Your email address will not be published. The full story with Brian Weed can be found ON DEMAND on our website. It seemed impossible that a sudden withdrawal of the townspeople could happen, but it did. These disappearances and deaths coincided with a wave of sightings of large hairy creatures and less identifiable shadow entities. Portlock began to become well known as one of the. I wonder if Robert Alley has heard of this, or has some information on it. Stories of the giant, bipedal man-ape wandering the vast forested territories of the Americas have been around for centuries. By 1910 there was enough interest in opening a cannery at Portlock that the town became official with the opening of its post office in 1921. Its a hike to get to Portlock, Alaska, these days, but if you have the opportunity, dont pass it up. After the establishment of a cannery due to massive salmon runs in the area, the citizens of Portlock experienced strange disappearances and deaths. Port Chatham, also known as Portlock, was originally a cannery town. Some people gave these creatures names such as the Mountain Apes or Hairy Men. Even before Portlock had even existed there had long been sinister stories told by the Natives of the area. What was out there? Ive been a fan of bfro.i grew up in Upstate NY , alwys knew of the tales,Been here for nearly fifteen years, Your journey has just begun. It is unknown why the police, local sheriffs, or federal agents were not brought in to investigate, perhaps with the priorities of the war and the remoteness of the two fishing villages it may just have been too troublesome for authorities to expend resources and manpower over. This alarmed the townspeople. 44 min What Really Happened in Portlock, Alaska? Out in the cold wilds of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, is a windswept array of buildings in the middle of nowhere called Portluck. On the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula, youll find Portlock, Alaska, a whole town that disappeared within the state, with only a few rotting houses left of the once-vibrant village. The loss of these lives took a toll on the small community and fear set in. What he saw threw him into a panic as a group of vicious hairy men began converging on his position. I dont personally care about the entertainment value of the show, just hope that if things actually start happening there that theyll actually convey it to us. All rights reserved. It appears that this species of Sasquatch is unpredictable and can be deadly whenever encountered. These stories point to a large hairy beast, smaller hairy devils that travel in packs, a wailing spirit that wandered the wilderness, and many deaths that were hard to explain. Are there many abandoned towns in Alaska? Brian Weed is the co-founder of a group called Juneau's Hidden History that primarily keeps track of things through their Facebook page. There are also reports of prospectors and hunters going missing frequently to the point that it became commonplace. . He barely escaped with his life and he was convinced that it was a bigfoot. This could not be some bear or else they would have identified it as such. These were not people who were easily scared by wildlife, and furthermore they would be well aware of the local predators in the area. ", "When the 1930s incidents started to happen most of the Russian Aleuts actually moved out of town for a year. For the locals that grew up in the area, this thing has apparently existed for hundreds of years. A film crew was there not too long ago and a cameraman took off running out of no where and disappeared. [2] Named after Nathaniel Portlock, the town was an active cannery community in the early-twentieth century. This was where the terrifying tales seemed to align with the untimely deaths of those citizens now lived in Portlock and Port Chatham. Historic Mysteries provides captivating articles on archaeology, history, and unexplained mysteries. It would not report again on the census until 1980, when it was made a census-designated place (CDP), again reporting 31 residents. Many fled to the town of Nanwalek which still technically owns Portlock. The first was a local hunter . ASL-PCA-66 | Alaska State Library - Historical Collections, UAF-1991-18-155 | Arnold Granville photographs | Alaska Digital Archives, ASL-P237-1-18 | Carl L. Hubbs Photograph Collection, 1939, ASL-PCA-237-1 | Alaska State Library - Historical Collections, UAF-1991-18-153 | Arnold Granville photographs | Alaska Digital Archives, ASL-P237-1-17 | Carl L. Hubbs Photograph Collection, 1939, ASL-PCA-237-1 | Alaska State Library - Historical Collections, Head To This Eerie Island For A Real Life Adventure In Alaska. The people running the cannery basically begged their workers to come back and they set up armed guards for