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► The state of Alaska was acquired by the United States of America in 1867. Secretary of State William Seward was the man in charge of arranging the purchase of the land from Russia and as such, the territory was dubbed “Seward’s Folly.” There were many critics of this transaction given its apparent lack of resources, however the purchase proved to be a major success for the states, not only in its inherent strategic position, but the discovery of gold in the 1890s encouraged a stampede of prospectors and settlers. The land, which is also the largest state in the American Union in terms of its sheer size was declared officially as the 49th state in 1959.
But the land we call Alaska today has a wealth of ancient history with evidence of habitation dating back to between 14,000 BC and 10,000 BC. At that point in history existed a land bridge which extended from Siberia to Eastern Alaska which allowed for heavy migration of both humans and animals. Today, the Athabaskans, Aleuts, Inuit, Yupik, Tlingit and Haida remain, and with these natives comes many unusual accounts and folklore of the area.
The Inuit people speak of a creature known as the Qalupalik; according to the Inuit’s, this creature resembles a woman with green skin, long hair and very long fingernails. It’s said that the Qalupalik resides in the sea and hums to entice people closer before taking them deep into the ocean.
The Inuit’s, among other native groups also speak of the Alaska Bushmen, dubbed Tornits. Tales of the Tornits have been told since humans first crossed the land bridge to Alaska all those thousands of years ago. The Inuit people were said to have mastered kayak construction which gave them a huge advantage when hunting. The Tornits on the other hand were said to be unable to build them and stole one from the Inuit’s. This wasn’t taken very kindly and brought about conflict between the two factions which drove the Tornits away from the land.
According to the Anchorage Daily News:
“Since that time, many stories have come out of the bush of hunters disappearing never to be seen again. Apparently, hunters and the Tornits no longer peacefully shared common hunting grounds.”
It seems that some natives believed that the Tornits were stalking their hunters, while others believed that their actions of driving the Tornits from the land had brought about a curse on their people.
The natives also speak of the Tizheruk, which the native Inuit’s described as large, snake-like creatures of unknown origin. The natives believed them to roam the Alaskan waters and said that they were up to 15 feet long and would snatch people from their kayaks and while near the waters.
These are just some and while there are others you obviously can’t do much with folklore in terms of determining if the native peoples actually believed these things were occurring, or if it was just a method of keeping their children in line, but whatever the case may be it is still an interesting part of the Alaskan, and her native’s history.
According to Medium.com:
“Since authorities began keeping records in 1988, 60,700 people have been reporting missing in Alaska. That’s five people per 1000 residents reported missing every year. On a yearly basis, an average of 2,250 people disappear in Alaska, twice the national average. Some of these people are found alive and well, while the remains of others are found, but many disappear without a trace.”
Interestingly, while researching this and despite the disappearance rate seeming to be twice that of the National average, there seems to be little catalogued in terms of Alaskan disappearances. So, after the new year I’ll start working on that and will make further content on Alaska, specifically in regards to the Alaska Triangle and specific National Parks too, so let me know if that’s something you’d be interested in.
Alaska National Park and Wilderness Disappearances
Alaska Missing Persons
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