# Dyatlov Pass — conflicts in the forensic record

Companion to `case-file-forensic-facts.md` (fact numbers F… refer to it). Three kinds of conflict are listed: **A.** the dyatlovpass.com English translation vs the Russian transcription, where the difference matters; **B.** contradictions between forensic documents (Acts vs histology vs testimony vs closing resolution vs volume 2); **C.** internal gaps and oddities within a single document, plus corrections to the working brief. Russian is the controlling text throughout.

## A. English translation vs Russian original (material differences)

| # | Document / sheet | English page says | Russian original says | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Slobodin L.98 | abrasion "in the area of the wrist joint of the hand … 8 x 1.5 cm" | «В области пястно-фалангеальных суставов кистей» — over the **metacarpophalangeal joints (knuckles)** | Knuckle abrasions are the basis of the "he fought" reading; the English hides them. Same error for Dyatlov L.123 («пястно-фалангеальных сочленений» → "wrist joints") and Kolmogorova L.130 («пястно-фалангеальных и межфалангеальных» → "wrist and interphalangeal"). |
| A2 | Slobodin L.103 | "in the first hour after they happened Slobodin was able to move and crawl" | «в первые часы» — in the first **hours** | Changes the examiner's estimate of how long Slobodin could move after the skull injury. |
| A3 | Slobodin L.99 | "right lobular area and left and right lobular muscles … spilling hemorrhage" | «правой лобновисочной области, области левой и правой височных мышц разлитые кровоизлияния с пропитыванием мягких тканей» — right **fronto-temporal** region and both **temporal muscles** | Locates the in-life scalp hemorrhages relative to the fracture. |
| A4 | Slobodin L.100-101 | "The mucosa is flabby … The size of the mucosa is 11 x 7 x 3 cm"; "hemorrhage into the brain matter" of the right adrenal; "mucosa of the stomach is blue-grey" | «Селезенка» (spleen) 11 x 7 x 3; «в мозговом веществе» = adrenal **medulla**; «Слизистая кишечника» (intestinal mucosa) | The English invents a second brain hemorrhage in Slobodin; there is none. |
| A5 | Slobodin L.96 | "a warm undershirt and a fleece sweatshirt fastened with two buttons" (two garments) | «нательная теплая с начесом трикотажная рубашка, застегнутая на две пуговицы» — one brushed knitted undershirt | Clothing-layer count (4, not 5). Also "Insolated ski pants" for «Брюки лыжные, темные» (dark ski trousers); "upper third of the shin" for «нижней трети голени» (lower third). |
| A6 | Slobodin L.97 | "Rigor mortis has resolved"; "The tongue is whole" | «разрешилось полностью» (fully); «Язык в полости рта за зубами» (no "whole") | Minor, but "whole" is an insertion. |
| A7 | Doroshenko L.105 | long-johns tear "22 x 23 cm" | «22 х 33 см» | Size of the tear (relevant to how the underwear was damaged). |
| A8 | Doroshenko L.105 | "In the temporoparietal and occipital zones … hair burnt" | «В правой височно-теменной и затылочной области» — **right** | Side of the burn. |
| A9 | Doroshenko L.106 | stripe abrasions 4 x 1, 2.5 x 1.5, 5 x 0.5 "in the upper third of the right forearm", plus an invented sentence "small brown red scab-like abrasions without hemorrhages in the adjacent tissues" | «На передней поверхности правого плеча мелкие ссадины … в виде полос» — on the front of the right **upper arm**; the English adds a "without hemorrhages" clause the Russian does not have here | Location and vitality statement of injuries. |
| A10 | Doroshenko L.109 | spleen "1 x 7 x 3", liver "9 x 12 x 10", stomach mass "reddish" | 11 x 7 x 3; 27 x 17 x 12 x 10; «бурокрасного» (brown-red) | Numeric garbling. Also ear area "6 x 1.5" for «6 х 1,6». |
| A11 | Krivonischenko L.115 | "a scalpel wound across the whole cross-section of the left hand" | «скальпированная рана» — a **scalped (avulsion/degloving) wound** 8 x 2 cm | "Scalpel" implies a blade; the Russian describes torn-off skin. |
