November 2, 2025 • 11 mins
They ABANDONED the Entire TOWN
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello friends, Steve Stockton here with you. Welcome to our
latest video. Today we're going to bring you this strange
tale of the town that everyone abandoned. Join us. In
seventeen eighty seven, Portlack, Alaska was established by ship Captain
Nathaniel port Lock, a beautiful piece of land on the
(00:22):
southern side of the Keenai Peninsula, plenty of space for
a town. Wasn't long before Port Lock was a bustling
fishing community. The community continued to thrive and grow over
the years, and by nineteen fifteen there was a nearby
canning company in Port Graham, and Port Lock had a
cold storage facility for cod and halibut. The Alutique or
Pacific Eskimo community of Port Chatham was growing as well,
(00:46):
and in nineteen twenty one a post office was built.
Because the communities were merging, people were able to make
a life in Port Lock. It seemed like every few
years a new establishment would come to the area. In
nineteen twenty eight, Fort Locke built its first cannery to
keep up with a supply of fish that was coming
from the fish traps and fishing vessels. However, in the
(01:07):
late nineteen thirties, Rumors began to spread about a monster
that was terrorizing Port Shantham villagers, and by nineteen fifty
the only person that would be left in Port Lock
was the town postmaster. Yes, that's right, everyone abandoned Fort Lock.
The first sight of trouble came in nineteen thirty one
when Andrew Kamlock was doing some logging in the mountains.
(01:30):
When he didn't return home that evening, sir crews went
out to look for him. He was found dead from
a massive headwound, and the weapon was a piece of
logging equipment found near his body. That same month, a
gold prospector left his cabin in Port Chatham to do
some prospecting in the mountains close to where the logger
was found. He told a friend where he was going,
(01:51):
just in case something happened. Days later, when the prospector
hadn't returned, his friend went to local authorities and reported
him missing. Although searchers were conducted, he was never found.
Villagers and residents alike were starting to whisper about these cases.
When a group of cannery workers went on a hunting
trip for dolls, sheep, and bear, they gathered their supplies,
(02:13):
kissed their family members goodbye and headed into the forest.
Days passed and no word from the hunters. Worried family
members descended on the steps of searchers, begging them to
go look for their loved ones. The search parties looked
for over a week for the group of men, but
no trace of them was ever found. Then a rumor
started that a mutilated body had washed down from the
(02:36):
mountains into local lagoon. It was torn to shreds and
was missing some of the organs. The rumors and speculations
circulated through the port Lock community and into nearby villages,
but without proof of anything, it was in fact just rumors.
Then there was the footprint. Two men on a successful
(02:56):
moose hunt had shot a moose and was tracking it
through the forest. It wasn't long before the hunters came
upon tracks that were human like, but were in excess
of eighteen inches in length. The men were spooked and
made sure to track the wounded moose together instead of
splitting up like they had initially intended. As they tracked,
they realized the huge footprints they had spotted were also
(03:17):
following the wounded moose. Hours passed and the hunters were
about to give up. The hunt went into clearing. There
was a patch of bedded down grass and broken tree branches. Hair,
blood and carnage covered the ground. A struggle between the
dying moose and the creature with the huge feet had
torn up large clumps of earth and even uprooted a
few trees. This was all the men needed to see
(03:38):
before making haste back to their camp, grabbing a few essentials,
making sure their guns were loaded, and leaving behind their
tents and sleeping bags. It was said that the men
felt they were being followed the whole trip home. It
was after this sighting that the people of Port Shatham
and Port Lock would start being terrorized by a beast
the alutique called nantenag or half man and half beast.
(04:01):
As people continued to go missing and rumors spread about
this mountain beast, villagers and townsfolk alike were becoming so
terrified they didn't want to leave their houses even in
the daytime. People slowly started abandoning their homes and remaining
parents would let their children attend the school. In nineteen
forty nine, Port Luck was all but abandoned. The only
(04:23):
person that remained, as we said in nineteen fifty, was
the postmaster and he left in nineteen fifty one. Earlier
records were consulted for any ministries that might have happened
in the area by historians and adventures alike. In nineteen
oh five, it was reported that the cannery closed for
an entire year because the workers and natives were fearful
(04:43):
of the thing in the woods. They would return to
work the following year, but were never able to fully
let their guard down. Then, in the nineteen twenties, a
man named Albert Petke supposedly scared off a big, hairy
creature with his dogs, but not before receiving a fatal
blow to the chest. He lived long enough to account
what had happened to him before succumbing to his trauma.
