(ORDO NEWS) — The Northwest Territories of Canada is truly one of the last truly wild places on Earth. However, one of its special national parks called the Nahanni Valley is a bit wilder than most.
It is home to some strange myths and mysteries and boasts a scary reputation as a haunted and deadly place.
This remote wild valley is not only inhospitable due to rugged terrain, extreme weather conditions and predators, but also deadly due to some unexplained circumstances.
For decades, many unfortunate travelers and explorers have gone missing or found themselves dead and decapitated.
The number of headless bodies found in the Nahanni Valley has given it the nickname “Valley of the Headless People“. What is the explanation for this riddle?
Valley of the Headless People and the last unexplored places in the world
Many say that the Nahanni Valley is one of the last truly unexplored places in the world.
Located in the rugged Northwest Territories of Canada, more than 500 kilometers (311 miles) from the nearest city of Yellowknife, it is one of those corners of nature that have survived despite the active expansion of mankind.
Getting to Nahanni can be tricky – if you find a reason to travel inside at all. It is difficult to get to and the best routes are by air, water or land from the abandoned village of Tungsten.
The valley is located above the 60th parallel north, which puts it on a par with the rest of the “wild territories” of Canada.
There are few cities and civilizations in the north, and survival in the wild can be difficult and even deadly for an inexperienced traveler.
Due to its amazing natural beauty, unique geography, features and richness of flora and fauna, the Nahanni Valley was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.
In fact, it was one of the first four natural heritage sites to receive this status. But this high proclamation did not provide her with a flurry of visitors.
Due to its remoteness, the Nahanni Valley remained virtually untouched for centuries.
It is home to a wide variety of animal species, many of which are predators. Large grizzly bears and timber wolves are the main predators here, and people are rarely seen in this nature.
Historically, the lands around the Nahanni Valley have been home to the indigenous Dene tribes who have lived here for many centuries.
However, it seems that they never lived precisely along the Nahanni River and its tributaries, from which the Nahanni valley takes its name.
Their oral histories, handed down from generation to generation, say that another tribe lived here, which was called Naha.
A tribe of cannibal warriors that mysteriously disappeared
The Dene are told that the Naha were a warlike tribe that lived in the high mountains and descended into the lowlands to raid and kill.
They became the main enemies of the Dene peoples and were very afraid of them. The name Nahanni itself is of Denesian origin and means “river of the land of the Nakha people”.
These oral traditions and the name itself are very important, as they are irrefutable evidence that another indigenous tribe once lived here.
However, the Dene claim that the Naha people simply disappeared at one fine moment, stopping their raids and disappearing altogether. Mystery surrounds these so-called Naha, but no trace of them has ever been found.
Until now, they are found only in legends. Could they have migrated elsewhere, succumbed to disease, died out, or simply remained in the Nahanni Valley to this day, hiding in plain sight? Some speculate that this may be the case.
Most likely, this secret would quickly fade away, becoming another legendary story of the indigenous tribe.
But several horrific deaths and disappearances in the Nahanni Valley backfired – the mysteries surrounding the place only flared up even more, and Nahanni became the focus of many mystery hunters.
And most of them focused on a special place in the valley – the so-called “200 Mile Gorge”. The indigenous people of Dene say that an unknown evil lives there, and few people go there.
Especially because of the events that took place there. After all, it was the gorge of 200 miles that received the terrible epithet “Valley of the Headless People.”
The origin of this terrible nickname can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century, during the famous “Klondike Gold Rush”.
At that time, many potential prospectors wanted to try their luck and go to the remote Canadian wilderness, especially the Yukon.
It was known that its rivers and soils contained gold, and those who were lucky enough to “hit the gold” could quickly earn a treasure.
Two of these miners decided to abandon the traditional routes and locations leading to the Yukon and try their luck in the Nahanni Valley.
They were two half-brothers, Willy and Frank McLeod. In 1906, they canoed up the river to the Nahanni Valley, and this was the last time they were seen alive.
In 1908, two years later, a search party found their skeletons in the remains of the camp. Both were headless.
They seemed to be asleep when they were attacked: the body of one of the brothers was lying with his hand extended towards the weapon, indicating the need for protection. The third person, their companion named Weir, was absent.
Headless bodies and burnt houses: Who is to blame?
From that moment on, the mysteries became deeper and deeper. Who could behead – so ruthlessly – two peaceful miners? And what happened to their heads?
Rumors began to spread and many wild theories were put forward.
Some said that the warring prospectors killed each other, others attributed the death to wild animals, and still others said that the inhospitable warlike natives left headless corpses as a warning to other intruders.
Theories hovered in the air until another corpse was discovered in 1917. It turned out to be a Swiss prospector named Martin Jorgenson. His body was found decapitated next to the remains of his hut.
She was burned to the ground. It is assumed that he found gold in the vicinity, about which he wrote home, after which he was beheaded.
An article from the February 15, 1947 issue of the Deseret News entitled “The Myths of the Headless Valley Dispelled” delves into an attempt to demystify and find logic in the murders.
