The Midnight Train Podcast

Portlock Alaska

& Other haunted ghost towns

Today we're talking about a ghost town in Alaska that is rumored to have been abandoned because of.... Wait for it....a killer bigfoot!! dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun!!! We're going to look at Portlock Alaska and after that maybe take a look at other haunted and creepy ghost towns!

History of Portlock:

As per wikipedia

Portlock is a ghost town in the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern edge of the Kenai Peninsula, around 16 miles south of Seldovia. It is located in Port Chatham bay, after which an adjacent community takes its namesake. Named after Nathaniel Portlock, Portlock was established in the Kenai Peninsula in the early-twentieth century as a cannery, particularly for salmon. It is thought to have been named after Captain Nathaniel Portlock, a British ship captain who sailed there in 1786. In 1921, a United States Post Office opened in the town. The population largely consisted of Russian-Aleuts, indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands. Both the Aleut people and the islands are divided between the US state of Alaska and the Russian administrative division of Kamchatka Krai.

In the early 1900s there were a series of deaths and disappearances in the town. Many people started to blame this on a killer cryptid! It is said that this big bad beast is the reason behind the town being abandoned and left to become a legend.

Nantiinaq:

First off let's talk about the cryptid that is believed to be the cause of all of this mess.

Nantinaq is a large Bigfoot-like creature that is believed to be a key factor in the abandonment of the Alaskan fishing village Portlock. Elders from the nearby town of Nanwalek have kept oral traditions of the creature alive since Portlock’s abandonment in 1950. Stories differentiate Nantinaq from the North American Sasquatch or Bigfoot through its abilities, which many believe to be supernatural and evil in nature.

The earliest descriptions and accounts of Nantinaq can be traced back to European expedition logs in the 1700’s. When Native Alaskans began inhabiting the Portlock area stories and encounters with a mysterious creature began occurring with increasing regularity.

In the early 20th century, as Portlock’s population grew, local and national sources began to record unexplained occurrences in the area. An abnormally high number of disappearances, catastrophes, and deaths eventually lead to village elders to move the population to nearby Nanwalek.

The physical characteristics of Nantinaq are typically described to be similar to the North American Sasquatch. Eye witnesses and historians describe the creature as being upwards of 8 feet tall and being covered in dark fur. Sharp claws capable of ripping mammals with ease have also been identified.

Despite the creatures imposing physical characteristics, many locals identify Nantinaq more through its invisible traits. Strange illnesses, smells and noises have all been recorded in the Portlock area with no known explanation. This has led many locals and elders to believe Nantinaq is spiritual in nature.

The craziness:

Even before Portlock had even existed there had long been sinister stories told by the Natives of the area. They had long told of a creature stalking the wildernesses of the region, which they referred to as a Nantiinaq, roughly translating to “half man- half beast.” The Natives were apparently terrified of these creatures, and would avoid any area in which they were known to lurk. At first Portlock seemed safe, but whether the Nantiinaq had anything to do with it or not, strange things began happening in and around the area, not long after its settlement. In 1900, a group of hair-covered creatures ran at a prospector who had climbed a tree in an attempt to get his bearings near Thomas Bay. The prospector said they were, “the most hideous creatures. I couldn’t call them anything but devils...” The prospector, upon seeing the creatures advancing on him, was able to drop down out of the tree, get to his canoe and make his escape in the nick of time. He had no doubt in his mind that, had he not seen the creatures when he did, they would have made short work of him. Another bizarre incident allegedly happened in as early as 1905, just a few years after the cannery had opened. At this time, many of the workers at the cannery suddenly stopped coming to work and refused to come back, but this wasn’t due to poor pay or working conditions, but rather because the men were deeply spooked. They claimed that there was “something in the woods,” commonly reported by the men as being large dark shapes that would stare at them from the tree line at the shore and sometimes display menacing behavior. The workers were eventually convinced to come back the following season, but this was not the end of the town’s problems.

In the 1920s and 30s there were several mysterious ...

