09-04-2019

Lyudmila Dubinina's premonition of her tragic death

Author Aleks Kandr

If in other instances of telepathic communication both parties participated, clearly aware of their involvement in what is happening, then in the following example of telepathic contact between unfamiliar people, the power of telepathic influence is not so obvious, causing only a premonition and vague guesses of something fatal.

It will be about the premonition of Lyudmila Dubinina of her tragic death, signs of which, one way or another, appear in the records of her personal diary and in the peculiarities of her behavior during and after Dyatlov group pass through Vizhay.

Many authors of criminal versions of the death of Dyatlov’s group note the fact that the hikers were killed with extreme cruelty, as indicated by the nature of the injuries on the bodies of hikers discovered by search and rescue in a ravine in early May 1959. This in turn suggests that the murder was committed based on the hatred of the murderers personally to those of the hikers who suffered more. Only two members of the Dyatlov group were mutilated by the murderers with extreme cruelty: Alexander (Semyon) Zolotaryov and Lyudmila Dubinina. However, Lyudmila Dubinina had more severe injuries - in addition to numerous rib fractures on both sides of the chest, she had not only eyeballs, but also no tongue, according to the autopsy report. Consequently, there are good reasons to assume that the main object of hatred and revenge for the murderers among all the hikers was exactly Lyudmila Dubinina.

Therefore, any researcher investigating the death of the Dyatlov group in the framework of the criminal version of a premeditated murder, taking into account the data of the autopsy report of Lyudmila Dubinina, should first of all examine all the materials of the criminal case relating to this girl in order to identify possible conflict situations with her participation, and this is primarily from the hikers diaries.

The version of the mystery of the murder of Dyatlov group is currently the only of all criminal versions, which has a documentary rationale for the possibility of a conflict between Lyudmila Dubinina and one of the employees of colony No. 64 under USh / 349-Ivdellag during the stay of the Dyatlov group in the village of Vizhay.

Dyatlov group arrived in Vizhay together with another group led by Blinov, and decided to stay for one night, as a result of which they spent in the the village almost a day from 14:00 on January 25, left for a ride only at 13:10 on January 26.

It is possible that the atmosphere of psychological discomfort that prevailed in the village. Vizhay, had a depressing effect on hikers, which Lyudmila Dubinina partly reproduces in her diary: "We had a tearful goodbye with Blinov group. The mood sank. ...In general, I am very, very sad".

In addition to this can be an entry in the personal diary of Zina Kolmogorova, who described the movement of the group from the village club to the hotel in Vizhay, carefully provided to the hikers by someone from the leadership of the settlement-colony. Such participation in the fate of a group of hikers by the colony’s leadership is explained by the fact that Igor Dyatlov has a travel certificate and a trade union voucher, in which he addressed the leaders of Soviet, party and public organizations, "to render all possible assistance" with accomodation and transportation to the hekers from the Dyatlov group who dedicated their expedition to the XXI Congress of the CPSU, the opening of which was scheduled for January 28, 1959.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that Zina Kolmogorova formulated this movement as follows: "25.1.59… We arrived in Vizhay. First we stopped at the same club where we were 2 years ago. Then we were taken to the hotel".

Dyatlov Pass: Dyatlov group route through Vizhay


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Even Zina's use of the words "taken away" instead of "invited to move", "offered to move" or something like that, in these parts at that time had a very specific tint, meaning, as an addition, "under escort" to the word "taken". But this is only a touch to a very specific psychological atmosphere of the village. Vizhay, whose inhabitants provided jobs for the colony at that time. This specific atmosphere for this area influenced on a subconscious level, forcing to choose specific words corresponding to its environment. ("we were taken"), and not just words.

Continuing on, Zina notes in her diary a certain peculiarity of the influence of this place on herself: "I talked a lot about things which are completely unfamiliar to me and I scarcely do, but I tried, sincerely. But this is all nonsense.". It is unlikely that we will find out what is sincere and unusual for her earlier, Zina spoke at the hotel of the settlement-colony Vizhay.

Dyatlov group would be better to stay overnight "In the same club where they were 2 years ago", rather than agree to "be taken" to the hotel, Judging by the non-forest review of her in the general diary of the group on the morning of January 26: "Slept in the so-called hotel, some bundling 2 people on a bed, and Sasha K. and Krivo even on the floor between the beds".

