Some sources state that more than 30 cases of disappearances and murders occurred in the town of Portlock between 1920 and 1950.
Ancient narratives, historical legends and extraordinary stories are an integral part of human life. However, it is rare that these exaggerated and unrealistic narratives concretely affect the lives of a human community. But this was not the case for the inhabitants of a small town called Portlock, located in Alaska in the United States of America. Once home to miners, factory workers, fishermen and Native Americans, this small but vibrant settlement was completely abandoned in 1950 and turned into a ghost town. Unexplained disappearances, mysterious deaths and an unrelenting fear made the town of Portlock a desolate and eerie place. According to the townspeople, the source of all these creepy events was a ruthless creature called Nantiinaq, half man and half beast! Here’s what you need to know about the town of Portlock, abandoned because of a terrible monster.
The town of Portlock, located in Alaska, United States of America, was discovered in 1786
Nathaniel Portlock
Discovered by Nathaniel Portlock of the British Royal Navy, the area was named after the brave sailor. However, the region, located south of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, did not become a popular settlement until the early 1900s.
In the early 20th century, a cannery was built in the area, turning the Portlock area into a small settlement
Over time, miners, laborers and fishermen settled in the area, creating a small but vibrant community in the town of Portlock. A significant number of Alaska Natives also lived in the town.
By 1921, the town of Portlock had grown enough to have its own post office
After hundreds of years of desolation, the region was at its most populous and vibrant. But life in this small coastal town was not as easy as it seemed. In just 30 years, the town’s glory days would come to an end, the area would become synonymous with horrible, strange and mysterious events, and finally turn into a ghost town.
Strange events in the town began in the early 1900s
In 1905, for example, it is known that locals who had settled in the town to work in the cannery left the town because of “something scary they saw in the forest”.
The scary thing in the town of Portlock was blamed for many mysterious events in the years that followed
For example, in the 1920s, the Anchorage Press, one of Alaska’s largest newspapers, was full of reports of a creature said to live in the mines near the town of Portlock. This creature was blamed for disappearances and murders in the area.
In 1931, a murder caused a climate of fear to spread through the town.
A woodcutter named Andrew Kamluck was brutally murdered when he went into the Portlock woods to cut down trees. Those who saw the body of the unfortunate man found it hard to believe that he could have been killed by a human being.
Also in the 1930s, an incident led the residents of Portlock to believe that the area was inhabited by a terrifying monster.
While hunting in the woods, a group of Portlock residents came across footprints almost 50 centimeters long. Following these unusually large markings, the hunters saw that the tracks led into the snowy and dark mountains of Alaska.
This creature, which became a horror legend for the inhabitants of the town of Portlock, was named Nantiinaq
Nantiinaq, in the language of the Dena’ina people, one of the indigenous peoples of Alaska, meant “one who kidnaps people, one who steals people”.
Townspeople believe Nantiinaq was behind the mysterious disappearances and brutal murders in Portlock
Nantiinaq was portrayed as half man and half beast, a very powerful and ruthless being. Some believed he was Bigfoot, who lived in Alaska.
The town of Portlock was the scene of many strange and spooky events in the 1940s
Some townspeople mysteriously disappeared without leaving a trace. The dismembered bodies of some of the disappeared people were found by chance long after the event.
The Nantiinaq legend led to the depopulation of the town of Portlock from the late 1940s
Fearful and panicked townspeople were leaving their homes and moving to other nearby settlements.
By 1950 the town was completely abandoned
Just 30 years ago, a charming town that had grown at an incredible pace into a vibrant settlement was transformed into a ghost town, terrorized by a terrifying creature. 1950 was also the year that the post office, a symbol of the development and vitality of the area, was closed forever.
Some townspeople say the legend of Nantiinaq is completely fabricated
And for these people, it is not this furry monster that has turned Portlock into a ghost town: it is the quest for a better education and a better life.
But there are also townspeople who grew up with horrific stories about Nantiinaq as children and have no doubt that the creature exists
Of course, it is not easy to say what really lies behind the legend of Nantiinaq. But it is safe to say that this legend is one of the factors that somehow turned the quaint settlement of Portlock into a ghost town.
The post A Settlement Abandoned by a Terrible Monster: Portlock Town appeared first on NSF News and Magazine.