The Tape Library - Archive of the Paranormal & the Unexplained - PLAYBACK | The Horrifying Legends of Portlock, Alaska

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

Playback is our chance to revisit some of those haunting memories that have faded to the back of our minds... Why did they leave? Let’s explore one of the most infamous ghost towns in north America. This is the terrifying story of Portlock/Port Chatham in Alaska. A town that is home to legends of a Sasquatch style creature known as The Hairy Man, as well as a whole host of ghost stories and other strange legends. Do you have a supernatural story to share? Drop me an email at [e-mail] You can check out The Tape Library in audio form on all of your favourite podcast providers. Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thetapelibrary Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Tape-Library/100094332411836/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thetapelibrary Archive of the Paranormal, the strange and the unexplained. The Tape Library brings you the creepiest stories, to keep you horror junkies up all night. True scary stories of ghosts, cryptids, UFOs and true crime. Additional footage and audio from Evanto, Singularity, Midjourney and Pexels. All other footage used under fair use. CHAPTERS 00:00 Nantinaq/The Hairy Man 08:49 Alaskas Playground 18:23 Seeing The Hairy Man 20:23 Portlock Ghost Stories 22:33 The Portlock Murders 27:41 What Really Happened? SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions. spectrevisionradio.com linktr.ee/spectrevisionsocial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, fellow lover of dark matter. If you've been suffering from a persistent desire for just a little more unpleasantness in your life, we have the answer. The Nocturnal Transmissions Podcast. It's a celebration of horror and just good old-fashioned storytelling. Aliens, bullshit. Oh, come on, Mr. Jointious. Sheath's chairman, you were just in your bedroom one moment, and in the president's bedroom the next.

Who on this backwater planet could have done that? It was crawling towards him, and in the pale glow of the flashlight, the man saw a frightful gargoyle face thrust into his own. It was the passionless death's head skull of a long dead core. The Nocturnal Transmissions Podcast. Now transmitting in association with Specter Vision Radio. Welcome to Playback. It's been a few months since I released one of these, so allow me to reintroduce it a little. Playback is a new show where we look back at classic cases we've covered here on the tape library.

Stories that for one reason or another are either relevant again, or that are worth thinking about. a chance to reevaluate and reconsider what this story means. Each entry into playback features a brand new intro and where possible improved audio. My plan is to get back to releasing these on my off weeks from the tape library, and these are exclusive to the podcast feed version to the show. I'm trying to get into a better habit of being more regular this year. 2025 saw me tackle a lot of really big topics, and while I'm so proud of some of those episodes,

They did make my release schedule a little chaotic. So going forward and planning to return to what has historically been my schedule. The tape library will have a new documentary style deep dive every two weeks. We'll have one new episode of Night Drive Paranormal, where I narrate your stories each month. And then on the off week, we'll have a playback. The really long deep dives will still be happening. There will just be a little more spread out so I can actually dead. the time needed to them, rather than trying to rush them out.

Plus, I was falling into the trap of dismissing really interesting cases, because they would be a shorter script, which I really don't want to do. I want to bring you the most interesting paranormal stories. The tape library is still very much just me, so I appreciate how patient everyone is when I mess around with when I release episodes. But that's enough of the boring stuff. You came here for a creepy story. So many of you enjoyed my deep dive into Thomas Bay last week that I thought we would revisit

another wonderfully creepy, Alaskan mystery. This one was super popular with people when it first came out, so I hope you'll enjoy this revisit. I love it when abandoned places develop their own little horrifying backstories. It always makes me question what came first, the abandonment, or the story. But either way, this is a great case. It's also one of only a few times that I've really got into proper cryptid territory. Although some people do like to present this case as more of a murder mystery.

I'll be curious to see where you'll land on this one. So leave me a comment when you're done. Just one small correction on this one. At one point I say a footprint was 18 feet long. That would be a crater, not a footprint. I obviously meant 18 inches. With that out of the way, it's time to hit play on the tape. So get yourself comfortable.

