Strange & Unusual: The Korovina Group Incident 

that's a good point! What if they were so cold and hungry and tired that they were not thinking straight?

@Stephanie Harlow @M Va agreed not to mention surely they would've known not to take a psychedelic drug when u r already in a bad mental state like they had to be at this point freezing starving scared it just doesn't make sense that their leader would've been okay with them eating those at that point in their hike. As it surely would've caused them to have bad trips scary hallucinations and not to mention not being in the right state of mind they needed to be in to get to safety. So I just don't believe it. And to Stephanie's question about them not thinking straight and just grabbing them out of hunger,maybe for the hikers but not their leader if we are to believe she was as great of a hiker as well as survivalist she would've known how to keep herself from panicking as well as you said she was used to not having hardly anything with her to eat on these hikes to lighten the load so I believe she would've been used to this type of hunger and still known those mushrooms wouldn't be the ones to eat.

Same, grew up mushroompicking everybody knows how fly agaric looks. Still there are some ppl every year getting hospitalized with poisoning. If you eat it raw you will have liver failure before any "tripping" effects. And the autopsy does not indicate liver failure.

@@StephanieHarlowe I've read that the leader was into extreme survivalism, and that on previous tours she would purposely keep the food and warm clothing to a minimum so that her groups would be ready for extreme situations and able to survive on very little. Splitting one portion of food between 3-4 people, etc. Also as someone who grew up in Russia, it's very unlikely that they ate the wrong mushrooms. Especially fly agaric

@@lenora4553 exactly. toxicity of amanita muscaria shows in tox screens very prominently

She sure is!🥰

💯👍 agree

When did you first here about this. I bet it was in the last couple of years.

I couldn’t agree more. Stephanie is amazing at what she does.

I'm with you there Francine!

I’m a nurse also and I play between visits also. 😀

Thank you for being thier angel. Unfortunately theres alot of mistreating the elderly goes on in those places... we definitely need more caring people

Thank you for taking care of the ones who need you so much. Bless you.

Thanks for what you do. The nurses were amazing when my mom was in hospice. It takes a special person to do that!

Thank you for doing what you do.

This made me think of the dyatlov pass. That is one of the most interesting mysteries for me. It was so strange and so many questions about it still not answered

Yeah, and the Ivalo Massacre, it happend during the war of Finland and USSR in 1939, a whole Soviet battalion was found apsolutley butcherd, one of them was skinned and one was just showed into the ground head first, but this wasn"t the work of the Finnish army cuz according to them they werent even there they were miles away, so it remains a mistery who or what killed them all...

I thought this WAS Dyotlov pass and Stephanie just named it something else! Now I’m even more interested in watching this video.

@@leoni-annehall35 Wait this is not the Dyatlov pass.

@@nicoleackerman205 no its completely different but doesn't it give you the same vibes

Don’t watch them then

@@blueboozle774 yeah

Same here. I didn't think the Caylee Anthony series would would drain me as much as it did. I will not be watching another for a long time. Although I am fascinated by so many dark tales, it's good to recognize when one needs a breather.

@@familyacct3418 yes absolutely. Like for me I can watch truecrime for a while but then I need a break bc its heartbreaking constantly hearing about all the horrible stuff people do especially to kids

Skinwalker ranch was like my favorite video of all time, I truly fell in love with Stephanie’s content after that

Yesss! I love the harloweeen eps

@@melissaganoe4054 me too! I rly wanna visit the ranch but im afraid lol

I want to go to skinwalker so bad! I watched the series on tv

Same! I'm so excited for this!

Tbh i dont believe that such young group of people can consider as expirienced hikers. Even Ludmila have a bad decision like a rookie mistake. I dont disrespect or disagree that they where capable of doing this in normal situations but apparently when things get out of hand they have being trapped. I'm not an expert so i don't know what happened but imo looking for the most strange explanation while missing critical details and basic infos its not smart.

Totally agree, the only thing that intrigues me is how Valentina’s story matched with where the bodies were (Lyudmila on top of Alexander etc). It’s weird cos she was clearly out of her mind, but could recall minute details? Also why does she still refuse to speak about it? Doesn’t she want the case solved?

@@acaciagrace9422 yeah but she is the ONLY witness and has already told everything as she remembers it. Plus, every time a person tells a story from memory, or even just HAS a memory, it changes a little and the changes becomes real to that person. Without any film or recording or anything but her brain to recall the incident, her taking about it (further traumatizing herself) isn't going to help solve it.

@@acaciagrace9422 I wonder if Ludmila survived like Valentina, but when she awoke and found the man that was like a son to her dead, she was overcome with guilt and had a heart attack while grieving over him. I don't think the breakfast ever happened. I think Valentina had a combination of hypothermia and trauma and her mind filled in a story around the dead bodies in the camp. I had hypothermia twice. The first time I was convinced that a man with knife was standing over me and I kept asking my husband if he was going to do something about it. I had no idea I was hallucinating. The second time, I was shaking uncontrollably, so it might appear to others like I was convulsing. That could be what Valentina witnessed. She may have PTSD or survivors guilt, which is why she won't speak about it.

