The Skeleton Lake of Roopkund, India & Nanda Devi

The Skeleton Lake of Roopkund, India

A lake with hundreds of ancient skeletons surrounding it. The surprise is what killed them…

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In 1942 a British forest guard in Roopkund, India made an alarming discovery. Some 16,000 feet above sea level, at the bottom of a small valley, was a frozen lake absolutely full of skeletons. That summer, the ice melting revealed even more skeletal remains, floating in the water and lying haphazardly around the lake's edges. Something horrible had happened here.
The immediate assumption (it being war time) was that these were the remains of Japanese soldiers who had died of exposure while sneaking through India. The British government, terrified of a Japanese land invasion, sent a team of investigators to determine if this was true. However upon examination they realized these bones were not from Japanese soldiers—they weren't fresh enough.
It was evident that the bones were quite old indeed. Flesh, hair, and the bones themselves had been preserved by the dry, cold air, but no one could properly determine exactly when they were from. More than that, they had no idea what had killed over 200 people in this small valley. Many theories were put forth including an epidemic, landslide, and ritual suicide. For decades, no one was able to shed light on the mystery of Skeleton Lake.
However, a 2004 expedition to the site seems to have finally revealed the mystery of what caused those people's deaths. The answer was stranger than anyone had guessed.
As it turns out, all the bodies date to around 850 AD. DNA evidence indicates that there were two distinct groups of people, one a family or tribe of closely related individuals, and a second smaller, shorter group of locals, likely hired as porters and guides. Rings, spears, leather shoes, and bamboo staves were found, leading experts to believe that the group was comprised of pilgrims heading through the valley with the help of the locals.
All the bodies had died in a similar way, from blows to the head. However, the short deep cracks in the skulls appeared to be the result not of weapons, but rather of something rounded. The bodies also only had wounds on their heads, and shoulders as if the blows had all come from directly above. What had killed them all, porter and pilgrim alike?
Among Himalayan women there is an ancient and traditional folk song. The lyrics describe a goddess so enraged at outsiders who defiled her mountain sanctuary that she rained death upon them by flinging hailstones “hard as iron.” After much research and consideration, the 2004 expedition came to the same conclusion. All 200 people died from a sudden and severe hailstorm.
Trapped in the valley with nowhere to hide or seek shelter, the "hard as iron” cricket ball-sized [about 23 centimeter/9 inches circumference] hailstones came by the thousands, resulting in the travelers' bizarre sudden death. The remains lay in the lake for 1,200 years until their discovery.
The tallest mountain located entirely within India’s borders, Nanda Devi is as majestic as it is forbidden, and has a history that is entwined with the American Central Intelligence Agency.
India’s second highest peak, the “Bliss-Giving Goddess,” Nanda Devi is surrounded by myth and legend. At 7,816 meters (25,643 ft.) above sea level, it has been closed to climbers since 1983 and is surrounded by an impenetrable sanctuary of solitude.
The challenge of getting to one of the most notorious peaks in the Indian Himalayas is that it is protected by a natural boundary of surrounding mountains, many of which are over 6,400 meters tall. This moat of protection is known as "The Sanctuary" and wasn’t first breached until 1934. Nearby peaks are named after different aspects of the Goddess’s folklore: her bodyguards, her “western door,” and “Nanda’s bed” being examples. The higher of Nanda Devi’s twin peaks was first summited by Noel Odell and Bill Tilman on August 29, 1936, becoming the highest peak ever climbed until it was later surpassed by an expedition to the top of Nepal’s Annapurna.
A series of secret CIA missions, conducted in partnership with the Indian Intelligence Bureau, attempted to place a nuclear-powered monitoring device on the top of the mountain in order to listen in on missile activity in neighboring China. This effort culminated in the device being lost near the summit, never to be recovered. The loss of the device and the possibility of it causing radiation poisoning led to the closure of the mountain to climbers for years.
Though the mountain was later reopened for another decade, it was closed again in 1983 for environmental reasons, to form Nanda Devi National Park. The park, along with the adjacent Valley of Flowers National Park, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. Entry is forbidden to climbers and locals to this day.

The tallest mountain located entirely within India’s borders, Nanda Devi is as majestic as it is forbidden, and has a history that is entwined with the American Central Intelligence Agency.
India’s second highest peak, the “Bliss-Giving Goddess,” Nanda Devi is surrounded by myth and legend. At 7,816 meters (25,643 ft.) above sea level, it has been closed to climbers since 1983 and is surrounded by an impenetrable sanctuary of solitude.
The challenge of getting to one of the most notorious peaks in the Indian Himalayas is that it is protected by a natural boundary of surrounding mountains, many of which are over 6,400 meters tall. This moat of protection is known as "The Sanctuary" and wasn’t first breached until 1934. Nearby peaks are named after different aspects of the Goddess’s folklore: her bodyguards, her “western door,” and “Nanda’s bed” being examples. The higher of Nanda Devi’s twin peaks was first summited by Noel Odell and Bill Tilman on August 29, 1936, becoming the highest peak ever climbed until it was later surpassed by an expedition to the top of Nepal’s Annapurna.
A series of secret CIA missions, conducted in partnership with the Indian Intelligence Bureau, attempted to place a nuclear-powered monitoring device on the top of the mountain in order to listen in on missile activity in neighboring China. This effort culminated in the device being lost near the summit, never to be recovered. The loss of the device and the possibility of it causing radiation poisoning led to the closure of the mountain to climbers for years.
Though the mountain was later reopened for another decade, it was closed again in 1983 for environmental reasons, to form Nanda Devi National Park. The park, along with the adjacent Valley of Flowers National Park, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. Entry is forbidden to climbers and locals to this day.