The Devil’s Pass

Feb 1959, Russia – 9 hikers died under mysterious circumstances, true cause of death never really explained.

Governments at times have made their best efforts to conceal facts and ‘truths’ which are deemed to be beyond the understanding of the society. We are not always told the truth and what we are told may not always be the truth. Such concealments are known as “The concpiracy theories”. The death of 9 hikers under mysterious circumstances and government’s efforts to keep it under warps makes it one of the most popular concpiracy theories, also known as the “The Dytlov Pass Incident”.


It was 1959 January, a group of hikers led by their leader Igor Dytlov were on an hiking expdition in Ural Mountains in Nothern Russia. A young Igor who was 23, led a group of 9 hikers, most of them fellow students in their early 20’s at Ural Polytechnical Institute. Though young, the group had enough skiing and hiking experience to back them up. The group aimed to reach Otorten mountain and then back. A successful triumph would have enabled them to get a Grade 3 hiking certification, precious one indeed, but it seemed that fate had other plans for them.

The group some time before beginning their hike.

The group started their journey( Jan27th) from Vizhai, which was the last inhabited settlement to the north. A day later one of their hikers Yuri Yudin, had to call quits to the hike and journey back due to health issues (which later turned out to be a blessing in disguise). And the group which was reduced to 9 continued on their trail. It was 12th Feb, the day off their expected return to Vizhai, as decided prior, Igor was supposed to send a telegram, from Vizhai of their successful return. But as cruel fate would have there were no signs of their return, days passed, a request then was made to carry out a search and rescue operation on 20th Feb.


The search party consisted of volunteers and the Russian army. The search proved futile at first but finally on 26th Feb they found the group’s tent at Kholat Sykhal a nearby mountain, which wasn’t part of their route. It was presumed that a bad wether had led the group to deviate from their route, and reach Kholat Syakhl, upon realizing they took a decision to camp it out through the rough night.The findings made by the search party would baffle even the strongest of the rational mind.

The tent as discovered by the search party.

  • The tent found was in a dire state, torn and cut from the inside.
  • Footprints were found of the group moving away from the tent. Well, the footprints told an astonishing tale, it turned out that the group had left the tent in a hurry without any footwear, some in their socks while others just barefoot. Surprising indeed consedering all this taking place in a snowy region. It seemed they were running away from something.
  • After 500 meters bodies of two of the members were found near the woods, and guess what they were just in their inner wears.
  • At some distance 3 more bodies were found including that of Igor, their leader. The poses they were found in suggested their attempt to return back to the camp.
  • It took the search mission around 4 months to find the remaining 4 members. They were found in ravine covered in snow. Unlike other members they were better dressed, it seemed that those who died first had given up their clothings to others.
  • Another intresting fact- as per the local legend 9 Mansi hunters(the local tribe) had died at the same location. Igor and his group a total 9 hikers died in mysterious circumstances here. Years later a plane crashed near this location with 9 casualties. Call it a coincidence!

      It was concluded that the deaths were caused due to hypothermia and unknown natural forces. But an autopsy report stirred a doubt raising few questions.

      One of the bodies found
      • Any reckless act or a psychological breakdown was unlikely consedering all of them to be experienced hikers.
      • Few of the members found at the ravine had some of their organs like tongue and portions of their lips missing.
      • Some of them had a internal injuries like a broken skull, said to be caused by a strong force unlikely a human. Surprisingly their bodies showed no signs of external injuries. Thus arising a question over how were the internal injuries caused?
      • A few bodies also showed signs of radiation, which was very strange consedering it to be a natural mountains region.
        Igor Daytlov the group’s leader.


        Based on available facts, many theories popped out attempting to explain the deaths of these 9 hikers.

        • Around the same time of their deaths, there were sightings of bright sphers around the same location by another group of hikers 50km away.
        • It was claimed that their deaths were caused as a result of a secret military experiments taking place at the sight. Russian government’s act of concealing and suppressing facts and other documents related to the case further supports this theory.
        • Some theories also claim an extraterrestrial encounter.
          A monument of the nine hikers who lost their lives.

        Well, in this case the beans were never spilled. All the documents and reports related were tightly concealed by the government and were never made fully public.

        The pass were the group met their end was named as “Dytlov Pass” in honor of their leader Igor Dytlov. This case still remains one of the well known concpiracy theories. Nine lives lost under mysterious circumstances and a relevant explanation still missing!

        Science is the proven limit of human intellectual capabilities, forces beyond this limit do exist, waiting to be seeked. What you are told to believe may not always be the truth, but the question is- Is your mind open enough to grasp it?


        Two lives and a soul

        The secrets of this universe are far more compelling and mysterious and intriguingly beckon us to unearth them.

        Is birth really the beginning and is death really the end? Did we live a previous life and will one be reborn to live another life? These questions lead us to the unproved concepts of reincarnation and existence of a previous life. Well, there have been various reported cases which highlight the realism within the fictional concepts of reincarnation.One of them being the case of “The Reincarnation of Shanti Devi.” Shanti Devi born in 1926 along with all the memories of the life of Lugdi Devi, a woman who died almost a year before her birth.