(05:05):
Around the same time, stories were circulating about prospectors that
were going missing, never to return. Some of their bodies
were found weeks later. One was missing its arms, one
was missing legs, one was even missing its head. It
became commonplace for hunters to be reported missing and never found.
In nineteen sixty eight, the goat hunter recounted his story
(05:27):
being chased by a creature in the woods. He never
returned to the area to hunt. Another incident in nineteen
seventy three, three fishermen had docked in Portlocked to wait
out a heavy rainstorm that lasted for three days. They
said each night something walked around their tents all night
on what sounded like two feet. And in nineteen ninety,
(05:48):
a medic responding to a call for a Native man
that was incarcerated happened to mention hunting in Port Locke.
The inmates sat up, wide eyed and asked the medic
did it bother you? Did you see it? Today? Portlock
is a popular ghost town for thrill seekers, bigfoot enthusiasts,
and simply curious people looking for their own scares or
stories to report or record. There are many stories and
(06:11):
videos about the area and many theories as to what
happened in the little fishing community of Port Life. One
tourist of the area, simply named Zach, recounted what he
saw while visiting the area, quoting here, because this evilness
was said to walk on two feet, that diminished the
odds of it being a more predictable predator such as
a bear or a wolf, many claim it was a bigfoot,
(06:33):
yetti or sasquatch. Is also said that there were many
trees throughout the area that were completely ripped out of
the ground and turned upside down with their roots sticking
up in the air. This was thought to be more
proof of whatever this evil creature was, it was too
powerful for any human or even village to top end quote,
(06:53):
Another anonymous author writes, for Halloween, we decided to reach
out to local historian and adventure to see if there
were any unsolved mysteries in Alaska that would fit the
spooky mood of the holiday. He came back with a
collection of research of strange happenings in the town of Portlock,
that is south of Homer. These stories pointed to a
large hairy beast, smaller hairy devils, a wailing spirit of
(07:16):
a woman that wanders the wilderness, and many deaths that
were hard to explain. Victor Smith recounted to sleepless night
he spent stranded in the haunted town as his boat
had started leaking and he was waiting for a tow.
He docked his boat as best he could and decided
to take up refuge in one of the abandoned cabins. Boored,
he wandered around the village. It started to rain, Victor
(07:39):
said in a shaky voice. I was just kind of
looking around the town. I'd heard rumors, you know, from
back in the day. They didn't hold any stock with me.
I don't get scared. I made my way around the
relics of what had once been a busy, thriving town.
The rain had started to come down in sheets, and
I was cold. I kind of stepped into the first
(07:59):
house as I came to that looked kind of cozy.
I had just dried off and was about to have
a seat at an old wooden table with a leg missing,
when I started to hear the faint cry of a woman.
Thinking I had inadvertently intruded into a house that someone
still resited in, I quickly made my way to the
door and reached the handle while shouting, sorry, ma'am, I
didn't know anyone still lived here. I turned the knob
(08:21):
and it fell off in my hand. I stood there
for a moment, looking at the knob, and a cold
shiver went through my entire body. I could feel the
icy breath of something on my neck, and I froze
in place. I didn't want to turn around to see
who or what it was, as I knew anything living
wouldn't have breath that cold. I slowly put the knob
(08:42):
back on the piece of metal that remained sticking out
of the door and turned it. Thank god, it opened.
I got the hell out of there and never looked back.
I ran as quickly as I could back to my
boat and waited in the leaking vessel until my toe arrived.
