MysteriYES

1984 saw the largest bioterror attack on American soil. Was it terrorists or a local government take over?

Take me out to the ball game. Take me out to the potential homicide.

A serial killer terrorizing a city in the 1880s? Where have I heard this before?

Who murdered Johnny Zera? Was it a construction worker, a substitute teacher, or maybe an infamous serial killer.

Was one of the most gruesome crimes in Houston history committed by a CIA assassin?

1985 was not a great year to go camping in Washington. You could have run across one of the state's most intriguing mysteries.

One of the most famous serial killers in Scottish history was never caught. Can these two idiots figure out the mystery? Or will they be his next victims?

One of the most terrifying murders in American history. And there are a lot of murders in American history.

Two high school girls disappeared in rural South Dakota in 1971. Were they murdered? Who knows? I do.

In 1921 a young boy's body was found in a quarry. What happened to him is a mystery to this day.

Who would frame the PTA mom that everybody loved?

Today's mystery comes to us all the way from Siberia in the super classy nation of Russia. Actually, if we want to be super accurate, this mystery actually took place in the Soviet Union, because the year was 1959. Just a side note here: the phrase the "Soviet Union" gives me chills...I mean, it was a pretty terrible regime, but the dudes really knew how to name a country. Like I said, we are going to be in Siberia today, which is the last place on earth I ever want to visit because, as far as I can understand it Siberia is only ever cold and miserable. Seriously, I spent a ton of time researching today's case, and I'm pretty sure I shivered the entire time I was reading about it. However, the unfortunate victims of today's story did not have the same sensibilities that I do. The people we are going to talk about today are people who made hiking in the Siberian wilderness their hobby, which I think is part of the reason that they are the subject of a mysteriYES episode and I am not. The name of today's story is the Dyatlov Pass Incident and is named after a 23-year-old college student named Igor Dyatlov. Along with most of the victims of the incident, Igor was a student at Ural Polytechnic University in Sverdlovsk, Russia’s fourth largest city, which is now known as Yekaterinburg. A descendant of a family of engineers, Igor was described as having a scientific mind and was a radio engineering student at the university. In addition to his technical acumen, Igor was also considered an expert hiker and cross country skier at the university, and would often lead groups on expeditions through Siberia. However, not just any old hiker could join a Dyatlov Expedition; only those skilled hikers who had earned their spot were invited along with him. Igor was also described as a totalitarian commander, and would have stringent rules such as no smoking and no drinking (which is very un-Russian), as well as requiring his comrades to regularly wash their feet, even when there was no heater or hot water. In January of 1959, Igor and eight other UPI students, who were all experienced hikers and skiers, planned to complete what was known as a Grade III expedition, which was the highest level that a hiker could attain in Soviet Russia. The parameters for what qualified as a Grade III expedition were as follows: at least 186 miles of hiking with a third of this being done on rough terrain, and must last at least sixteen days with at least 8 days spent in uninhabited regions, and at least six nights sleeping in a tent. In order to prove that their expedition was, in fact, worthy of a Grade III certification, the hikers had to thoroughly document their trip through journal entries and photographs. Because of this stipulation, we have quite a bit of information from the hikers about how their trip went leading up to the fateful night of their demise. The hikers planned to hike to Otorten Mountain in the Northern Ural Mountains. Because they would be making their hike in the heart of winter, the Dyatlov group could expect subzero temperatures and multiple feet of snow—which sounds like hell itself to me, but is apparently a somewhat desirable environment for these fine, upstanding Communists. The original group was made of seven men and two women in their early twenties. The men were Igor Dyatlov, Yuri Doroshenko, Alexander Kolevatov, Rustik Slobodin, Georgy Krivonishchenko, Koyla Thibault-Brignoles, and Yuri Yudin. The women were Lyuda Dubinina and Zina Kolmogorova. Just before the group got on the train out of Sverdlovsk, a thirty-seven-year-old acquaintance of Igor’s joined the group. His name was Sasha Zolotaryov, and even though he was quite a bit older, heavily tattooed, and a World War II veteran, he seemed to fit in with the rest of the group well. The group left Sverdlovsk on January 23, and had to make stops at several staging points before actually taking off into the Siberian wilderness.

Disclaimer: Zach and Willy were planning on talking about the Frog Boys in an episode of MysteriYES and by no means did they ask me to guest and talk about it because of my ethnicity. Me being Korean-American does not make me an expert or give me extra insight; I know as much as the internet has told me. On March 26, 1991, five boys (U Cheol-won (aged 13) Jo Ho-yeon (aged 12) Kim Yeong-gyu (aged 11) Park Chan-in (aged 10) Kim Jong-sik (aged 9)) between the ages of 9-13 were exploring a mountain near where they lived (Daegu, South Korea) to search for frogs. Growing up in that area, they were very familiar with the mountain that they were exploring (Mount Waryong) and it was fairly typical for kids in that area to be out all day playing. Nothing was too significant about that day other than the fact that it was a national holiday because of the 1991 local elections, so people didn’t have work and kids didn’t have school. It being the early 1990s and seeing as their town was surrounded by mountains, it is not much of a surprise that they took advantage of the holiday to go on an outdoor adventure to capture frogs or salamanders. Later that day, the parents reported the boys missing after they didn’t come home and a large-scale search quickly erupted. What started out with just townspeople and local police became a nation-wide search as over 300,000 policemen were ordered by President Roh Tae-woo to search for the boys but millions of flyers were distributed as well. A reward of 42 million won ($35,000) was accumulated by donations from companies, groups and individuals and was offered to whoever could locate the boys. Along with that, a local elementary school started a “Find the Frog Children Campaign” and milk cartons started to have photographs with the boys pictured on them. Despite a practically nation-wide search and Waryong Mountain being searched over 500 times, there was no luck for years in finding any trace of the boys. There were over 550 false leads reported to authorities but most of them lead nowhere. One day, however, the police received a call. A man claimed that he had abducted the Frog Boys. He said that they were malnourished and in danger of dying and demanded a ransom in exchange for the boys. And while this explanation seemed like an answer to the mystery, after further investigation it was found that the man was lying about abducting the children. There is not a lot a great amount of detail about this man and why he lied about this. I can’t imagine wanting to a) take responsibility for such a crime and b) getting the parents’ hopes up of having their children returned. I don’t know what could have been gained from this false lead but if anything, it makes the case that much more frustrating. During the investigation, many theories arose as people searched for the answers. Kidnappings by various groups including both North Korea and South Korean “authorities” were not out of the questions. Some people didn’t write off the chance of an alien abduction, and some even went as far to accuse the parents of killing and burying their sons. This may be one of the more absurd explanations for the case, but the movie Children… (2011) explores this theory more as the film is based off of the missing Frog Boys. Over eleven years after the initial disappearance of the Frog Boys, they were finally found. On September 26th, 2002, a man in the foothills of Waryong Mountain searching for acorns came across shoes and clothing. He called the police via an anonymous phone call and upon searching the area, the five Frog Boys were found dead in a shallow pit. The bodies were lying in a gully and eventually water exposed their remains. The initial investigation lead to the police coming forth with the statement that the boys had died of hypothermia. The day they went missing was cold and rainy, and when the bodies were found, they were closely huddled together, possibly for warmth. The police ruled out a possibility

In 1982 a boy named Johnny Gosch disappeared from a West Des Moines suburb. What happened to him is a mystery to this day.

In 1982 a young paper boy named Johnny Gosch disappeared from a West Des Moines neighborhood