Disappearing Town

[Frylock]

When I was a kid--maybe fifteen years ago or so--I read in an "amazing facts" book that there was a small town sometime in the last century which mysteriously disappeared. More specifically, it's people disappeared. The buildings and furniture etc. were left intact. The book claimed that ovens and stoves were still on, as though people had left in a big hurry, or even simply vanished. (ooooooo...) The book reported that no one ever figured out where all the people went.

I think the town was in Alaska.

Anyone know whether there was some truth behind what this book was saying?

-FrL-

[Johnny Hildo]

You're probably referring to the story which can be found here, (http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa061101b.htm) among other places.


In November, 1930, a fur trapper named Joe Labelle made his way on snow shoes to an Eskimo village on the shores of Lake Anjikuni in northern Canada. Labelle was familiar with the village, which he knew as a thriving fishing community of about 2,000 residents. When he arrived, however, the village was deserted. All of the huts and storehouses were vacant. He found one smoldering fire on which there was a pot of blackened stew. Labelle notified the authorities and an investigation was begun, and which turned up some bizarre findings: no footprints of any of the residents were found, if they had vacated the village; all of the Eskimos' sled dogs were found buried under a 12-foot-high snow drift - they had all starved to death; all of the Eskimos' food and provisions were found undisturbed in their huts. And there was one last unnerving discovery: the Eskimos' ancestral graves had been emptied.

Makes for a creepy story, but the Mounties say it never happened. (http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/history/anjikuni_e.htm)

[ASAKMOTSD]

Only on SMDB could one get cites both confirming and refuting the same story in the same response. 'Tis a wonderful place...

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

Earlier thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=262098)