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Speaker 1: Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClane Smith, where

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Speaker 1: for the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories

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Speaker 1: and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make

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Speaker 1: it into the previous show. In our last episode, Lost

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Speaker 1: in Stormy Visions, we cast our eye over the epic

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Speaker 1: tale of the lost Colony of Roanoke. Having only had

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Speaker 1: a loose understanding of the story before researching it, I

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Speaker 1: was staggered by its sheer scale and how wide and

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Speaker 1: deep the connections were with many major events of the age.

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Speaker 1: It is unfortunate too that so little was known about

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Speaker 1: the lives of the undeniably brave individuals, regardless of how

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Speaker 1: we might measure the consequences of their actions, who made

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Speaker 1: the journey in the first place. It's worth noting too

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Speaker 1: that though this is often referred to as America's Mystery,

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Speaker 1: from the perspective of the people and communities already existing there,

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Speaker 1: it was anything but. I find the notion of entire

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Speaker 1: vanishing communities or mass events such as this endlessly compelling.

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Speaker 1: One such story that's always fascinated me is the mystery

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Speaker 1: of Scara Bray in Orkney, Scotland. It was during the

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Speaker 1: winter of eighteen fifty that a severe storm ripped into

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Speaker 1: the Bay of Skylee on the west coast of the

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Speaker 1: island's mainland, tearing at a large and unusual grassy knoll

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Speaker 1: known locally as Scara Bra, which overlooked the coast. When

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Speaker 1: the storm finally cleared one morning, the local villagers woke

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Speaker 1: up to discover the knoll had been completely removed, and

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Speaker 1: in its place, the outline of an ancient village was

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Speaker 1: discovered buried in the earth when the site was eventually excavated.

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Speaker 1: The settlement, which dated to around three thousand to five

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Speaker 1: hundred BC, was unusually modern and well preserved for its time,

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Speaker 1: with the site being littered with various enigmatic ornaments and

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Speaker 1: decorative features, as well as ancient pottery. It was as

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Speaker 1: if its inhabitants were not only strangely advanced for the time,

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Speaker 1: but had just decided one day to up and leave.

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Speaker 1: That much of the island is home to ancient mystical

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Speaker 1: architecture only added further to the mystery. More often than not,

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Speaker 1: if we dig deep enough, we tend to find, if

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Speaker 1: not the answer, then at the very least a number

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Speaker 1: of credible possibilities to explain such disappearances. There is one story, however,

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Speaker 1: that has so far proved a little harder to fathom.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty, Joe la Belle was an experienced fur

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Speaker 1: trapper who worked in what was then known by some

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Speaker 1: as the more than Territories of Canada, in a region

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Speaker 1: often referred to as the barren Lands. In winter, these

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Speaker 1: barren lands would be little but snow and ice for

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Speaker 1: hundreds of miles, with occasional tufts of barren rock peppering

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Speaker 1: the crisp white landscape. During the trapping season, LaBelle could

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Speaker 1: often go for weeks at a time, dragging himself and

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Speaker 1: his wares across the barren lands without ever seeing another person.

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Speaker 1: In the more sparsely populated regions, LaBelle was grateful for

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Speaker 1: the hospitality of a number of local Inuit communities which

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Speaker 1: he had befriended over the years. One such community had,

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Speaker 1: for a significant time been camped on the shores of

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Speaker 1: Lake and Jucuni, located about five hundred miles north of

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Speaker 1: the Port of Churchill in Hudson Bay. It was one

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Speaker 1: afternoon in November nineteen thirty LaBelle, having been paddling across

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Speaker 1: the lake for some time, decided to make his way

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Speaker 1: toward the settlement to check in with the people there.

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Speaker 1: From a distance, things already seemed a little odd. There

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Speaker 1: was no sign of campfire or any movement from the

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Speaker 1: twenty strong community, nor the animals which they kept there.