I will never go back to that place. It is
one hundred percent haunted, evil, deadly. And if that wasn't enough,
(09:05):
there's also the story told by user Little d of
the Sea. I had heard there were hauntings and ghosts,
she writes, I wanted to see for myself. She tells
her of log members that she had asked some friends
if they wanted to tag along, and they all said
hell yes. We made our way to Homer and stayed
there the first night, she says. Early the next day,
(09:26):
we made our way to Portlock, planning to spend a
few days sight seeing and taking pictures. We found a
suitable spot to camp and set our gear up. We
started exploring straight away. The area is beautiful, with lush
forests and snowcapped peaks, very picturesque. We stayed out longer
than expected, however, and light was starting to fade. Suddenly,
(09:47):
one of the group members said, Hey, did you guys
hear that? No, we collectively said, what did you hear?
The person responded, a woman moaning or crying. It sounded
like it came from up there. She was pointing up
at some cliffs. We stood still, all eyes looking up
toward the wall of jagged rock. We all heard it,
(10:08):
this time, a soft moan, like a woman in pain.
We wanted to make sure no one was hurt, so
we started making our way towards the sound. When the
girl that had first heard the sound stop turned to
his wide eyed and said, I'm not going to step further.
It's a ghost. I laughed at her speculation and asked
her what made her think such a thing. She grabbed
(10:30):
my arm hard and said, look. We all glanced around
her and followed her pointing finger up the cliff side
to see a woman in a black flowing dress standing
on the very edge of the steepest cliff, staring down
at us. I locked eyes with her or it I
felt my blood run cold. Then that howl that she
(10:51):
let I couldn't even finish the sentence. I knew right
away she was a spirit. Her eyes were hollow, her
mouth agaped and twisted in a silent scream, and that
awful moan came once more. I want to go now,
the other girl said. We ran back to the campsite,
jerked our tents up through what we could over our shoulders,
(11:12):
and made our way back to Homer. I will never
go back there again. So what do you think, folks,
how would you like to spend a few days in
port like Alaska? I look forward to your comments, but
please keep it friendly and respectful. Meanwhile, be good to
(11:33):
yourselves and each other. Stay safe out there. It's spooky,
and I'll see you a little farther on down the trail.
I'm Steve Stockton, and I'll talk to you next time.
Hello friends, Steve Stockton here with you. Welcome to our
latest video. Today we're going to bring you this strange
tale of the town that everyone abandoned. Join us. In
seventeen eighty seven, Portlack, Alaska was established by ship Captain
Nathaniel port Lock, a beautiful piece of land on the
(00:22):
southern side of the Keenai Peninsula, plenty of space for
a town. Wasn't long before Port Lock was a bustling
fishing community. The community continued to thrive and grow over
the years, and by nineteen fifteen there was a nearby
canning company in Port Graham, and Port Lock had a
cold storage facility for cod and halibut. The Alutique or
Pacific Eskimo community of Port Chatham was growing as well,
(00:46):
and in nineteen twenty one a post office was built.
Because the communities were merging, people were able to make
a life in Port Lock. It seemed like every few
years a new establishment would come to the area. In
nineteen twenty eight, Fort Locke built its first cannery to
keep up with a supply of fish that was coming
from the fish traps and fishing vessels. However, in the
(01:07):
late nineteen thirties, Rumors began to spread about a monster
that was terrorizing Port Shantham villagers, and by nineteen fifty
the only person that would be left in Port Lock
was the town postmaster. Yes, that's right, everyone abandoned Fort Lock.
The first sight of trouble came in nineteen thirty one
when Andrew Kamlock was doing some logging in the mountains.
(01:30):
When he didn't return home that evening, sir crews went
out to look for him. He was found dead from
a massive headwound, and the weapon was a piece of
logging equipment found near his body. That same month, a
gold prospector left his cabin in Port Chatham to do
some prospecting in the mountains close to where the logger
was found. He told a friend where he was going,
(01:51):
just in case something happened. Days later, when the prospector
hadn't returned, his friend went to local authorities and reported
him missing. Although searchers were conducted, he was never found.
Villagers and residents alike were starting to whisper about these cases.
When a group of cannery workers went on a hunting
trip for dolls, sheep, and bear, they gathered their supplies,
(02:13):
kissed their family members goodbye and headed into the forest.
