The Mystery of Portlock and Chatham Bay: The Town Haunted by Unknown Creatures

The ghost town of Portlock, situated in Port Chatham Bay, Alaska, has a dark past. Ports are, for the most part, a safe haven. It is viewed as a relief for the lone seafarer and a sense of comfort for those who ventured into it daily. And at its inception, Port Chatham was just that. A brilliant, bustling port. But that was until the Sasquatch found the place interesting.

Portlock was established as a canning town in 1786. Fishing, lumbering, mining, and other activities took place in the small town. Industries were soon set up by the port, and by early 1920, more than 30 people had arrived at Portlock for work. The native Alutiiq mingled well with the newcomers, and in turn, the settlers respected the sacred woods and the ways of the Alutiiq.

For years, life in the small town went on without incidents. In 1921 an American Post Office was established near the port, and the men felt more connected than ever. But not everything was going well at Portlock. Of late, there had been rumors of beasts lurking through the woods. The locals feared that their activity had brought the attention of the Nantinaaq, a fabled creature that was mentioned in their legends. Though the settlers assured the natives that the beast was nothing more than a figment of their imaginations, things took a wild turn when one of the men was discovered dead in the woods.

The Haunted Woods of Portlock

The fall of Portlock started with the death of a lumberjack named Andrew Kamluck. In 1931, young Kamluck went into the woods for logging, but he would never return. As he wasn’t back by nightfall, an alarm was raised and the men went in search of Kamluck. Kamluck was soon discovered in the usual logging spot, but he was dead. He had been killed by a blow to his head which had been made by the lumbering equipment that was near him in the grass, covered in blood. The incident terrified the residents, as this meant there was a murderer amongst them. Soon, people started seeing a woman dressed in black by the edge of the forest, and near the port. For the most part, the figure would simply watch the men, but sometimes, it would let out a loud shriek and disappear. Just like a Banshee. And like a banshee, the figure did predict death. Lots of it.

Soon enough, people started getting more cautious, and less outgoing. Especially after loud screams and shrieks started emanating from the woods after daylight fell. They returned home from work earlier and bolted the doors shut before nightfall. In fact, most of the Russian Aleuts moved out of the town. Soon, a massive shortage of workers became apparent, and armed guards had to be set up during working hours.

(Left) View of Portlock (Right) One of the Last Standing Structures at Portlock

A few months later, Tom Larsen, who was busy chopping wood near his house, saw something disturbing standing near the shore. It was a large, hairy beast. Tom rushed home and returned with his loaded rifle. He took a long look at the creature and aimed, but he realized that he could not shoot it. He didn’t know why, but as he would later say, every inch of his body screamed that there would be terrible consequences of if he would harm the creature.

According to an interview with an old schoolteacher whose parents were from Portlock, workers during World War II traversed the mountains to hunt bears and Dall sheep. But the men who went up the mountains never came down. Residents searched, but they were never seen again. Or that was until mutilated remains started popping up in the stream that came from the mountain. Mutilated, torn, and maimed in ways that weren’t seen before.

According to a local legend, a group of hunters were tracking a moose for days. They went deep into the cold Alaskan woods, and after a couple of days, they met a grisly scene. The moose was found dead in a clearing, twisted and mangled. The area near the clearing also showed signs of a massive struggle. The superstitious hunters, terrified of the legends, sped down the mountain and never returned. In 1968, a goat herder lost in the woods claimed that he was chased down the mountain by a being that resembled the bigfoot, and five years later, another group was terrorized at the night by a hairy, man-like creature. Fortunately, both parties were unharmed.

The Accounts of the Residents

The story of the Portlock bigfoot was publicized in the 1978 book Sasquatch: The Apes Among Us by John Green. The accounts are sourced from articles that are from the Alaskan newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News. The excerpt says that the people completely abandoned the town by 1949 solely due to the attacks orchestrated by Bigfoot. The other evidence is provided by former residents of Portlock who settled in Port Grisham. One elderly woman named Malania Helen Kehl, who was born in Port Chatham in 1934, explained in detail what happened to the town and the subsequent abandonment in the Daily Tribune, in 2009. She is adamant that these stories should never fade into the archives. She added that her father could no longer put up with the chaos and panic the creature was causing in the port town and moved to Grisham because of Nantinaaq.

Nantinaaq: In the Alutiiq Legends

Nantinaaq comes from the Dena’ina word Nant’ina—those who steal people—by the native Alutiiq in the Chugach dialect. The beast is often compared to its European counterpart, Bigfoot. The name “Nantinaaq” spreads terror amongst the tribe like no other. In the native mythology, Nant’ina kidnaps children to raise them as its own in the wilderness of Canada, though the creature of Portlock is on the constant prowl for blood. A reality series was covered by Discovery+ called Alaskan Killer Bigfoot, which premiered on the 7th of December 2021, and it is based on the mythology of the creature from Portlock.

The Horror Remains

Portlock is still uninhabited to this day; the town was dissolved as a census-designated place in the 1980s and has not been reported in the subsequent census. However, the town does still get occasional visitors. In the 1970s, fishermen forced to take refuge from a storm reported heavy footfalls surrounding the old cabin they had taken shelter in at night. The terrified fishermen abandoned the town for good at the first light.

The Discovery Plus Team At Portlock

In the modern day, it is easy to dismiss the tale of the Sasquatch of Portlock. But one rather exhilarating account of the lore comes from a 70-year-old Alutiiq Native who, while being treated for cardiac arrest in the Eagle River jail, sprung up and grabbed the collar of the duty medic. After the incident, when asked what had happened, the doctor revealed that he mentioned to the patient while making small talk that he once hunted in the woods of Port Chatham, to which the patient had asked him with wild eyes a question— “Did it bother you? Did you see it?”

Since  you’re scrolled this far, take a look at the True Story Behind Dyatlov Pass and The Disappearances at the Bennington Triangle.