The Mysterious Skeleton Lake of the Himalayas

I was sent here today and thought ATS might enjoy the story. The conclusion is a bit odd, I would like to see what ATS can come up with.



There were a number of bodies discovered in a remote lake in the Himalayas. This lake apparently is very shallow at 2 meters deep and most of the time is frozen over. This answered one of my initial questions, how the bodies wound up in the lake. Conceivably killed while crossing it when it was frozen.



The skeletons are 1,200 years old, and apparently scattered around the area and in the lake. There were apparently rumors, but in 1942 a British Game Reserve Warden (I don't know either) realized that there were skeletons all over the lake and shores.

Another idea was that the skeletons were the lost remains of the doomed Kashmir warrior Zogawar Singh and his army, who had mysteriously disappeared without a trace while returning from Tibet. Still other theories suggested that it had been groups of religious zealots killed in some sort of ritual group suicide, the result of a battle, or groups of travelers who had succumbed to landslides, avalanches, or disease.

It wasn’t until 2004 that a major expedition was mounted by National Geographic to try and discover more through thorough DNA testing and scientific investigation. The investigation found that the skeletons, around three hundred of them in total, all dated to around 850 AD, suggesting they had all been from the same group and had all died at the same time.

Further testing showed that there were two groups. A taller group that was related, and a shorter group, the latter assumed to be locals in the area that were being used as guides/porters.

Here's the weird part. The people who studied it have come to the conclusion that it wasn't a rockslide, a ritual killing a blunt object or anything that sprang to my mind when first reading. It was hail. Large hail. This party was killed off by hail when crossing the lake.

It reminds me of the Pass incident, where everything seemed so uh, freaky, but had a rather boring explanation that really makes more sense.

Thoughts?

Link

Seems like really large feet in that picture.

Kind of hard to tell.

Interesting.

Those feet look really preserved as opposed to the rest of the skeleton.

I find it quite odd.

Cup of tea, anyone?

a reply to: Domo1
All died to to a monster hailstorm.
2nd line.

Animals killed + dragged the bodies there?

a reply to: Domo1

It was estimated by scientists that in order to cause the injuries observed in the skulls, the hail would have have been around the size of cricket balls, or around 9 inches in diameter. Some have disagreed with these findings, but the scientists have claimed that this is the only plausible, rational explanation given the observable evidence.

This seems like one hell of a stretch. I can imagine some other things that could have happened. Maybe they were buried up to their chests, stoned and then dug up and tossed in the water? Maybe some sort of an avalanche followed by a rock slide. Perhaps they were walking through a narrow canyon and had rocks dropped on them from above?

It's certainly an interesting hypothesis but I'd hardly say it's the only plausible explanation.

a reply to: Domo1

Any possibility of a flash flood? I am not sure how high the mountains are around the pond.
Freaky though.

Hail is a plausible theory. I have been struck to the ground by a grapefruit sized ball. They also have some odd, to other cultures, burial rituals in that neck of the woods. They may have been dumped in the lake in a ceremonious manner, possibly following a battle.

I would imagine damage to the bones shows cause of death to all of them was blunt object. The placement of the wounds, and other factors, dismisses all the other theories you have said in this thread. Hail is the "best" solution with what is currently known.

OP....you actually went there? .....or did I misunderstand that?

I can tell you that I have seen softball sized hail. If you were out and exposed to that with no cover you might very well be beaten to death. A large chuck of ice smashing into your skull at over 120 mph is going to cause problems.

en.wikipedia.org...

Rarely, massive hailstones have been known to cause concussions or fatal head trauma. Hailstorms have been the cause of costly and deadly events throughout history. One of the earliest recorded incidents occurred around the 9th century in Roopkund, Uttarakhand, India.

a reply to: Domo1

I got an odd feeling when I read your thread because somewhere in the past I was reading about another place where people took their cattle to hide from huge fire balls falling fgrom heaven and that was the huge platform in Baalbek.
Also in Europe and Turkey you have underground dwellings and runways where people equally could have sheltered from either hail or some kind of meteor storms.