Days passed and no word from the hunters. Worried family
members descended on the steps of searchers, begging them to
go look for their loved ones. The search parties looked
for over a week for the group of men, but
no trace of them was ever found. Then a rumor
started that a mutilated body had washed down from the
(02:36):
mountains into local lagoon. It was torn to shreds and
was missing some of the organs. The rumors and speculations
circulated through the port Lock community and into nearby villages,
but without proof of anything, it was in fact just rumors.
Then there was the footprint. Two men on a successful
(02:56):
moose hunt had shot a moose and was tracking it
through the forest. It wasn't long before the hunters came
upon tracks that were human like, but were in excess
of eighteen inches in length. The men were spooked and
made sure to track the wounded moose together instead of
splitting up like they had initially intended. As they tracked,
they realized the huge footprints they had spotted were also
(03:17):
following the wounded moose. Hours passed and the hunters were
about to give up. The hunt went into clearing. There
was a patch of bedded down grass and broken tree branches. Hair,
blood and carnage covered the ground. A struggle between the
dying moose and the creature with the huge feet had
torn up large clumps of earth and even uprooted a
few trees. This was all the men needed to see
(03:38):
before making haste back to their camp, grabbing a few essentials,
making sure their guns were loaded, and leaving behind their
tents and sleeping bags. It was said that the men
felt they were being followed the whole trip home. It
was after this sighting that the people of Port Shatham
and Port Lock would start being terrorized by a beast
the alutique called nantenag or half man and half beast.
(04:01):
As people continued to go missing and rumors spread about
this mountain beast, villagers and townsfolk alike were becoming so
terrified they didn't want to leave their houses even in
the daytime. People slowly started abandoning their homes and remaining
parents would let their children attend the school. In nineteen
forty nine, Port Luck was all but abandoned. The only
(04:23):
person that remained, as we said in nineteen fifty, was
the postmaster and he left in nineteen fifty one. Earlier
records were consulted for any ministries that might have happened
in the area by historians and adventures alike. In nineteen
oh five, it was reported that the cannery closed for
an entire year because the workers and natives were fearful
(04:43):
of the thing in the woods. They would return to
work the following year, but were never able to fully
let their guard down. Then, in the nineteen twenties, a
man named Albert Petke supposedly scared off a big, hairy
creature with his dogs, but not before receiving a fatal
blow to the chest. He lived long enough to account
what had happened to him before succumbing to his trauma.
(05:05):
Around the same time, stories were circulating about prospectors that
were going missing, never to return. Some of their bodies
were found weeks later. One was missing its arms, one
was missing legs, one was even missing its head. It
became commonplace for hunters to be reported missing and never found.
In nineteen sixty eight, the goat hunter recounted his story
(05:27):
being chased by a creature in the woods. He never
returned to the area to hunt. Another incident in nineteen
seventy three, three fishermen had docked in Portlocked to wait
out a heavy rainstorm that lasted for three days. They
said each night something walked around their tents all night
on what sounded like two feet. And in nineteen ninety,
(05:48):
a medic responding to a call for a Native man
that was incarcerated happened to mention hunting in Port Locke.
The inmates sat up, wide eyed and asked the medic
did it bother you? Did you see it? Today? Portlock
is a popular ghost town for thrill seekers, bigfoot enthusiasts,
and simply curious people looking for their own scares or
stories to report or record. There are many stories and
(06:11):
videos about the area and many theories as to what
happened in the little fishing community of Port Life. One
tourist of the area, simply named Zach, recounted what he
saw while visiting the area, quoting here, because this evilness
was said to walk on two feet, that diminished the
odds of it being a more predictable predator such as
a bear or a wolf, many claim it was a bigfoot,
(06:33):
yetti or sasquatch. Is also said that there were many
trees throughout the area that were completely ripped out of
the ground and turned upside down with their roots sticking
up in the air. This was thought to be more
proof of whatever this evil creature was, it was too
powerful for any human or even village to top end quote,
(06:53):
Another anonymous author writes, for Halloween, we decided to reach
out to local historian and adventure to see if there
were any unsolved mysteries in Alaska that would fit the
spooky mood of the holiday. He came back with a
collection of research of strange happenings in the town of Portlock,
that is south of Homer. These stories pointed to a
large hairy beast, smaller hairy devils, a wailing spirit of
(07:16):
a woman that wanders the wilderness, and many deaths that
were hard to explain. Victor Smith recounted to sleepless night
he spent stranded in the haunted town as his boat
had started leaking and he was waiting for a tow.
