Right on the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula, you’ll find the town of Portlock, Alaska. This entire place disappeared within the state. It was once a vibrant village, but now all that’s left is a few rotting houses. Although Aleut people have lived on the Southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula for thousands of years, no one had a settlement in the Portlock area until the 1780s.
This thriving town remained until everyone abandoned the village in 1950, with most residents moving to nearby villages down the coast. A mine tunnel, house pilings, and rusted cannery equipment are all that remain of Portlock, Alaska today.
So what happened in Portlock, Alaska?
According to local history, an unexplained hairy creature continuously assaulted and stalked the villagers, murdering them and leaving their bodies, until they finally all abandoned the area. Read on to learn more about the terrifying history of the town of Portlock and the Portlock, Alaska murders.
Portlock, Alaska lies on the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula in Southcentral Alaska. The village of Portlock was established when Captain Nathanial Portlock of the Royal British Navy landed there in 1787. It was an unexplored, beautiful area, filled with fish and plenty of space.
If you believe the residents of the nearby villages of Seldovia, Nanwalek, and Port Graham, the area is haunted.
Portlock became known as one of the creepiest places in Alaska. Many are afraid to visit this area due to the unexplained circumstances that continued to happen in this small town.
In 1905, it was reported that all the workers left their cannery jobs due to something mysterious that was "bothering" the camp. The cannery workers returned the next season, but unexplained events were continually reported. There was an air of fear and mystery that began to pervade the small town.
Hunters and gold miners who headed into the mountains started to disappear. In 1931, one man that was chopping wood was found murdered, seemingly by a single blow that seemed stronger than a human could manage. This alarmed the townspeople.
One group that was hunting a moose reported finding giant footprints also stalking the same animal. They arrived at the site of a bloody battle and no moose was found. Footprints over 18 inches long headed from that spot into the foggy mountains. Occurrences like these began to happen regularly. In the local dialect of Alutiiq, the language of the area, the creature is called a "nantiinaq," half-man, half-beast
One resident claimed to see a huge, hairy man destroying fish wheels along the beach. He ran home to get his gun, and when he returned, the beast stared at him for several moments, then walked off. Sightings like these caused unease to ramp up within the town.
Bodies recovered from the nearby lagoon often had strange wounds that were not made by a bear. The loss of these lives took a toll on the small community.
It's understandable how fear began to set in. People started to leave the town. All the unexplained disappearances and murders in Portlock, Alaska caused everyone to feel like they had to flee.
By 1949, residents had left en masse. Their homes, the nearby chromium mine, the cannery, the teacher's cottage, and the large schoolhouse were all left to return to the wilderness. This resulted in Portlock, Alaska becoming one of the many abandoned towns in Alaska.
Only the postmaster remained. After a year alone, the post office closed in 1950 and the last resident of Portlock left town. Even the postmaster couldn’t continue on here.
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. However, the town does still get occasional visitors. In the 1970s, a fisherman was forced to take refuge from a storm reported something strange walked through their camp on two feet. It terrified them, and they left as soon as possible. Seventy years after the hauntings started, they were still continuing when people visited the area.
The ghost town of Portlock, Alaska has a mysterious story. Whether or not this is a stronghold of Bigfoot in Alaska, you can decide for yourself. The disappearances and the bodies found were too horrible for anyone to continue living in this small town.
Have you been to Portlock, the whole town that disappeared in Alaska? Were you “bothered” by “something”? Is this someplace you would ever visit to explore, now that you know this bone-chilling piece of Portlock, Alaska history? Are there any other Alaskan ghost towns that you’ve visited? Tell us about it in the comments!
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Abandoned Ghost Town In Alaska
Megan McDonald|January 01, 2021
Are there many abandoned towns in Alaska?
Yes! There are many abandoned towns in Alaska that have been left to be reclaimed by the earth. After the gold rush, many booming small towns were abandoned as miners left to follow gold claims in other areas. This left plenty of villages that became what’s known as “ghost towns,” and they’re located all around the state.
There are a lot of haunted areas in Alaska. This state is huge, and the animals and terrain haven’t been fully explored. There are plenty of areas that have unexplained happenings in them, including tales of ghost stories or people that disappear.
