The Tape Library - Archive of the Paranormal & the Unexplained - The Terrifying Mystery of Alaska’s Bay of Death

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Thomas Bay, Alaska — a remote stretch of wilderness once feared by prospectors, avoided by Indigenous communities, and whispered about as “Devil’s Country” or “The Bay of Death.” In the early 1900s, a prospector returned from this isolated region with a disturbing warning. He claimed to have encountered something unnatural deep in the forest. There were small, foul-smelling figures emerging from a hidden lake. An experience that left him shaken, traumatized, and unwilling to ever return. But he wouldn't be the only one to encounter the strangeness of this place. Thomas Bay appears to be a place where madness can take hold. Years later, his account was preserved by writer Harry D. Colp, and eventually brought to light by his daughter, helping transform Thomas Bay into one of Alaska’s most unsettling legends. In this episode of The Tape Library, we investigate: The true story behind Thomas Bay Harry D. Colp and the origins of the legend The prospector’s various terrifying accounts Indigenous folklore and the Kushtaka connection Psychological, environmental, and rational explanations And why this remote corner of Alaska still carries a reputation for dread Is Thomas Bay simply an unforgiving wilderness shaped by fear and isolation?Or is there something about this place that people were never meant to understand? This is The Tape Library—your home for paranormal, dark folklore, and the strangest stories ever told. Support the channel with Patreon - www.patreon.com/thetapelibrary 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. Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thetapelibrary Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thetapelibrary Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Tape-Library/100094332411836/ Archive of the Paranormal, the strange and the unexplained. Additional footage and audio from Evanto, Artgrid, Epidemic Sounds, Singularity, Midjourney and Pexels. Music includes Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio and the youtube audio library. All other footage used under fair use. CHAPTERS 00:00 The Strangest Story Ever Told 03:35 Bay of Death 09:46 Little Men in the Mountains 15:58 The Second Expedition 25:09 Going Back 31:48 Final Trips 34:33 A Strange Story 36:44 A Legend is Born 41:58 What Really Happened? 49:01 Wrapping Up 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

You have officially summoned a Little Juju podcast. I'm your host, Jujubei, author, initiated priestess, Grio, and Medium, and you've officially entered the portal of all things Africana magic and medicine. If you've ever been curious about the actual roots of voodoo and the healing mysteries of ancestral knowledge, well, you've summoned the right show. Why did our very Christian elders do all these things around the house that I don't remember being in the Bible? Was it just an old wives tale? Or is it rooted in something deeper, something more meaningful, like ritual?

Join me as we uncover these truths and chat with some expert spiritualists all across the African diaspora. A new season of a little juju podcast is being conjured as we speak. And new episodes will be dropping soon with Spectrevision Radio every Wednesday. Watch a little juju podcast on Spotify and listen wherever you get your podcast. And remember, all you do you. need is a little juju. Does this look like a farm in the Midwestern United States? Actually, we are looking at the state of Alaska.

The story of this new state is a big story of a big land, a rich land that is being developed by hardworking settlers who are building a new region out of our last frontier. Harry was full of interesting stories, and his daughter loved every single one of them. Harry had been a prospector in Alaska in the early 20th century, and his stories were full of battles against the elements in search of gold. But there was one story in particular that stuck with his daughter Virginia, one that scared her. But she would struggle to ever get out of her mind. As she grew older, Virginia encouraged her father to write his stories down. She was convinced that other people would be interested in them, that he could be.

release a book of his adventures but Harry never did he came close once he wrote down the story that scared Virginia as a child the story had become something of a legend in the area but spread by word of mouth the details had become confused and exaggerated so Harry wanting to set the record straight decided to write it up and send it off to someone for publication he did the first part but then his accounting of the story was left in a box where it remained after Harry's death. Until, while clearing out his stuff, his wife stumbled upon it. She gave it to their daughter who read it, gripped by it just as she had been as a child. Virginia insisted it needed to be published.

Her father's story needed to be shared, and that's exactly what she did. despite how unbelievable it sounded, she believed her father. In her mind and his, this story really happened, even if it's possible that there was a logical explanation for it. They believed that something was out there in the wilds of Alaska. Something that no one could explain. Something that could drive men insane. Something that would continue to fascinate people for decades.

to come. This case really does have it all. From tiny devil monkey creatures to gold prospect as being haunted by things they can't see, to Charlie Sheen flying a jet in to uncover the mystery of what really is hiding there. This is the horrifying legend of Thomas Bay, Alaska. Welcome to the Tape Library. If you enjoy this episode, please consider subscribing. I'm here every couple of weeks discussing cases of the paranormal and the unexplained. If you are so inclined, you can also support the channel over on patreon.com. Thank you. Now, let's get into tonight's case. Thomas Bay sounds like a pleasant place. Geographically, it's beautiful, a long, quiet inlet, cut into southeast Alaska, wrapped in steep mountains and dense forest, fed by glaciers and waterfalls,