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Info take from:

https://allthatsinteresting.com/skinwalker

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/navajo-skinwalkers/

https://www.wjhl.com

The Uinta Basin is a section of the Colorado Plateaus province, part of the enormous Intermontane Plateaus division. It is also a geologic structural basin in eastern Utah, east of the Wasatch Mountains and south of the Uinta Mountains.

For as long as humans have lived in the Uintah Basin, they’ve seen strange things in the sky. In the 1970s, Utah State professor Frank Salisbury wrote a detailed, profoundly investigative book about hundreds of UFO sightings seen in the basin, called “The Utah UFO Display: A Biologists Report.”

However, the weird stuff goes way beyond strange flying anomalies. For 15 generations, indigenous tribes, including the Utes, have referred to this ridge as being “in the path of the skinwalker.”

In the Navajo culture, a skinwalker is a harmful witch who can turn into, possess, or disguise themselves as an animal.

The legend of the shapeshifting entity known as the Skinwalker has primarily been seen as a hoax. It’s hard to believe that a human-like figure has been transforming into a four-legged animal and terrorizing families in the American Southwest for centuries.

While not precisely proven, the Navajo Skinwalker has profound roots in Native American lore.

So, what is a Skinwalker? As The Navajo-English Dictionary explains, the “Skinwalker” has been translated from the Navajo “Yee Naaldlooshii. The literal translation means “by means of it, it goes on all fours” — and the yee naaldlooshii is just one of many varieties of Skinwalkers, called ‘ánti’jhni and is considered one of the most volatile and dangerous witches.

For the Navajo people, witchcraft is just another part of their spirituality and one of the “ways” of their lives. Witchcraft has long been part of their culture, history, and traditions. Witches exist alongside humans and are not supernatural beings.

The Navajo believe there are places where the powers of both good and evil are present and that those powers can be harnessed for either. Medicine men utilize these powers to heal and aid members of their communities. At the same time, those who practice Navajo witchcraft seek to direct the spiritual forces to cause harm or misfortune to others. This type of Navajo witchcraft is known as the “Witchery Way,” which uses human corpses in various ways such as tools from the bones, and concoctions that are used to curse, harm, or kill intended victims. The knowledge of these powers is passed down from the elders through the generations.

The Navajo are part of a larger cultural area that includes the Pueblo people, Apache, Hopi, Ute, and other groups that also have their versions of the Skinwalker. Still, each consists of an evil witch capable of transforming itself into an animal.

Among these tribes, several stories and descriptions have been told throughout the years about the Skinwalkers.

Sometimes, these witches evolved from living their lives as respected healers or spiritual guides, who later chose to use their powers for evil. Though they can be male or female, they are more often male. They walk freely among the tribe during the day and secretly transform at night.

To become a Skinwalker, they must be initiated by a secret society that requires the evilest of deeds – the killing of a close family member, most often a sibling. Kind of like the soul stone. After this horrible task has been completed, the person then acquires supernatural powers, which give them the ability to shape-shift into animals. They are often seen in the form of coyotes, wolves, freddy foxes, cougars, dogs, and bears but can take the shape of any animal. They then wear the skins of the animals they transform into, hence, the name Skinwalker.

Sometimes, they also adorned animal skulls or antlers atop their heads, which brought them more power. They choose what animal they want to turn into, depending on the abilities needed for a particular task, such as speed, strength, endurance, stealth, claws, teeth, etc. They may transform again if trying to escape from pursuers.

Because of this, the Navajo consider it taboo for its members to wear the pelt of any predatory animal. However, sheepskin, leather, and buckskin are acceptable.

The skinwalkers can also take possession of the bodies of human victims if a person locks eyes with them. After controlling, the witch can make its victims do and say things that they wouldn’t otherwise.

Some traditions believe Skinwalkers are born of a benevolent medicine man who abuses indigenous magic for evil. The medicine man is then given mythical powers of sin th...