Dyatlov Pass: Lyudmila Dubinina diary
The canteen in Vizhay. Igor Dyatlov said with a smirk: "If the tea is cold, then go drink it outside, it will be hot."

That is, the group was clearly not happy with "so-called hotel", I think, not only due to the fact that her hotel service did not provide for the availability of a sufficient number of beds for all hotel guests. The fact is that the hikers who returned in high spirits from the club after watching a movie "Symphony in Gold" On the evening of January 25, they encountered serious difficulties in preparing a hot dinner due to raw wood for the stove, as a result of which the cooking process took "a lot of time". From the diary of Lyudmila Dubinina:

"We are on duty with Yuri today. We decided to cook noodles on the stove. But it was very difficult to heat the stove with such raw firewood, so it took a lot of time. Finally we began to eat.".

Yuri Krivonischenko, who was on duty this evening with Lyudmila, wrote in the diary of the group the next morning: "We did not boil water in the morning, wood was damp. In the evening it took us 6 hours to boil the water.… Krivonischenko".

Such problems in preparing a hot dinner for experienced hikers, even in remote taiga, were extremely rare, as follows from the entry in the group’s diary for January 30: "As usual we quickly start a fire".

Even if we take into account the possible exaggeration in the assessment of time – "6 hours", spent on the kindling of the stove, then the difficulties that arose in the "so-called hotel" Vizhay could ruffle any experienced hikers for whom it was not difficult to quickly make a fire even in the forest.

And given the difficult mental state of Lyudmila Dubinina these days, it can be assumed that the difficulties encountered in the "so-called hotel" she could be completely out of balance, causing a flush of fair anger and anger on conditions "hotel service", to put it in modern language. Therefore, she could express everything she thinks about this in the most harsh terms to anyone responsible for this “hotel service” person, regardless of her rank and position.

This is in complete agreement with the opinion of O. Arhipov: "Well, it is known that Lyudmila Aleksandrovna was sharp on the tongue and principled. She would not keep her mouth shut.".

This peculiarity of Lyudmila’s character is confirmed in her personal diary the day before the hikers arrive in the village of Vizhay: "January 24th ... Yes, and I generally like to add fuel to the fire, damn me".

The negative superstitious potential of such a phrase, recorded on paper, could in some way “program” its further actions, determined by this striking feature of its character.

Confirmation of the inflated state of the psyche of Ludmila we find in her notes in her personal diary the day after her ordeals as an attendant in the "so-called hotel" in village of Vizahy:

"January 26... Mood is bad and probably will be for two more days. Evil as hell".

I.e. even the next day, Lyudmila felt a sense of anger, the degree of which she so uncompromisingly marked: "as hell".


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Her expectations of improving her mood in two days obviously did not happen, but despite this, she nevertheless continued to keep her personal diary for two days.

Judging by the fact that from January 28, Lyudmila ceased to keep a personal diary at all, having previously recorded in her impressions of the hike, her mood two days after being in Vizhay not only did not improve, but was also aggravated by some kind of depression, fading interest in everyday trivialities of hiking life, which earlier made up the majority of her personal diary entries.

After visiting the village of Vizhay Lyudmila's psychological state deteriorated quite sharply, aggravating day by day, which is confirmed by the peculiarities of her behavior from January 26 to January 30, which are known to us from her personal diary and Zina Kolmogorova's notes in her diary.

In Ludmila’s personal diary, even on January 27, the first sign of some unconscious doom, expressed by the negative potential of the phrase, is encountered: "the last time", referring to the whole group:

"January 27... Now most of the guys sit here and sing songs to the guitar, on the occasion that they do not work today. It seems this is the last time we heard so many good new songs. But we hope that Rustik will live up to the challenge."

"This is the last time we heard..." And how can you not become superstitious, listening to popular wisdom not to use this phrase, so as not to incur the misfortune.

It should be noted that on January 27th Lyudmila uses the word "it seems" before the key phrase: "this is the last time we heard", i.e. although she was under the impression of her forebodings, they still didn’t have that fatal doom which followed the next day, January 28, when Lyudmila completely stopped writing her impressions of the everyday life in her diary. Only the presentiment of something fatal could have suppressed the long-term habit of an experienced hikers to keep his personal diary during a hike.