On a calm day the water can almost look unreal, flat and reflective, mist hangs low, cloud snag on the ridge lines, and the forest presses right down to the shoreline. But it isn't a comforting place of peace. The land feels closed in. The trees are thick, dark and tightly packed, limiting visibility and sound. Once you move inland, the forest swallows direction quickly. The terrain runs. rises sharply, broken by ravines and fast-moving streams. Even in the daylight, it's easy to feel disorientated. So much of it looks the same. Thomas Bay has no obvious human centre, no village, no real infrastructure. Just scattered signs that people pass through. It doesn't feel abandoned so much as unclaimed. But this wasn't always the case. Seemingly at one point there was a fairly large

Klinget village in the area. But in 1750 there was apparently a large landside that buried the village, claiming 500 lives as it did. If there had been stories about this place, murmurs about strange creatures that lived in the woods at this time, is unclear. But after this tragedy, it certainly picked up a reputation, as the locals began referring to it as the Bay of Death. Local folklore began to suggest that this wasn't a good place. This was a place that was spiritually dangerous. Some where people were not welcome. So the indigenous people kept their distance, and as the years progressed, so did everyone else. No roads led into the area. This wasn't somewhere you could visit easily. But to the wider world, it was just Thomas Bay. A remote, untapped place of nature. The gold prospectors of the early 20th century,

century who were searching the hills of Alaska looking for wealth that could change their lives, had a different name for it. They called it Devil's Country. It was with a group of prospectors that this strange story truly began, or at least the one some of you likely know. By this point, the Klondike Gold Rush was starting to peter out. But there were many men scattered throughout Canada and Alaska, desperately trying to find the next place where riches could be able to be able to found, willing to do anything to be the ones to find it. It was April of 1990, just south of Thomas Bay in Rangel, Alaska. When a man who we know as Charlie came bursting into the shack where his fellow prospectors,

John, Fred and Harry, were sitting, his eyes were wide of excitement. Charlie told the men that he had met an old Native American man who had a huge piece of gold quartz in his camp. Charlie had been begging the man to find out where he got it from, but the man had been reluctant to tell Charlie. Eventually, after much wearing down, he told Charlie he needed to head north up to Thomas Bay. There he would camp on the right-hand side of the Paterson River, before travelling a further eight miles and turning into the mountains. In the mountains he would find a river shaped like a half-moon, and there he would find what he would find what. what he was looking for. All four of the men were understandably very excited. Of course it could

just be a story, but they were flat broke and desperate for any possible lead they could find on gold. They decided on a plan. In May, Charlie hopped into a canoe with three months worth of supplies. He would return as soon as he found any sign of the gold. But if he didn't return within the three months, the men would send out a search party. But just one month later, Charlie showed up again in the doorway of the cabin. He looked like a mess. Exhausted, his coat and hat missing. Without saying anything, Charlie threw a large piece of quartz down on the table.

It was beautiful, full of specks of gold throughout. All three men looked at it and then back at Charlie. He had done it. He had found gold. But Charlie didn't explain, he just asked for food and then went straight to bed. The next morning, Charlie got up early, bore it a coat and left. Harry John and Fred were growing frustrated with their companion. They wanted to know what had happened, where were all the supplies, should they start

formulating a plan to head to Thomas Bay. Charlie returned a few hours later, informing the men that are supposed to be. boat would be leaving tomorrow morning. He asked him to loan him money so he could take it south to Seattle. He was done with Alaska. He said he never wanted to see this place again. The men were in shock. This was totally out of character for Charlie. What had happened? They agreed to give him the money for his boat trip on the condition that he told them exactly what happened in Thomas Bay, all keen to get the details so they could head there themselves to get the gold. Charlie said because they were partners, he would tell them.