Exactly my thoughts. Hypothermia most likely - the mushrooms a possible alternative, but I have a hard time believing an experienced forager would easily make that mistake.

I totally agree!! Stephanie kicks ass!! Ain't no body even close! Much love from southern indiana ❤

I totally agree to! Stephanie Is amazing. I don’t know how she does all that she does.💜💜💜

@PeRFeCT IMPeRFeCTiON totally agree 👍

GO Stephanie...because she's Not a manufactured RU-vid personality, she does her own research and she's wonderful ❤ 😊 💕. Fake manufactured channels don't actually get traffic, thats why Real Channels like hers are getting crap! The public is smart enough to tell the difference. Love and wait for every post..its kind of obsessive 🤣🤣😂🤣

Totally agree

I wholeheartedly agree with you!!! ❤

You said flowers 😂 followers

First thing I’ve watched of hers. I turned it off after about 4:40, as she hadn’t begun the story yet. Maybe that’s why? Also, I get ad revenue is important, but simping for an Amazon brand that takes advantage of authors is maybe not the best way to show her love of books?

@maleighachere Right?! She DEFINITELY deserves her flowers 💐 🙌🏽

@@nathanfausti9213this

Loved Cayleigh and miss her.

Yesss! I would normally listen to True Crime on the daily but all of 2022 my life has been extremely difficult and I had no interest in listening to other real peoples difficulties, it would just be too much. But I wanted to listen to Stephanie so I was looking if she’d had put out anything that wouldn’t be so hard on my mental health and I was really happy she started this new series!

I know right. The face she hasn't told the full story makes ya wonder if it's just to hard or if she was threatened not to. It would be easiest proved but yet they didn't seem to want to crazy either way

My thoughts exactly. There are waaaayyyyy too many unanswered questions that should be easily answered by her.

It's very similar to Dyatlov's expedition...

They didn’t check the stomach’s of the dead during autopsy?!

@@rachaelleann9847 Either are very possible I still can't talk about some traumas even after years of therapy. It's also possible she was threatened.

Грибы и волчьи ягоды 🤣

@@mgl5216 да, да! И про неё тоже говорили. Я мухомор всего раз видела в живую, но зато все детство боялась его когда-то съесть))))

@@alinaya26 We grew up terrified of them! My dad used to work for an ambulance when we lived in Russia and he used to tell us how they would bring people to the hospital after they consumed 'wild mushrooms'

I was thinking this! if she was an experienced forager she would have known what plants local to the area would be safe to eat. Chances are her students would have known too if they were familiar with the area. Foragers don't just eat something if they don't know what it is.

My words in Czech rep:)

I just looked up that case and I am so confused. Can the police really not search for a missing child at their biological parents house without conclusive evidence that they are there? That seems crazy to me. Two years of just accusing them to their face each time someone reported the child to be living there!

I'm of the opinion that ergot would be more likely than mushrooms. The Fly Agaric, which Stephanie mentioned, is *very* recognisable, being red with big white spots, and I doubt that an experienced hiker would forrage it by accident! Other mushrooms containing psylocybin aren't native to Siberia. Ergot poisoning, however, can have a lot of the same symptoms as a nerve agent, including convulsions like those reported by Valentina.

@@neuralmute my thoughts exactly.

@@neuralmute I agree. We have the fly agaric mushrooms where I live and we're taught early on what they look like and that they're poisonous but it is possible to eat them if you boil them and apparently people do use them for cooking in Russia. So I'd imagine an experienced hikers like them would've known that they're poisonous. Even if they would've eaten them the symptoms don't seem to match. And as far as I know they're not that deadly.

@@paikio They can cause liver failure, but not the sort of symptoms that killed those hikers. And wet weather being prime growing conditions for ergot is well worth considering.

@@neuralmute doesn't ergot grow mostly in grains? At least that's what I found with a quick Google search

that's really interesting, rhodiola is widely used and considered safe, but if you overdo it? I guess it could be toxic, I knew this case and I definitely think poisoning although I'm no professional

Can you drink it still without limit. Like did they just take too much and die that way

Could this plant have become moldy? If they had carried it with them in a satchel and it got slightly wet and funky before they used it for tea, for example?

My husband is from Siberia so I heard a lot of other explanations about this case, sims like Stephanie had a very limited information to choose from.

@@flamingo2603 ooo like what?

I agree-I live in an area with a large population of people from Eastern Europe therefore have many friends from all over the area and they all know mushrooms really well and often go back specifically for mushroom picking season. It’s a huge pastime even now.