This is the horrifying legend of Portlock, Alaska. On the snowy peak of Mount McKinley, for the sapphire waters of Prince William Sound, nearly recovered from last year's spill. Come visit Alaska. Back in 1973, a group of friends were out deep in the Alaskan wilderness. They were well prepared and had planned a few days of hunting and hiking on the Kenai Peninsula, a large but sparsely populated area of the state.

Their names were Ed, Dennis and Joe, free capable and experienced outdoorsmen. They were exploring an area known as Dogfish Bay at the very bottom of the peninsula when the weather took a turn for the worse. Rain and high winds battered the trio and the dark clouds overhead told them that there was no way they were sailing out of the bay on that day. They set up camp and prepared themselves to be here for some time. A rather uneventful evening followed, and all three soon found themselves ready to sleep, in the hope of being able to wake up early the next morning and see the storm long gone. While the rain battered the night, the rain battered the the sides of their tent, they were well equipped for the harshness of the Alaskan weather,

and soon slipped into a comfortable sleep. That was, until 2 a.m. Ed was awoken by his friend Dennis, squeezing his leg. Ed opened his eyes to see Dennis looking down at him. His friend looked concerned. Dennis raised his finger to his lips, signalling for Ed to keep quiet. And that was when Ed heard it. A heavy crunch of branches just outside their tent. Immediately Ed's mind went to the idea that a bear was outside. But as the pair listened intently, it began to sound less like an animal. It sounded like it was walking on two legs.

Heavy, deep footsteps. But the slowness made it feel like whatever was outside, was trying to creep around. The footsteps appeared to be moving around directly outside their tent, circling them. The men held their breath when the steps stopped right near the door of the tent. They waited patiently but the sounds had just ceased. They didn't hear anyone walking away. It just went silent. After some people, they just stopped. After some people, they just stopped. time of sitting there, too nervous to step outside and see if anyone was out there. Fatigue from the day's hike finally got the better of them, and they fell back asleep.

In the cold light of day their reactions felt silly. The pair barely mentioned it and decided not to bother telling Joe. An animal, a bear or a moose, had likely wandered into their camp, and when it realized there was no food, it simply wandered off quietly into the night. But something about it still lingered in their minds. The weather had improved but still wasn't ideal for them to sail out of the bay. So they prepared themselves for another night. They told Joe they were worried about bears in the area. So they made sure their rifle was loaded and a flashlight was at hand before going to sleep their night.

At 2.30 a.m., Ed was once again gently nudged awake. and saw Dennis looking down over him, his eyes wide in terror. Ed glanced around to see Joe sat up, clutching the rifle in his hands, looking equally terrified. The footsteps were back, and had already been circling the free men for several minutes. Yet again they noticed it sounded like a man walking, but whoever it was must be big. The footsteps circled the tent repeatedly, until it once again stopped, what sounded like a few feet back from the entrance to their tent. After silently gesturing to one another, the three men plucked up the courage, and with Joe leading with the rifle and Ed over his shoulder with the flashlight, the three men burst from the tent. No one was there.

All they were met with was the darkness. of the Alaskan forest, and an eerie silence. The next morning they investigated the camp, but could find no tracks of any kind. Unhappily, they were forced to spend a third night camped in the bay. This time they spent the majority of the night awake, waiting for the visitor to return. But they never did. The trio crawled out of the tent at dawn, realized the bad weather, realized the bad weather had completely passed over and quickly packed up their belongings.

Rather than heading to their next destination, the three men quickly returned home instead. They never spoke about their experience. How could they explain it to anyone? They heard some heavy footsteps, but no one was there. They were cold, wet and tired. The winds and rain were bashing their tent all night. Maybe it was just their minds playing tricks on them, or something explainable. It wasn't until six years later that Ed found himself, with a copy of an old Alaskan sporting magazine from a few decades ago. He was flicking through when an article caught his attention.

It was about the area he and his friends had sought refuge in all those years ago. The article spoke about how the area was once a thriving fishing village, and that the canary had been opened there, but that a number of residents were fleeing the area, slowly turning the village into a ghost town. The reason? Workers at the canary had apparently started to go missing in the area surrounding the village. Bodies had apparently been discovered. No one knew why it was happening.