But this would be the only time he would tell his story. Once he was on that boat, he wanted to forget all about this, all about what he had seen. Charlie sat down and began to tell the men what had happened in the last month. It took three days on his country. canoe before Charlie hit Thomas Bay, camping at various locations along the way. But he saw the rain clouds building in the sky and prepared himself for a long stay. He couldn't say how many days it was, but Charlie was trapped in his tent for some time. The rain was relentless, all alone with nothing

to keep his mind occupied. All he could hear was the rain hitting his tent and the roaring river close by. Charlie just tried his best to sleep as much as he could, until the weather broke. Then he spent several days hunting for the river the Native American man had told him about, but he struggled to find it. He did however pan for gold in a creek and was successful. It wasn't anything to get excited about, but there was gold here. But Charlie noticed something that he found strange. Compared to all the other places, he had visited in an elastic, He called it dead country. There didn't seem to be any life. There were virtually no animals to be found. One day, desperate to eat something that wasn't beans, he hiked several miles out of the area

and managed to find some grouse. He was successful in his hunt, but when he went to go and pick up one of the birds that had fallen down a ridge, he saw something shining in the morning sun. That was the piece of quartz he had brought the men, breaking it off from a ledge with the butt of his rifle. The gun broke as he did it, but Charlie didn't care. The ledge he had found was thick with golden specks. He had done it. He had found the gold. It didn't look quite how the area had been described, but that didn't matter. Charlie had seen an S-shaped river rather than a moon-shaped one. Maybe that's what the man had meant.

Charlie began to cover the ledge with whatever he could find, desperate to hide it just in case someone else did make it out this far, as unlikely as that may be. Then he began to climb up the ridge. He needed a look for landmarks, anything he could see so that they could find their way back there. He climbed and climbed, until he was around 600 feet higher,

than the ledge he had found. He looked down. There was a big tree that stood out from the others. He could see the various rivers and islands that surrounded this point. It was enough he fought to gauge where he was. But as he turned back, he saw it. Just below him was the half-moon lake. The Native American man had been telling the truth.

He was in the right place. they were going to be rich. But that was when he froze. The side of the ridge that led down to the Half Moon Lake was... ...moving. Wait, it wasn't moving. There was something moving up it. Quickly.

Towards him. They looked like people at first, but they were small, covered in long, coarse hair. And what looked like sores that were... He described them almost like a cross between a person and a monkey, as they got closer and closer to where Charlie was standing. He began to hear them. This strange, shrieking, crying sound that emitted from their mouths. Then he smelt them, a putrid smell that almost made him gag instantly.

It was all so unbelievable that Charlie didn't react until the first one was at the lip of the ridge. They were reaching up at him. They wanted to grab him. In a panic he whacked at it with his broken gun. Then he spun around looking for the quickest route to get away. As he did he felt the long claw-like finger of one of them scratched down his back, followed by a breath on his neck. He ran. He ran as fast as he could. He didn't turn back but he didn't need to. He could hear the bizarre screeching noises they made as they gave chase back down the ridge. It was the sounds, he said, that drove him mad. All his senses left him. He knew he was running back in the direction of the canoe, but his memory of the escape was hazy and confused. The next thing he knew, he woke up. It was pitch black.

Charlie was laying in the bottom of his canoe, shivering. from the cold. All his supplies were still on land. Had it been a dream? How did he end up in the canoe? Charlie looked down. Laying next to him was the quartz. This was enough for him to know this had really happened. He didn't return to get his belongings. Instead he decided to risk the cold and began to row as fast as he could, back in the direction of Wrangell. The three men sat in stunned silence as Charlie finished his story. Charlie admitted it sounded crazy, he didn't expect them to believe him. He assumed that they thought he was crazy, or lying.

But either way, he didn't care. He just wanted to get on the boat and head back south. He never wanted to hear about Thomas Bay ever again. That is exactly what he did. Sure enough, the others didn't buy Charlie Story. It was too fantastical. He had been alone out there in the wilderness for a month. They simply assumed he had lost his mind.

Maybe he had. But if that were the case, he wouldn't be the only one. While they may not have believed Charlie's story about devilish monkeys, the men were all convinced that he had indeed found gold close to Thomas Bay. Two months later, John and Fred decided to head that way together, leaving Harry behind who was finishing up work in a local sawmill. They returned just three weeks later, and it felt to Harry much the same as Charlie's return. Both men returned missing most of their belongings, not wanting to talk about what happened. All they said was they didn't find the gold.

and Fred in particular seemed very keen to leave Alaska as quickly as possible. One night Harry found himself alone in the shack with Fred, just before he was due to leave. Fred told him he believed Charlie. He believed the gold was out there somewhere, but that now he also believed that he didn't lie about what he saw. In his words, Fred said he had one of those devils sitting on his canoe. He had seen them too. In fact he said the creature had spoke to him, berated him as he rode his boat trying to escape Thomas Bay. It sounded insane, but Fred, much like Charlie, said that he never wanted to hear about Thomas Bay ever again.

