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This is the story about the disappearing village near Angikuni Lake. When Joe Labelle, a fur trapper stumbled on an eerie site in 1930. This creepy story has a mysterious history and we will never know what happened to those lost souls. ess of Canada's arctic - is a place where only the tough survive, especially in the 1930's. Joe Labelle, a fur trapper had to be quick. Fur trappers are known for their resourcefulness and resilience like all who thrive in the arctic circle. Joe had made friends with an Inuit group near Lake Angikuni. He had frequently visited the people and decided to make another trip. As Joe pushed his canoe securely on shore he could see the village 100 yards in the distance. Their caribou tents no doubt a relieving scene among the miles of tundra. But something changed in the trapper as he got closer to the village. Instead of a crackling fire and voices he was met with silence. Walking through the site, pulse racing he could see something wasn't right. Finally some relief, two dogs trotted up to welcome him, but that relief soon vanished as he could now see the dogs looked more like walking skeletons... and still he heard nothing from the village. Moving past this new horrifying development he slowly made his way toward the six tents still erect around the camp. Expecting perhaps the dead bodies of his friends he pulled back the flap of one the tents. What Labelle found however was worse. There wasn't any dead bodies inside struck from disease, o r attack all of the personal belongings one would never want to leave behind. Deer parkas or skin coats, boots, pots, and a rusty rifle indicating the age of the abandonment. Tearing back the flaps of even more tents the scene became even more ominous. A sewing needle through a piece of material, ready to be finished, and again another rifle. The Inuit do not bury their dead, the ground is too hard, but wrap them in skin or material and stack heavy stones atop the dead to ward off predators. Which is why the grave site Joe stumbled upon was so strange. The stones had been moved and the body was gone. No wreckage from a scavenger was present. Labelle fished a bit for the two starving dogs at his side and made his way to a telegraph office, sending word to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. As the mounties made the journey a visit with a neighboring family, the Laurent family proved to provide an insight into any suspicious activity in the region. The trapper family revealed an unusual illuminated object was seen flying across the sky and it had transformed into a cylinder like shape. As the mounties covered the area, everything Labelle had stated proved true, but the mounties would uncover even more disturbing evidence something in the area was wrong. The open graves were seen and reports indicated stones were stacked vs strewn about, Scavengers do not stack stones. The nomadic Inuit people lived near the area followed the caribou. Living in tents during the summer and igloos during the winter. Though the climate was harsh these groups have been living in these northern regions for more than 5000 years. Joe continued his search for clues on what happened to the people that befriended him. Visiting several groups before the season changed they all gave the same insight. Tornasuk was to blame for this tragedy. Joe states in the article the people have described Tornrark as an ugly man with tusks pertruding from he nose. From his perspective and those of early missionaries Tornarsuk was viewed as the Christian devil. The ethnocentrism of the white man's view should be noted and while we are not prevy to the depths of the Inuit beliefs, a step toward a true representation would be to note the Inuit people not only described this spirit as powerful but a helping spirit that could be called on in an oracle like manner and a mediator between gods and men. With an image of a bear or sky god who ruled over the seals and whales. RCMP reports of the past have stated the story was fabricated author Frank Edwards in 1958.book stranger than fiction. and that a village with "such a large population would not have existed in such a remote region. " Statements from the RCMP that continue to change state the entire story was Aha regardless of belief we know the newspaper The Bee did publish this story on Nov 27 1930 and that previous statements of the RCMP did admit to such a case occurring though nothing could be concluded. In 1976 an article in Fate Magazine by Dwight Whalens confirmed that mounties did investigate the case again in January of 1931 and admit to discovering the uninhabited settlement, but dismissed the abandonment and closed the case. And as far as groups living in such a remote region, that's just not true. Aside from a broad and rich nomadic history across the area for the Inuit people, groups have survived around until the 1950's when groups around a close by Ennudai lake were forced to relocate by the Otowa government because fur trappers had desamated the caribou population leaving the group to suffer from starvation. Based on Joe Labelle's recollection and early reports of the deserted village what happened? Mysterious Universe's article points out a few theories to maul over including alien abduction based on the Laurent family testimony, a demon attack using Labelle's inquiry with other groups in the area, and simply vanishing due to a dimensional shift that swept them away without a trace. Maybe a more sinister explanation caused by humans or an unnamed group which is a much scarier thought. Whatever you believe paranormal or otherwise. I hope wherever you are now is full of laughter from friends and family, warm and safe, and that you'll never come across such a silent scene as Joe Labelle did in the Northern Canadian Tundra. Sources: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7726628/the-bee/ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2011/07/village-of-the-dead-the-anjikuni-mystery/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/40316110?seq=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lbfyk5_lM8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit_culture https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Torngarsuk https://www.travelnunavut.ca/plan-and-book/visitor-information/weather-climate/
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