I saw a show recently that put forth a theory that seemed logical...many who were sleeping in the tent with the camp stove were suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Once they felt the effects, they cut holes in the tent for ventilation...afraid to leave due to the extreme cold outside. Eventually, they had to leave the tent, even without their clothing...the CO made their decision making skills rather suspect. One group set out for a previous camp, while others remained behind. They tried to make small fires to keep warm, but that just wasn't sufficient given the temps and wind condition. Afterwards, one small group went to look for another, when someone fell and broke a leg/ankle...they had to try and shelter in a makeshift show cave. The mutilations were more than likely from predation, and the skin coloring from the CO poisoning.
I'm going with Occam's razor on this one.