The possibility of perceiving other people's thoughts or feelings directed at the subject of perception has long been a subject of study - telepathy, finding confirmation from people endowed with such an ability that it is not uncommon. Therefore, at the heart of Ludmila Dubinina’s foreboding of her fatal doom, her ability to perceive her feelings of revenge related to her personally, rather than feelings of hatred, filled with negative emotions, fueled by the willingness to materialize them with a picture of the upcoming murder.

Considering that on January 28th Lyudmila completely stopped recording in her personal diary, it can be assumed that on this day the person who ordered the murder made the final decision to deal with the hikers, using associates from his inner circle, staging the killing of group members as an accident caused by the "overwhelming force" on Ural mountain ridge, with reference to the words of forester Rempel I. D. about the potential dangers lurking there for hikers.

It was on that day that Lyudmila Dubinina, previously so verbose in the records of her personal diary, completely stopped writing in it, apparently vaguely anticipating all the fatalism of the deadly threat hanging over her.

It is not excluded that Lyudmila Dubinina’s short but brief conflict with someone from the staff of the colony settlement of Vizhay over raw wood for the stove had its continuation already at the telepathic level of communication between the parties to the conflict, as is almost the case in life when the parties of an emotional conflict continue to mentally express to the offender everything that has boiled over. I think anyone can remember from their own experience an episode of their emotional involvement in an imaginary continuation of a conflict situation after the abuser has long disappeared from sight. As a rule, the conflict situation continues at the telepathic level of communication until it energetically disrupts itself in one way or another.

Dyatlov Pass: Lyudmila Dubinina


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Dyatlov Pass: Lyudmila Dubinina diary

As we can see, even the next day, Lyudmila experienced a feeling of anger - "evil as hell", and this emotional negative could feed the energetics of her telepathic communication with those whom she clearly said too much (cut out her tongue) under the influence of her complex emotional state, known to us from her diary. She was clearly unlucky because she dealt with a professional killer who had served for many years in the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs).

With each day, Lyudmila Dubinina increasingly "went into herself", plunging into the foreboding of something fatal, apparently already fearful from the thought of presenting her fears in her personal diary, much less sharing them with her friends. A possible culmination of this depressed state was a sharp, outwardly unreasonable, change in her behavior on the evening of January 30, which outraged the whole group. As follows from Zina Kolmogorova’s diary entries, it was in the evening of January 30th that Lyudmila Dubinina lost interest in working together on patching up the holes of a dilapidated tent, apparently, already immersed in a stupor from the suddenly increased premonition of her fatal doom:

"January 30... Lyuda quickly got tired and sat down by the fire. Nick Thibault changed his clothes. He began to write a diary. The law is that until all the work is done, do not approach the fire. And so they had a long argument, of who will sew the tent. Finally K. Tibo gave up and took a needle. Lyuda remained seated. And we sewed the hole (and there were so many that there was enough work for all except two attendants and Lyuda. Guys are terribly outraged. Today is the birthday of Sasha Kolevatov*. Congratulations. We give him a tangerine, which he immediately divided into 8 pieces (Lyuda went into the tent and did not come out until the end of the dinner).

A possible reason for such a sudden change in the behavior of Lyudmila on the evening of January 30 is the described in the investigation section of the Killers' Ski Route to the upper sources of Auspiya. It is possible that the three murderers, having gone early in the morning of January 29 from 2nd Northern to the upper sources of Auspiya "took a shortcut on one of our forest paths" (words of forester I. D. Rempel), by the evening of January 30, they could have already achieved their intended destination, settling for the night in the headwaters of Auspiya. For this reason, on the evening of January 30, they could mentally withdraw from the two previous days of a ski trip to the upper sources of Auspiya, focusing their attention on waiting for the hikers to arrive and discussing the details of their plan. This may well explain such a dramatic change in the behavior of Lyudmila in the evening of January 30, because she was the main object of revenge, which riveted the thoughts of the murderers to her more than her comrades, judging by the severity of injuries inflicted on her later.