Very true!

Same thing here in Sweden. I have no interest in picking mushrooms but I still know the most common poisonous ones. It’s very hard to believe an experienced hiker and survivalist wouldn’t know which mushrooms not to eat.

Oh my gosh.....look how many RED mushrooms are in cartoons for children...... I grew up in Indiana.....we hinted sponge mushrooms. And if you found a secret patch in the woods....you didnt tell ANYONE!!!...🖐🏻☺️

Not to mention the leader of the group was a very experienced forager, it’s very hard to believe she would make such a mistake as this.

I was thinking the same thing!!!!

I agree! She’s the Best!

She’s really good at that. Emma Kenny as well!

Urmaker does too. He and Stephanie are my faves.

Yesss

Yessss!!!! Agreed!

She was, they weren't :D

@@meeriann why speak ill of others when you could simply not speak at all

@@meeriann they were great.

Awww thank you so much!

We all need it so we can go on fighting!

We must all be on the same wavelength! I’ve been feeling burnt out on true crime lately and so have other RU-vidrs I watch

I've been burnt out on it too. I'm very grateful for this change. Stephanie tells stories so well.

@@StephanieHarlowe 0llp 🎉

@@MS-es7zt 00 🥳

Thank you!!

Me too. Im definitely burned out on true crime

I totally agree 👍

Yeah, we need to branch out so that we can be mentally well enough to live and fight another day! I appreciate you so much, beautiful!

@Kerra Bradshaw I agree with you 💯.❤️

maybe,but what if this was common then you would hear of many cases like it.Being not ready for the cold is no excuse as they were trained and selected as the best of the best...

Couldn’t agree more!!!

I think they have to Run out of the tend for a reazon ....and then yes...died of hypothermia....or not

My husband trains soldiers in the Arctic. He has described hypothermia and it’s horrible Effects in the same way.

People CONSTANTLY come in the ER wearing no clothes?! CONSTANTLY?!

I don’t know if this would be suitable but you could cover weird weather phenomena. When my dad was young (in Iraq) it rained small fish and frogs. It definitely happened and I’ve heard it’s happened across the world in different areas

@@feryalthepirate437 definitely!!!!

I have a looooong list of Strange and Unusual topics so let's GO!

She definitely does bring interesting information and this woman works. Smart and indepth ...love 💘 😻

@@StephanieHarlowe I'm SO here for it!!

💯!! I could listen to,Stephanie all day! Her knowledge & details to everything is fascinating!!

This is the first one but I started from the most recent one and went backwards 🤣

I have been in a very bad headspace to be honest, and I don't want to be the reason that any of you are. I want to spend time together and just talk about mysteries sometimes!

@@StephanieHarlowe I get it 💯. It does get to me. And I don't want u to feel like u have to only cover true crime. Your the best storyteller. U put so much time. I want u to do whatever passion sparks u

@@StephanieHarlowe im glad u seem to have found another outlet. Ive seen a few true crime tubers having to quit bc the emotional toll was just too much for them over time. Itd be such a huge loss to us all if you burned out the same way. So please, make sure u give yourself regular breaks to recover, for yourself as well as us!

yea, it is scary but there is no known human death caused by psilocibin

@@kadeelacayo4806 You need to stop taking mushrooms in that crowd that's for sure

@@kadeelacayo4806 and as for this case, if you listened how the members of the group died you'll hear that they did not die due to self harm.

The worst I've ever seen is my roomies from university taking too many 'shrooms while drunk off their faces before a Black Sabbath show (yes, I'm old), and thinking that the world was ending when the band started! I just laughed at them because I was our group's Stephanie, the one who got least off my face, and just had fun tripping at an awesome show.

Absolutely!

Mama Queen - so true! 🙌🏾

Wow, thank you so much!

Same. LuuuvU Stephanie. 💜

I would have paid her in school to explain the info.

Unsolved cases sounds awesome maybe do the one where both adults a child and pup died in California died in very similar fashion 💔 😢

@@melissawachtler857 I never heard about that one.

OMG thank you so much!

Thank you for being here!

I'm from Poland, and that was my first thought also. She would have known not to eat those mushrooms.

Kazakhstan is in Central Asia

I also doubt that they would have eaten the mentioned mushrooms. Everyone in the former USSR at least would know not to eat them, since they are also poisonous, apart from being hallucinogenic.

I wonder if they were suffering the early effects of hypothermia after being cold and wet for days and it affected their judgment and decision making skills enough to not realize they had the wrong mushrooms?

I can only agree with you all, nobody in central Europe would eat them. Every child knows what they are called and not to eat them.

I just commented the same thing! Dyatlov ain’t got nothing on this bizarre incident. I’ve been hoping to see it covered more because it is fascinating.

@@gwenjackson8583 Have you checked out what reddit has to say? Some fascinating stuff there