files". In the air near the mountain where the group spent the night, some kind of rocket exploded. Possibly with a warhead. This could explain the blast wave, the strange color of the skin of the dead, and the mysterious glow in the sky. It is said that similar celestial phenomena are also observed in the area of ​​the Plesetsk test site during tests. However, it is still not possible to find out exactly whether any tests were carried out then in that region.

True, many eyewitnesses testify that rockets flying in the sky were not uncommon in the 50-60s in those parts. Subsequently, not far from the place of death of the Dyatlov group, in the deep taiga, several duralumin fragments were found, and in the description of the tests of some types of weapons there are details reminiscent of the 1959 tragedy near Mount Otorten.

A resident of Vladimir, 55 years later, told how he found corpses from the Dyatlov Pass.
I called the editorial office of the Vladimir city portal local Viktor Potyazhenko. The man said that he was a living witness to the events on Mount Otorten. According to a man in documentaries, who are trying to tell about what happened, a lot of inaccuracies and fabrications. He wants to tell everything he knows about the events that took place 55 years ago.

A participant in those events met journalists at his home. As it turned out, his wife, Margarita Potyazhenko, was also directly connected with that incident. When it all happened, she was a radio operator. Half a century has passed, but the events of that time are still being discussed by experts, various versions are being built. The pensioners admitted that they did not tell anyone until recently that they knew about the terrible incident.

The mysterious story happened in February 1959. On the slopes of the mountain, whose name in translation from the Mansi language sounds like “Don’t go there”, a group of tourists died under unclear circumstances. The searchers who found them and the forensic experts were surprised by what they saw there...

About how it all began

At that time, I served in a squadron in the Northern Urals - I was a flight commander, Viktor Potyazhenko recalls. - On the eve of February 23, we received an order: tomorrow you will go by planes AN-2, Yak-12, helicopter Mi-4 to the city of Ivdel. (At that time, however, as now, it was the center for serving the sentence of prisoners). They also added: Comrade Gorlak, Chief of Staff of the Air Force for the Urals District, will fly with you. Unfortunately, I have already forgotten his name. We prepared the planes, and moved to a given point. We flew in and landed at a small airfield. I see the police are all around. Everyone is running around, running around. Well, I think - maybe someone escaped from the prisoners, so they are looking for now.
Later it turned out that on the night of February 1-2, a group of Sverdlovsk students did not get in touch. The students went on a hike, which was timed to coincide with the 21st Congress of the CPSU. For 16 days, the participants of the trip had to ski at least 350 km in the north Sverdlovsk region and climb the North Ural mountains Otorten and Oiko-Chakur. At some point, they did not reach the finishing point of their route. From the latest messages, the coordinates of the place of a possible stop for the night were known. As it became clear, it was in their search that the military was sent.

I was ordered to fly over and inspect the area from the air, - the participant in the events continues to recall. - Of course, there were big doubts that we would not find anything from a height. It was necessary to fly from Ivdel 12 kilometers along railway. After, another 50 kilometers to the mountains, where after 500-600 meters an ominous plateau opened up.

The interlocutor admitted that it was scary to fly. Variable relief all around, giving way to plateaus. And above the bare, gray landscape - a thick "hat" of clouds. On his first landing, the pilot had to land in the forest, on a pre-cleared area.
- There was a dense, impenetrable forest. The height of some cedars reached 5 meters. I asked them to cut down a landing area for me - 50 by 50 meters. The square is such that the screw does not touch the knots. That's where I had to "sit down". The second time I flew with cynologists and dogs on board. This is where strange things began to happen.

About mystical events

When they tried to take the big service shepherds out of the rotary-winged machine, they began to resist, tearing from the leashes.

Search dogs rested their paws on the floor. They were literally pulled out of the compartment. And when the animals were outside, they lowered their ears and tucked their tails. The quadrupeds were clearly alarmed. They felt something. You know, when they were taken back after these searches, they themselves ran aboard. You could probably walk on them, someone could step on them by accident - and they didn’t even snap. Although, on the first day, one dog bit his wife on the leg. Here, they were obedient, as long as they were not touched, - the narrator noted an interesting detail.

How did you find the group parking spot?

That day, Victor was lucky to find a tent. Everything happened completely by accident. Cynologists went to the mountains in search. The helicopter took off, described a circle and flew towards the base. After 500 meters, the pilot saw what looked like a tent.