| A12 | Krivonischenko L.114 | "Behind the bottom periodontal flaps the epidermis is pale grey … on the flaps with a size of 1.8 x 0.6 cm" | «За нижними зубами лоскут эпидермиса бледно-серого цвета с сосочковыми линиями размер лоскута 1.8 на 0,6 см» — behind the lower teeth a **flap of epidermis with papillary (fingerprint) lines**, 1.8 x 0.6 | This is the "bitten his own finger" evidence (matched to a defect on the right 3rd finger, L.115); the English makes it unreadable. |
| A13 | Krivonischenko L.114 | "a round contusion" mid-forehead; "The bones of the base of the skull are intact" | «участок осаднения» (an abrasion, not a contusion); «Кости свода основания черепа целы» (vault and base) | Injury type; skull integrity statement covers the vault too. |
| A14 | Krivonischenko L.115-116 | "three flesh wounds … on the internal surface of the thigh"; "In the area of the radiocarpal joint" | «на внутренней поверхности верхней трети левого бедра» (inner **upper third of the left** thigh); «левого лучезапястного сустава» (**left** wrist) | Side/location of the linear wounds. |
| A15 | Krivonischenko L.119 | "overfilling of the pericardium with dark liquid blood"; "burns of the II-III degree by fire. Observed (written by hand, approximation)" | «переполнение жидкой темной кровью полостей сердца» (heart **cavities**, not pericardium); «ожог II – III степени /у костра/» (at the campfire); the handwritten insertion is the word «обнаруженные» (discovered) | The English invents a haemopericardium. |
| A16 | Dyatlov L.120 | "Act №2" | «АКТ №1» | Act numbering (Dyatlov №1, Doroshenko №2, Krivonischenko №3, Kolmogorova №4, Slobodin №5). |
| A17 | Dyatlov L.122 | "on the frontal eminence there is a scratch of brown red color … rising above the epidermal surface" | «на лобных буграх мелкие ссадины темно-красного цвета, в области левой надбровной дуги ссадина буро-красного цвета … возвышается» — small abrasions on the frontal eminences **and** a raised abrasion at the **left superciliary arch** | Two injuries collapsed into one; the brow-ridge location is lost. |
| A18 | Dyatlov L.123 | "In the area of the scratches there is one laceration"; "The spleen is small lobular when sectioned and of purple-red color" | «виден один разрез» — one **incision** (made by the examiner); «поджелудочная железа» — **pancreas** | Invents a laceration that does not exist. |
| A19 | Kolmogorova L.128 | "A blue wool sweater worn on the left"; vigogne sweater "worn on the left side" | «одет на левую сторону» — worn **inside out** (both sweaters) | Evidence of dressing in haste/dark. Same idiom mistranslated for Thibeaux L.352 ("worn on the left side") and correctly for Zolotaryov L.349 ("inside-out"). |
| A20 | Kolmogorova L.130 | flank abrasion "26 x 6 cm"; hand abrasions "1.5 x 1 to 0.3 x 4 cm" | «29 х 6 см»; «до 0,3 х 3 см» | The 29 x 6 cm strip is the injury most often attributed to a rope/belt. |
| A21 | Kolmogorova L.131 | "The pericardium contained around 30 cm3 of dark liquid blood" | «около 30 см3 янтарного цвета жидкости» — **amber fluid** | Invents blood in the pericardium. Also "frosty mucus mass" for «пенистой» (foamy); "fourth-degree frostbite on the third distal phalanges" for «третьей четвертой степени концевых фаланг» (III-IV degree of the terminal phalanges). |
| A22 | Kolevatov L.345 | shirt pocket "On the right pocket is an English letter"; collar and cuffs "closed"; jacket "with the unbuttoned cuffs still intact"; "good nutrition"; face "yellow grey" | «английская булавка» — a **safety pin**; «ворот и манжеты ковбойки расстегнуты» — **unbuttoned**; jacket zipper **unzipped**, pockets and cuffs unbuttoned, buttons intact; «удовлетворительного питания»; «зеленоватосерого цвета с багровым оттенком» | Clothing state (open/closed) bears on how he was dressed. |
| A23 | Kolevatov L.345 (and all four May Acts) | "group of hikers consisting of 10 people … From the 2nd Northern site the group consisted of 9 … with daylight and sunny weather" | «группа туристов в составе 9 участников»; «при дневном освещении» (no "sunny") | The English pastes the March boilerplate into the May Acts. |
