There are a lot of mysterious places on Earth, which are called anomalous zones. One such place, located in northwest Canada, along the South Nahanni River, has a gloomy fame. This is the Valley of the Headless, where people die for unknown reasons.
The horror of the gold diggers
At first glance, this ominous valley is no different from many of the same canyons sandwiched between mountains. But these places became darkly famous when people flooded here during the gold rush at the end of the 19th century, wanting to get rich. Everyone dreamed of opening a gold mine and providing for themselves for life: teachers, tramps, clerks, workers … A lot of people rushed into the newly-minted Klondike with bags of gold diggers on their backs.
First disappearances
• 1898 - Six gold prospectors stumbled upon a canyon leading to the Valley. The Indians who bypassed these places warned that there, in a seemingly quiet valley, not everything was clean, but the prospectors did not listen to the warnings. They had weapons (revolvers and guns are the best medicine for superstition!), They were young and strong and were not afraid of dangers. In search of a gold mine, people left along the canyon - and disappeared. A few years later, by chance, other gold prospectors stumbled upon their skeletons: they were lying in arms with rifles near the washing trays. The heads lay separately.
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• The next in 1905 were William and Frank MacLeods and their companion named Robert Veer. People disappeared without a trace, as if they had never existed. And only after many years traces of those who came here for gold were discovered: their decapitated skeletons during all this time were kept in the valley earth.
According to the discovered jewelry and half-rotted clothes, it was assumed that these were the remains of the McLeod brothers. At the same time, they found out that the heads were separated from the body very carefully, animals could not do this. Meanwhile, several more decapitated skeletons were found. Most likely, these were the missing gold prospectors who left for the valley back in 1898.
It was at that time that these places received the name "Valley of the Headless Men".
• Swiss gold digger Martin Jorgenson went to try his luck in search of a gold mine. As it turned out later, he was even able to completely settle down there: he built a hut and began prospecting work. However, then the hut burned down along with the sleeping Swiss. 1915, September 28 - prospectors stumbled upon a burnt hut and a burnt skeleton of an unlucky gold miner. The head was missing.
However, despite the terrible find, the gold diggers did not stop storming the cursed place.
Chronicle of disappearances
• 1921 - D. Brian disappeared here, in 1922 - A. Hall. Ten years later, in 1932, F. Powerre fell victim to the valley, and in 1936 W. Eppler and J. Mulgelland disappeared here. In 1940, a gold digger named Homberg fell victim to a terrible place.
Almost always, after the disappearance of people, their bodies were found without heads. Sometimes the head lay next to the body or rested at the feet of the skeleton in the grave.
• It was only in 1962 that an expedition headed by the Canadian scientist B. Mackenzie was finally sent to the Valley of the Headless. Needless to say, the entire expedition, having reached the fateful place, also disappeared?
• 1951, October - 5 more daredevils went to the valley. They hired a plane to take them with their equipment to the valley. The prospectors' plans were to study the rock and establish landmarks in promising areas. In a few weeks the plane was to return for the miners. However, the plane did not return for gold diggers either on the appointed day, or on all subsequent ones. People stayed for the winter in the forest, without provisions and special equipment for wintering.
They boiled old skins and set traps for squirrels. The next year in the spring, a pilot flying over the valley saw an SOS signal trampled in the snow. 1960, May 4 - rescuers found 2 emaciated frostbitten people who managed to survive after a terrible winter, they were lying in a dilapidated hut. They were Dean Rosswarden and John Richardson. Two gold miners - Tony Pappas and Orville Web - were killed when they tried to travel 200 miles to the village of Nahanni Butte. Another, Alek Meiskonen, committed suicide in the third week of his hunger strike by blowing himself up with dynamite bombs.
The pilot of the paid plane, who was supposed to pick up the unlucky miners, at the trial insisted that he could not find any people or fires that would point to the runway when he returned for the gold diggers on the set date. Of course he was punished according to the law, although who knows, maybe he told the truth?
• 1965 - an expedition of 2 Swedes and one German decided to reveal the mystery of this place and added to the list of those who disappeared. A whole helicopter landing of 6 people landed on their search, two of whom also disappeared without a trace.
• The next time the expedition went to the Valley of the Headless only in 1978. It was headed by Dr. H. Mortimer. Of course, the expedition was well equipped, there was all the necessary equipment to maintain constant contact with the people who were in the base camp, set up near the Valley of the Headless.
On the evening of the first day, the operator heard the terrible screams of the expedition members and the words of the radio operator Ray Wilson: "Emptiness comes out of the rock, and it is terrible!.." After the cry of the radio operator, from whom the blood was cold in his veins, an alarm was announced. A helicopter with armed fighters on board was sent to the valley, but they did not manage to find any people or even traces of tents!
• 1980 - on the instructions of the German magazine Der Spiegel, three contract-hired former US servicemen with experience of survival in hard-to-reach areas went to the Valley of the Headless. The expedition was designed for a month, but after that time no one returned from the valley.
• The last expedition of scientists, which dates back to 1997, arrived in the Valley of the Headless accompanied by the military, having at its disposal armored wagons for life and armored transport. On the third day after the research began, an unusually thick fog was reported and the connection was cut. The rescuers who arrived could not find anything in the valley - neither people nor heavy equipment! To this day, no one can figure out what exactly is happening in these places: are there gates to a parallel world here, or are people abducted from the valley by aliens? As long as the secret remains a mystery …
Versions of disappearances
By that time, versions were already put forward that all people become victims of the Bigfoot living in the forests. From the chronicle of the mines in the Valley of the Headless, it is known that as early as 1884 a creature similar to a hairy giant man was seen in these forests. At different times, local residents and hunters have repeatedly seen a huge, almost 2-meter man and found his tracks.
Also accused were local Indians who allegedly guard access to treasures in this way. Six armed members of the expedition were ready to confront anyone, but not what caused their death …
It was rumored that in the Valley of the Headless a gang was hunting the gold miners, attacking them, killing and taking the mined gold. The bodies of the victims were decapitated, ostensibly in order to make identification difficult.