Sure enough the next day he left and did not return. Once Fred had left, John seemed relieved that his partner had gone. It was only then that he felt comfortable to tell his version of what's happened, out in the mountains of the devil's country. After a few days of rowing in separate boats, Fred and John had found Charlie's camp, damp and mouldy but a sure sign that the man had in fact made it to Thomas Bay. They spent six days searching for the ridge, with no luck. They did see the S-shaped lake Charlie had mentioned, but no sign of the

Half Moon Lake or the ledge. That was when they too were trapped in their tents by the rain. After several days of being confined to their tents, the two men decided to separate. It was still raining but John was growing impatient and decided he wanted to try and scale the mountain that was around seven miles away from where they had set up camp, leaving Fred to head back to the the Escher Blake, where there were still a bunch of hills the men hadn't searched yet. As he reached the top of the mountain, he recognised many of the landmarks that Charlie had mentioned, and then he saw it. Down on the other side of the mountain was the half-moon lake. He looked around. There were ridges everywhere. They had found the right place, but there

were still so many possibilities of where the ledge that Charlie had. found might be. Still being battered by the persistent rain, John decided to head back down the mountain, but would pass the Half Moon Lake on his way back to camp to see if he could spot anything that might help. About halfway down his descent, he heard three loud gunshots. Concerned he rushed back down towards the Tundra flat below, where he heard the shots coming from. Down there was a small smattering of trees but for the most part it was a flat open space. There, in the middle of the flat, was a sight he didn't expect to see. Fred was down on his hands and knees, trying to pull a small jack pine out of the ground with his teeth. John froze, watching his friend

from a distance, trying to wrap his head around what he was seeing. Every now and then Fred Fred would pause and start barking like a dock. After about 20 minutes of this, Fred gave up, broke off the limb from another tree and began to make shavings. John called out to him, asking what on earth he was doing but Fred just ignored him, completely focused on his task. Eventually John grabbed Fred and shook him. Fred looked up at John.

His eyes glazed over and distant. He asked, is that you John? Have you got any matches? I'm trying to build a fire but I have no matches. And I'm so cold I can hardly move anymore. John asked Fred what he had been shooting at. Where was his gun? But Fred ignored this question too.

John searched the area. It appeared the entire flat was covered and freshly dug holes. And a number of small pine trees had been pulled out of the ground. Fred had been busy. Eventually he found the gun, half buried in the ground. John shivered. He had no concerns about Fred when he left camp that morning. What had happened in the last few hours to make him behave so strangely? John returned the gun to Fred, who he found sitting on the damp ground still shaking with cold. John said they'd better head back to camp before it got too dark. Fred agreed. Fred agreed, but said to John, he will come with him if he helps him find camp.

But, if he was just trying to scare him or fool him, like those other devils, then he could go to hell. Fred would rather just wait here by the fire, where it was warm. There was no fire. Something was very wrong with Fred. They managed to reach the camp just to the camp just as darkness finally overtook the land. The two men sat by the fire eating. But as soon as they were finished, Fred rushed outside the tent, looking out into the darkness that surrounded them. He began to shout that they needed to leave. The devils were coming. Fred reached into the tent for his rifle and ran off into the darkness. John went to follow but But then he paused.

He could hear Fred running off into the distance, but there was something else, something approaching. It sounded like footsteps, multiple footsteps. The sound of padded feet rushing towards them. This was enough to spook John, who grabbed as much as he could carry and rushed back towards the boats where he hoped Fred had gone. He reached the canoe and began to row, shouting out to Fred to make sure he was on the water too. Sure enough Fred shouted back. He was maybe a mile ahead but John was relieved to know his friend had made it off the land too. The rain was still falling but John didn't care anymore. While

he might not have believed Charlie's stories about the creatures that he saw, it was clear to him that there was something very wrong with Thomas Bay and they needed to be. to get away. They rode and rode until the sun was just about to begin to rise. John estimated that Fred was only about half a mile away now. So John stood in the boat and fired a shot to try and get his friend's attention and make him stop. It worked. Fred stopped. But then he fired his own gun three times. John quickly rushed towards Fred's boat. As he did he saw a big splash next to it and found Fred standing there, waving his oar above his head, in some sort of celebration. John asked where his gun was. Fred said he had thrown it overboard. John asked what Fred had been

shooting at. Fred told him there had been one in his boat, one of the devils. It had been there all night, talking to him, mocking him. Then as the sun began to rise, he could just about see it in the darkness. He took his chance and shot it. The creature had then fallen overboard. Fred reassured John that they had done it. They were safe now. John looked down at the calm waters that surrounded their boats, unsure what was real anymore. They stopped to eat and rest MacDonald Island. When they woke up, Fred seemed completely normal again. But he was very quiet. He didn't want to talk about what had happened in the last 24 hours. And more than anything else, he wanted to get as far away from Thomas Bay as possible. Harry, after hearing the story,

