What the Nazca Lines and Dyatlov Pass Mystery Don’t Have in Common

2021 is starting off with two separate groups of scientists claiming they’ve solved the mysteries of both the Nazca Lines and the Dyatlov Pass Incident. Or, rather, they’ve eliminated a cause that many believed were responsible for both: something supernatural, specifically aliens.

Nope.

Turns out separate researchers studying each mystery have determined aliens had nothing to do with either the creation of the Nazca Lines or the fates of the skiers on Dyatlov Pass. Let’s explore each new theory more.

The Mystery of the Nazca Lines Unveiled

The enormous geoglyphs known as the Nazca Lines are one of the main tourist attractions of Peru. Coast to Coast AM reported that a group called Salvar Nazca released a press release announcing that they know why the Nazca Lines were created.

Salvar Nazca is an international multidisciplinary team comprised of archaeologists, engineers, and historians who have been studying the lines for more than eight years. They collected 3,750 satellite images and created a mosaic of 75 rows and 50 columns to study the area, which covers 2,500 square kilometers. Each geoglyph, line and structure was compared to the official cartography of the Department of Ica.

What they discovered was that the famous geoglyphs are a complex system of irrigation channels —that were created by people, not aliens. It was a pre-Inca technique known as water harvesting.

Salvar Nazca’s lead engineer, Spaniard Carlos Enrique Hermida García, will present the team’s findings at the International Congress of Cultural Tourism in Cordoba, Spain, in February 2021.

The Mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

What happened to the nine students who disappeared during a Siberian ski trip in 1959? When searchers found their camp, it appeared they had cut their way out of their tents and fled, in some cases half-dressed, into the cold.

When they found their bodies it was clear some had died of hypothermia but some also had fatal injuries, including fractured skulls, chest trauma, and some mutilations. Two bodies were missing their eyes, another its tongue, and one even an eyebrow. (Which to me is the most perplexing of all. Seems so random, doesn’t it?)

But what had happened? What had caused the injuries? Was there a fight? Had they been attacked?

Some posited that they’d had a run-in with the local indigenous Mansi people. Nope. The only footprints belonged to the students and there was no indication of a struggle.

It’s not hard to see why some suspected Yetis. Or maybe even aliens. The mystery has perplexed people for decades and has spawned conspiracy theories about a government cover-up, a military weapon’s test, and more.

However, the Daily Mail reported that scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology had another theory: an avalanche.

Which isn’t actually a new theory. In fact, the official conclusion was that “a compelling natural force” caused the deaths. In 2019 Russia re-opened the case and in 2020 determined an avalanche was the cause.

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology created computer models to show it wasn’t just an avalanche, but instead an unusual “slab avalanche.”

Sadly, it was likely caused in part by the students and where they chose to set up camp that night and how they did it —by creating a “cut” in the slope to try and shield themselves from the wind.

But other factors, like the weather conditions that night and the terrain, also contributed. It sounds like it was a “Perfect Storm” sort of scenario that they just had the misfortune of encountering.

Recommended Reading

If you’d like to read an excellent horror novel based on the Dyatlov Pass Incident, I suggest book 5 in the World’s Scariest Places series: Mountain of the Dead by Jeremy Bates. Especially if you don’t buy the avalanche explanation and believe that Yetis were involved.

This is a good time to note that Amazon is one of our affiliates. If you click through the above link and end up buying anything, we may earn a small commission. (For which the Skeleton Crew says, “Thank you!” That helps cover our website maintenance and hosting fees!)

Check-In

Are you convinced what the scientists have discovered about the Nazca Lines and the Dyatlov Pass incident is what happened? Or do you still think something supernatural is involved?

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, as well as obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of healing, to learn how she channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.