Spirits. Nepal

G.O. Direnfurt. Description of the fourth Everest Ecopedition (1933) under the leadership of Hug Rattletsch:

" . . . On May 31, the weather deteriorated, a very heavy snowfall began. But on June 1, Smith and Shipton were able to go on the assault. Unfortunately, due to a stomach ailment, Shipton had to give up and return back to Camp 6 (at an altitude of 8350m). Smith went on alone and by 10 o'clock had reached about the same nest as Vin Harris and Uzdger, and 9 years before them - Norton.

Because of the fresh snow that fell the day before, the path became more difficult. This time there was enough time and Smith was in good shape, but he was walking alone, and powdery snow lay on the tiled limestone slabs. He described the situation at such an altitude, the lack of oxygen, and perhaps insufficient blood flow to the brain - all this affects the mental state of a lonely person and even causes hallucinations. Smith describes two strange events.

When he walked alone, he always felt that he was walking with someone in a bundle. If he had snapped, this "other" would have had to hold him back. Having reached the highest height, Smith decided to refresh himself and carefully divided a piece of cake into two parts. He turned back and it was a complete surprise to him that there was no one there for whom the second half of the century was intended.

Just before the camp, this feeling of "the other in a bundle" disappeared, and Smith suddenly felt that he was walking alone.

The second point was even more surprising. Smith saw on the C-ridge two strange, indeterminate objects, like snake balloons. One of them seemed to have small flattened wings, the other had a protrusion resembling a beak. They hovered motionless, but seemed to pulse slowly. The rhythm of this pulsation was much slower than the rhythm of Smith's heartbeat, so he concluded that it was not an error of vision.

Both objects were dark in color and stood out clearly against the sky and clouds.

"My mind seemed to be beating fine, but I decided to check myself. At first I looked the other way.

The objects disappeared from my field of vision, but when my gaze came back, they were still there. Then I turned away again and this time I identified the names of some peaks, valleys and glaciers that were visible to me. When I turned around again, the objects were still in place.

Finally, I decided to end this matter, but as soon as I started on my way, the ridge was covered with a strip of fog, which gradually hid these objects. After one or two minutes, it cleared up again and the entire northeast ridge opened. Then these images disappeared as mysteriously as they appeared.

They were located approximately in the middle between Camp 6 (1924) and the northeastern shoulder of the peak. Perhaps it was something of a fata morgana.

I remembered that one day Colonel F.Nim and I saw ships not Finsteraarchone."

I can only say one thing about it - it's a pity that Frank Smith, a good photographer and a quick, always-present photojournalist, did not take these mysterious "demons of Everest"... but he had a camera with him!"