The mystery of the disappearance of the inhabitants of the Eskimo village of Angikuni still excites the minds of people interested in the secrets of our planet, although more than 80 years have passed since then. To this day, no rational explanation has been found for this incomprehensible phenomenon.
Lake Angikuni
This event took place on November 12, 1930. Canadian hunter Joe Labelle traded fur on the shores of Lake Angikuni. The lake has long been famous for its rich fishing, trout and pike were abundant in it. And in the surrounding forests there were many fur-bearing animals. This is why this remote and rugged terrain attracted hunters and fishermen.
However, not everyone dared to go there for prey - ominous legends circulated about this area since ancient times. Old-timers said that evil spirits live on the lake, which from time to time remind of themselves to local residents.
But the twentieth century was in the yard, legends were a thing of the past, and life went on as usual, and the most enduring of the hunters made their way to this remote corner of Canada. Among them was Joe Labelle, who more than once returned from the lake with rich booty.
He knew the surroundings well and always stopped to rest and warm up in the local fishing village, which, like the lake, was called Angikuni, before the return trip. The local people of the Inuit tribe (this ethnic group is part of the larger Eskimo group) were very friendly and hospitable. They were always ready to feed and warm the traveler.
Eskimo family. Photo of 1917
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November turned out to be very frosty that year, the hunter was very tired and cold. With the last of his strength, he skied along a familiar road. On the outskirts of the village, he shouted a greeting from a distance, notifying the fishermen of his arrival. Imagine his surprise when he did not hear in response not only human voices, but even a dog's barking.
Labelle made his way to the village with difficulty and entered the first house he came across. The stove was kindled, on the table was a kettle with a still warm stew of meat. But there was no one in the house, and there were no dogs in the yard. The hunter went into a neighboring house, then another one, and another …
He walked around the whole village, but everywhere there was the same strange picture - not a soul, but the feeling that people had just left their homes just before his arrival. And they left in a hurry, abandoning business. Somewhere on the hearth, supper was being prepared, somewhere untouched food was on the table, in other houses the work begun - the preparation of skins, the cut fur jacket - was abandoned.
But the strangest thing was that when leaving their homes, people did not take with them any weapons, nor warm clothes, nor a supply of food. Indeed, in these harsh lands, no one ever left the house light. The second inexplicable detail was that there was not a single trace of people around the houses. But the tracks had to be clearly imprinted on the snow.
The hunter, despite his deadly fatigue, was so amazed by what he saw that he did not stop in the abandoned village. The sight of the suddenly and mysteriously deserted settlement was shocking. The horror gave the hunter strength, and he was able to make a journey several miles long to the nearest post office. On reaching the telegraph office, Labelle reported the unexplained incident to the Canadian police.
A few hours later, a detachment of mounted police reached the village of Angikuni. On the way, they were joined by three more hunters who happened to be near the lake. Admand Laurent and his two sons, having heard from the police about the incident, said that they had witnessed a strange phenomenon the day before.
Two days ago, while parking, they noticed an unprecedented luminous object in the sky, which was slowly moving towards Lake Angikuni. It changed shape, I take the form of a cylinder, then a pointed spindle. The hunters assured that the luminous object was not like anything they had seen before - it could not have been the northern lights, or a cloud, or any other atmospheric phenomenon characteristic of these places.
Photos of these Eskimos are often published in articles about the mystery of Lake Angikuni. Although they have nothing to do with the missing village itself, they are just ordinary Eskimos of those years.
The police officers who arrived at the scene carefully examined the village. They discovered a few more strange and ominous details that escaped the attention of the exhausted and terrified Joe Labelle. The local cemetery at the edge of the settlement was destroyed.
Without exception, all graves were dug, and the bodies of the buried disappeared. This could not have been the work of local residents - the Inuit treated their dead in awe, and disturbing the peace of the cemetery was an ancient taboo. But this ruin could not be done by animals either - the graves were dug carefully, the burial stones were stacked in even rows.
Another shocking find was waiting for the police a hundred meters from the village. They found corpses of sled dogs under the snow, which, according to preliminary examination, starved to death. It seemed incredible. After all, the abandoned houses were full of food supplies. And the Eskimos have always considered sled dogs their main wealth, and would rather starve themselves than let them starve to death.
This inexplicable story became a sensation of the year, newspapers all over the world vied with each other to put forward more and more new versions of what happened. The official version of the Canadian police did not suit anyone. She said that the Inuit tribe, guided by some of their practical or religious ideas, decided to move to another camp.
But this did not explain any of the mysteries of the disappearance of people. Why didn't they take things, weapons, food? Why did they let the dogs die? Why are there no traces left?
No one could offer a rational explanation for this riddle. The most common hypothesis was the opinion about the abduction of the Inuit by aliens. As implausible as it may sound, but only such a hypothesis made ends meet. And only she could link the disappearance of people with the appearance on the eve of a strange flying object that no one had ever seen in this area, either before or after the mysterious incident.