was not dissuaded. He told John he was keen to head to Thomas Bay, to see if they could find the gold, to see if he would be driven mad too, to see if there really were creatures. At the very least, they had left so many supplies and tools out there that they really couldn't afford to just leave. But John was more reluctant. He said that Fred and Charlie were strong, able-bodied men, who had shown no signs of anything like this before. While he didn't believe in monsters,

it was clear that something had happened to these men. Something that could happen to them if they went back. Harry pushed and John agreed that at the very least they could return for their supplies. They did just that in early September. Yet again they were forced to stay in their tents due to the weather, but they found all the items that had been left behind and headed back south as soon as they could. Nothing stood out to Harry as particularly odd about the place

and the dream of finding gold would not be. leave his mind. It wouldn't be until a few years later that John and Harry would head Thomas Bay together again. It was summer this time. The two men spent several days in the area but with no luck. Harry noted so much of the country looked the same. It was confusing, disorientating. But after a few days they managed to find it. The half-moon-shaped lake. They had camped a little further away and it was noon when they found it. Harry was eager to explore the lake, but he could tell John seemed much more apprehensive. John asked Harry if he felt the same way he did.

Harry reluctantly admitted that he did. It was the strangest thing. As soon as they arrived at the lake, it felt like they were being watched. That was when John mentioned the bushes. They were moving all around them, but something was in them. Harry looked at the bushes but to him they looked completely still. He said he wasn't scared of the wildlife but this feeling of being surrounded was beginning to really unnerve him and he agreed they should leave.

That night back at camp Harry was awoken by John nudging him awake. He asked Harry if he could hear it. Harry went silent. That's when he heard it. Something somewhere between a squeak and a moan. The sound instantly terrified Harry. It aroused a fear from deep within him. He quickly grabbed his gun before taking a deep breath and began to attempt to rationalise

what was going on. Harry put his gun back down, claiming it was just an animal like a little. like a porcupine or something. John couldn't believe it. He thought Harry was just in denial. Something was out there. Something was outside their tent. This wasn't a place they should be. John stayed awake all night. In the morning he insisted they pack up and leave Thomas Bay once again, empty-handed. John would refuse to return. But Harry was still obsessed. Thomas Bay was the one that got away, but although he wouldn't admit it to others, he was too scared to return alone. Over the years he tried to arrange further expeditions.

But as soon as others learnt about what had happened out in the area, Harry was now calling Devil's Country. They quickly backed out. Harry had all but moved on from the idea. But he found himself in a bar in Petersburg, talking to the owner of the saloon, a man named Mr. Bush. Harry was speaking about his years in Alaska as a prospector, all the places he had visited over the years, although he hadn't got into Thomas Bay yet, when Mr. Bush interrupted Harry, to tell him that before he had ever come to Alaska, he had this vivid dream of the

Alaskan countryside. Bush went on to explaining detail what had happened in that dream. The man described Thomas Bay perfectly, and more specifically made reference to looking out over a lake, shaped like the moon. To Harry, this was a sign. He told Mr. Bush he knew exactly where that was. The man asked Harry to take him there. He needed to see it for himself.

Just a few months later, they were there. up a steep hill that Harry believed led to the Moonshaped Lake, with Mr. Bush behind him. When suddenly something caused Mr. Bush to fall. He rolled down the hill crashing into a tree and knocking himself unconscious. Harry was able to revive the man and while he could still walk, it was clear he was too injured to continue the expedition, so Mr. Bush asked Harry to get him back to the boat. But as they reached a small creek, Mr. Bush suddenly stopped. He began raving, shouting at Harry, claiming that Harry wasn't taking him to safety, that he

was instead taking him into the hills, to kill him. Harry protested that this wasn't the case, but Bush kept screeching about it. Yet for some reason, still followed along happily, despite his support. apparent impending murder. Eventually they reached the beach. Harry got Bush into his motorboat, and Harry began to head for home while the injured man slept. When he awoke a few hours later, Harry demanded to know what had got into him. But Mr. Bush said he couldn't explain it, that he would be forced to lie to Harry about what had happened if he asked. He didn't want to talk about it. Mr. Bush stated that he did not

want to return to this bay ever again. Harry Colt returned to Thomas Bay two more times over the years that followed. The first time he actually plucked up the courage to visit on his own, but that courage soon dissipated when shortly after arriving he found a tent on the beach. But it appeared it had been abandoned. It was damp and mouldy. Yet all the party's belongings had been left behind. There was even some cooked bacon hanging in there. The tent flaps had been left open, as though whoever it was hadn't intended to be gone for long, or were forced to leave in a hurry. But their boat were still there. Based on what he found in the tent, Harry believed he was looking for one man, but there were no traces, no tracks.