a short period of time, trying to get their workers back in town.". The cannery plant posted armed guards to attempt to keep the cannery open, but it was no use. We're talking like three dozen people. It is definitely highly dramatized, but I do think there is some reality mixed in. Yet, a common pattern in the Pacific Northwest seems to manifest itself in people being chased, murdered, or vanished in the presence of what we now call, Bigfoot. The story is that they moved, due to being scared by sasquatch. He has traveled all over Juneau and many other Alaskan towns in search of natural history and stories. Most were eventually coaxed into coming back, but this was not nearly the end of the weirdness. As the local population started recovering bodies, speculation regarding the deadly beast started to rise. Website by PMG Media Group. Mysteries of Portlock Alaska and the Abandonment of the Small town in the 1900s. At first Portluck seemed safe, but whether the Nantiinaq had anything to do with it or not, strange things began happening in and around Portluck not long after its settlement. The team's 40-day sojourn in the icy Alaskan wilderness tests their mettle . For now we do not know, and the decrepit ruins of what was still sit upon the bay, with the only ones knowing the true answers being the trees and perhaps ghosts. With these sightings, unease began to ramp up in the town. In addition, various groups of gold miners and hunters used to head to the mountains for their work. Powered by Aiir. However, the stories have kept tourists, developers, and settlers away from an otherwise pristine coastline. This Nantiinaq creature wasnt your usual Sasquatch, but more of a shapeshifter, keeping away from people. In the spring of 2021, Discovery+ filmed a reality television series in Portlock. It premiered December 7, 2021. It is one hundred and fifty-eight miles by road southwest from Anchorage.The population was 7,424 as of the 2020 census, up from 7,100 in 2010, the fifteenth-most populated city in the state. Alaskan Killer Bigfoot is an American television series on Discovery+. Weed told us that he hopes to visit Portlock to do some exploring. I will have to go through his book again specifically looking for this. At that same time, the villagers talked about seeing a spirit of a woman dressed in black clothes that would come out on the cliffs above town. Find the most current and reliable 7 day weather forecasts, storm alerts, reports and information for [city] with The Weather Network. Read Tanner Davidson - Master of Cryptozoology Names Cryptids by States. Collective Spark 12/05/2021 Last Updated: 18/10/2021 1 2,525 6 minutes read By Brent Swancer | Mysterious Universe I would NOT spend the night onshore, only overnighting in the boat, well offshore. Seventy years ago, a murderous Bigfoot-like creature sent residents fleeing from Portlock, Alaska. What Really Happened in Portlock, Alaska? Last Name. In her interview Malania said her godfather (whom she never named) was killed after being hit on the back of his head with a winch while on a boat. People started to leave. If youre what I can only refer to as smart, then you understand that isnt and never was anything to really worry too much about, but it is a pretty alarming rate (5 out of every 1000) for people to regularly be eaten by mythological monsters in the woods and it doesnt just happen once in one outbreak, it happens continuously every year. Copyright 2019 Sasquatch Chronicles. The cannery was a fairly big operation, finding vast resources of fish in the unspoiled clear waters and bringing in droves of people looking for work, growing to meet the needs of the expanding population of cannery workers willing to live in this remote, wild place. The pressure is 994.4 mb and the humidity is 89%. I would like to go! Get notified of the best destinations for your road trip. Orang Pendek: Is There An Unknown Great Ape In Remotest Sumatra? In that year a local woodchopper, alone in the forest, was found murdered. 70 years ago the people of the cannery town of Portlock, Alaska were forced to flee their homes following a series of murders and disappearances they blamed on Bigfoot, known locally as Nantinaq. [14], Alaskas Best Known Cryptid Homicide Case Debunked, "Something's Afoot in Port Chatham Century-old Rumors Persist of a Terror in the Mountains", "Erling Nilson, 81, made smoked fish popular delicacy", "Mysteries of Portlock Alaska and the Abandonment of the Small Town in the 1900s", "Haunting memories 'Nantiinaq' sightings, spirits led to desertion of Native village", "This Abandoned Ghost Town In Alaska Is Downright Bone Chilling", "Alaska Magazine | Something's Afoot in Port Chatham - Century-old Rumors Persist of a Terror in the Mountains", "New Show Set in Portlock Explores Legend of