        A four year old child regularly persisting her parents to take her home when in fact being at home, does this sound strange? Most of us would call this as a typical immature childish behaviour.And so did Mr.Rang Mathur and his wife when their four year old daughter Shanti presisted that this wasn’t her real home and she wanted to go to her real home. But this was going to prove to be something more than just a childish behavior.

        The Child

        The story traces back to 1926 Delhi when Rang Bahadur Mathur and his wife were blessed with a daughter whom they named as Shanti Devi. When little Shanti was 4 and could barely speak, she began clamming that the house she was living wasn’t her real home, and thus wanted to go to her real house.As time passed by Shanti’s claims grew to be more detailed she talked about her house in Mathura, claimed to have been married and that of being a mother too, this indeed seemed quit bizarre coming from an eight year old girl. Her parents now worried by their daughter’s unusual claims seeked the help of Mr Bishchand a distant relative who was a teacher by profession.

         The Visit

        Kedarnath Chaubey
        Kedarnath Chaubey (Shanti’s husband from previous life)

        It was Mr.Bishchand who speculated that this might well be a case of reincarnation. Of the various details she revealed about her husband in Mathura was a fair tall man who owned a sweet shop in fornt of Dwarkadhish temple, she never mentioned his name (as it was considered ill for a married women to speak her husband’s name). On Mr Bishchand’s words to take her to Mathura, Shanti gave away on her husband’s name “Kedarnath Chaubey” she said lowering her eyes and in a soft voice. Describing the whole situation, Mr Bishchand sent a letter to Mr Kedarnath,on the address as described by Shanti. All of Shanti’s claims started making sense when a reply came testifying all her claims. The people, the house and all that she claimed was now found to be true. Mr Kedarnath on receiving the letter was now shocked, eagerly wanting to meet Shanti, the child who claimed to be his dead wife. Soon a meeting was arranged and Mr Kedarnath visited Delhi to meet Shanti but introduced himself as his own younger brother. On their first meet little Shanti precisely identified the man as not the younger brother but, Mr Kedarnath her husband himself.The meet between Shanti, her family and Kedarnath was astonishing one where Shanti revealed various details about her past life which a surprised Kedarnath confirmed as true.This indeed made him believe that Shanti was the reincarnation of his wife Lugdi Devi dead for years.

        Previous life

         Lugdi Devi was born in 1902 at Mathura. At the age of 10 she was married to Kedarnath Chaubey,a shopkeeper. As a religious women she was, she went on various pilgrimages. Her first pregnancy was cesarian one,and it was a baby girl. At the time of her second pregnancy her worried husband took her to a government hospital,on 25th September 1925 she was gifted with a baby boy. Nine days lateer however her condition deteriorated and on 4th October Lugdi breathed her last. One year, ten months and seven days after Lugdi’s death,on 11th December 1926 Shanti Devi was born.

        The Commission

        Shanti with the committee

        The news of a eight year old Shanti remembering the details of her previous life as Lugdi Devi soon spread like a wild fire within the country. This so claimed incident of reincarnation was brought to the eyes of Mahatma Gandhi who then met the girl and he then set up a committee of fifteen personals consisting of journalist, political leaders,parliamantarians etc to authenticate this incident.

        The Committee then met 8 year old Shanti Devi and her parents and then seeked permission from them to allow the girl to accompany them to Mathura. The Committee reached Mathura by train and took a Tonga thereafter and instructed the driver to follow Shanti’s directions. Considering it was her first visit to Mathura she was able to correctly guide the Tonga to the Chaubey house, her house from her previous life. As they entered the house she was correctly able to identify her room, the latrine as well as other areas of the house. Though she had only met Kedarnath before, she was able to identify all other family members. It was an emotional sight when Shanti met her son and hugged him deeply, in previous life they had been together only for nine days as Lugdi died only nine days after giving birth. When asked to show the well which she so often spoke of, Shanti went up to a point and stopped appearing confused, as she claimed the well to be at that point,which now was no where in sight. Kedarnath later explained that the well was covered with a stone soon after Lugdi’s death. At the time of lunch Shanti waited for Kedarnath to complete his meal, and insisted on eating in the same plate (as it was an old tradition for a Hindu wife to eat from her husband’s plate after his meal).Eight year old year Shanti treated Kedarnath as her husband and every other family member as her own. When Shanti met Lugdi’s mother, tears rolled down as both wept during this joyful reunion. On returning the committee in their final report did authenticate The Reincarnation of Shanti Devi.


        The accuracy of Shanti’s depiction of her previous life make this case one of the most popular case of reincarnation. This case of Shanti Devi’s reincarnation attracted researchers from all over the globe. As Shanti was already married in her previous life she remained unmarried until her death in 1987.
        Science is a horizon of human intellectual limits,the world beyond these limits may not be proven by science but this neither means we deny its existence.I believe we never die cause we were never really born. Our soul existed before our birth and will continue to exist after death.