He docked his boat as best he could and decided
to take up refuge in one of the abandoned cabins. Boored,
he wandered around the village. It started to rain, Victor
(07:39):
said in a shaky voice. I was just kind of
looking around the town. I'd heard rumors, you know, from
back in the day. They didn't hold any stock with me.
I don't get scared. I made my way around the
relics of what had once been a busy, thriving town.
The rain had started to come down in sheets, and
I was cold. I kind of stepped into the first
(07:59):
house as I came to that looked kind of cozy.
I had just dried off and was about to have
a seat at an old wooden table with a leg missing,
when I started to hear the faint cry of a woman.
Thinking I had inadvertently intruded into a house that someone
still resited in, I quickly made my way to the
door and reached the handle while shouting, sorry, ma'am, I
didn't know anyone still lived here. I turned the knob
(08:21):
and it fell off in my hand. I stood there
for a moment, looking at the knob, and a cold
shiver went through my entire body. I could feel the
icy breath of something on my neck, and I froze
in place. I didn't want to turn around to see
who or what it was, as I knew anything living
wouldn't have breath that cold. I slowly put the knob
(08:42):
back on the piece of metal that remained sticking out
of the door and turned it. Thank god, it opened.
I got the hell out of there and never looked back.
I ran as quickly as I could back to my
boat and waited in the leaking vessel until my toe arrived.
I will never go back to that place. It is
one hundred percent haunted, evil, deadly. And if that wasn't enough,
(09:05):
there's also the story told by user Little d of
the Sea. I had heard there were hauntings and ghosts,
she writes, I wanted to see for myself. She tells
her of log members that she had asked some friends
if they wanted to tag along, and they all said
hell yes. We made our way to Homer and stayed
there the first night, she says. Early the next day,
(09:26):
we made our way to Portlock, planning to spend a
few days sight seeing and taking pictures. We found a
suitable spot to camp and set our gear up. We
started exploring straight away. The area is beautiful, with lush
forests and snowcapped peaks, very picturesque. We stayed out longer
than expected, however, and light was starting to fade. Suddenly,
(09:47):
one of the group members said, Hey, did you guys
hear that? No, we collectively said, what did you hear?
The person responded, a woman moaning or crying. It sounded
like it came from up there. She was pointing up
at some cliffs. We stood still, all eyes looking up
toward the wall of jagged rock. We all heard it,
(10:08):
this time, a soft moan, like a woman in pain.
We wanted to make sure no one was hurt, so
we started making our way towards the sound. When the
girl that had first heard the sound stop turned to
his wide eyed and said, I'm not going to step further.
It's a ghost. I laughed at her speculation and asked
her what made her think such a thing. She grabbed
(10:30):
my arm hard and said, look. We all glanced around
her and followed her pointing finger up the cliff side
to see a woman in a black flowing dress standing
on the very edge of the steepest cliff, staring down
at us. I locked eyes with her or it I
felt my blood run cold. Then that howl that she
(10:51):
let I couldn't even finish the sentence. I knew right
away she was a spirit. Her eyes were hollow, her
mouth agaped and twisted in a silent scream, and that
awful moan came once more. I want to go now,
the other girl said. We ran back to the campsite,
jerked our tents up through what we could over our shoulders,
(11:12):
and made our way back to Homer. I will never
go back there again. So what do you think, folks,
how would you like to spend a few days in
port like Alaska? I look forward to your comments, but
please keep it friendly and respectful. Meanwhile, be good to
(11:33):
yourselves and each other. Stay safe out there. It's spooky,
and I'll see you a little farther on down the trail.
I'm Steve Stockton, and I'll talk to you next time.
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