Research borrowed from:

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/were-there-female-pirates

https://www.piratesquest.co.uk/top-10-famous-female-pirates/

Mentalfloss.com

https://www.badassoftheweek.com/teuta

There have been dramatic Tales of women sailing the open oceans and seas throughout history. Most of these legends began from the Golden Age of Piracy (1650 to 1720). However, there are stories of female pirates dating back thousands of years.

According to history, women weren't permitted to stay on ships once they had set sail. Sailor superstitions thought that women on merchant and military vessels were bad luck and could mean disaster at sea.

The presence of women was believed to anger the water gods, which might cause storms, violent waves, and weather. Others thought that women would just distract the male sailors at sea and fall victim to harassment and even violence.

Women weren't allowed to hold jobs at sea until the 20th Century. Some women would disguise themselves as men, using a fake name, but there could be severe penalties if they were caught. So the only way for most women to participate in running a merchant vessel before 1900 was through their relations or marriage.

Only recently, women were allowed at sea within the British Royal Navy. In October 1990, during the Gulf War, the HMS Brilliant carried the first women officially to serve on a functioning warship. In 1998, Commander Samantha Moore became one of the first female officers to command a Royal Navy warship, HMS Dasher.

The superstitions and old-school customs for military and commercial vessels were also held for pirates. Historically, women who remained on ships at sea would have to do so illegitimately and in disguise.

They would also need to learn the critical skills necessary for a life at sea before setting sail. Without this knowledge, it would have been tough to be a female sailor, let alone a pirate.

Piracy was a criminal act, so becoming a pirate could mean being arrested and even killed. It wasn't a decision taken lightly. Although pirates are often portrayed as swashbuckling heroes or villains, many were ordinary men and women forced into piracy to survive difficult times.

Piracy has been around since people first hopped on a boat, so it's likely women dressed like the women or as sailors of their time. But unfortunately, many of the depictions of male and female pirates we see today are glamorized accounts of the 17th Century's golden age of piracy.

The rise of popular fiction tales in the 1800s dramatically affected our understanding of pirate attire.

One example is "The Penny Dreadful," a famous book series of the 1860s - both in the United States and the British Empire. These cheap books told sensational stories of adventure. They featured pirates and highwaymen, likely a leading source for many tales and imagery of female pirates today.

As we mentioned, many women who became sailors often had to hide their identity and conceal their gender by dressing like men. However, the stories of Grace O'Malley, Mary Read, and Anne Bonny show that these pirates did not hide their gender. They wore whatever they wanted, depending on what they were doing. In the pamphlet "The Tryals of Captain John Rackam and other Pirates" published in 1721, people of the time said:

"When they saw any Vessel, gave Chase, or Attacked, they wore Men's Cloaths; and, at other Times, they wore Women's Cloaths."

Ok, let's talk about some of the more famous lady pirates.

Queen Teuta of Illyria

Queen Teuta of the Illyrians was a badass Classical Age warrior queen who oversaw a fleet of hardcore pirates. She tormented the Spartans in their own backyard, led armies and navies that conquered cities and islands along the Adriatic coast, and told the Romans to eat a bag of dicks. Then she went out on her own terms by hurling herself off a mountain after supposedly burying 6,000 pounds of gold in a secret location at a place called Devil's Island. Her last words were a curse that doomed the Albanian city of Durres to "never have a seafaring tradition." Yet, she's still a national heroine of Albania, appears on their 100 lek coin (basically the $1 bill), and is generally depicted in full armor with a take-no-prisoners demeanor.

Queen Teuta's husband was King Agron, a pretty brutal warrior-type dude. He ruled over one of the more powerful Illyrian tribes. Illyria is what Greeks called anyone who lived on the Adriatic coast north of Greece. Still, Agron and Teuta were almost certainly from present-day Albania. This detail bears mentioning mostly because the Albanians don't really like being confused with Serbs or Croats.

In 231 BC, King Agron put together an awe-inspiring army, conquered Illyria in a whirlwind of blood, and set his sights south towards Greece. One tribe near the Greek border that ...