But the native spoke of a large hairy man who lived deep within the woods. It was seemingly enough for the workers to flee the once thriving town, with armed security even being deployed to bring the seafood workers at the fish process implant out. The article was dated 1935. The story was only referencing the first time there was a mass exodus from this area. But it wouldn't be the last. His hands were shaking as he read the article. Had he and his friends encountered this thing in the woods, if they had stepped out of that tent just a few moments earlier?

Would he even be alive to be reading this article? Welcome to the tape library. Tonight's episode was intended to be a series of short stories, exploring the history and urban legends surrounding several infamous ghost towns. But I started writing the first section up and then it kind of spun into an episode all of its own right. If you still want me to make an episode exploring different ghost towns, then let me know in the comments below and I'll get to that one soon. I initially dismissed this story as not really being anything that interesting. But the more I got into it, the more fascinated I got. It really is a great mixture of traditional folklore and modern-day urban legends all surrounding a very real world.

a very real mystery. Tonight we're getting into cryptids, unexplained deaths, ghostly apparitions, one-eyed tribes, and the creation of one of the most infamous ghost towns of all time. This is a wild tale when it takes place deep in the Alaskan wilderness. I think this will be a fun one. So get yourself a warm drink, dim the lights and get comfortable. This is the horrifying legend of Portlock Alaska. Portlock Alaska as a story has really gained a lot of popularity over the last few years.

On paper it's such a compelling haunting tale. A small village somewhere out deep in the Kenai Peninsula, surrounded by dark, unforgiving forests. It's the perfect setting for a scary story, and that's exactly what we're. and that's exactly what you get from it. In 1950, the entire village was left empty. The story goes that numerous people were turning up dead in the area, and the entire village fled in terror

because of what the locals referred to as the hairy man. It was claimed this man was responsible for the mangled bodies that were showing up in the lagoons, washed down from the streams that went deep into the trees. There is even a short story that appeared in a book in the 1970s, but it's apparently a much older tale that has been passed around by the natives in the area. There is a caveman in Portlock. The caveman is tall. The caveman is hairy. The caveman is a real person. He didn't want to live with people. He went to live in the forest. Soon his clothes were worn out, so his body became hairy.

Soon his shoes were worn out, so his feet became big. He did not see anyone, he did not talk with anyone. Soon he forgot how to talk. He talked by whistling. He can see you before you see him. He will not harm you. He is like a big bear. If you bother him, he will bother you.

This is the story of the caveman of Paul The story of Portlock begins in 1786, when Nathaniel Portlock, the captain of the British Royal Navy, found himself sailing through the area. He wrote fondly of the area to the south of the Kenai Peninsula, making note of the abundance of natural resources that the area offered. Just a few years later in 1791, a commander by the name of George Vancouver explored the area, naming the bay after his ship, the HMS Chatham. This leads to some rather confusing naming of the region.

It appears to be referred to as both Port Chatham and Port Lock, interchangeably by people. Some have suggested that the bay is called Port Chatham, or the town was Port Lock. Others claim that the area actually consisted of two very small towns next to each other. While this doesn't matter too much, I think this naming confusion just goes to show the level of official structure that was in place within this community. Over the years, people slowly headed towards the Portlock area to try and utilise the abundance of natural resources that Captain Portlock had risen about. The peninsula was home to many Native Americans, but interestingly, the Portlock area specifically had been left mostly uninhabited and untapped. untapped for hundreds of years. In one of the stranger tales from the area, long before Port Locke was officially established, a hunting party was said to be out on the waters, not far from

the area on a small canoe. Having not seen any other human beings for days, they were a little surprised to see a similar boat with another hunting group, paddling along the water not too far in front of them. The hunters rode faster to try and catch up to speak with the other hunters. But as soon as they grew close, the other boat appeared to be attempting to evade them. This strange occurrence only made the hunters more determined, and they rode as fast as they could to catch up with the other boat. But when they finally did, they apparently saw something that shocked and confused them all. The men in the other boat initially refused to look at the hunters, shielding their faces in the darkness. The hunters expressed that they meant no harm and simply wanted to greet them, and talked to some other people, having been alone for so long in the wilderness. The men turned to face the hunters, who claimed that they all had a single eye in the centre of their foreheads. The cyclopsed men claimed to be from a nearby village, hidden away deep in the forest,