| A24 | Zolotaryov L.350 | "In the right temporal area is a soft tissue defect … baring the temporal bone"; "frontal temporal area … alopecia" | «В правой теменной области … с обнажением теменной кости» — right **parietal**; «лобно-теменной» (fronto-parietal) | Location of the scalp defect (post-mortem per the Act). |
| A25 | Zolotaryov L.349 | "Black quilted felt boots with leather soles"; "a brush and a ball of yarn"; "a compass in the left hand" | «Черные стеганые бурки» (no soles mentioned); «расческа и клубок ниток» (comb, thread); «На левой руке одет компас» (worn on the left arm) | Effects inventory. |
| A26 | Thibeaux L.352 | "Act №3" | «АКТ № 8» in the Russian transcription | Either a typo in the original or a misread «3»; the radiology reference sheet (L.371 back) numbers Thibeaux №3 "as in the autopsy acts". |
| A27 | Thibeaux L.353 | "depressed fracture in the right temporal bregmatic area … bone defect on the temporal lobe … multi-splintered fracture of the right temporal lobe"; "the diffusion of the cracked bone to the anterior cranial fossa" | «височнотеменной области» (temporo-parietal); «височной кости» (temporal **bone**, both times); «с расхождением и переходом трещины кости в переднюю черепную яму» (with divergence and passage of the fissure into the anterior fossa) | "Lobe" (brain) for "bone" misdescribes the injury. |
| A28 | Thibeaux L.352-354 | "good nutrition"; iris "light green"; "pants, the cuffs of which are fasted by a leather belt"; conclusion "closed comminuted pressure fracture … falling, hurling and concussion" | «удовлетворительного питания»; «темнозеленого» (dark green); cuffs fastened **and** a leather belt with a heavy buckle; «вдавленного перелома» (depressed), «ушибом» (bruising/impact, not concussion) | Mechanism vocabulary. |
| A29 | Dubinina L.356 | "In the area of the **left** ventricle there is an irregularly oval-shaped hemorrhage sized 4 x 4 cm with diffuse suffusion of the right ventricle muscle" | «В области правого желудочка … кровоизлияние размером 4 х 4 см, с диффузным пропитыванием мышцы правого желудочка» — **right** ventricle | The English contradicts itself and the Act's own conclusion («кровоизлияния в правый желудочек сердца»). |
| A30 | Dubinina L.357 | right ribs "on the mid-clavicular and mid-axillary line" | «по средне-ключичной и переднеподмышечной линии» — midclavicular and **anterior-axillary** | The fracture lines define the loading pattern used in every biomechanical reconstruction. |
| A31 | Dubinina L.356 | scalp defect "In the area of the left temporal bone … exposing the temporal bone" | «левой теменной кости … обнаженная теменная кость» — left **parietal** | Location. |
| A32 | Dubinina L.355-357 | left sock "grey"; stomach "dark brown mucosal mass"; right kidney "7 x 5 x 2"; "the channels are still wrinkled" | «коричневый» (brown); «темнокрасноватого» (dark reddish); «9 x 5 х 2»; «капсула еще сморщена» (capsule wrinkled) | Stomach colour matters for the "swallowed blood" reading. |
| A33 | Histology L.358-361 | "Hematoxylin and Eosin, and Wright-Giemsa staining" | «Окраска г/э и пикрофуксином» — H&E and **picrofuchsin** (van Gieson) | Method statement. Also "iron in a state of putrefaction" for «железа» (gland); "visible only along the edges of the drug" for «препарата» (slide). |
| A34 | Radiology L.372 | "Dosimetric measurements of clothes showed excessive radioactivity (Beta emission only, no Alpha or Gamma-quanta) of 200-300 counts per minute" | «выявлено завышение естественного фона на 200—300 имп/мин» — the beta/alpha/gamma statement is made later (L.373) after the counter measurements, not at the dosimetry stage | Sequence of findings. |
| A35 | Radiology L.372-375 | "cpm" used for both «имп/мин» (counts) and «расп/мин» (disintegrations); "rpm" for the strontium standard | Russian distinguishes counts from disintegrations (k = 8.9 converts the former to the latter for clothing; 5.5 for tissues) | The 9900/5600/5000 figures are disintegrations per minute per 150 cm², not raw counts. |