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Speaker 1: Nearing the shores of the camp, LaBelle cried out at greeting,

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Speaker 1: only to be met with a deathly silence. Paddling all

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Speaker 1: the way to the shore, LaBelle hauled his canoe onto

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Speaker 1: the ice. Hearing something padding toward him, he turned sharply

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Speaker 1: to see two lethargic and emaciated husky dogs slowly making

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Speaker 1: their way toward him. Clearly they hadn't eaten in days.

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Speaker 1: Calling out again, the concerned LaBelle wandered into the camp,

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Speaker 1: finding the dead bodies of the seven other dogs, barely

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Speaker 1: more than bones, lying frozen in the snow. There were

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Speaker 1: six tents in total, all made of caribou skin and

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Speaker 1: perfectly preserved with no signs of damage. Standing for a

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Speaker 1: moment to try and comprehend the scene, LaBelle moved nervously

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Speaker 1: toward one of the tents, after calling out one more time,

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Speaker 1: still to no reply. He braced himself before pulling back

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Speaker 1: the flap and ducking inside, Having been half expecting to

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Speaker 1: find a rotting corpse or perhaps something even worse. He

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Speaker 1: was somewhat relieved to find the home completely vacant. His discovery, however,

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Speaker 1: only added more fuel to the mystery. Are you always

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Speaker 1: taking care of your family? Do you often take care

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Speaker 1: of others and not yourself? Now it's time to take

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Speaker 1: care of yourself. To make time for you. You deserve it.

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Speaker 1: Tele Adoc gives you access to a licensed therapist to

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Speaker 1: help you get back to feeling your best to feeling

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Speaker 1: like yourself again. With teledoc, you can speak to a

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Speaker 1: licensed therapist by phone or video. Therapy appointments are available

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Speaker 1: seven days a week from seven am to nine pm

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Speaker 1: local time. If you feel overwhelmed sometimes maybe you feel

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Speaker 1: stressed or anxious, depressed or lonely, or you might be

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Speaker 1: make it easy to change counselors if needed. For free.

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Speaker 1: Teledoc therapy is available through most insurance or employers. Download

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Speaker 1: the app or visit teledoc dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained

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Speaker 1: Podcast Today to get started that's teladoc dot com slash

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Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast. Parker coats made from deer hides were piled

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Speaker 1: up on the floor next to a number of pairs

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Speaker 1: of boots. A black iron pot, still a little greasy

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Speaker 1: from the last time it had been used, was positioned

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Speaker 1: to the side, surrounded by fish and deer bones. It

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Speaker 1: was as if the owners had merely gone out to

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Speaker 1: run an errand but never come back. Pulling up the jackets,

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Speaker 1: LaBelle also found a badly rusted rifle underneath. Considering this

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Speaker 1: and the starving dogs outside, it was clear the occupants

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Speaker 1: had been gone for some time. Moving from one tent

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Speaker 1: to the next as the two skeletal dogs shadowed his

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Speaker 1: every move, LaBelle found them all to be in exactly

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Speaker 1: the same state, each full of bedding, skins and furs

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Speaker 1: and cooking utensils. As he went, LaBelle pondered on what

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Speaker 1: could possibly have happened. Perhaps they had all ventured out

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Speaker 1: on a hunting trip, he thought, but had been unexpectedly

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Speaker 1: caught up in a lethal shift in the weather. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't unheard of, but certainly unlikely considering the Inuit's experience

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Speaker 1: with such matters and how unlikely it would be for

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Speaker 1: the entire village to have gone out together, nor were

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Speaker 1: they likely to have simply moved camp or joined another settlement,

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Speaker 1: since there was simply no way they would have left

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Speaker 1: all their possessions behind in the process. Then, in the

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Speaker 1: final tent, Lebelle found something else, an Inuit charm placed

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Speaker 1: just inside it, a device to ward off evil spirits,

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Speaker 1: and one in particular that the Inuit were most wary of,

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Speaker 1: an entity known as a torn rack, who was often

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Speaker 1: blamed for causing terrible events. Le Belle knew this spirit

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Speaker 1: to be something monstrous, with a grotesque face and two

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Speaker 1: long tusks sticking up from its nose, though he wasn't

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Speaker 1: the superstitious kind. As he stood outside moments later, surrounded

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Speaker 1: by the stillness of the tundra, as a quiet breeze

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Speaker 1: slipped through the village, it was hard to resist the

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Speaker 1: sense of unease steadily intensifying inside him. LaBelle wandered down

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Speaker 1: to the edge of the lake and gazed over its

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Speaker 1: mirrored surface. Could they have drowned? He thought? It seemed

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Speaker 1: ludicrous to think so, considering their skill on the water.