surrounding Port Locke. They said they did not associate with the tribes in the area due to being mistreated for their unusual appearance. The two groups apparently traded supplies and then bid farewell to one another. No reports of a one-eyed tribe were ever made in the area again, but I thought it was a fascinatingly weird legend that adds to the general strange fill of the area. It wasn't until the early 20th century that Portlock was efficient. established. An American fishing company brought a fleet of boats to fish the mostly calm seas around Port Chatham and soon realized they could set up a shop here for a considerable amount of time. A cannery and fish processing plant were opened up,

mostly to prepare and package salmon. But the community quickly grew, seeing a coal mine, sawmill, logging companies and fur sellers all popping up throughout the village's short life. A school and post office were also opened. Port Lock had very quickly become an active and bustling outpost. Many of the workers were local Aleut natives. Most of the native tribes that reside in Alaska apparently have tales of creatures that resemble what many in the US would refer to as Bigfoot. In the areas surrounding Port Lock, the creature is known as Nantinoch. There is some debate about about what that name would translate into in English. But interestingly, it's very

similar to a name given to a similar folkloric creature by Alaska's Dinaina people. Their version is called Nantina, which chillingly translates to, the ones who steal us. Stories of a wild, hairy half-man, half-beast have plagued the area long before the settlement of Port Lock was officially opened. Although as this is mostly just oral history, history. Stories of the creature have either been lost or walked with time. No definitive description of what it looks like or how it will behave is seemingly available. In some versions of the legend, the hairy man as is often called, isn't an animal at all, but a man who has somehow transformed into a beast of some kind. The recurring parts

of the story, however, always centre around it being very large, walking like a man and covered head-toeing fur. If such a thing were to exist anywhere in the world, the Kenai Peninsula, an area of Alaska that has been known to produce exceedingly large bears and gives miles and miles a thick, dense, uninhabited forests to hide in, would likely be an ideal candidate. Many of the residents of Port Locke in the early 20th century would have passed these stories off as simply native folklore. A way to be a way to be a place of to convince children to not venture out into the forests that were likely full of very real world dangers and those dangers were often large and furry. This all changed in 1905 however.

The exact timeline of events in Port Locke is tricky to get definitive information on. But seemingly, just five years after the official creation of the town, a number of people had gone missing in the wilderness surrounding the area. And this shouldn't be that surprising in some ways. Alaska is a dangerous place, especially in such an isolated area in the early 1900s. However, according to the legend, this wasn't just a case of people going missing. A number of bodies were found, including dismembered limbs, washing up on the shores of the lagoons. Apparently all of the native workers in the fish processing plant walked off the job that year.

claiming they were leaving because Port Locke wasn't a safe place. Something was in the woods, something that was killing people. Fearing they would be next, the workers quickly departed. Apparently the fishing company were concerned enough to send armed security to escort the workers out of the area. This was a story that Ed would read about in a magazine decades later and would mark the first, but not. not final mass exodus from the town. After a year or two the workers mostly returned to the town, but the whispers of something living in the woods continued. Much as the local natives had for so many years, parents began not to let their children play alone too far from the dwellings in main area of the town.

In 1923, a portlock resident reported a direct sighting of the creature that lived in the woods. Sergius Moonin was 16 years old at the time, and was walking along the shore with his girlfriend to check the fish traps that have been left out overnight. As they were walking, the pair heard what they described as a piercing, whistling sound. They were so loud and intense, it caused their ears to ring. Whistling sounds were something that the Nantinoch was said to produce, obviously aware of the legends that surrounded the area. Sergius' girlfriend said they should leave immediately. However, just one week later, the pair were walking towards the creek again, when they heard the sounds of footsteps.

