The Skeleton Lake of Roopkund, India

In 1942 a British forest guard in Roopkund, India made an alarming discovery. Some 5000 meters above sea level at the bottom of a small valley, was a lake absolutely full of skeletons. As the glacier melted in the summer it revealed ever more skeletal remains, both floating in the water and lying haphazardly around the edges. Something horrible had happened here.

The immediate assumption, it being war time, was that these were Japanese soldiers who had been sneaking through India and died of exposure, and the British government terrified of a Japanese land invasion sent a team of investigators. However upon examination they quickly realized these bones could not be Japanese soldiers, in fact they were much much older than that.

By the 1960s they knew the bones were quite old, flesh hair and bones having been preserved by the dry, cold air, but they had no exact timeframe for the bodies. More than that they had no idea what had killed the over 300 people who died in this small valley. Many theories were put forth including an epidemic, landslide, and ritual suicide.
However a 2004 expedition to the site, seems to have finally revealed the mystery of what killed the people at skeleton lake. The answer is stranger than anyone had guessed...

As it turns out, all the bodies date to around 850 AD. Based on DNA evidence it appears there were two groups, one a family or tribe of closely related people, and a second smaller, shorter group of locals, likely hired as porters and guides. Rings, spears, leather shoes and bamboo staves were all found leading experts to believe that the group was comprised of pilgrims heading through the valley with the help of the locals. But then what had killed them all, porter and pilgrim alike?

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 of something rounded. The bodies also only had wounds on their heads, and shoulders as if the blows had all come from directly above...

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 300 people died from a sudden and severe hailstorm. Trapped in the valley with nowhere to hide or seek shelter, the cricket ball sized hailstones "hard as iron” came by the thousands and killed the travelers in a sudden and bizarre death. The bodies would lay there for some 1200 years before the astonishing tale of what happened to them would be revealed to the world.

Read more about The Skeleton Lake of Roopkund, India on Atlas Obscura...