| A36 | Radiology L.373 back | row 10 "Sternum №2" (correct) — the **Russian** transcription has «Печень №2» (liver) here | The scan reads «Грудина №2» | A rare case where the English is right and the Russian transcription wrong. |
| A37 | Vozrozhdenny L.382 | "very similar to the type of trauma that results from the shock wave of a **bomb**" | «очень похожи на травму, возникшую при воздушной взрывной волне» — an **air blast wave**; no "bomb" | Widely quoted; the word "bomb" is the translator's. |
| A38 | Vozrozhdenny L.381 back | "could be the result of an impact of an automobile moving at high speed" | «отбрасывания автомобилем, движущимся с большой скоростью или при прочей транспортной травме» — being **thrown** by a fast car **or other transport trauma** | The "or other transport trauma" is dropped. |
| A39 | Vozrozhdenny L.382 | "would have had a severe concussion"; "Moving him would have been difficult and, close to the end, movement would not have been possible" | «тяжелой контузии головного мозга» (severe brain contusion); «Передвижение его было затруднено, и в последующее время он передвигаться не мог» (his moving was hindered and subsequently he could not move) | Degree of injury. |
| A40 | Closing resolution L.386 | "All clothing has traces of smooth cuts, as already photographed with the bodies" | «т.к. снималась уже с трупов Дорошенко и Кривонищенко» — **since it was removed from the corpses** | The Russian gives the reason for the cuts (stripped from the dead); the English loses it. Also "his hands clasping the trunk" for «рукой» (one arm). |
| A41 | Vol. 2 sheet 11 | covering letter "from 5.III.1959" | «от 9/III-59 г.» | Date the samples left the morgue for the laboratory. |

## B. Contradictions between documents

| # | Topic | Document 1 | Document 2 | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Thibeaux's skull fracture size | Act L.353: depressed fracture over **9 x 7 cm**, bone defect **3 x 3.5 x 2 cm**, base fissure 17 cm | Closing resolution L.387 (and draft, vol. 2 L.21): «вдавленный перелом костей черепа размером **3 х 7 см**., с дефектом кости **3 х 2 см**» | The resolution understates the fracture by a factor of three in area; the Act is the primary record. |
| B2 | Zolotaryov's rib fracture lines | Act L.351: ribs II-VI right «по окологрудной и **средне-подмышечной** линии» (parasternal and mid-axillary) | Closing resolution L.387: «по окологрудной и **средне-ключичной** линии» (parasternal and midclavicular) | Two different anatomical lines (mid-axillary is on the side; midclavicular on the front). The Act controls; the resolution copies Dubinina's "midclavicular". |
| B3 | "No injuries" on Kolevatov | Act L.346: wound 3 x 1.5 x 0.5 to the mastoid behind the right ear; neck deformed at the thyroid cartilage; nose cartilage abnormally mobile, base flattened; diffuse hemorrhage inner left knee; 500 cm³ bloody pleural fluid | Resolution L.386: «Колеватов не имеет телесных повреждений» | The Act's *conclusion* itself attributes the head defects to post-mortem change and says nothing about the knee hemorrhage or the neck; the resolution turns that silence into "no injuries". Histology (L.359) found no hemorrhage in the rib/skin/kidney/heart pieces sent — but no piece from the knee or neck is listed. |
| B4 | "No external injuries" / "only minor scratches" on the March five | Acts: Krivonischenko — 31 x 10 cm burn with charring, nose-tip defect to cartilage, avulsion of the back of the left hand, scalp hemorrhage; Slobodin — 6 cm skull fracture with scalp hemorrhages and 75 cm³ subdural fluid; Kolmogorova — 29 x 6 cm flank abrasion, scalped wound on the hand | Resolution L.386-387: «ни один из них не имел телесных повреждений, не считая мелких царапин и ссадин»; «отсутствие на всех трупах наружных телесных повреждений» | The resolution's summary is not a fair paraphrase of the Acts, though the Acts themselves class the abrasions as "slight". |
