The Mysteries of Portlock, Alaska

Welcome to Thinkology. In this episode of Chilling Chapters, we're going to be looking at the mysteries surrounding the abandoned ghost town of Portlock, Alaska. From purported hauntings to unexplained murders and disappearances, many of which being pinned on American folk legend Sasquatch, aka Bigfoot himself, this town has a notorious reputation that has dissuaded anyone from permanently inhabiting it since the mid-20th century, and still carries an unsettling aura to this day. If you know anything about Portlock that isn't covered in this episode, be sure to reach out to us and share your stories, otherwise, let's dive in. In order to fully comprehend the mysterious occurrences in Portlock, having some knowledge of the physical and social geography is helpful to comprehending the context and setting against which these things took place. A region as mountainous and surrounded by forests as Alaska will definitely lend its environment to the air of mystery surrounding the town. Portlock, also called Port Chatham by some, is a long-abandoned town located on the southern edge of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. The latter name is derived from Kenitsi, which is one of the names of the native Athabascan Indian tribes that historically inhabited the peninsula. One contextually ironic fact is the tribe called the peninsula Yaghanan, which translates to the good land. You'll understand the irony soon. In the same region are Seldovia Nalwak, which means place by the lagoon, and Port Graham. The town was established in the early 20th century, more specifically in 1921 as a cannery which is a place where food is sent to be processed and sealed in airtight containers for a shelf life of five years on average. Though some have lasted longer, Portlock would also get a functioning post office that same year, a considerable hallmark of a somewhat functional town. Though the origins of how the town got its name aren't completely decided upon by the general public, one theory points to it being named for Captain Nathaniel Portlock who was a British ship captain who set sail there in about 1786 on an expedition to the Alaskan Territory. Keep in mind that this all happened before Alaska was granted official statehood under President Eisenhower in 1959. Alaska was only recognized as a district and or a territory between 1884 and 1959, decades before official statehood. The city even as part of a territory wasn't counted in the U.S. census until 1940 and it would only make one other census appearance in 1980 before being completely dissolved as an officially recognized town in 1990. As far as the population makeup of the town, the majority was made up of Russian Aleuts. This was a mix of people who were both native to the Slava country of Russia and were descended from the natives at the Aleutian Islands nested between Alaska and Russia. Today, many of the surrounding villages of Seldovia, Nunwalloch, and Port Graham claim that the area surrounding Portlock is haunted or cursed. This includes places like Catham Bay, Chrome, aptly named for being home to a chromium mine, and Portlock itself. When first glancing at the serene and almost picturesque scenery of the area, skin-crawling horror doesn't usually come to mind immediately, but it obviously hasn't stopped the many legends and stories surrounding the ghost town from circulating. The things that have been reported or alleged to have happened in this town are naturally inexplicable, usually attributed to the paranormal and the presence of spirits. Many of these claims speak of an immensely strong physical being terrorizing the townsfolk in sometimes grisly ways. Even before Portlock was established as an official town, stories of a creature lurking in the wilderness circulated amongst the indigenous populations living in the area. Many who expressed a desire to steer clear of Portlock can sympathize with the perspective of Nunwalloch elder Melania Helen Kay, who was born in 1934 and a native resident of Portlock. Kay shared her perspective and thoughts on the legends and supposed sightings with the local newspaper, the Homer Tribune, Retreat from Astonishing Legends. She said her parents, the village, and the other people that lived there were tired of being terrorized by the Nantinuk, which she said translates to half-man, half-beast, in the Chugach dialect of the Sugpiaq Alakru language, which is widely in the Kanai Peninsula. She said for years, many refused to venture into the forest and found it easier and more relaxing to simply move up the coast to Port Graham. According to Alaska Magazine, earlier records made by Portlock Cannery Management showed that the site had been vacated once before. The cannery's supervisor noted in 1905 that all the native workers evacuated the area because of something in the forest, but they returned to work at the cannery the following year. If the first translation somehow wasn't ominous enough, by the way, then get ready for this. The word Nantinuk is, itself, borrowed from the word Nantina in the Dena'ina language, literally meaning, those who steal people. The legend of the Nantinuk, as this being was referred to, pervaded the stories told both by the natives of the land and, eventually, the town settlers. In many cases, these legends prompted the land's inhabitants to avoid areas where the Nantinuk was said or alleged to have lurked. Those who claimed to have seen the beast and lived to tell the tale often described it as a large, hairy, anthropomorphic creature with superhuman speed and strength. In an