There was no one else around. Harry quickly headed back to the mainland to report what he discovered. but the missing man was never found. Three years later, Harry finally found someone who was willing to come with him, back to Thomas Bay, a large Norwegian prospector named Olai. They camped close to the Half Moon Lake. All the stories of his friends ran through Harry's head as he slept in the tent that night. And when he awoke, the feeling of dread hadn't gone away. It was like the air was thick with it.

Still he made breakfast and Oleg walked over to join him. But the large man didn't say a single word. Harry asked him what their plans for the day should be. Where should they start? But Olai simply said that he thought they should leave, that he didn't feel so good. They had hiked for days and after being here for only one night he wanted to get out of there.

Harry felt like he had experienced enough of this place to know that if someone said they didn't feel right, then it was likely a good idea to go. Strangely, when they got back home, Harry asked Olae why he had wanted to leave after only one night. The Norwegian thought Harry was messing with him. He replied that he hadn't. They had been there for weeks, inspecting the ridges, searching everywhere they could find. There was no sign of gold anywhere, so eventually he suggested they should leave. Harry didn't know what to say, but this was the final straw. His dream of Thomas

Bay died that day. Over the years Harry told others about the bay, about the gold that Charlie had apparently found. Others went in search of it. All came back empty-handed. Reports of strange feelings of getting lost, of the confusion of the place all came back with them. Few ever wanted to talk about their experiences in detail. Harry was told a story once about a trapper, who had camped just near the S-shaped lake. It had been snowing, and a trapper had noticed some odd tracks in the snow, tracks he had never seen before. He set various traps, but none seemed to snare what he had seen.

seemed to snare whatever had been leaving the tracks. One night he was awoken by the sound of his dog barking. Then he heard it run. He assumed it was just hunting something, so didn't worry too much. Until in the morning his dog was nowhere to be seen. He followed its tracks in the fresh snow. But soon those tracks seemed to be running alongside, the same strange tracks that he had been looking at over the last few days. Then he came to a place where the dog tracks stopped. There was no sign of a struggle. The tracks just stopped.

As though the dog had simply vanished. But the strange animal tracks continued. So he followed them. Only to end up back in the same place he had begun. The track looped into a perfect circle. He never did find his dog or discover what had left those tracks. The trapper told this story to a local farmer, curious to see if he had seen anything like this before, but the farmer said he hadn't. The footprints almost looked like something mixed between a small bear and a person.

The tracker went back out into the wilderness, seemingly to look for the creature further. But he was never heard from again. Over the decades various expeditions have been sent out into Thomas Bay. There are countless claims of other sightings of strange creatures, an equally strange goings on in the area. But more often than not, these stories don't seem to have a concrete source, making it hard to tell what is legend and what can be traced back to real people. The stories of the prospectors seem to have merged in with tales of Bigfoot,

with many now treating Colp's book as the Bigfoot story. But really the descriptions of what happens doesn't match up with that phenomena as far as I understand it. Beyond a few similarities, the stories of Thomas Bay seem to be more about a place that has a terrifying psychological effect on people, more so than it being a cryptid case.

Although, there are also some similarities here to a number of infamous UFO encounters. The lapsed time, missing people, strange creatures. It's like this story doesn't really fit into one neat category, although the additional legends that have popped up over the years don't help with that, muddying the water further. But there have been actual recorded expeditions that we can take a bit more seriously.

Sure enough, many have discovered the landmarks laid out in Harry Colt's out in Harry Cobb's story. But no sign of any gold nor two-foot-tall hairy creatures have ever been found. But the area has become much more visited over the years since the prospectors were there. We've even Harry's daughter Virginia saying in the 70s that it no longer needed exploring. Seemingly, if anything were truly there, it is long gone now. But still, people discover Harry's story and become fascinated by the area, wanting to be the ones to finally discover what really happened. One of the strangest of which took place in 2013, when apparently Charlie Sheen began his own expedition after reading Colp's book. After having recently failed to find the Loch Ness

monster, the actor instead took his private jet to Alaska to search for, as he told the media, something called a Kushtaka. Something that he believed could have been the creatures, spotted by the prospectors. Before Harry Colpe ever put pen to paper, before prospectors referred to Thomas Bay as devil's country, the land already had a reputation. One of the most well-known figures in Klingit folklore, connected to spaces like Thomas Bay, is the Kushhtaka. The name is often translated as the slightly less creepy, land otter man. Although that description doesn't fully capture what the Kushtaka is said to be,

in the stories it is a shapeshifter, capable of appearing as an otter, a human, or something in between. It is not simply an animal and not entirely human either. The Kush tucker is often associated with coastal forests, isolated shorelines and dangerous waterways, and as with many of these legends, Its behaviour varies greatly based on who is telling the story. In some it's said to lure people away from safety, sometimes by mimicking the sound of a crying baby, sometimes by appearing as a familiar face, often drawing people deeper inland. In some versions of the legend, those who follow the Kushtaka are never seen again. In others they return but changed.