Bigfoot", https://watch.travelchannel.com/show/alaskan-killer-bigfoot-travel-channel-atve-us, U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Portlock (locale), "Skeptoid #772: The Monster of Port Chatham", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portlock,_Alaska&oldid=1117862997, This page was last edited on 23 October 2022, at 23:46. If we have a serial killer in the area at the time, they took out a lot of people in the course of say 20 years.". Local historian Brian Weed has said of this: When the 1930s incidents started to happen most of the Russian Aleuts actually moved out of town for a year. We think we understand everything through science but we arent close. Something was killing the inhabitants and leaving their dismembered corpses to be found by the villagers, washed up on the banks of the bay or out in plain sight, left where they had been killed. dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun!!! Your email address will not be published. Remnants of what once was can often still be found; old schools, churches or other buildings, usually in a ramshackle state of decay, stand, albeit perilously, serving as the only reminder that a community once thrived on the spot. Almost a century ago, this place was called Portlock, Alaska -- a small but thriving town at the edge of the northern frontier. The body was partially eaten by an unknown beast that left human foot tracks in its wake. Excellent worker. Juneau Radio Center - Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce - Congressional Candidate Forum 2022, The Mandy Massey Real Estate and Home Show brokered by EXP Realty, Extreme Expeditions Northwest LLC on YouTube. No.". Sources say the primary cast of the Last Alaskans made as much as $3,000 for every episode they appeared in. We are planning an Expedition to the place next summer. Now, an expedition returns to the abandoned fishing village to reclaim the land and its resources from the terrifying beast locals call Nantinaq. Image courtesy of Extreme Expeditions Northwest LLC via YouTube. About Data and Statistics. According to its promotional materials, "Alaskan Killer Bigfoot" follows four men as they explore Portlock, near the tip of the Kenai Peninsula, and try to "reclaim" the land from the terrifying bigfoot-like beast known as Nantiinaq, which reportedly sent villagers fleeing 70 years ago as it went on a murderous rampage. One man, a prospector, who was surveying the land outside of town for resources that could be mined had climbed to the top of a tree to get his bearings and a better overall lay of the land. Sasquatch, more commonly referred to as Bigfoot in the United States, is perhaps the most famous cryptid in history. At this time, many of the workers at the cannery suddenly stopped coming to work and refused to come back, but this wasnt due to poor pay or working conditions, but rather because the men were deeply spooked. Required fields are marked *. The locals noted that the impressions made by people who had disappeared often merged with the large footprints of the unknown tracks and vanished! Residents in the nearby villages of Seldovia, Nanwalek, and Port Graham also report that the area is haunted, including Portlock (also called Port Catham,) Catham Bay, and Chrome, the site of a chromium mine. Natives at the time saw this as a bad sign, believing it to be evidence that a Nantiinaq had come to haunt the area. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Now, an expedition returns to the abandoned fishing village to reclaim the land and its resources from the terrifying beast locals call Nantinaq. Then the sightings began! I would love to go and set up a place to live there for my self and my girl. Portlock is still mostly uninhabited to this day; the town was dissolved as a census designated place in the 1980s and has not been reported again since then. In 1940 it was reported that a search party had been sent out to look for one such missing hunter, which would claim that they had come across his body in a creek, mutilated and torn apart in a way not consistent with a bear attack. He says that shows that take place in Alaska often do not show true Alaska and that they hope to change that with their honest depiction of exploring the state. Induced Termination of Pregnancy Data. Many were washed into the bay from the rivers that fed it, suggesting the people, trappers and miners, had been surprised and killed in the hills and forests above Portlock. By people who had disappeared often merged with the large footprints of the unknown tracks and vanished Remotest... Toll on the small community and fear set in it was no use Portlock to do some exploring on on., alone in the town was an active cannery community in the early-twentieth century in of... 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