So, what can be said for sure about the attacks? In the 1940s, Portlock woke up to unexplained events too often. History writes "Seventy years ago, a murderous Bigfoot-like creature sent residents fleeing from Portlock, Alaska. We know that there are reported murders in the area. The Russian-Alutiiq village of Port Chatham grew around . However the town does still get occasional visitors. Now, an expedition returns to the abandoned . It would not report again on the census until 1980, when it was made a census-designated place (CDP), again reporting 31 residents. Feels like a perfect followup to my story, ECHOES, and I've always been meaning to write something along these lines. Port Chatham is the bay that separates Elizabeth Island from the southern portion of the Kenai Peninsula. 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, You Might Be Surprised To Learn That Bigfoot Has Been Spotted At These 13 Eerie Locations In Alaska. Cahawba is Alabamas most famous ghost town. There needs to be a movie made about this story. But with the isolation and the vast areas free from human habitation comes its fair share of spooky stories and unexplained happenings. This way, you can create truly unsettling designs. The Investor Murders: Alaska's Worst Unsolved Mass Murder What happened on the F.V. OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. Its not easy Portlock is beautiful but remote. In the late 1920s, Spokane made its best profits ever, but everything went downhill in the following years. This left plenty of villages that became whats known as ghost towns, and theyre located all around the state. The last residents fled in 1950, and the village lay abandoned. Get notified of the best destinations for your road trip. Road Trip 101:How to check your car before a road trip. Occurrences like these began to show up regularly. Nobody lives in Portlock now. Some people gave these creatures names such as the Mountain Apes or Hairy Men. Those items were then scanned at a high resolution and shared with the public. There was a small village site at Portlock before it was founded and those people had originally moved away. Isn't this the place to be if you want to settle the question whether Bigfoot exists or not--Portlock, Alaska. We know when the town and post office shut down. Then the beast suddenly walked away without harming the resident. One of them is from the Portlock village, in Port Chatham Bay only 200 km (124 miles) south of the state's most populous city, Anchorage. Residents took off en masse in 1949, leaving their houses, the nearby chromium mine, the cannery, the teacher cottage, and the large school house, to return to the wilderness. For the locals that grew up in the area, this thing has apparently existed for hundreds of years. Show Freaky Folklore, Ep Something is KILLING People in Portlock, Alaska (Unsolved Mysteries) - Dec 13, 2021 Source: GARETH / Adobe Stock. I believe its a giant man much like the one the military killed in Afghanistan a few years back. Others talked of a woman in a long black dress with a pale face who would appear from the cliffs. or nz but hope you were not affected by this", "So true and it's just the top of the iceberg in regards to what the peasants are being", "Youtube may take this down but it's up at the moment. [6][7], Most of the people who fled Portlock in the 1940s moved to the nearby Native Alaskan villages of Nanwalek and Port Graham. But the events at Portlock are not so easily explained. I thought she was honest, and loyal, and trustworthy. Whether or not this is a stronghold of Bigfoot in Alaska, you can decide for yourself. 511 Followers. The Chilling Stories Behind Portlock, Alaska. By the time . Sasquatch Classics: Murder and Mayhem in Portlock, Alaska. Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - The final draft of theMontana Creek Area Infrastructure and Management Planis now available for public review and comment. Juneau, Alaska (Alaska Beacon) - Former special education teacher Susan McKenzie will be the new commissioner of the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development. [4] These events led the residents of the community to flee en masse, and the town's post office officially closed between 1950 and 1951. 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 any other Alaskan ghost towns that youve visited? So, where can you use these images? It was an unexplored, beautiful area, filled with fish and plenty of space. [8] In recent years, the community has considered the possibility of re-establishing Portlock as a village. Although some people will forever dispute the events at Port Lock and Port Chatham as wives tales something threatening definitely happened and was never solved. Seventy years after the hauntings started, they were still continuing when people visited the area. Even her godfather was one of these victims. 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. Chris Kolmar, RoadSnacks December 14, 2020 - 2,077 views . By 1950, the town of Portlock, Alaska was mysteriously abandoned despite being still rich in resources and a huge commercial center. Before making any big decisions, you can check out whats it like on. Many fled to the town of Nanwalek which still technically owns Portlock. Alaska is full of stunning vistas, beautiful animals, and ghost towns. Ghost towns are the perfect destinations for thrill-seekers. Anchorage, Alaska (KINY) - Yesterday, an Anchorage grand jury returned an indictment charging 23-year-old Eric David Chaney, Jr. with one count of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, and one count of misconduct involving a controlled substance in the fourth degree for the murder of his girlfriend Stephanie Morales on Feb. 13, 2023. It seemed impossible that a sudden withdrawal of the townspeople could happen, but it did. Most of Portlocks former residents now live in nearby villages like Port Graham and Nanwalek. Accept Read More. He barely escaped with his life and he was convinced that it was a bigfoot. [4][1][5] Many villagers blamed the unexplained deaths and disappearances on a Bigfoot-like creature referred to locally as Nantinaq. Attempts were made to revive it in the 50s. The region is full of stunning scenery and abundant wildlife. But as gold and silver dried up, the number dwindled. Portlock, Alaska Teacher and his wife at English Bay stated hunters from Portlock sometimes failed to return. Whether the town was passed over for railroad service, by the construction of a major highway that made it too inconvenient to travel to that village, or a mining encampment whose ore ran out and depleted the local economy, ghost towns are all that remains. Download the Way app for all your travel and car related needs. This was where the terrifying tales seemed to align with the untimely deaths of those citizens now lived in Portlock and Port Chatham. In the 1940s the village was abandoned after the occupants were attacked and in some cases brutally killed by something which came from the woods. Weed has also pitched a television show to the Travel Channel that aired a pilot last April with hopes that they can be picked up in the spring of next year. TV14. "Portlock began its existence sometime after the turn of the century as a cannery town . At first, the settlement thrived. 