On February 2nd, 1959, nine experienced hikers made a decision

About this video

Full transcript of On February 2nd, 1959, nine experienced hikers made a decision

On February 2nd, 1959, nine experienced hikers made a decision so terrifying that experts still can't explain it. In the middle of the night, deep in the frozen Ural Mountains of Russia, the group suddenly cut their way out of their tent from the inside. Not through the door. They sliced the tent open with knives and ran barefoot into the freezing wilderness. The temperature was nearly forty degrees below zero. When search teams finally found the campsite, the hikers' footprints led away from the tent in a calm, orderly line. It didn't look like they were running from an avalanche. It looked like they were fleeing from something they couldn't ignore. The first bodies were discovered beneath a tree. Others were found months later after the snow melted. Some had massive internal injuries similar to a high-speed car crash. One woman was missing her tongue. Another was missing her eyes. But the strangest part was still to come. Tests revealed unusual levels of radiation on some of their clothing. More than sixty years later, investigators still debate what happened that night. Avalanche. Military experiment. Secret weapons test. Or something else entirely. Whatever terrified nine experienced hikers enough to slash open their own tent and run into a frozen mountain in the middle of the night remains one of the world's most chilling unsolved mysteries. Welcome to The Dark Archive.