VANDALS

Tomb of Hikers in Mysterious Dyatlov Pass Incident Defaced With Swastika

The 1959 deaths of the nine hikers in the Ural Mountains has been an enduring enigma that spurred numerous conspiracy theories.

A monument to the nine hikers who died in the 1959 Dyatlov Pass incident—one of the Soviet era’s biggest mysteries—has been defaced with a swastika, according to a local report. The tomb in Yekaterinburg features photos of the hikers from the Ural Polytechnic Institute whose strange deaths during a skiing expedition spawned decades of conspiracy theories, books, and documentaries. Photos in local media show that some unknown culprit apparently drew all over the monument with permanent marker. A photo of one member of the group, Semyon Zolotaryov, was also torn up. Police are reportedly searching for the vandal responsible for the damage. The nine students were found dead with bruises and cuts, two with missing eyes, one without a tongue, and some with crushed bones and trauma so severe experts compared it to being run over by a car “at high speed.” The gruesome nature of the deaths led some to speculate they’d been killed after stumbling upon military secrets or by a supernatural creature. Officially, Russian investigators said the group died in an avalanche.