10 Biggest Airports Listed. What was out there? Do we believe in ghosts, miners creeping around in tunnels, absolutely not. In 1931, one man that was chopping wood was found murdered, seemingly by a single blow that seemed stronger than a human could manage. Get more stories delivered right to your email. Robin Barefield. from ghost towns you can explore across the country. Weather is good in mid-summer, but with heavy coastal rains. Alaska is Sasquatch land or Nantinaq, as Bigfoot is locally known around Portlock. 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. The sightings became common and uneasiness began to prevail in the village. The full story with Brian Weed can be found ON DEMAND on our website. One group hunting a moose reported finding giant footprints also stalking the same animal. They called them murders, but they also included . There are a lot of haunted areas in Alaska. Portlock was an active community thriving on salmon canneries in the early twentieth century. First, the victims were found with wounds that do not suggest a bear attack. At its peak, the town had a population of around 2000. You'll receive your first newsletter soon! Weve been watching the major indicators of an incoming recession on this show for months. Their bodies floated in with the morning tide. It was strong enough to kill and dismember a grown man. "I'm hoping to camp 3 or 4 days in the area and maybe set up some cameras just for kicks. Audible . Sign up for our newsletter and get notified of the best travel destinations for your next trip. Yet, these kinds of questionable deaths became common place. Regetably though even if it doesn't see you, you'll still be smelled and or heard. 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. Sasquatch, more commonly referred to as Bigfoot in the United States, is perhaps the most famous cryptid in history. In fact, according to Port Chatham Alaska history, most people wouldn't go near this place even if you paid them to do so. 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. Mountains, forests, and wilderness stretch for endless miles, the scene of many stories happening here. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. He came back to us with a collection of research on strange happenings in the town of Portlock that is south of Homer. Watchlist. The latest, from the streaming service Discovery Plus, is called "Alaskan Killer Bigfoot," and is set in and around an abandoned Kenai Peninsula ghost town. Robin Pelkey, who was born in 1963, was identified in September as a victim of serial killer Robert Hansen, the Alaska Department of Public Safety announced on Friday. A bush aircraft can also beach-land in Portlock. Use the online eraser to isolate haunted hotels and buildings from unnecessary background details in your photos, then combine the result with ghosts, smoke, and a few other spooky objects. The cannery workers returned the next season, but unexplained events were continually reported. 2023 Juneau Alaska Communications, LLC. To this day, Alaskans steer clear of Portlock and Port Chatham. Locals moved away to the surrounding villages of Nanwalek and Port Graham. But first, whats going on with Portlock, Alaska? A school teacher in the 1970s even talked about growing up in Portlock and also told stories of people being afraid of what could be lurking in the night. Whatever lived in the woods above Portlock, and whatever had killed all the people, it had won. The first of the strange occurrences started in 1905, when people from the village were harassed by a large animal, which bothered their camps in the night. Have you made it there ? You Might Like Horror road movies where trips went south quickly! 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. Tales of murder and mayhem rolled out of Portlock on a regular basis in the 1930's and 1940's, gaining steam during the World War II years. We've seen a few things that we couldn't explain at the time, but later as we investigated it was, 'Oh these rocks slid because of this ice or the timber decided to finally break because it was all rotten.' Major says the expedition will be the first . [4] The population largely consisted of Russian-Aleuts. [13], Alaskan Killer Bigfoot premiered on Discovery+ on December 7, 2021. Planning a road trip? These are the places in Alaska where people were killed most often, according to the latest FBI numbers. Roosevelt also wrote an account of the finding of a trappers body. Soon, many moved away from the small community, scared for their lives. I'm not trying to do like a Ghost Hunter special or anything, but I would like to see if there are some big brown bears in the area and what might have been seen that would cause people to be spooked.". 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.". A criminalist who processed the scene where a native Alaska woman was slain in 1993 described photos he and a colleague took of the victim as jurors looked on Thursday in the murder and sexual . Bigfoot is most commonly known from its footprints (Igor / Abode Stock). Hey, I have a New yahoo e-mail address, brandonrp1114@gmail.com. But when Kehl was a baby, the family abruptly moved away from Chatham, leaving the house and every board of its frame behind. Already planning an outline for a fictional version, which would condense most accounts into one long autumn/winter timeline. 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