are other accounts of the creatures actually being positive entities. It's important to be clear here. Harry Kolp never mentions the Kushtaka by name, and the creatures described in his story, small, foul-smelling, hair-covered figures emerging from a lake, do not perfectly match traditional descriptions. But the themes overlap in ways that are difficult to ignore. Klinget elders traditionally spoke of places that should be avoided. not because they were haunted in a sense that we might think, but because something there was fundamentally incompatible with human presence. If the legends are true, Thomas Bay was one of those places. When prospectors later described the Bay as hostile, malevolent or oppressive,

they were unknowingly echoing something that had been said in different words, generations earlier. Whether the prospector has encountered something truly supernatural or not, their experiences align with a much older idea, that Thomas Bay is a place where people lose their way, physically, mentally or spiritually. And once that happens, not everyone finds their way back. So what really happened? Virginia Culp had her father's story published just a few years after his death. The story was not presented as fiction, it was presented as a true story. Even in interviews 20 years after publication, Virginia stood by the fact that she believed what her father stated in his story was true, as far as he understood it.

It's worth pointing out that in his retelling, Harry Colt never sees any monsters. His experiences of Thomas Bay are ones met with confusion and fear. the feeling that something is watching him, that danger lurks around every corner. In fact, with the possible exception of his apparent lost time on his final trip, it is actually the people around him that seem to truly succumb to the madness the place seems to be induced. While it's possible this is a work of pure fiction, I'm not sure I buy that. Harry's story runs for a total of about 50 handwritten pages. handwritten pages. The narrative isn't well structured. It doesn't build to anything.

And he doesn't witness anything completely unexplainable himself. So if we assume there is at least some level of authenticity to these tales, what could be really going on in Thomas Bay? There are explanations, sensible ones, that have been offered over the years. None of them are unreasonable, but none of them fully closed the case either. One possibility is psychological collapse. The Alaskan wilderness is not just remote, it's overwhelming. Dense forest, constant damp, unpredictable terrain, long periods of isolation. For early prospectors, there were no maps, no radio contact,

and often no clear sense of where one was in relation to safety. In most of the stories featured here, the men are left for days on their own, trapped by the weather. Modern research shows that extended isolation and exhaustion can cause vivid hallucinations and heightened paranoia, particularly when a person believes they are already in danger. In that state, shadows move differently. Smells become threats and sounds become terrifying indications of danger. Another explanation often raised is environmental contamination. And this is the most widely used one to explain away Colp's story.

This is the one even his daughter said could explain what happened. There have long been rumours of arsenic or other mineral contamination in the waters around Thomas Bay, although as far as I'm aware, there is no definitive proof of this. It's just a theory. But heavy metal exposure can of course call. confusion, nausea, hallucinations and long-term neurological effects. If the prospectors drank untreated water over several days while exhausted and malnourished, it could have contributed to a profound break in perception. But if this is the case, it's

interesting how differently people were affected. John and Harry stay there for a week and while they begin to become paranoid, they suffer none of the visual hallucinations that Charlie or Fred did earlier. Mr. Bush only stays there a short while and weirdly only starts to act irrationally after his fall. Harry visited the place more than anyone, but again didn't succumb to the same effects as the others. Plus the apparent madness seems to come on extremely quickly and then wear off as soon as they leave the area. It's certainly the most compelling theory but still isn't perfect. Then there is the question of misidentified wildlife. Southeast Alaska is home to bears, otters, wolves and other animals that under poor

visibility in extreme stress could appear distorted or unfamiliar. A group of animals glimpsed briefly, partially obscured by water or brush, might later be remembered very differently. This certainly could explain some of the events that took place. I'm thinking of the moving bushes, the sound at night and the padded footsteps. But this explanation really struggles in most areas. It does not explain the mental state of those that were there. Also there is no way that the creatures Charlie and Fred saw, if they were real, were simply misidentified animals. The creatures in Colp's account are not described in a way that fits the descriptions of any known animals in that area, covered in sores and moving like people, even communicating, they pursue, they

emerge together, and they seem to drive the prospectors out of the area rather than simply reacting to their presence. But of course it could be a combination of these different theories. Finally there is the simplest explanation and sometimes the hardest to accept, that the story simply grew over time. Copp was recording a second-hand account, memory is not static. Fear reshapes our recollections, details harden and blur, or take on meaning they didn't originally have. And yet, even if the creatures themselves never existed, the fear clearly did, the trauma clearly did, and the warning repeated by Indigenous people, prospectors and later storytellers alike remained consistent. Stay away from Thomas Bay. This is the devil's country, and you are not welcome here.