interview with the Anchorage Press, Dunwallach resident Sally Ash, a cousin of the translator Melania Kay, recounted growing up in Portlock, describing it as creepy and having to be fickle about when to venture outside, as well as the physical nature of the legendary being. Portlock was kind of a creepy place, she admitted. They'd tell us, don't go out on a foggy day, that's when he's walking around. You could run into him, and you never know what he might do. The he that she is talking about is their local form of Sasquatch known as the Nantinuk. Nantinuk is not your typical, everyday Sasquatch brute, Nantinuk is more of a supernatural being. I think he is part human, Sally describes. He lived with people, then didn't want to be around them anymore, so he moved to the He started growing hair and he looked like Bigfoot. Scary. My uncles, my grandfathers, they all talked about him. They tell us they live far away from people, they don't mix with people. Some of the earliest known occurrences of the unexplained, for lack of a better word, take us to just after the turn of the century in 1905. Much of the local economy revolved around the town being home to a cannery as previously mentioned, but work in the cannery would be temporarily halted for a season. When the cannery workers abandoned their posts and camps after something mysterious made its presence known. The only claim generally made by the workers was that there was something in the woods staring at them and displaying menacing behavior. This thing was described as consisting of large dark shapes, but wasn't described with anything beyond that. Though the workers would return the following year, these unexplained events continued to be regularly reported. Instances of unexplained deaths related to the supposed supernatural phenomena in the town didn't start to ramp up until about the 1920s when reports of slaughters were attributed to something large and powerful stalking the nearby forest. A man named Albert Petka, for instance, was out on a hunt with his dogs when he was struck in the chest by what he alleged to be a large hairy creature or some kind of bushman. Though details about specifics of the encounter such as what exactly transpired are scarce, while his dogs would drive the attacker away, the assault was enough for Petka to succumb to his wounds soon after. The Native Americans came to view this incident at the time as an omen that the Nantanuk had come to haunt the area. Additionally, this came at a time when stories of miners, loggers, hunters, and cannery workers finding tracks of large footprints allegedly measured as much as 18 inches or hearing eerie howling sounds at night were on the rise in the community, in effect, fanning the proverbial flames. As you might have anticipated, Portlock's woes didn't end in the 1920s. Some argue that things crescendoing into greater omens of misfortune pointing to a dangerous presence lurking in the shadows. Andrew Camuck was a logger who lived in Portlock and was the subject of a rather violent attack in the area. He was found to have been killed by a piece of logging equipment being bashed into his head. But here's where it gets really interesting. His body was found a considerable distance from the logging site and the machinery was claimed to have been too heavy for a single man to pick up. Furthermore, the equipment itself was reported as being several feet away from the man's body, adding evidence to the claim that he had been actively assaulted with the machinery and didn't just slip and fall in it by accident. Of course, this was just the beginning of the terrors that Portlock would find itself facing in the decades to come. Reports of people going missing after they set off to do their jobs or to go hunting began pouring in at higher frequencies than before. Those who dared to venture into the forest and were lucky enough to come back alive noted that there were several trees in the area that looked as though something had ripped them directly from the ground with the roots facing up in the air, something far inconsistent with damage typically done by a bear or a wolf. These events happened frequently enough to either discourage people from venturing into the surrounding forest or prompt them to relocate to Port Graham off the coast altogether. The Russian Alouets themselves, yet again, left town for a year because everything occurring, but were eventually coaxed into coming back. Even so, these events would only get more threatening to the community. Most of the American consciousness was focused on the scope of World War II and the effort put into supporting armed forces on the front lines of the war throughout the 1940s. Presumably, even towns like Portlock were caught up in the massive effort to some degree. Still, the plagues that befall Portlock in the preceding decade only continued to rise causing anxiety among residents to swell past the point of no return. Events that transpired in this decade started to give the last sentiment a more literal meaning as time went on. At the very start of the decade in 1940, people were still disappearing without a trace. With search parties being sent out for some of them, many of these people, such as doll sheep hunters, would disappear for years on end, oftentimes never to be heard of or seen again. Reports of unusually large footprints not belonging to any known animal would be found when some of the villagers were tracking moose on soft ground, only adding fuel to the collective fear. One search party who went in to look for a hunter reported finding his body dismembered