Loud, clumping sounds in the sand, coming from just over the ridge in front of them. The pair carefully crept up to the edge, and there they claimed they saw it. A large, hairy creature walking along the beach. Sergius claimed it was carrying something that looked like a branch or a club of some kind. His girlfriend almost screamed as she was overcome with fear from the sight of it, but he quickly placed his hand over her mouth. They watched the creature walk off into the distance, before disappearing into the tree line.

They rushed home to tell their parents what they had seen, but none of them believed them. Around this time the Anchorage Press started reporting stories about the area. Rumors were spreading that a similar creature had been spotted hanging around the entrances to one of the mines, and that trees had been found uprooted and thrown to the ground, or even placed back into the ground, upside down. But the hairy man living in the forest wasn't the only strange tale that appeared around Port Locke at this time. The area is often described as being haunted or housing some kind of evil within it. All those specifics about what exactly that means are not really available.

One native woman from the area spoke of a mysterious apparition of a woman who would appear and disappear on the cliffs that surrounded the bay. She was said to have a long flowing dress, dark hair and a pale white face. face. Another fascinating little ghost story from the area comes from a local fisherman. He had just moored up his boat and was walking along the docks as the day turned to dusk. The dock was deserted that evening, as most of the boats had already come in for the day. He did, however, spot three children as he walked to grab a cart to unload his boat. The children all had their backs to him, as he passed, so he never saw their faces. They all appeared to just be looking blankly, forward at the sea, not making a sound and barely moving,

their feet gently dangling in the water. The fisherman greeted the children as he passed, but they didn't even acknowledge him. After getting his cart at the end of the dock, the fisherman, likely tired and grumpy, from a long day's work, decided he was going to lecture the children for being rude and not returning his greeting. However, as he turned back, he realised the dock was empty. There was nowhere they could have gone rather than jumping in the water. Only seconds had passed since he last saw them. There was no sign of them anywhere.

The fisherman claimed he had never seen the children before, and he never encountered them again. In 1931 things would take a darker turn, with multiple deaths being reported in the area once again. The most famous of which is apparently that of a man named Andrew Kamluck. Andrew was a logger working just a short walk away from the settlement. He was alone when the incident happened, so what exactly took place we will never know. He had spent the day chopping down trees with his axe, but he never returned to his home that evening. The following day a search party was sent out into the forest,

something that was seemingly becoming fairly common for the resident support lock. Blood was found splattered around the area, Andrew's body located about ten feet further away, as though he had been launched in that direction. his head all but caved in. Next to him, dented and blood-soaked, was a large piece of logging equipment, something that no man would be able to pick up and use his weapon. But apparently, someone did.

Around this same time, a prospector had apparently been heading up into the forest each day alone, digging for gold. One day he just didn't come back. Again, a search party was sent out to track him down, but unlike Andrew Kamluck, no signs of the unnamed prospector were ever found. It was like he just vanished into the wilderness. Nearly a decade later, a man named Tom Lawson, the owner of the local sawmill, woke up early and stepped into the cold Alaskan air one morning. He headed down the path from his cabin to the nearby stream to check his house.

his fish traps. Still half awake, he was quickly jolted into reality when he approached the creek and saw what appeared to be a bear, standing over one of his traps, with its back to him. This had become something of a common occurrence for Lawson. His fish will repeatedly be impinched by the animal, and he was pleased to have finally caught it in the act. Before he could leave to go and grab his rifle, however, Tom noticed something. strange. The creature was holding the trap in one hand and reaching into it with its other. Specifically, he zeroed in on that detail. Its hand, not poor. He watched it hold the fish up to its mouth before devouring the whole thing. This was no bear. Lawson became convinced this

was the creature he had heard so many tales about and quietly retreating. back to his cabin. This creature was potentially responsible for the deaths of multiple people in his small community and he had a chance to be the hero that not only brought it down but could prove to the world that whatever the hairy man was, he really did exist. He grabbed his rifle and then quickly rushed back down the path to the stream. It was still there, hunched over the trap, eating another fish. Lawson managed to creep up relative closely to the creature, close enough that he felt he could make the shot. But as he clicked the hammer back, the creature spun around, locking eyes with the man. It was at

