One of the most mysterious yet partially documented phenomena occurring in the Northern Urals is lights appearing in the sky. Some analysts point to military bases in the area where ballistic missiles were tested, but some attribute them to atmospheric phenomena, more specifically, ball lightning.
The light phenomena in 1959 were documented and analyzed by prosecutor Lev Ivanov.
The analysis shows that light phenomena were observed three times in February and March 1959 - on February 2 and 17 and March 31. For the above hypothesis, the two outermost dates are the most important - on February 2, members of the Dyatlov group die, and on March 31 a large search group, including students of the Ural Polytechnical Institute, directly witnesses the phenomenon.
Enthusiasts of the theory focus primarily on witness accounts of the March 31 event, as it explains the irrational behavior of the Dyatlov group. According to these accounts, after the sudden and unexpected illumination of the entire sky, a number of people, primarily students, ran out of their tents in just their underwear, without jackets or shoes, and panicked at the sight of the indefinite flashes. Many of them then requested to be transported back to the Polytechnic, as the experience shook them badly.
Those who analyze the phenomenon of ball lightning and its derivatives point out that one of the consequences of the occurrence could be an explosion. Here analysts cite Doroshenko's and Krivonishchenko's unusually arranged corpses, as well as the "cobwebs" on their bodies visible in autopsy photos, characteristic of people who have been electrocuted.
According to skeptics, the hypothesis does not convincingly explain the other threads of the case.
