Episode 2 - Portlock Alaska: Killer Bigfoot
Portlock is an abandoned town in Port Chatham Bay on the Southern end of the Kenai Peninsula in
South central Alaska. It was named after British Royal Navy Captain Nathanial Portlock who landed there
in 1787.
The Aleut people had inhabited the area for centuries, and it’s known for its abundant salmon runs and
mineral resources including gold, chromium and copper.
A cannery was established around 1900 to take advantage of the fisheries. Also mining operations were
established in the area. As well as a US post office which was opened in 1921.
The first recorded reports of strange occurrences started in 1905. It was reported that all of the cannery
workers left their jobs due to something mysterious that was “bothering” the camp. The cannery
workers returned the next season, but unexplained events were continually reported.
In the 1920s, a man by the name of Albert Petka supposedly scared off a hairy creature with his dogs,
but not before receiving a fatal blow to the chest. According to the stories, Petka survived to explain
what happened, but died of his wounds soon after. There are also reports of prospectors and hunters
going missing frequently to the point that it became commonplace. Their bodies were allegedly found in
a creek as if their limbs had been ripped apart.
In 1931, a logger named Andrew Kamluk was out working when someone or something hit him over the
head with a huge piece of logging equipment. Something that was too large for a man to lift. His body
was found 10 feet from the piece of equipment, so it made no sense that he could have slipped and hit
his own head on it.
One group hunting a moose reported finding giant footprints also stalking the same animal. They arrived
at the site of a bloody battle and no moose was found. Only torn branches, blood, and footprints over
18 inches long headed from that spot up into the foggy mountains.
A local man named Tom Larsen went to chop wood for fish traps and saw something large and hairy on
the beach. He ran home to get his rifle and when he returned it was still there but now he could see it
was standing on two legs and just staring at him. Tom retreated and never explained why he didn’t fire
on it.
The local native population referred to the creature as Nantinaq. Which in their Alutiiq language means
half man, half beast.
Other villagers spoke of a woman in a long black dress with a pale face who would appear from the
cliffs. She would moan and scream, then disappear back into the cliff face.
Bodies that were recovered, having washed down the rivers into the lagoon, had strange wounds no
bear could make. The loss of these lives took a toll on the small community and fear set in. People
started to leave. With unexplained disappearances and murders, no one felt they could take a chance
and continue to live here.
The residents took off en masse in 1949, abandoning their houses, the chromium mine, the cannery, and
the school house to return to nearby Port Graham and Nanwelak.
Only the postmaster remained. After a year alone, the post office closed in 1950 and the last resident of
Portlock left town. Even the postmaster couldn’t continue on in this town. After over 50 years of
hauntings, murders, and disappearances the townspeople gave in and left.
People continued to return over the years for hunting expeditions. In 1968, a goat hunter reported
being chased by a creature while hunting in the area. In 1973, three hunters took shelter in Portlock
during a three day storm and claimed that each night something on two legs was walking around there
tent. In 1990, an Anchorage paramedic was called to aid a 70 year old native man and former Portlock
resident who had suffered a heart attack. While treating the man, he mentioned he had recently been
hunting in the Port Chatham area. When the old man heard this, he suddenly sat up, grabbed the medic
by his shirt and asked “Did it bother you? Did you see it?”
In 2018, Steven Major and Extreme Expeditions Northwest were the first Bigfoot research team to spend
a number of DAYS on the ground in Portlock. I emphasize DAYS because they spent their nights on a ship
in the bay and only went ashore during daylight hours. But they made a 90 minute documentary film
called “In Search of the Port Chatham Hairy Man” and they got some very interesting activity. They
didn’t get any spectacular evidence, but they got tree knocks, FLIR hits, tree peaking etc. Very typical
Bigfoot behavior, so I definitely believe there are Bigfoots in the area, and that could be very well be
what was responsible for some of the deaths back in the 30s and 40s.
So…fast forward to 2022 and The History Channel releases a new reality series with the salacious title
“Alaskan Killer Bigfoot”. The premise is that a group of Portlock descendants from Nanwelak go on a 40
day expedition to Portlock to see if the town can be resettled. Is Nantinaq still there, if the creature is
still there, can they make peace with it in order to make use of the resources for their people. A lot of
strange thing happen, lots of typical Bigfoot noises: howls, whoops, whistles and knocks. They find 18”
footprints. They capture a very strange thermal hit from a drone that looks like either a large bipedal
creature or a large bipedal production assistant running through the forest towards their camp, then
vanishing. They capture a pretty creepy EVP of a raspy growling sound that they didn’t hear with their
ears.
One of the expedition members straps a deer stand to a tree and sits in it at night. He hears what
sounds like chains being dragged around the woods close to him and something whisper in his ear.
In one episode, the “village elders” or more likely the History Channel producers send a psychic medium
out to the camp by helicopter. She “senses” something so negative that she becomes ill and is forced to
leave.
In another episode, well known Bigfoot expert Ron Moorehead is flown out to the camp by “the elders”.
He brings a speaker system and blasts some Bigfoot vocalizations out from the camp into the woods and
they do get responses.
Sometimes the show has a bit of a “Bagansie” type feel to it. When the crew is in a cabin and hearing
footsteps outside and banging on the walls, there’s a camera in the woods filming back towards the
cabin which makes you wonder if there’s really something attacking the cabin, why isn’t it on that guy’s
camera? Why isn’t Nantinaq eating this lone camera guy off in the woods alone? It’s very over
dramatized, and the most frustrating thing about it is every time they’re in the woods and activity starts
