Mystery plays a fundamental though not fully acknowledged role in modernity, serving as an important means for the re-enchantment of social life. Thus, under certain conditions, seemingly unimportant events can attract enormous attention and emotional involvement. One of those cases is the Dyatlov Pass Tragedy that occurred in 1959 in the Northern Urals, where nine hikers died under mysterious and still unknown circumstances. Nowadays, a half-century later, there are thousands of lay researchers searching for the truth and constructing competing explanatory accounts. In this paper, I propose the ‘trigger-narrative model,’ explaining the relation between mystery, governing narratives, and forms of sacrality, and apply it to the Dyatlov case. I argue that mystery is a ‘complex emotional attractor’—a symbolic mechanism shaped by the configuration of ‘elementary attractors’—‘strange’ things, symbols, or events, challenging commonsense narratives, which eventually maintains uncertainty and emotional tension. Every pattern of perception concerning mystery can be characterized by the tie between a trigger and its corresponding narrative; this tie is based on the transgression of the narrative by a trigger event. This model allows us to understand the cultural construction of mystery, which is crucially important for explaining how deep cultural structures energize people’s urges, concerns, and fascinations.

中文翻译：

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神秘的文化机制：在对迪亚特洛夫悲剧的竞争解释中的情感吸引力结构

神秘在现代性中扮演着一个基本但未被充分承认的角色，是重新吸引社会生活的重要手段。因此，在某些条件下，看似不重要的事件可能会引起极大的关注和情感投入。其中一个案例是 1959 年发生在乌拉尔北部的迪亚特洛夫山口悲剧，9 名徒步旅行者在神秘而未知的情况下死亡。半个世纪后的今天，有成千上万的外行研究人员在寻找真相并构建相互竞争的解释性解释。在这篇论文中，我提出了“触发-叙事模型”，解释了神秘、统治叙事和神圣形式之间的关系，并将其应用于 Dyatlov 案。我认为神秘是一种“复杂的情感吸引子”——一种由“基本吸引子”——“奇怪”的事物、符号或事件构成的象征机制，挑战常识性的叙述，最终保持不确定性和情感紧张。关于神秘的每一种感知模式都可以通过触发器与其对应的叙述之间的联系来表征。这种联系是基于触发事件对叙述的侵犯。这个模型让我们能够理解神秘的文化建构，这对于解释深层文化结构如何激发人们的冲动、关注和迷恋至关重要。关于神秘的每一种感知模式都可以通过触发器与其对应的叙述之间的联系来表征。这种联系是基于触发事件对叙述的侵犯。这个模型让我们能够理解神秘的文化建构，这对于解释深层文化结构如何激发人们的冲动、关注和迷恋至关重要。关于神秘的每一种感知模式都可以通过触发器与其对应的叙述之间的联系来表征。这种联系是基于触发事件对叙述的侵犯。这个模型让我们能够理解神秘的文化建构，这对于解释深层文化结构如何激发人们的冲动、关注和迷恋至关重要。