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Simo Hayha

Let’s talk about Finland

officially called the Republic of Finland.

The country’s name was said to be found on three runestones.

has about 168,000 lakes and 179,000 islands.

Helsinki is capital

As for weather, In Helsinki, the summers are comfortable and partly cloudy and the winters are long, freezing, snowy, windy, and mostly cloudy. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 17°F to 71°F and is rarely below -3°F or above 79°F.

Member of the EU

338,455 square kilometres (130,678 sq mi) with a population of 5.5 million people.

Helsinki is capital

According to an American study, an average of 7,000 rifle-caliber shots were required to achieve one combat kill during the First World War. During the Vietnam War this number had increased to more than 25,000. So, for Simo Häyhä’s more than 505 kills, more than 13,550,000 bullets would have been needed in Vietnam.

Simo Was born December 17th, 1905

In the Kiiskinen hamlet of the Rautjärvi, Viipuri Province, In southern Finland.

Not far from the Russian border.

His father, Juho Häyhä, was the owner of the Mattila farm while Simo's mother, Katriina was known as a “loving and hard-working farmer's wife”.

He was the the second youngest of eight children,

Went to school in the village of Miettilä in Kivennapa parish

Working on his family's farm and hunting in the Finnish wilderness made him tough, yet very patient.

Built his own farm along with his eldest brother.

Proficient farmer, hunter, and skier.

At 17, Simo joined the Finnish voluntary Militia Civil Guard, kind of like the National Guard in the US.

Was only 5’ 3”

Was great at marksmanship and won several shooting competitions, having many trophies and awards in his home.

Was a shy guy that wasn’t a big fan of the spotlight

At 19, Simo started a 15 month mandatory military service, called Conscription, in the Bicycle Battalion 2 in Raivola.

He didn’t even start sniper training until he was 20.

Simo was supposedly able to estimate distances up to 150 meters (500 ft) within 1 meter or 3.3 ft. That’s over 1 and a half football fields in length.

An author that wrote about Simo said that he once hit a target 16 times from 150 meters away in only one minute. “This was an unbelievable accomplishment with a bolt action rifle, considering that each cartridge had to be manually fed with a fixed magazine that held together five cartridges.” That’s insane.

Simo went back to his farm until the invasion happened.

THE WAR

The Soviets didn’t trust Germany and wanted a buffer zone.

In the autumn of 1939, the Soviet Union demanded that Finland move their border back 25 kilometers from Leningrad.

The Finnish government refused.

The Soviet Union staged an incident at the border, using it as an excuse to attack Finland.

This started the Winter War.

Stalin sent over 750,000 Russian soldiers to invade Finland. Finland’s army had only 300,000, a few tanks and just over 100 aircraft.

Russia had almost 6000 tanks and over 3000 aircraft.

Stalin thought Finland would be a pushover. He was wrong.

Simo was called up. He pulled out his old gun, joined the Finnish army and entered the Winter War between 1939 and 1940.

This war was between Finland and Russia and the temperatures were between -40 and -4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Simo dressed in all white camo where the Russian troops weren’t given any camo, making them easier targets.

They wore their standard Green greatcoats.

This disorganization was due to Stalin freaking out and killing most of his superior generals, leaving confusion and a lack of leadership.

ON A SIDE NOTE

The Finns were also smart in their tactics, the most notable of which were known as “Motti”-tactics. Since the Soviets would invade by the roads, the Finns would hide out in the surrounding wilderness. They would then let the invaders cross the border, and attack them from behind.

the Finns faced both the 9th and 14th Soviet Armies, and at one point were fighting against as many as 12 divisions - about 160,000 soldiers. Also at one point in the same area, there were only 32 Finns fighting against over 4,000 Soviets

The Russian army supposedly gave him the name “white Death”, but some speculation believes it was propaganda created by Finland. Kind of like the new “Ghost Of Kiev”.

Russian prisoners claimed that “white death” was referring to how cold it gets in the deepest parts of the forests.