Mention Lyudmila in his personal diary "evil spirits" - "evil as hell", and to some extent "calling out" to her - "damn me", give the tragic death of Dyatlov's group some kind of ominous mystical connotation that actualizes the significance of domestic superstition:

January 24... Yes, and I generally like to add fuel to the fire, damn me to hell.
January 25... The mood sank. In general, I am very, very sad.
January 26... Mood is bad and probably will be for two more days. Evil as hell.

What can cause such changes in Lyudmila's behavior from January 26 to 30, which later became the victim of revenge in Dyatlov group murders (..., cut the tongue)?

The only plausible explanation for such dramatic changes in Lyudmila’s behavior can only be her premonition of an impending mortal threat, due to her ability at the telepathic level, to vaguely perceive the terrible picture of her plans being visualized by the murderers, which she simply could not want to believe, but the oppressive negative of this premonition had its influence on her thoughts and actions.

In any case, the diary notes of Lyudmila Dubinina and the peculiarities of her behavior shortly before and after the visit of Dyatlov group to the village of Vizhay can hardly be explained only rationally, consistent with the beginnings of common sense, without attracting the irrational component of human existence, bringing something ominously mystical to the tragic death of the Dyatlov group.


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Sabine Lechtenfeld

forensic psychologist from Hannover, Germany

I thought long and hard about what kind of assessment of Lyuda's behavior prior to her death I could put together. I decided that there is just not enough reliable material for a proper scientific expertise. I don't want to go down the path of many others and pull an imaginary rabbit out of my hat, although it's very tempting.

However I will give you an assortment of my subjective impressions and tentative conclusions.

Let me start with the idea that some of Lyuda's behavior and her last diary entries may have been out-of-character and hint at the possibility that she had a premonition of the tragedy, or - as the article you sent me seems to suggest - may even have been in telepathic contact with her future killer. If we are looking at a suspicious death, it's standard procedure to scrutinize the behavior of the victims shortly before their death and look for changes and unusual behavior. But you have to adopt a pre-mortem perspective in order to avoid the fallacies of confirmation bias. This is the key question: could we say that Lyuda's behavior and her diary entries are strange and different from her usual behavior - even if we don't know the fate of the group? Unfortunately there's not a lot of material available for answering that question accurately.

Let's first look at the fact that she stopped to write her diary and that she decided not to help with some daily chores like mending the tent and that she isolated herself from the other members shortly before they all perished. From the little we do know from her curriculum vitae and the various diary entries, I conclude that she was an intelligent and well- educated girl who was introverted and did not socialize easily. She seems to have been well organized and honest to a fault. Since she was the treasurer of the expedition this would've served her well. And according to her own assessment she could not hold her tongue and didn't hesitate to speak her mind, which she regretted sometimes. She also scolded herself for being socially awkward.

I looked at all available pictures of Lyuda and concluded that she was a serious and rather introverted person and did not smile easily. I saw her most engaging and beautiful smile when she looked at her little brother. I sense a bit of reservation in the pictures where she has physical contact - like a hug - with other expedition members. Compared to the other members of the group her body language comes across as a bit reserved - although I have to attach the important caveat that she may simply not have been totally relaxed and comfortable in front of a camera. That she stopped to update her expedition diary is indeed concerning, since keeping a personal diary on a daily basis was considered to be one of the essential duties during these expeditions. But in order to assess if her neglect was totally out-of-character, we would need to know if she has ever failed to update her diary on a daily basis on previous expeditions. That she failed to assist in some daily chores like mending the tent, also seems to be not compatible with what we know about her, and her attitude is duly noted by the other members in their diary entries. But it's only a short notice and no one seems to have made a huge song and dance about it or kicked up a fuss because of her apparent moodiness. Therefore it's difficult to say if this was a very unusual behavior for Lyuda, or if those members who knew her better were used to her having certain mood swings now and then. If it is correct that Lyuda had been prone to mood swings, her behavior during the last days of her life may not have been out-of-character at all. But the big question remains: what caused her bad mood? Let's Look at her diary entries which many consider to be a premonition of the tragedy. She wrote:

"Everybody felt really tired after the movie and wanted to sleep. Zina and I lay on a mesh-work bed. It's a dream. The lads rested right on the floor. The mood is evil (horrible). Seems it's going to be evil (horrible) for about two more days. I'm mad as hell (as a devil)".
I included alternative translation possibilities in brackets ,since there are different possibilities to translate the origial Russian text. The English word "evil" which seems to stick out here, has a different and more emotionally loaded connotation than the word "horrible".