and mutilated in a way inconsistent with any kind of wild animal. Other claims supported this finding, most notably those that claimed to find the remains of mutilated bodies floating down from the mountains into nearby lagoons. All of them similarly maimed and torn asunder by an exceptionally powerful creature. The dead bodies, strange evidence of an abnormal creature roaming the forests and mountains, and frequent disappearances of town folk were so horrific that the town's residents would opt to remain inside their homes almost day in, day out. At some point between the 1940s and 1951, the remaining residents would flee en masse Thought the story ended in 1951? Think again. Portlock may have been abandoned, but that didn't mean people didn't visit the area ever so often. In fact, some individuals can claim to have lived to tell the tale. One of the bigger Portlock area incidents occurred in 1973 when a group of hunters were forced to shelter from a storm in Dogfish Bay Lagoon. Sleeping in a tent that sheltered them from the elements during the course of their stay, the men kept hearing what sounded like a bipedal creature creeping around their stakeout in the early hours of the morning. Per the Homer Tribune retrieved from Wayback Machine, We beached our skiff and let the tide run her dry. After a dinner of roiled salmon, we turned into our tent. Back in those days, the best tent I had was a dark green canvas job with a center pole and no windows or floor. We left the fire burning and cleaned the pots and pans as to not attract bears during the night and turned in. In August, there was still some light in the sky until about 10 or 11. I recall that we all were embarrassed about being afraid about the coming night. We had a flashlight and the rifle in the tent between us, locked and loaded. I finally dozed off but woke right up when Dennis squeezed my leg. The illuminated hands of my watch showed it was 2.30. Joe was already sitting up and had a rifle in hand. I heard the first step, not more than 10 feet from the back of the tent. Slowly then another and another. Whatever this was, it sounded like it was walking on two feet and it made the same semicircle around the tent. When we finally got enough courage to crawl out of the tent and turn the flashlight on, we saw nothing. No tracks. Nothing. The third night, we decided if it bothered us again, we would come out of the tent shooting. We were actually scared. It never came back the third night and the following day, we had a break in the weather and got the heck out of there. There were attempts made at reestablishing Portlock as an official town, as evidenced by the U.S. Census designating it as a Census Designated Place or a CDP in 1980. It would eventually be dissolved permanently in 1990. And speaking of 1990, an incident involving a Native American man in his 70s seemingly invoked the stories of decades long since past. Paramedics were called to the state jail where he was being held and treated en route to the hospital. While they were doing this, according to sources like Alaska Magazine and Collective Spark, The elderly man made an interesting statement that made hair stand on end for those listening. This old man sat on the gurney and grabbed me by the front of my shirt. He got right up to my face and said, Did it bother you? Well, with that question, the hair just stood up on the back of my head. I said, Yes. Did you see it? Was his next question. I said, No. Did you see it? He said, No. But my brother seen it. It chased him. Today, people are still hesitant about establishing residence in the town situated in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. In spite of the mountainous scenery, tranquil environment, and active wildlife, no known individual is confirmed to be living there, largely due to the supernatural legends and history surrounding the abandoned canning town. With the ridiculous amount of reports and alleged sightings of an otherworldly presence stalking the seaside town, a question still lingers in the minds of those who have either lived in the area or, like you and I, are learning about it. What exactly was in the woods that terrorized the townsfolk? What could have been powerful enough to slaughter able-bodied men in the way that they did, or strike fear into individuals with but a glimpse or a sighting? Theories about what kinds of beings roamed the nearby forests and mountains vary in scope and practicality, and have spurred the likes of believers and skeptics to throw in their own two cents about what the town folks likely saw. In this piece so far, most of the eerie reports talk about a creature capable of maneuvering objects in a way no single man could, having physical proportions large enough to leave footprints measuring 18 inches, and or stalking individuals during their day-to-day lives or hunting trips. You might recall that the Native Americans of this region refer to such a creature as the Nantunuk, derived from the words meaning half-man, half-beast, or those who steal people. With descriptions like these, as well as damage done to both people and environment, one might find similarities between the description of the Nantunuk and the legendary Sasquatch, also known as Bigfoot, of American folklore. Bigfoot, for those who might not be familiar with the legend, is said to be a bipedal, ape-like creature sporting a muscular physique and standing anywhere between 6 to 15 feet tall. More often than not, the creature is often described as having a foul odor attached to them, similar to a skunk or rotten eggs. Though legends