| B5 | Zolotaryov's cardiac hemorrhage | Act L.350-351: heart muscle "dark red on section"; no hemorrhage recorded; cause of death = rib fractures with pleural bleeding | Testimony L.382: «кровоизлияние в сердечную мышцу как у Дубининой, так и у Золотарева» (hemorrhage into the heart muscle in both) | Supported only by the histology of 29 May (L.360: «диапедезные кровоизлияния» in the myocardium), which was signed the day *after* the testimony (28 May). Either the expert had the slides before the report was signed or the statement anticipates it. |
| B6 | Dubinina's hyoid | Act L.356: hyoid horns «необычной подвижности - сломаны» (abnormally mobile — broken); thyroid cartilage mobile | Histology L.361: «Подъязычная кость - Кровоизлияний не видно» | No vital reaction at the hyoid: the "fracture" is not shown to be in-life and is compatible with decomposition, which the Act itself invokes for the neck soft tissue. |
| B7 | Thibeaux's bone sample | Act L.354: «часть височно-теменной кости справа» taken for histology | Histology L.358: specimens = sternum, rib, skin, thyroid; no skull bone | Either the bone was not examined or the result was not filed; the in-life character of the skull fracture rests on gross findings (temporal-muscle and meningeal hemorrhage) only. |
| B8 | Dubinina's foot wrapping | Act L.355: left shin and foot wrapped in «серый шерстяной обоженный лоскут из кофты с рукавом» (a burned grey wool piece of a *cardigan with a sleeve*) | Resolution L.386: «разутая нога Дубининой завернута в шерстяные брюки Кривонищенко» (wrapped in Krivonischenko's wool *trousers*) | Different garments; the resolution may be relying on the scene protocol rather than the Act. |
| B9 | Dubinina's sweaters | Act L.355: greyish-brown wool sweater over a beige wool sweater | Vol. 2 sheet 16 (Ivanov's note): «Свитер белый, х/б не её» (a white cotton sweater, not hers); Radiology Table 2: "white sweater from №4" and "brown sweater from №4" and a "jacket from №4" | The Act does not list a white sweater or a jacket for Dubinina; the resolution says her artificial-fur jacket was on Zolotaryov. The tested "white sweater" and "jacket" attributed to №4 therefore cannot be matched to her Act's inventory. |
| B10 | Watches | Slobodin Act L.96: «Звезда» at 8:45 on his arm; Thibeaux Act L.352: a «спортивные» watch (8:14:24) and a «Победа» (8:39); Dyatlov Act L.121: «Звезда» 5:31 | Vol. 2 draft effects lists: «"Победа" on Slobodin's wrist, Звезда 5:31 on Dyatlov»; «Krivonischenko "Sportivnye" 8:15» returned to his brother 30 May; receipts return a «Победа» to Slobodin's mother and a «Победа» to Thibeaux's relative | The unsigned draft lists disagree with the Acts on which watch was on Slobodin; the "Sportivnye" watch from Thibeaux's arm was apparently treated as Krivonischenko's. A matter for the scene notes; flagged only. |
| B11 | Ages | Dubinina 20 in the Act (L.355) | 21 in the histology (L.361) | Trivial, but shows the histology forms were filled independently. |
| B12 | Timing of the alcohol finding | March Acts (4 and 8 March) each state «наличие алкоголя не обнаружено» | Vol. 2 sheet 11: the organ samples for chemical analysis were received by the laboratory's chemical department only on 10 March (covering letter 9 March) | The alcohol statements in the 4 March Acts precede any laboratory receipt of the samples. No chemical report is in the file. |
| B13 | Case closure vs. expert evidence | Resolution dated and approved 28 May 1959 | Histology signed 29 May; radiological answers signed 29 May; expert interrogation 28 May (same day) | The case was closed before two of its three laboratory-type expert documents were finalised. |
| B14 | Thibeaux Act number | Russian transcription «АКТ № 8» | English "Act №3"; radiology reference sheet numbers Thibeaux №3 "as in the autopsy acts" | Treat as №3. |
| B15 | May Acts: circumstances line | Thibeaux L.352: «Ночью I.II.59 г. все участники похода погибли» | All other Acts: «В ночь на 2-е февраля» | Clerical; the night of 1→2 February is meant. |
| B16 | Ravine four vs. volume 2 copies | Vol. 1 L.345-357 | Vol. 2 sheets 23-35 (certified copies) | Word-level comparison: identical apart from punctuation («см» vs «см.», Roman numerals typed with Cyrillic «У» for V). No substantive variant readings. |

