5 ms·

With present knowledge of wilderness medicine, this is not a mystery at all, although it was at the time. Everything is explained by the odd effects of hypother

• jamespo 10y ago
  That's what they want you to think
• guard-of-terra 10y ago
  They were originally inside a tent, which was count cut through. Then they left without boots. That's not paradoxical undressing, is it?
  • natch 10y ago
    It absolutely fits, as strange as it sounds.
  • Avshalom 10y ago
    It's like this: you're in a tent becoming hypothermic--maybe the night was colder than your equipment was good for, maybe you got wet-- you hit the delirium stage and feel great so you decide to go out. You can't work the zippers because of course you're half frozen in reality so in the unlogic of delirium you just cut open the tent and step out. In that delirium you don't so much paradoxically undress as simply not-get-dressed.
    • restalis 10y ago
      Wouldn't this theory be among the considered ones for the investigation in a country like Russia, experienced with cold related issues? And why would they have been so inclined to make this secret for over forty years?
      • Avshalom 10y ago
        They didn't keep it secret there was an official investigation, it got written up in newspapers, people wrote books about it.
  • reitanqild 10y ago
    Reminds me about an interview I heard with a Israeli veteran from the 6-days war I think. He was speaking about how the Arab fire had suddenly stopped and when they finally dared to recon after initially suspecting an ambush they found everyone capable of running had run in panic without even caring about footwear. According to him wounded Arab soldiers left behind told a story of seeing sightings in the sky that had caused the mass panic. Of course this is to be taken with multiple grains of salt as this is an but maybe someone here can find more.
• forgotpwtomain 10y ago
  9/9 members suffering from delusional hypothermia is extremely unlikely. Can you provide a reference for a single similar mountaineering incident? I can provide a lot of references to deaths from hypothermia in e.g. the Himalayas and I've never read/heard of a remotely similar circumstance. Hypothermia doesn't just happen to experienced mountaineers - they need to make mistakes; usually one member is affected before others. There are steps you take to deal with the condition - of which tent cutting and nude running really isn't one. Massive simultaneous delusion might be possible, but it needs a much better supported explanation
  • natch 10y ago
    9/9 could have gotten wet. On top of that they were exposed, away from the protection of trees, and possibly in high winds. There is nothing to say this was not the case. And while there are steps you take, those are things we have learned since 1959. It's not clear at all that this group's 1959 best practices (even given their considerable experience) was on par with what we would do now. The trauma injuries are explained by falls or by misinterpretation of damage done to the bodies by passing animals after the fact. Paradoxical undressing isn't just a leisurely comfortable stroll in the buff; it can be a panicked race toward the nearest place where a dip into freezing water might be sought (by a deluded person who forgets that the water will be frozen solid), such as into a ravine.
    • forgotpwtomain 10y ago
      > 9/9 could have gotten wet. This is very unlikely in negative temperatures in the -30-20 range. > It's not clear at all that this group's 1959 best practices (even given their considerable experience) was on par with what we would do now. Even supposing the unlikely event that 9/9 did get hypothermia before other symptoms, you are still saying that they all became simultaneously delirious to the point that not even one of them was found dead in a position that indicated some kind of normal reaction one would expect from an experienced person (I'm not saying a life-saving reaction - we know no one survived, but anything remotely bordering on rational)..
      • 10y ago
• sakopov 10y ago
  What about radiation found during autopsy?
  • Avshalom 10y ago
    There wasn't any. That detail didn't show up in the story until decades later
    • beaner 10y ago
      Because a lot of the story's details were suppressed initially...
      • Avshalom 10y ago
        People making shit up post hoc in order to justify their enthusiasm to their skeptical friends is not the same thing as being 'suppressed initially'
• anton_gogolev 10y ago
  Most of them were well-dressed (see morgue photos, for example). And it wasn't that cold out there back then for hypothermia to kick in.
  • dpark 10y ago
    It was between -13 and -22 degrees Fahrenheit with heavy winds. That is very cold, certainly cold enough to cause hypothermia. My freezer doesn't even get this cold.
    • soperj 10y ago
      I played hockey for hours and hours at -13f every day as a kid without even a winter coat. We'd still play at -40f, but it would be too cold for a helmet at that point and we'd have to wear toques.
      • dpark 10y ago
        Good for you. -13 is still very cold. Boston had its coldest day on record earlier this year and still didn't hit -13F. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/02/14/boston-breaks-valentine-day-cold-weather-record/aLJKvKjOLYRescV6mq5y1O/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/02/14/boston-breaks-v...
        • soperj 10y ago
          -13f was a nice day. You get used to it. If you didn't go out at -13, you'd never go out in the winter.