surrounding the Bigfoot creature had been around for decades, the official Bigfoot and Sasquatch names didn't become mainstream until close to the turn of the The term Bigfoot would be used as a descriptor or moniker for individuals like Native American chiefs, but wasn't used to describe the bipedal legend until 1958. This is when working men for a logging company in California used the term to describe whatever force was moving all of their heavy-duty, 450-pound equipment without a hassle, all while leaving 16-inch footprints deeply embedded in the mud. Likewise, the term Sasquatch wasn't used until the 1930s when it was coined by J.W. Burns from an Anglicization of a Salish word, Sasquetz, meaning wild man or hairy man. This term seems to be more commonly used among the Canadian population in the northern U.S. states versus the rest of North America. Much like the Nantanook, legends surrounding Bigfoot are extensive and prevalent throughout the history and geography of North America. Glyphs depicting Bigfoot families, including a hairy man, can be found in places like the Tule River Indian Reservation and are said to be up to 1,000 years old. Most of all alleged Bigfoot sightings in the North American continent are reported in the Pacific Northwest, which include the states of Alaska, among others. Other regions of North America, such as California, New York, and even Texas, have reported sightings of the supposed entity as well. Floridians even allege the existence of skunk apes that, guessed it, smell like skunks. Alleged sightings and legends of Bigfoot-like creatures even exist worldwide, most famous of which, perhaps, is the Himalayan Yeti monster or the Abominable Snowman of Tibet. In Canada, or more specifically Canada's British Columbia province, sightings of Sasquatch, or at least when the entity had a given name, date back to 1884 when a group of men claimed to have captured a half-man, half-beast near Yale, nicknaming it Jacko. Sasquatch proved to be popular among the alleged sightings among the Canadians, with some cases among campers becoming subject to attempted video capture. Given the descriptions of Bigfoot, or Sasquatch if you prefer, from across decades and regions, as well as the descriptions of the Nantunuk said to have plagued the region Portlock was situated, the theory of Bigfoot being the scourge that wreaked havoc seems like it holds water. A big, hairy, man-beast hybrid capable of lifting objects with the strength of several men and striking fear into the hearts of said men, all while leaving behind footprints larger than most observed men or animals, is a description that can easily be attributed to either entity. Still, some aren't exactly sold on the idea of a mythological beast being the culprit behind the terror. On the other side of the argumentative fence, there are those who are keen on the idea that the predatory presence terrorizing the peninsula town wasn't something out of legends or of supernatural causes. Those more skeptical about the demise of the town point to things like the attacks being likely caused by a combination of known creatures roaming the woods and the development of modern day North America leaving behind the port town throughout the 20th century. One of the popular beliefs among skeptics is that the being snatching away unfortunate townsfolk wasn't actually a Nantunuk or some other kind of Bigfoot creature, but rather an unusually large forest predator, such as a bear. Individuals like Brian Weed, founder of the Facebook group Juneo's Hidden History, argue that the beast that many had claimed to spot was mistaken for something else entirely. Maybe they were seeing an extremely large bear in the area. From a distance of say 100 feet, your brain has never seen a bear that big, so you put together an idea of what you think you saw. If the bear is standing up, say in the 10 to 12 foot range, it may be the biggest bear you've ever seen, and so your brain may not put together that that's a bear. Maybe you're seeing it from a strange angle or it's too close to trees so you can't see its whole shape. Even so, he still finds it interesting that large groups of individuals swear by the idea that an unseen force was either murdering or snatching away unsuspecting townsfolk. That's definitely an interesting story, but people swear by this. For the locals that grew up in the area, this thing has apparently existed for hundreds of years. Additionally, some would argue that the different job industries and the development of new transportation systems in Alaska throughout the 20th century each lent a hand in Portlock's gradual demise. Portlock, as mentioned, was initially established as a cannery town accessible primarily by boat. The other big jobs in the port town, lumber, mining, and fishing, were noted for being among the most dangerous professions at the time. In a way, they arguably still are, especially given the number of injuries and fatalities associated with each of them. The establishment of Alaska's Route 1 in the 1940s after World War II is also cited as one of the things that served to expedite the importing and exporting of goods through Portlock, road itself comfortably situated close to the nearby town of Homer. With efficient and fast transportation becoming more utilized by the newly established interstate and with towns along the highway booming as a result of increased transportation of goods and supplies, ships were no longer needed for the transportation of goods, resulting in towns inaccessible from the highway left to abandonment, including Portlock. Even so, those