Of course, it was difficult to make out the outlines, - the interlocutor admitted. - When he arrived "home" he transmitted on the radio: the object is located directly from the place where we took off. A search party was hastily sent there, on the same evening ...

Remembering the scene

And in the morning, our hero was in place. At dawn, he went with a new team to the pass. Some time later, a tent powdered with snow was found, with a wall cut from the inside. Everything remained in it, as on that night, when something made everyone flee from it without looking back.

Everything was absolutely untouched, - confirmed counterpart. - Things lay in their places - everyone ran out in what they were. All food, alcohol, money remained in the tent. A light bulb hung inside, a sheet of paper with plans for the next day was attached. Remember? There was a version that runaway prisoners attacked the guys. But the fact that everything was untouched suggests otherwise. And it is unlikely that those who ran away could hold out for a long time in the bitter cold ... We all looked and discussed. And then everyone went down, along the slope of the mountain with a strong slope. In some places everything was powdered with snow on which we saw a chain of footprints. They all led down into the hollow...

About search results

The corpse of a man lay in the snow with outstretched arms - the pensioner's memory draws terrible images. - The body was frozen, it was ice cold. When we had to carry him, it turned out that he grabbed his heel. And she broke off! I tried to return it to its place, but where there. So he left it there, because it was inconvenient to carry the deceased.

The conversation returned to the topic of the terrible discovery. Some time after the discovery of the first body, 3 more were found. They lay in a kind of lowland, near the rise to the mountain. The experienced "flyer" remembered the broken branches of fir trees, scattered sticks. So far, it remains a mystery why the dead needed them.

A trace of the remains of a bonfire was visible nearby, the snow was smoky. So they kindled the fire. Of course, maybe they also wanted to make a bedding, but why? There are a lot of questions. The prosecutor and the investigator were constantly moving away to whisper, discussing something. It was decided that the bodies could be covered with snow. We decided to search with special probes - pits, - the witness added.

For weeks, searches were conducted for the rest of the expedition members, from the group of Igor Dyatlov. After a few more days from the moment of the first "finds" they unearthed the body of a woman, with burnt clothes. And then, even before May, they continued to look for people who were considered missing. In the middle of the month, 3 mutilated corpses were found with gouged out eyes, burns, and no tongue...

What are the versions of what happened?

There are a lot of speculations about what happened on that ill-fated night. Various versions were expressed - from mystical, to natural phenomena. Among others: a bacteriological weapon could be sprayed over the forest. But this version seems funny to the Potyazhenko couple. With a smile, they also reacted to another version: an American spy penetrated the ranks of the group, who could simply "remove" witnesses.

All this is not true, - the spouses laugh. - Why test bacteriological weapons over a completely deserted territory! And speculation about a spy is generally a fairy tale. We guess what could have happened there, but all the time we were silent.

In those days, Margarita worked as a radio operator, received and transmitted urgent radiograms. She remembers well how one day during the search she heard: a rocket landed on Otorten.

I remember these words exactly, - our countrywoman assures. - It was said about a rocket that landed in the mountains. And then came the rebuttal. There was nothing like it, it just seemed. All this, of course, is strange. Moreover, on the night of April 1st to 2nd there was an inexplicable incident.

Margarita's husband, Victor, joined the conversation again. The man said: that night, when the search continued, a luminous object hovered over the soldiers' tent.

The lieutenant told me then, but I did not believe it. Well guess, deceiving me on the first of April. And everyone said that a luminous donut hung over the tent. The attendant dozed off when the whole neighborhood was lit up as if it were daylight. The soldier shouted: "Oh, lads, I overslept everything, the sun is shining." He runs out into the street, and this thing hangs over his head, everything glows. The boy and let's shout, wake everyone up ... Then at three in the morning, they were looking for everyone in the surrounding forests. Everyone was very scared.

The couple are sure that no one will ever tell about the true causes of the tragedy. They tend to believe in extraterrestrial footprint in the case of the death of the tourist group. According to them: something inexplicable to the mind happened that night ordinary person. What they believed on August 23, 1973. - I saw "them", although if I said it earlier, I would have been sent to a psychiatric hospital. Everything happened near the village of Peshino, near Izhevsk. These "guests" literally floated over the buckwheat field... I remember their high growth, under 3 meters. Then, of course, I got scared.