This Week In History News, Feb. 3 – 9

Published February 8, 2019

Case of bizarre 1959 Soviet deaths reopened, Alexander the Great's demise under investigation, WWI hand grenade found in potato chips factory.

Russia Reopens Investigation Into The Mysterious 1959 Dyatlov Pass Incident

Dyatlov Pass Destroyed Tent

Wikimedia CommonsThe campsite at Dyatlov Pass. The tent is visibly sliced open, 1959.

On Jan. 23, 1959, nine capable skiers from the Soviet Union’s Ural Polytechnical Institute went on an adventurous hiking trip in the Northern Ural Mountains. They were never seen alive again.

Only photographs of their final days, a confounding scene at their campsite, and yet unexplained autopsy results were left behind. The Dyatlov Pass Incident has since become a plentiful source of conspiracies which range from government secrecy to paranormal phenomena — and with good reason.

Now, Russian officials have reopened the bizarre case as “Relatives, the media and the public still ask prosecutors to determine the truth and don’t hide their suspicions that something was hidden from them,” reported Alexander Kurennoi, the official representative of Russia’s Prosecutor General.

Read on here.

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New Theory On How Alexander The Great Died Suggests He Was Actually Alive Nearly A Week Following His “Death”

Alexander The Great's Death Tomb

How Alexander the Great died may finally be solved nearly two millennia later.

The death of Alexander the Great has flummoxed historians for millennia. The ancient Greeks marveled at how, six days after he was pronounced dead, the ancient king’s body didn’t decompose. His contemporaries ruled him a deity, but a new theory suggests that in reality, Alexander just wasn’t dead yet.

Dr. Katherine Hall, a senior lecturer at the Dunedin School of Medicine at the University of Otago, New Zealand, posits instead that though the ruler wasn’t really dead at first, he certainly appeared to be.

Dig deeper in this report on the death of Alexander the Great.

WWI Hand Grenade Mistaken For Potato Found In Chinese Chips Factory

Grenade Mid Explosion

Hong Kong Police ForceThe grenade, mid-explosion, in a Hong Kong alley.

The automated machinery in a potato chip factory in Hong Kong was unable to process one particular spud on Saturday and overseers quickly realized why: somehow, a German-made World War I hand grenade had found its way into the company’s supply shipments.

The century-old device had a rusty, mud-covered exterior, with its innards still very much capable of causing a dangerous blast. Built for Germany’s combat efforts in the Great War, the grenade was reportedly harvested alongside potatoes in France and shipped to Hong Kong’s Calbee Four Seas Company with the rest of the vegetables.

See more here.

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All That's Interesting
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Established in 2010, All That's Interesting brings together a dedicated staff of digital publishing veterans and subject-level experts in history, true crime, and science. From the lesser-known byways of human history to the uncharted corners of the world, we seek out stories that bring our past, present, and future to life. Privately-owned since its founding, All That's Interesting maintains a commitment to unbiased reporting while taking great care in fact-checking and research to ensure that we meet the highest standards of accuracy.
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John Kuroski
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John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.