relocating only had to travel roughly 10 kilometers to the nearest town, as there's only one unpaved forest road within the same distance. Even among the land's long-time inhabitants, there has been debate about the primary cause behind the town's citizens leaving in droves. While there are some who side with the belief that the supposed Nantunuk was just some overly aggressive wild animal or deranged serial killer, others are more middle-of-the-road in their beliefs. Specifically, while they might believe that Nantunuk, Sasquatch, Bigfoot, etc. had an unwelcome presence throughout the region, it wasn't the sole reason that the townsfolk fled as they did. Some argue that these same legends are, themselves, the product of some kind of embellishment. Sally Ashe, the Nanualik resident mentioned earlier in this episode, is herself skeptical of Nantunuk being the sole reason for the mass exodus. While she seemingly adheres to the idea that the creature exists or existed, she believes that the town was abandoned for different reasons and even insists that Melania had taken some liberties with her own recollections. Melania kind of made up a story because she was getting tired of people asking if this story is true. She made up this story about how Bigfoot was killing people. It wasn't true. Everyone knows that, but it's not our place to say nothing. We all knew, but we couldn't just stop her. We were brought up in a way where we can't tell our elders they're wrong. People would see Nantunuk, but that wasn't the reason why people moved this way to Seldovia and Nanualik. They moved because of the economy, schools, and the church. There really was no killing of people. The timing also coincided with the extension of the Alaska Highway Route 1 to Kanai and eventually Homer, diverting much of the traffic to the road system. As Sally claims, there also seems to be a sentimental motive behind Melania's alleged story designs and, in a way, was trying to discourage people from making some sort of return. When I was raised, the BIA school was here and things were slowly turning into a different culture, but for her and Melania, it was still deep inside her. I think she was also not happy when they would go down and see it. Port Chatham was all different. Abandoned, rotting buildings. No more things to look at that she would see growing up. In spite of Bigfoot or Sasquatch being both the main focus of sightings and the alleged suspect blamed for the multitude of disappearances and murders in the Portlock area, the entity wasn't the only thing claimed to have been spotted in the region's residents. Brighton residents made claims of seeing the specter of a woman wearing a long black dress. This woman, they reported, appeared at the top of the cliffs near town, screaming and moaning before vanishing altogether. The local natives started talking about a creature, a hairy bigfoot type yeti monster, and it was called the Nantanuk. At the same time, the villagers talked about seeing a spirit of a woman dressed in black clothes that would come out of the cliffs above town. They described her dress as being so long that she would have to drag it. She had a very white face and would scream and moan. The villagers would hear something and then she would disappear back into the cliff face. Though information on the ghost woman of Portlock isn't as extensive and multifaceted as its hairy friend, the characteristics that the specter witnessed describe as having bared similarities to other spirits and legends found in cultures throughout North and Central America. The legend of the deer woman in various Native American tribal cultures, for instance, is described as a cloven-footed spirit who, when she appears, can signal personal transformation or as a warning for those who spot her. She appears as a half-woman, half-deer creature. The deer woman might bring to mind the satyr of Greek mythos in terms of physical appearances as well as various global legends of sirens and succubi who, respectively, lure individuals to illness and possible death with songs or sexual temptations. Similarly, the legend of La Llorona in Latin American folklore tells of a woman in a long flowing dress who mourns the children she drowned, said to similarly drown individuals unlucky enough to hear her banshee-like wails. These legendary beings, while not exactly the same as the woman described by the Portlock locals, might provide a context to the role that she played in the otherworldly phenomena that took place throughout the region. Did she signal a warning of worrisome things to come, like the deer woman? Or did she act to lure unfortunate townsfolk to their eventual demise? Regardless of whatever she served to do, if she made herself known, her alleged appearances throughout the decades seemed to coincide usually well with many of the unexplained murders that took place throughout the decades. To this day, the truth about what exactly roamed or roams the area in and surrounding Portlock, Alaska as well as the direct cause of what prompted everyone to break camp and move elsewhere remains shrouded in mystery and theories posited by adherents to and skeptics of the supernatural alike. Whether it was some kind of fantastical creature or even just a better opportunity elsewhere, one thing remains true. Portlock is a ghost town that very few, if any, dare to explore or solve. Do you believe in the legends surrounding Portlock? Are you bold enough to explore the supposedly haunted area? Or, what are some other abandoned ghost towns that have a shaky history that you know of? Let us know.