In the end, each explanation answers part of the story. But none of them explain why this particular place, among so many others, continues to generate the same response. What is it about this place that caused so many people to fear it, to not want to talk about their experiences, to lose their minds at time seemingly in an instant. You have to wonder, is there something to these stories? Is there something hiding in that moon-shaped lake? Maybe it's not monsters. Maybe it's not something we can even fully wrap our heads around with our current understanding of the world. But maybe there are truly places we aren't supposed to go. Places that something wants to keep us away from.

For reasons we don't yet know. And perhaps that's the most unsettling explanation of all. That's all for this entry into the tape library. This one really reminded me of the episode on Portlock Alaska, which I know a lot of you loved, so hopefully you enjoy this one too. never heard of this story before. To be honest, I'm not even sure how it ended up on my list. So I think it must have been a recommendation from one of you guys. So thank you if you were the person who suggested it. I'm playing around with a few different ideas for the next episode

at the moment and you have all provided me with so many interesting topics. But if you want to keep up with what's going on with the show in between episodes, the best places for that are my Patreon page, the YouTube community tab or Instagram. Links to all those places, can be found in the description. Time for the normal boring stuff. If you want to help me in keeping this show going, you can do that really easily by liking the video on YouTube, leaving a five-star rating if you're listening to the podcast, or subscribing on any platform. All these things help me massively in reaching new people and help the show grow. I never have any expectations on this, but if you are in a position to and you want to support the

show monetarily, you can do that through YouTube memberships and Patreon. YouTube members get access to each episode ad-free, and Patreon subscribers get early access to episodes. Shoutouts, as well as often being the first ones to hear any news about the show. But that is all for tonight. Hopefully if you're listening to this while camping, you don't see any hairy devil monkeys tonight. But if you do, say hi from me. Until next time, my friends, pleasant dreams. This episode was made possible by the kind of

donations of members on YouTube and Patreon. Our tape library archivist Yenok, Aurora, Le Borix-Johnson, the bisexual moon cult, now and Zen, Pat McShea, Laria, Yonkison Away, MJW, Kevin Jackson, emulated Phoenix, Jamie Long, Lisa Marie Sherindin, Shan Harding, Gaffee of a G, M. Lm, Plum Blossom, Emily Carlin, Sarah Boyd, Thomas Boatwright, Stephen Lutman, Crystal E, West Virginia Vegetable Man, Dawn Swan, Tina S, Sean Miller, Juno, Joseph Condola, Jolly Jedi, Panther Port, Pixalina, The Crimson DM, The Detective, Gene Janine, Darlah Alfredo Zendoval, Gioro, Midiasabine, Dominic DeAngelis Dahlig, Judith Hacker, Eric Salas, Mirichard, Adeline, Ashlarz, Bucs, Trace Tarelloz, Gabrielle, Umico Grimm, and Sandy Lusk. Our lead archivist, When Lewis, Plague Doctor Is In, Amis Dubblefield, The Original Dear Emmy Bartley, Ridiculous.

London, Grace, Melissa Harrinson, Lady Bet Noir, Emperor Franz, Old Soul Like Mine, Xavier Rangel, Alex O'Neil, Tyler Michael, Alex Goldberg Darren Morgan Green, Van Yell, Brian Baker, and 1,000th Ghost, and our top bosses, the Grand Overseers, Harrison the Oger Lord, Leah Carmela, Bairdidley, Katie, Morning Rain 2619, Agent 355, and the one and only, Queen of Flatchelands. And thank you to all my junior members and my YouTube members as well. I've made a tremendous number of mistakes. Perhaps the first and most crucial error we made was the agricultural revolution. The agricultural revolution doomed us to a life of subservience to crops.

It made us sedentary, which was not only bad for us, but bad for the earth. It encouraged exponential and largely unsustainable population growth, and it set us up for a system of classes and subjugation because now we had a way to store and control the distribution of food. I think another catastrophic mistake we've made is in the creation and spread of AI. I think AI poses a serious existential threat, and if we don't put some serious guardrails around it soon, we're going to be in trouble.

It's human to err. How we learn and grow from our mistakes is important.