this point Tom, however, got a look at its face. It's all too human face. A wave of compassion hit Lawson. Unsure how the creature would react, he kept his rifle trained on it. as he backed slowly up the path. He turned to run back to his cabin when he looked over his shoulder back at the creek when the hairy man was gone. Throughout the 1940s, various rumours of local hunters going missing in the forest

continued to spread. There were reported sightings of tracks, some as large as 18 foot in length. No one knows what exactly happened in 1949, but something took place that apparently saw the community give up on Portlock once and for all. It is said that almost overnight, pretty much the entire population of the town, packed up and left, leaving only the postmaster behind, who stayed alone in the post office for an entire year more,

but for himself giving up and leaving. The last remaining citizen of Portlock left, and no one would ever call the town home ever again. Nature has since reclaimed the place, leaving behind just remnants of a once thriving fishing community. This is the commonly reported story of Port Lock and Port Chatham, but how much of it really happened? The official story of what brought about the abandonment of the town is much more mundane. Alaska Route 1 was created, and gradually settlement started popping up on the opposite side of the peninsula. closer to the highway. Portlock was isolated and difficult to get to, making it financially a much more challenging location, so a lot of the industries simply moved to be closer to transportation. What

remains of the village itself is still the property of the village of Nauwethek, and there has been talk in recent years about reopening Port Lock, but nothing seems to have come of it. As for the unexplained deaths, records of these taking place. are essentially non-existent. Larry Baxter, who wrote one of the only books available, the Portlock Mystery, was able to find records of Andrew Kamluck. So it does appear he at least existed and lived in Port Lock. However, no records of his death have apparently been discovered. The problem is, is that we're dealing with events that took place in an isolated region nearly 100 years ago. Furrow records were not being kept. Many of the former

residents of the village simply became separated out into various other nearby villages, all but disappearing from Trace. Melania, Ellen Kelle, was the woman responsible for telling the tale of the pale, ghostly woman on the cliff. She claimed she was born in Port Chatham, but at her young age, her parents became terrified of the repeated attacks by the Nantanok and fled the town. Although, even this has been put into doubt as close family members of Melania claim she made the story up. We don't even know for certain if the town was virtually abandoned overnight, as was reported, or if it simply started to slowly fade away before a final large group departed at the end of the 1940s.

The unreliability of the events that took place in Port Lock don't really take away the fascinating aspects of this story for me. It feels like the perfect mix of old world folklore with modern day progression, as though people had brought their modern sensibilities to an area that did not welcome them. Were the strange tales of a creature living in the forest true? Or were the apparent deaths simply the result of people falling prey to the very natural dangers of Alaska? Had the Nantinoch really called the area home for centuries?

Or was it simply a way for the Native Americans to keep their children safe? The events of the portlock abandonment predates the cultural fascination with Bigford that sprung up particularly in America across the following decades. For time Port Locke has become a source of fascination for those interests in improving the existence of the creature. But due to its remote location, very few expeditions have taken place. A number of people have claimed to see the Harry Man over the years, but no notable evidence has been captured, beyond recordings of odd sounds at best. And the area has also become something of a hotspot for apparent UFO sightings, with the area has also become something of a hotspot for apparent UFO sightings, with numerous reports of strange lights in the sky, having been spotted.

We may not know what actually happened in Port Lock, but if the plans to reopen the village do go ahead, maybe we'll find out in the near future is something in those forests really does want to be left alone. That's all for this entry into the tape library. As always, if you enjoy stories of the paranormal and the unexplained, then please do subscribe to the channel. Until next time, pleasant dreams. One of the most interesting ideas about ghosts was proposed by Andrew Lang, who was a fascinating

polymath and author. He was one of the co-founders of the Society for Psychical Research, took one of the the first sort of forensic and scientific approaches to gathering and cataloging accounts of ghosts. And in 1897, he collected them in an amazing volume called the Book of Dreams and Ghosts. And in the Book of Dreams and Ghosts, Lange proposed the unique idea that ghosts may be the effect or the emanation caused by a dead person. dreaming and in effect projecting into the mind of those living. And that's a fascinating concept that when you encounter what seems to be a ghost, you may actually be making contact with a dead person dreaming.