Dyatlov Pass, Missing 411, "Todd Sees" and the Great God Pan

First let me say that I am uniquely intrigued by the Dyatlov Pass incident as well as the material, excellently compiled, by David Paulides in his seminal works; "Missing 411", and the mystery death of Todd Sees.

Here's an interesting movie that has an intriguing, if not wholly explained, "solution" to what happened at Dyatlov Pass:

Here's the IMDB link.

Further material on the Dyatlov Pass incident can be found here, here, and here (from the fine folks at Mysterious Universe, highly recommend the site and the podcast.)

For some perspective on this case below you will find photos from the investigation team.  Warning, some of the images are graphic.

Tent ripped open from inside:

The site:

Still image of the "so-called" "Russian Yeti" that is seen in the background of photos of the party.  Alleged by some to be the reason for the deadly events.

One aspect of the Dyatlov Pass incident that crosses over into the "Missing 411" books is what is called "paradoxical shedding of clothes", which is little understood, but attributed to hypothermia.  This will be looked at in further detail in this post.

David Paulides has done yeoman's work in putting together missing person's cases from national parks and other areas in the face of, at least, indifference (the Park Service claims to keep NO records of missing people), and at worst obfuscation.  I highly recommend the books, but do NOT buy them from Amazon.  Buy them directly from the website here.

Finally we have the case of Todd Sees.  Who exhibited the same characteristic of some of the missing people in the 411 series as well as the hikers at Dyatlov; shedding of clothes.

Lon Strickler at his blog Phantoms and monsters has done (along with the the assistance of other investigators) a good job of gathering evidence in the "Todd Sees" case and presenting the material for people to read and ponder.

Thus we come to the final component of this post and that is the god PAN.  It is probably known by many of you that the root of the word Panic is the god Pan.  In the mythology there may be many "Pans" each that guards a specific wilderness or forest area.  According to the myth Pan would induce panic in people in the wilds by rustling bushes as if something was sneaking up on the person.  This usually caused the victim to move away.  All the time Pan would follow and continue rustling bushes seemingly in pursuit of the victim.  Usually this would eventually induce panic and the victim would run.  See here.  Panic in the woods has even been mentioned here as one of the top ten paranormal phenomenon.

Pan was a Greek god, and the Romans had their own version as well; Faunus. It was also noted by the Romans something called Genius loci.  Here is an image of a Roman marker dedicated to a Genius Loci:

The Romans incorporated much of Greek mythology into their pantheons of gods and myth, mostly just changing the names of the deities, like from Zeus to Jupiter.  I believe the Genius Loci is a "borrowing" of the idea of multiple "Pans" guarding the wilds in Greek myth along with an admixture of paganism which was, after all, practiced throughout the empire.  What is being discussed here is the same thing.  The Genius Loci should be propitiated in order to avoid misfortune.

So what am I saying here?  Is the god Pan/Faunus, or the Genius Loci the source of the panic that seems to be self evident in some of the cases in the Missing 411 books, Todd Sees, and the Dyatlov Pass incident?  In a way, yes. It is believed by academics that many of the ancient gods arose out of the need to explain natural phenomena, which the people of the time lacked the scientific knowledge to understand (Thor, god of Thunder, explained why the sky shook; there was a god that lived "up there" and was doing it).  I think it is more complicated than that but it's a good start.  So accepting this one can then make a rather bold assertion, and that is that the idea of panic in forests is something that has been with humanity for a long time, at least since the Greeks.  What or who is Pan, or the power behind the myth?  That is the real question here.

I believe that there is a force at work within the wilds and forests of the world.  One that can and does cause panic in people, causing them to exhibit irrational behavior, like shedding their clothes (even when weather is warm or hypothermia can be ruled out) and more importantly LEAVING THEIR CLOTHES BEHIND in their desperate effort to get away from the terror.  Sadly this force also seems to be responsible for deaths and disappearances.  It should be noted that I am not attributing this explanation to all cases of people gone missing in parks and wild places but instead to some of the more bizarre instances, removal of clothes, clothes found far from body, the hikers of Dyatlov apparent desperate attempt to get away from something, and Todd Sees.