The Finnish newspapers used the name and the likeness of an “invisible soldier” to create and proport a hero for the war.

He was also called the “magic shooter”.

Even rumors that captured Russian...

Welcome aboard for another crazy episode! Today on the train we step into a familiar world...or should we say .. Worlds? A couple episodes ago we did some mass disappearances and you know we love some true crime so today we sort of combine the two. You see, for the mass disappearances episode there was one case that kept popping up. Now this was interesting to us because we've had that particular case on our list of shows to do for some time now. We figured this would be a good time to go ahead and finally do it. Today we are talking about the disappearance of the Sodder children.

The incident happened on Christmas Eve in 1945 in Fayetteville, West Virginia. George and Jenny Sodder lived with 9 of their 10 children. At the time, the oldest son was off fighting in WW2. The night of the incident, Jennie was awoken three times.

First, at 12:30 a.m., she was awoken by a phone call during which she could hear a woman’s voice she didnt recognize asking for a name she didn’t know, as well as glasses clinking in the background. Jennie told the caller she had reached the wrong number, later recalling the woman's "weird laugh". As she did, she noticed that some of the lights were still on and the curtains hadn’t been closed, two things the children normally did when they stayed up later than their parents. Marion had fallen asleep on the living room couch, so Jennie assumed the other children ,who had stayed up later, had gone back up to the attic where they slept. She closed the curtains, turned out the lights, and returned to bed. She then went back to bed only to be startled by a loud bang and a rolling noise on the roof. She soon dozed off again and finally awoke an hour later at around 130, to see the house engulfed in smoke. She found that the room George used for his office was on fire, around the telephone line and fuse box.

Those are pretty much the facts that can be proven for the most part. Everything else...well it's strange to say the least.

George and Jennie made it out of that fire, as did Sylvia, just a toddler at the time. Also two of their teenage children, Marion and George Jr, made it out. 23 year old John rounded out the kids that made it out alive. Or did he? John said in his first police interview after the fire that he went up to the attic to alert his siblings sleeping there, though he later changed his story to say that he only called up there and did not actually see them. The children remaining inside were Maurice 14 , Martha 12, Louis 9, Jennie 8, and Betty 5.

According to accounts, Marion, ran to the neighbors house to call the fire department because their phone was not working. A driver on the nearby road had also seen the flames and called from a nearby tavern; they too were unsuccessful either because they could not reach the operator or because the phone there turned out to be broken. It was Christmas Eve and I’ve read that the police chief sent everyone home to their families. She couldn't get an answer so another neighbor went to find the fire chief and let him know what was happening.

While this was going on, George, who climbed an outside wall, barefoot, to get to the attic and Jennie tried desperately to save their other children. This is where some of the strange things happen. First off neither of the Sodders trucks would start, despite having worked perfectly during the previous day.. Then their ladder was found to be mysteriously missing. Because of the family not being able to get help from the neighbor and their trucks oddly not starting when they tried to leave to look for the fire chief, help didn't arrive until 8am, almost 7 hours later. The fire department is just 2 miles from the home. The fire department was low on manpower due to the war and relying on individual firefighters to call each other. Chief F.J. Morris said the next day that the already slow response was further hampered by his inability to drive the fire truck, requiring that he wait until someone who could drive was available. Because he was fucking drunk; partying at a local pub, celebrating Christmas Eve. Oh, and one of the firefighters was Jennie’s brother, their children’s uncle.

The fire was initially blamed on faulty wiring, even though the Sodders claim there had never been any kind of issues with the electrical wiring before. In fact, A visitor to the house, seeking work, went around to the back of the house and warned George that a pair of fuse boxes would "cause a fire someday." George was puzzled by the observation, since he had just had the house rewired when an electric stove was installed, and the local electric company had said afterwards it was safe.

During the investigation something happened that makes this case the crazy thing that we are talking about. 5 of the Sodder children allegedly perished in the fire but the body's were never found. The fire chief told them the fire had cremated the bodies. Jennie asked a crema...