by The Roopkund Lake Skeletons
A lake surrounded by hundreds of ancient skeletons. They were killed by surprise.A BRITISH FOREST GUARD in Roopkund, India, made a startling discovery in 1942. A frozen lake 16,000 feet above sea level, at the bottom of a small valley, was absolutely full of skeletons.
The ice melting that summer revealed even more skeletal remains floating in the water and scattered around the lake’s edges. Something terrible had occurred here.
Because it was wartime, the first assumption was that these were the remains of Japanese soldiers who had died of exposure while sneaking through India.
Fearing a Japanese land invasion, the British government dispatched a team of investigators to investigate. However, upon closer inspection, they discovered that the bones were not from Japanese soldiers because they were not fresh enough.
It was clear that the bones were quite old. Flesh, hair, and even the bones themselves had been preserved by the dry, cold air, but no one knew when they were from. Furthermore, they had no idea what had killed more than 200 people in this small valley.
Many hypotheses were advanced, including an epidemic, a landslide, and ritual suicide. No one has been able to solve the mystery of Skeleton Lake for decades.
However, a 2004 expedition
To the site appears to have finally solved the mystery of what killed those people. The answer was far stranger than anyone had anticipated.
All of the bodies, it turns out, are from around 850 AD. DNA evidence suggests that there were two distinct groups of people, one being a family or tribe of closely related individuals, and the other being a smaller, shorter group of locals, most likely hired as porters and guides.
Rings, spears, leather shoes, and bamboo staves were discovered, leading experts to believe that the group was made up of pilgrims traversing the valley with the assistance of the locals.
All of the bodies had died as a result of blows to the head. However, the short deep cracks in the skulls appeared to be caused by something rounded rather than by weapons.
The only wounds on their bodies were on their heads and shoulders, as if the blows had all come from above. What had killed both the porter and the pilgrim?
There is an ancient and traditional folk song among Himalayan women. The lyrics depict a goddess who was so enraged by outsiders defiling her mountain sanctuary that she rained death on them by hurling hailstones “hard as iron.”
The 2004 expedition arrived at the same conclusion after extensive research and deliberation. A sudden and severe hailstorm killed all 200 people.
The “hard as iron” cricket ball-sized [about 23 centimeter/9 inches circumference] hailstones came by the thousands, trapping the travellers in the valley with nowhere to hide or seek shelter, resulting in their strange sudden death. The remains had lain in the lake for 1,200 years before being discovered.
