On the face of the planet we call earth are areas of inexplicable anxiety for human beings that even repel natural organisms that might be indigenous to the region. These areas may or may not overlap into Ivan T. Sanderson’s Devil’s Triangles or David Paulides’s “Cluster Zones” where unexplained disappearances seem to be concentrated occurrences. These areas seem to products of human superstition, folklore, or fear caused by misreported events. None the less, there is convincing evidence that it all adds up to more than just human imagination.

No logical answers

Wherever there seems to be an inexplicably high loss of life, wherever these occurrences go unanswered for a long length of time, foreboding conclusions tend to be drawn. The statistics begin to mount, and over time a defined “Zone of Fear” manifests itself, not only in the minds of those who fear the unknown, but in stories that emerge. Port lock an abandoned community in the Port Chatham area is one of those Zones of Fear that seem to be borne out of actual events! Named after an English explorer who discovered the area, Port Chatham was once the home of a thriving cannery and timber hauling industry that came to a grinding halt due to a pervading fear that paralyzed the community and eventually drove the people out!

Tribes who knew

Local Indian tribes have a name for the alleged predator that lurks in the dense woods of the area. “Nantinaq” translated as “Hairy Man”. We might call the same cryptid “Big Foot”, “Sasquatch”, or “Yowie, among other native American descriptions. Interesting to note that almost every Indian tribe in America from the Choctaws to the Comanche have their own term for the seemingly unknown primate closely related to man, but still a mystery to science. So, if there are such nicknames used by different tribes all over the world, does this mean that man is simply superstitious and manufactures these sightings in his imagination or do the stories of mining teams being driven from work sites by Big Foot creatures they are forced to shoot at in places like Ape Canyon merely hair raising tales?

Fear dissolves a town

Portlock, a community that existed from the late 1800’s into the early 1950’s was at one time, a flourishing village that slowly succumbed to the fear associated with several horrible murders as local residents were discovered brutally disfigured in ways that did not indicate predation from bears or cougars in the area. By the mid 1930’s more than 36 locals fell victim to assaults that were attributed to the legendary Nantinaq! Having a post office, a saw mill, a fish cannery, and general store among other small businesses, gradually sheer paranoia began to take over. Residents would begin to follow strict routines intended to protect them from being murdered by the Nantinaq.

Living in terror

People heavily armed themselves with rifles, refused to go out in the darkness of the night or even the mist during daytime. Children especially, were kept indoors whenever possible. Yet, the inexplicable murders continued. It is interesting to note that Totem Poles fashioned by the Northern Pacific tribes depict Sasquatch in their carvings. Oher tribes have handed down tales of battles with large, powerful, upright walking hairy men, who have abducted the women and children while the men were out hunting during the day which caused a vendetta to emerge between the Indians and the Sasquatch ending in deadly confrontations. In one such event the Sasquatch were tracked all the way to a cave they occupied during the day. The Indian warriors built a fire at the mouth of the cave entrance to smoke their adversaries out and then killed them with arrows and spears! You can see why that most of the time Sasquatch, Big Foot, Grassman, or whoever these cryptids might be, choose to remain hidden or rarely seen.

The last of the stubborn resistance

There was a ravine where several bodies were found horribly mutilated in Portlock. In another incident, a man was crushed to death by a piece of heavy machinery that was apparently thrown on top of him! Many of the victims would be hunters who had chosen to venture a distance out from Portlock into the wilderness to bring back game such as deer to survive on. Unfortunately, they would be discovered dead by local residents when search parties went out to locate them. The last known residents abandoned what was left of the community by the mid 1950’s tired of remaining in a state of constant alert. Reports that the last people sought to protect themselves in the post office before finally withdrawing from their nightmare existence. Of course, there will be those who attribute Port Lock’s abandonment to its remoteness and economic conditions, but the terrifying stories remain.

Where the unknown persists

Portlock has its similarities to other related zones of fear and for good reason when the mysterious village of Roanoke has never been solved where more than a hundred settlers disappeared without a trace, known cause, or culprits discovered. Dudley Town a colonial settlement where insanity, disappearances, and ghostly activity drove the people away is part of the “Bennington Triangle” as one reporter called it, where people vanish inexplicably. As bizarre as it seems rational men and women who will fight the elements in order to survive each and every day find themselves driven to the very limits of their wits and courage when the unknown intrudes and refuses to go away!