What's really odd about these few sentences is, that Lyuda doesn't seem to give us the slightest hint, why her mood is so bad. And this self-assessment of her mood seems to come totally out of the blue. Before she wrote this down she told in a spirited and positive way about what the group has been up to during the day, and she and the others seemed to have enjoyed themselves. Even the sleeping arrangements (she and Zina are sharing the only available bed) seemed to have agreed with her - if we interpret the sentence "it's a dream" in a positive way. So, everything seems to be fine - and then she writes without any explanation whatsoever that her mood is horrible/evil and that she is mad! Even without the benefit of hindsight this is somewhat odd. But then she writes that her mood will be horrible/evil for about two more days. This is very interesting insofar as she seems to know quite well what's the cause of her bad mood and when it will end, although she doesn't spell it out explicitly. It has been suggested that she may have had her period or that she was in her pre-menstrual phase. This is a very plausible idea since it would explain why she seems to know quite well, when her bad mood will end, and it would be such a private but banal and recurrent event that she doesn't bother to explain it. Another possibility is that she is very discontent/annoyed with the current situation before the group starts to embark on their ski-hiking trip, and that she expects that her mood will improve once they start skiing and leave behind their current location and their people. The following sentence "I'm mad as hell/as the devil" is also hard to assess, since she doesn't bother to explain. Does she feel always mad/angry in connection with her period or other inconvenient situations, or is there something else which goes through her head while she's lying on her bed which angers or upsets her greatly? Frankly, this sentence doesn't seem to be a vague premonition of doom, which she cannot figure out. To me it seems that she knows quite well what exactly is upsetting her. Unfortunately we will never know what it was. Therefore my next thoughts are purely speculative:


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Is it possible that she spotted something in her current location and situation which struck her in a very negative way? Did she notice something which struck her as being bad and not ok, but she hesitates to put it down in writing? If this continued to bother her while she mulled it over, it could explain why she was so occupied with these thoughts that she didn't even continue to use her diary. She may literally have stopped speaking her mind. Since she anticipates that her mood will be better within two days I conclude that her bad mood had probably nothing to do with the upcoming ski-hiking expedition and/or any specific members of her group. But could Lyuda have noticed something which may have had a connection or even led to the terrible fate of the expedition? She strikes me as a perceptive and honest person. If she noticed something going on which wasn't right in her opinion she certainly might get mad and be in and "evil" or "horrible" mood. But do we even have the slightest factual hint in that direction? This depends largely on the correct assessment of the autopsy protocols. Lyuda's pre- and postmortem injuries were more horrific than the injuries of all the other group members. She didn't only suffer the most, but her eyes were mutilated and her tongue was missing. If the missing facial organs have any significance for the case depends largely on this: were natural decay and small animals responsible - or was Lyuda deliberately mutilated? Since the original investigation concluded (or was forced to conclude) that the Dyatlov Pass deaths were not the result of a crime, they officially concluded that the facial injuries were the result of natural decay and /or scavenging animals . Some experts came later to a different conclusion. But most experts seem to agree on one point: these facial injuries happened after Lyuda's death. If this was deliberate but postmortem, then these mutilations were not the result of torture while she was still alive. Since I'm not a pathologist I cannot decide which conclusion is correct. But let's assume for a moment that the mutilations happened deliberately after Lyuda had perished. What exactly would that tell us? We could for starters conclude that the assailants stuck around until she died. This is a very important conclusion because it would exclude all scenarios where after an initial wave of attacks all injured victims were left alone and then died without their attackers being around. If Lyuda was mutilated after her death at least some killers stuck around and made sure that Lyuda (and probably the other students, too) would be dead or die shortly.