There was a thread about underground tunnels not so long ago on ATS in Europe somewhere. Also I seem to remember that in Egypt there was an incident of fire balls but that perhaps came from Thera.

The idea people drowned in the lake when the ice broke doesn't explain the bodies by the side of the lake, unless they were rescued by others. Have they dna'd the skeletons to find out who and where from?

I do think because up till the last few years when we have had extreme weather occurrences, we have had a very sheltered period of weather, that perhaps was not the norm for some of the past. I shall watch this thread with interest.

There's no need to invent a new form of giant hail to explain the human remains in a Himalayan lake.

They MOST likely died the same way millions of others have in mountainous terrain.

Avalanche.

lol, that's got to suck big time.

cricket ball size hail.

sounds biblical.

originally posted by: tsingtao
lol, that's got to suck big time.

cricket ball size hail.

sounds biblical.

Nine inch diameter cricket balls?

Did the Nephillim play cricket?

From the article:

[...]all of the remains only showed such traumatic injuries to the head and shoulders and nowhere else

Doesn't this seem to be evidence AGAINST the hail theory? The impact from the hail was enough to kill them. Did they just stand around and wait for the hail to stop before accepting their death and collapsing?

If the location of their injuries is the main debunking evidence of a landslide/avalanche, why wouldn't the next logical alternative be the blunt weapon theory?

It also seems silly to include the lake anywhere in the speculation. Look at the topography in that picture. Anything movable around that lake is going to end up IN that lake eventually due to snow runoff. That's not a lake; that's just an area where things go when the snow melts.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: Domo1

It was estimated by scientists that in order to cause the injuries observed in the skulls, the hail would have have been around the size of cricket balls, or around 9 inches in diameter. Some have disagreed with these findings, but the scientists have claimed that this is the only plausible, rational explanation given the observable evidence.

This seems like one hell of a stretch. I can imagine some other things that could have happened. Maybe they were buried up to their chests, stoned and then dug up and tossed in the water? Maybe some sort of an avalanche followed by a rock slide. Perhaps they were walking through a narrow canyon and had rocks dropped on them from above?

It's certainly an interesting hypothesis but I'd hardly say it's the only plausible explanation.

The area is shaped like a bowl, if there were ambushers all around the top they could have you all pened in the middle. Sounds like what Yeti are said to do, pelting with stones.

a reply to: Domo1
wow, what a mystery !
I'm not too prone to believe the hail theory, although it is possible I suppose.

In addition, the expedition found that the skulls all exhibited evidence of similar blunt trauma to the head, which showed that these mysterious people had met a rather violent demise. Closer forensic analysis of the skull fractures revealed that the injuries were caused by some sort of heavy, rounded object. Adding to this mystery was the fact that all of the remains only showed such traumatic injuries to the head and shoulders and nowhere else, as if they had been struck suddenly and violently from above.

From the pictures of the site, I would be more inclined to believe that it was an ambush from above. The lake looks fairly small, and I could see an enemy surrounding their 'prey' from all along the perimeter.

And you would think if it was hail several would have survived and the story would have become a legend, even through the ages.?

and did you really get to go there Domo?

a reply to: Pimpintology

I have lived through 2 hailstorms (1992 and 1995) that were softball sized hail. The one in 92 killed the neighbors cow. Beat it to death after the wind ripped the roof off its barn. There was a tornado up the street that ripped out some trees by the roots. The hail though....it was coming through the roof and bouncing in our living room floor. Where it hit our cars, it sheared and tore the metal, leaving dents with holes ripped on one side.

The damage it would do to people exposed would be devastating. I would expect they base their story on broken bones? If so, a himalayan burial tradition involves dismemberment, feeding to the birds, then breaking the bones. I am sure they could tell the difference.