## C. Internal gaps and oddities

| # | Item | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| C1 | Examiners of the Slobodin autopsy (8 Mar 1959) | The Slobodin Act names only Vozrozhdenny as examiner (with Klinov, Ivanov and witnesses Gordo, Naskichev present). Laptev co-signed only the four 4 March Acts. The Dyatlov Act's signature block lacks the witnesses' signatures although they are named in the header. |
| C2 | "Cap of ice" for Slobodin | No ice, ice bed or ice crust appears in any autopsy or forensic document; that detail belongs to the search/scene documents. |
| C3 | "Whether Dubinina could have walked" | No such question is in the interrogation protocol; the nearest answer is "She could have been conscious … a person with a heart wound … talks, runs, asks for help" (F190). |
| C4 | Kolevatov "no significant injuries" | The phrase is the closing resolution's («не имеет телесных повреждений»), not the Act's; see B3. |
| C5 | "6-8 hours after last meal" | Given for all five March bodies with identical wording despite stomach contents ranging from "traces" (Kolmogorova, Krivonischenko) to ~150 cm³ (Doroshenko). Not given for the ravine four. |
| C6 | Slobodin's fracture and "in life" | The Act never states in terms that the fracture was inflicted in life; it says the injury "undoubtedly caused short-term stunning" and that the absence of a clearly expressed subarachnoid/subdural hemorrhage supports freezing as the cause of death, while separately recording 75 cm³ of bloody fluid under the dura and diffuse temporal-muscle hemorrhages. The generic sentence "injuries were inflicted in life, in the agonal state and post-mortem" is the only vitality statement. |
| C7 | Slobodin's pleural effusion | "Up to 1 litre of bloody fluid /effusion/" in the pleural cavities is recorded without comment; the other four March bodies have free pleural cavities. |
| C8 | Krivonischenko's scalp hemorrhage | «в правой височной области и затылочной области разлитое кровоизлияние с пропитыванием правой височной мышцы» (L.116) is an in-life head-impact finding that is not mentioned in the conclusion, which lists only abrasions, skin wounds and burns. |
| C9 | Dubinina's bladder | Not recorded — the only Act without a bladder finding; her heart is given as «12 х 4 х 5 см» (almost certainly a typo). |
| C10 | Thibeaux's kidney | «9 х 6 х 6 см» (right) is implausible next to 10 x 6 x 3 (left); typo. Kolmogorova's heart «12 х 10,6 см» likewise. |
| C11 | Table 2, row 4 | The item "from №2" (Zolotaryov) has no legible name in the scan or the transcription. |
| C12 | Radiological norm | The expert's "5000 disintegrations/min per 150 cm² before washing, natural background after" is stated as the norm *for radiation workers*; he gives no figure for what background on ordinary clothing would read, so "exceeds background" is asserted (Q1: "there should be none at all") but not quantified beyond the preliminary 200-300 counts/min excess. |
| C13 | Tissue radioactivity | All tissue counts above background are 1-7 counts/min on 0.2 g portions; the control heart (3.6·10⁻⁹ Ci/kg) is as "high" as the highest victim sample (Kolevatov heart 3.8·10⁻⁹). The expert's K-40 attribution is consistent with these magnitudes. |
| C14 | Sheets 370-378 | Removed from the file on 10 July 1959 as "not relevant" (L.369 back) and returned before 1996; the radiological documents therefore have a custody gap of ~37 years. |
| C15 | Missing laboratory reports | No histology or chemistry results for Dyatlov, Kolmogorova, Slobodin, Doroshenko, Krivonischenko despite samples being taken (receipt of 10 March, vol. 2 sheet 11). |
| C16 | Name spellings | The Kolmogorova Act alternates «Колмогоровой»/«Колмагоровой»; the Slobodin Act calls the examiner «Возрожденным Б.А.», the 4 March Acts «В.А.»; Laptev's initials appear as «И.И.» and «Ю.И.»; Dubinina's Act has «Иванова Г.Н.» and «28 января». Clerical only. |