Most of the content of the article is not supported by facts and is just guesswork. It claims that Jorgenson and the Macleod brothers were killed for the gold they found. No evidence of this has ever been found.
In 1927, another body was discovered in Nahanni, belonging to a man nicknamed “Yukon” Fisher. This man, who was called either a criminal or a prospector, was wanted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for several years before his death.
Police officers found his skeleton on the banks of Bennet Creek, not far from the place where the bodies of the McLeod brothers were found in 1908.
His death has never been fully explained, nor the fact that he was known to have a substantial amount of gold nuggets with which he bought goods at the frontier.
People disappeared without a trace
Then, in 1931, another body was found. This time it was Phil Powers. His charred remains were found in the ashes at the site of his hut.
The RCMP was quick to attribute his death to a “faulty chimney”, but this explanation has been repeatedly debunked by various sources.
Phil Powers, for that matter, was most likely killed and his cabin set on fire. Many others simply vanished without a trace in the wilds of the Nahanni Valley.
In 1928, a prospector named Angus Hall went ahead of his group and was never seen again. Another pair of prospectors, Joe Mullholland and Bill Epier, disappeared in 1936.
For many years they were searched for, but never found. The only thing that was found was their hut, burned to the ground.
A woman named Annie Laferte also went missing in Nahanni. In 1926, with her hunting unit, she was in the valley near the Flat River, but got lost in the wilderness and disappeared.
Many months later, an Indian named Big Charlie claimed to have seen this woman climbing a hill completely naked and apparently out of her mind.
She became another of the many victims of the wild Nahanni Valley. The Nahanni Valley was so inhospitable that even in the 1920s it remained unexplored.
Almost nothing was visible on the maps of the region, except for two straight lines denoting the two main rivers – Nahanni and Flat. It took decades for an accurate map to be created.
Of course, over the years many sources have tried to discredit these mysteries.
To this end, some argue that the “original” headless corpses – the MacLeod brothers – were not actually headless, but were identified by the remnants of hair on the skulls.
However, there is no evidence for any of these theories. In many ways, this can be explained by the remoteness of the event – 1908.
But discredited or not, the deaths continued to pile up in the Nahanni Valley. In 1945, an Ontario miner whose name is now lost was found dead, still in his sleeping bag. His head, however, was never found.
Around the same time, another trapper died in the inhospitable wilderness. It was John O’Brien, found frozen by the fire, his stiff hands still clutching the match. His death was clearly caused by freezing.
Great and merciless expanse of harsh wilderness
And it’s true – Nahanni Valley is really inhospitable in winter. With freezing cold and ferocious timber wolves, this nature can take the lives of the most seasoned outdoor enthusiasts.
But during the warmer months, this valley turns into a truly unique environment. So much so that many call it “tropical”.
It can turn into a real oasis, warm and lush with vegetation. You can even swim in streams and rivers without fear of the cold. And all this thanks to the hot sulfur springs that can be found here.
Hot springs are located under the valley and give it an additional portion of mystery. Sulfur often fills the air with a strange smell.
What’s more, the combination of hot sulphurous air and colder arctic air above creates a thick and mysterious fog that often covers the entire Nahanni Valley, hiding it from view and creating an eerie, otherworldly atmosphere.
This has given rise to tales of a mysterious “tropical valley” that exists somewhere within the (huge) Nahanni Valley. While it’s possible that the collision of hot, sulfuric air and a cold arctic climate could create a unique environment, the tropical valley still seems far-fetched.
However, the legends continue to grow. Scientists – the few who have ever set foot in the valley – have discovered numerous remains of prehistoric animals, mostly bones of mastodons (mammoths) and ancient “bear dogs”. In this regard, many argue that these animals still live in the deepest and most remote corners of Nahanni.
It is said that trappers saw fresh footprints of prehistoric mammals and brought back huge ivory tusks, on which the flesh and hair are still visible.
Other stories say that many of the Dene elders who lived in the area could accurately, as if from memory, draw images of mastodons. Another common story tells of prehistoric “bear dogs” (Amphicyonidae) that still roam the valley today.
Lost Valley where mastodons still roam free
After all, no one can say for sure what is going on in the mysterious Nahanni Valley. Since 1908, up to 44 people have died or disappeared in it – and this is a terribly large number for one, albeit huge, valley.
A host of strange facts contribute to a widespread sense of mystery: the natives of Dene have avoided the valley for centuries, claiming that it is haunted by evil ghosts.
Others claim that the Nahanni valley is the entrance to the so-called “hollow earth”. Indeed, the valley is dotted with underground caves – there are about 250 of them – and many of them remain unexplored. However, we are quite sure that the belly of the Earth is hotter than hollow.
However, Nahanni remains a veiled mystery. Could it be that the territorial Naha tribes – who have not disappeared anywhere – have claimed all these lives in an effort to protect their last natural refuge? Or did the harsh and inhospitable wilderness of distant Canada simply claim those lives?
However, the harsh nature cannot decapitate the corpses and burn the huts. And so the mystery remains a mystery.
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