On panic, from Wikipedia (bold italics mine):

Signs and symptoms[edit]

Panic disorder sufferers usually have a series of intense episodes of extreme anxiety during panic attacks. These attacks typically last about ten minutes, and can be as short-lived as 1–5 minutes, but can last twenty minutes to more than an hour, or until helpful intervention is made. Panic attacks can wax and wane for a period of hours (panic attacks rolling into one another), and the intensity and specific symptoms of panic may vary over the duration.

In some cases the attack may continue at unabated high intensity, or seem to be increasing in severity. Common symptoms of an attack include rapid heartbeat, perspiration, dizziness, dyspnea, trembling, uncontrollable fear such as: the fear of losing control and going crazy,^[6] the fear of dying ^[7] and hyperventilation. Other symptoms are sweating, a sensation of choking, paralysis, chest pain, nausea, numbness or tingling, chills or hot flashes, faintness, crying ^[8] and some sense of altered reality.^[9] In addition, the person usually has thoughts of impending doom.^[10] Individuals suffering from an episode have often a strong wish of escaping from the situation that provoked the attack. The anxiety of Panic Disorder is particularly severe and noticeably episodic compared to that from Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Panic attacks may be provoked by exposure to certain stimuli (e.g., seeing a mouse) or settings (e.g., the dentist's office).^[9] Other attacks may appear unprovoked. Some individuals deal with these events on a regular basis, sometimes daily or weekly. The outward symptoms of a panic attack often cause negative social experiences (e.g., embarrassment, social stigma, social isolation, etc.).

Limited symptom attacks are similar to panic attacks, but have fewer symptoms. Most people with PD experience both panic attacks and limited symptom attacks.

I just finished reading a book by Graham Masterton called Forest Ghost.  The story involved panic in the forest.  It's fiction but worth a look.

It was synchronicity that spurred this blog post.  I had been contemplating the idea of Pan and panic in connection with the stories presented here for a while and just happened to get the book mentioned above and it put some of the pieces together for me.

So the question still remains.  What or who is Pan?  What is the power that overcomes people in these environs?

  I believe that some of this can be attributed to the Earth itself.  It's probable most, if not all of you, are familiar with the Gaea Hypothesis.  I believe the Earth is semi-sentient at least, and that sentience may be achieved by any planet that develops life and has a biosphere.  The level of sentience may vary quite a bit but it would seem that with age comes wisdom, and if the Earth has had life for over 3 billion years then the Earth is pretty old and may have achieved a level of sentience which might allow it to actually produce effects.  In any event, even if the Earth is not sentient there are still many naturally occurring electromagnetic frequencies that the Earth may generate.  The Earth is teeming with electromagnetic energy, and here is a handy list of some of the things that Electromagnetic Frequency can cause in humans.  Here is number 3 on that list:

3. Induce panic, disorientation, and deep fear

Although some kinds of electromagnetic fields, applied to certain areas of the brain, pacify people and put them in a good mood, others are said to induce fear. Sometimes people report a persistent, if mild, sense of unease. Others have a more visceral response, feelings of despair and paranoia, sliding into overwhelming terror.

I have explored the idea that our reality may be artificial.  If that is the case there may be some unknown quality of the simulation that induces freak behavior in humans under certain circumstances.  If there really are Archons, and they have created this reality it seems likely that there would be some level of oversight, control and/or manipulation of the system by these beings.  Some of this activity may be designed to stimulate extreme emotional states in order to observe the results.

There are, of course many other possibilities that may lie at the heart of the crazy disappearances and bizarre behavior, and deaths associated with the cases cited in the title of this post; Yeti, Bigfoot, and extraterrestrials to name a few.  So this question is far from settled but it is always informative to have additional material to add to your investigation.