In a scenario of deliberate postmortem mutilations we further have to ask why this was done. It has been suggested that Lyuda may have been the primary victim. Personally I have big problems with the idea that all killings have been committed because someone was targeting Lyuda specifically in a personal vendetta, and that the other group members were just collateral victims. Nothing we know about Lyuda's short life hints into such a direction, and to me it seems to be totally over-the-top and excessive that a personal enemy would take on such a great risk and kill all those other people just in order to get back at Lyuda. It's also highly unlikely that the killings were the work of only one assailant. But is it really plausible to assume that a personal enemy of Lyuda deliberately would recruit helpers in order to wipe out the whole group? I don't think that this is a very likely scenario. The reason that her injuries were more horrific than the injuries of the others could simply be due to the fact that she may have been more resilient, and therefore she enraged the killers. Therefore she may have been savagely attacked in a final attempt to finish her off without using a weapon . Also, the nature of Lyuda's postmortem facial mutilations are not typical tell-tale signs for someone having a personal grudge. A totally smashed face and the mutilations of breasts and the sexual organs are far more typical mutilations if someone acted out because of a personal grievance. However, the deliberate removal of tongue and eyes are a very typical icon since ancient times that the mutilated victim may have seen too much and was suspected to have talked about it. It also could be a symbol that the mutilated victim will never again be able to talk. Very recently the famous mobster Whitey Bulger has been killed by his prison inmates, and his tongue and eyes have been mutilated after he died, most likely because he had a long history as a police informer. I don't want to imply at all that Lyuda was a snitch. She strikes me as a person of great integrity who always tried to do the right thing. But if her facial mutilations were not the result of natural decay and small animals, but the deliberate postmortem work of the killers, then we should contemplate if this is a tell-tale sign that she had seen something which she shouldn't have seen and which she and the rest of the students shouldn't talk about. I don't reject the possibility completely that Lyuda had a premonition of impending doom, but we don't have any proof whatsoever that she was indeed psychic. And since she seemed to think that her bad mood would become better in a matter of two days, I personally would exclude the idea that Lyuda had a true premonition. I prefer a more rational explanation and think it's at least possible that Lyuda consciously noticed something going on in her immediate surroundings before the skiing stated, which bothered her greatly and caused her to be in a "horrible" or "evil" mood. If she continued to mull it over, it could've continued to occupy her mind after they had started their ski-hiking trip, and she may have become edgy and withdrawn to the point where she didn't even bother to keep up with her expedition diary. If she noticed something which greatly upset her, she and her fellow members may have been perceived as a potential danger for someone or a group of people. In this case they may have been followed by their eventual killers. If the ski-hikers noticed something, this may well have sparked their jests about the existence of yetis.

The last paragraph may seem to pull an imaginary rabbit out of my hat - or rather my brain - after all. But it is a chain of arguments which is based on the assumption that Lyuda's facial disfiguration were the work of perpetrators who mutilated her face deliberately after she died. If this assumption is correct it has great implications for the case. However, if Lyuda's facial disfiguration were the result of natural decay and/or scavenging animals, the whole chain of argumentation is mute.

Personally I don't readily believe in telepathy without additional proof (although I don't completely exclude it from my world views) and it's not my first choice for explaining Lyuda's diary entries. I believe in premonitions only insofar as they may be the result of subtle or less subtle hints which our brain has picked up and then subconsciously processed. Our brain continues to work even when we are not aware of it - even when we sleep. Great scientists often experienced solutions for their theories in their dreams, and the results of these subconscious processes can be very valuable. But it was only possible because all necessary knowledge and information were already there.

Many gifted seers and clairvoyants work by picking up subtle clues. But that's not what I would call a true premonition. A true premonition would be if there were no information and no hints at all available, but a person would have an awareness of things to come nevertheless. While I don't completely reject the idea that telepatic communication and true premonitions are possible, I prefer to assume that Lyuda's bad mood had either nothing to do with the subsequent tragedy, or that she consciously or subconsciously processed hints and observed facts. That may have led to Lyuda's so-called demons. And I believe that her facial mutilations may be a hint into that direction - if they were indeed the deliberate work of the killers. Unfortunately we probably will never know that for sure...


On Jan 27, 1959 while at the 41st logging site Dyatlov group learn some Mansi words. Zina, Lyuda and Rustem make similar notes in their diaries. The first word they write is "Я - ручей" which in Russian sounds like "I am a river" or with the dash "I am in the river". Something that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you think where was Lyuda found.

Dyatlov Pass: Lyudmila Dubinina in the river

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