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Speaker 1: Unless they had been forced to take some kind of

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Speaker 1: drastic action, but LaBelle dismissed this idea too. Turning back,

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Speaker 1: he noticed something he hadn't picked up on before, a

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Speaker 1: pile of stones scattered about just behind the village. Having

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Speaker 1: swiftly made his way over to it, LaBelle realized it

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Speaker 1: was a cairn of some sort, the remnants of a

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Speaker 1: traditional grave site. What didn't make any sense, however, was

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Speaker 1: that the grave was open and whatever had been buried

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Speaker 1: in it was now gone. Hearing the wine of the

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Speaker 1: dogs behind him, LaBelle stayed on to catch them a

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Speaker 1: few fish before eventually deciding to head back out. Throughout

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Speaker 1: the rest of the trapping season, LaBelle would encounter a

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Speaker 1: host of other Inuit communities, but none had any idea

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Speaker 1: as to what could have happened to the missing villagers.

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Speaker 1: All muttered something about the torn rack. Some have speculated

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Speaker 1: that this event never actually took place, but was instead

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Speaker 1: concocted from the imagination of writer Frank Edwards, who included

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Speaker 1: an account of it in his nineteen fifty nine collection

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Speaker 1: of stories Stranger than Science. Recently, however, the truth became

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Speaker 1: a little less clear when an earlier account of the

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Speaker 1: story was actually traced back to a November twenty seventh,

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Speaker 1: nineteen thirty article that appeared in The Bee, a Virginian

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Speaker 1: newspaper from the town of Danville in the United States.

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Speaker 1: The article, written by one Emmett Kelleher, also goes on

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Speaker 1: to mention a few other details. At the first opportunity,

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Speaker 1: le Belle is said to have contacted the Royal Northwest

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Speaker 1: Mounted Police, who Julie began an investigation of the case.

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Speaker 1: A short time later, an unknown ten year old boy

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Speaker 1: was said to have arrived out of the blue at

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Speaker 1: a settlement a hundred and fifty miles to the north

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Speaker 1: of the abandoned camp. When quizzed by police, the boy

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Speaker 1: was apparently unwilling to say exactly where he'd come from.

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Speaker 1: Not long after that, a man named Salmec entered a

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Speaker 1: hospital located somewhere along the Hudson Bay Railway line, suffering

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Speaker 1: from severe frostbite on both his legs. Since the man

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Speaker 1: didn't speak English, doctors were forced to wait until a

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Speaker 1: translator it could be found to find out what exactly

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Speaker 1: had occurred. However, when they finally located one Salmac refused

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Speaker 1: to talk to them, repeating only that same familiar word

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Speaker 1: torn rack. I'd like to thank Scott Bathgate for recommending

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Speaker 1: this story. If you enjoy listening to Unexplained and would

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Speaker 1: like to help supporters, you can now go to Unexplained

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Speaker 1: Podcast dot com Forward Slash Support. All donations, no matter

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Speaker 1: how large or small, are massively appreciated. All elements have

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Speaker 1: Unexplained are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe

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Speaker 1: and rate the show on iTunes, and feel free to

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Speaker 1: get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the

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Speaker 1: stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an

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Speaker 1: explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can

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Speaker 1: reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com, or Twitter

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Speaker 1: at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com. Forward

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Speaker 1: Slash Unexplained Now. It's time to take care of yourself.

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Speaker 1: To make time for you, teledoc gives you access to

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Speaker 1: a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling

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