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I think it's fascinating that modern theories seem to mostly or entirely disregard the possibility that they were murdered by a small group of locals that attacked their camp in the middle of the night. That would have to be included on the obviously plausible list given the unusual and intense blunt force injuries that so many of them suffered. The article of course rather comically dismisses the premise as though it warrants no attention. Maybe some people didn't like them traversing their land, didn't appreciate the spectacle of it, or wanted to keep outsiders out. All very common themes historically. They tracked them, chose an opportune time and attacked them to make a point to outsiders. It's not even necessary that the primary objective was to intentionally murder them, merely to beat them severely and prompt the group to leave, which in those conditions could easily result in everyone dying regardless. Infrasound as a premise is absurd and can be safely dismissed, they wouldn't have all neglected to properly cover themselves, and they wouldn't have all reacted similarly as in such intense group fear. No group collectively simultaneously panics in such a stupid manner and somehow magically mass brute-force injures themselves all at different locations; as they were not fools and did have an understanding of the elements. They very rapidly fled in terror for their lives, as if attacked suddenly / caught off guard - whether by other people, by a falling tree (and fear of more), or slab of ice. You probably don't flee a mile to a streambed out of fear of a falling tree however, and you don't entirely abandon your group for dead back there (a falling tree/s scenario presents plausible time to regroup and seek clothing). The group of three in the streambed was killed / murdered later, as the article notes they could have never likely made it there if their injuries had existed prior (they were not killed by magic falling trees); they were probably tracked to the streambed area and attacked, after initially successfully fleeing the original attack on the camp. Those in the streambed fled over a mile, which is a very intense thing to do in such conditions; you only do that if you believe you can't safely go back to the camp for some very good reason (where going back means very plausible death; they abandoned their comrades in fleeing so far, keep that in mind). So who/what murdered the people in the streambed? The reasonable explanations drop to only a few very quickly. The girl in the streambed was found in a very unusual backward facing position [1], she looks like she was turning away, trying to escape when she died. The attack group found them and finished the job. You slash one side of the tent to go the other direction away from the attack party, and possibly to avoid being spotted fleeing if at all possible. [1] https://i.imgur.com/SugfSgt.jpg |
