Speaker 1: Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClane Smith, where
Speaker 1: for the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories
Speaker 1: and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make
Speaker 1: it into the previous show. In our last episode, Lost
Speaker 1: in Stormy Visions, we cast our eye over the epic
Speaker 1: tale of the lost Colony of Roanoke. Having only had
Speaker 1: a loose understanding of the story before researching it, I
Speaker 1: was staggered by its sheer scale and how wide and
Speaker 1: deep the connections were with many major events of the age.
Speaker 1: It is unfortunate too that so little was known about
Speaker 1: the lives of the undeniably brave individuals, regardless of how
Speaker 1: we might measure the consequences of their actions, who made
Speaker 1: the journey in the first place. It's worth noting too
Speaker 1: that though this is often referred to as America's Mystery,
Speaker 1: from the perspective of the people and communities already existing there,
Speaker 1: it was anything but. I find the notion of entire
Speaker 1: vanishing communities or mass events such as this endlessly compelling.
Speaker 1: One such story that's always fascinated me is the mystery
Speaker 1: of Scara Bray in Orkney, Scotland. It was during the
Speaker 1: winter of eighteen fifty that a severe storm ripped into
Speaker 1: the Bay of Skylee on the west coast of the
Speaker 1: island's mainland, tearing at a large and unusual grassy knoll
Speaker 1: known locally as Scara Bra, which overlooked the coast. When
Speaker 1: the storm finally cleared one morning, the local villagers woke
Speaker 1: up to discover the knoll had been completely removed, and
Speaker 1: in its place, the outline of an ancient village was
Speaker 1: discovered buried in the earth when the site was eventually excavated.
Speaker 1: The settlement, which dated to around three thousand to five
Speaker 1: hundred BC, was unusually modern and well preserved for its time,
Speaker 1: with the site being littered with various enigmatic ornaments and
Speaker 1: decorative features, as well as ancient pottery. It was as
Speaker 1: if its inhabitants were not only strangely advanced for the time,
Speaker 1: but had just decided one day to up and leave.
Speaker 1: That much of the island is home to ancient mystical
Speaker 1: architecture only added further to the mystery. More often than not,
Speaker 1: if we dig deep enough, we tend to find, if
Speaker 1: not the answer, then at the very least a number
Speaker 1: of credible possibilities to explain such disappearances. There is one story, however,
Speaker 1: that has so far proved a little harder to fathom.
Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty, Joe la Belle was an experienced fur
Speaker 1: trapper who worked in what was then known by some
Speaker 1: as the more than Territories of Canada, in a region
Speaker 1: often referred to as the barren Lands. In winter, these
Speaker 1: barren lands would be little but snow and ice for
Speaker 1: hundreds of miles, with occasional tufts of barren rock peppering
Speaker 1: the crisp white landscape. During the trapping season, LaBelle could
Speaker 1: often go for weeks at a time, dragging himself and
Speaker 1: his wares across the barren lands without ever seeing another person.
Speaker 1: In the more sparsely populated regions, LaBelle was grateful for
Speaker 1: the hospitality of a number of local Inuit communities which
Speaker 1: he had befriended over the years. One such community had,
Speaker 1: for a significant time been camped on the shores of
Speaker 1: Lake and Jucuni, located about five hundred miles north of
Speaker 1: the Port of Churchill in Hudson Bay. It was one
Speaker 1: afternoon in November nineteen thirty LaBelle, having been paddling across
Speaker 1: the lake for some time, decided to make his way
Speaker 1: toward the settlement to check in with the people there.
Speaker 1: From a distance, things already seemed a little odd. There
Speaker 1: was no sign of campfire or any movement from the
Speaker 1: twenty strong community, nor the animals which they kept there.
Speaker 1: Nearing the shores of the camp, LaBelle cried out at greeting,
Speaker 1: only to be met with a deathly silence. Paddling all
Speaker 1: the way to the shore, LaBelle hauled his canoe onto
Speaker 1: the ice. Hearing something padding toward him, he turned sharply
Speaker 1: to see two lethargic and emaciated husky dogs slowly making
Speaker 1: their way toward him. Clearly they hadn't eaten in days.
Speaker 1: Calling out again, the concerned LaBelle wandered into the camp,
Speaker 1: finding the dead bodies of the seven other dogs, barely
Speaker 1: more than bones, lying frozen in the snow. There were
Speaker 1: six tents in total, all made of caribou skin and
Speaker 1: perfectly preserved with no signs of damage. Standing for a
Speaker 1: moment to try and comprehend the scene, LaBelle moved nervously
Speaker 1: toward one of the tents, after calling out one more time,
Speaker 1: still to no reply. He braced himself before pulling back
Speaker 1: the flap and ducking inside, Having been half expecting to
Speaker 1: find a rotting corpse or perhaps something even worse. He
Speaker 1: was somewhat relieved to find the home completely vacant. His discovery, however,
Speaker 1: only added more fuel to the mystery. Are you always
Speaker 1: taking care of your family? Do you often take care
Speaker 1: of others and not yourself? Now it's time to take
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Speaker 1: Podcast Today to get started that's teladoc dot com slash
Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast. Parker coats made from deer hides were piled
Speaker 1: up on the floor next to a number of pairs
Speaker 1: of boots. A black iron pot, still a little greasy
Speaker 1: from the last time it had been used, was positioned
Speaker 1: to the side, surrounded by fish and deer bones. It
Speaker 1: was as if the owners had merely gone out to
Speaker 1: run an errand but never come back. Pulling up the jackets,
Speaker 1: LaBelle also found a badly rusted rifle underneath. Considering this
Speaker 1: and the starving dogs outside, it was clear the occupants
Speaker 1: had been gone for some time. Moving from one tent
Speaker 1: to the next as the two skeletal dogs shadowed his
Speaker 1: every move, LaBelle found them all to be in exactly
Speaker 1: the same state, each full of bedding, skins and furs
Speaker 1: and cooking utensils. As he went, LaBelle pondered on what
Speaker 1: could possibly have happened. Perhaps they had all ventured out
Speaker 1: on a hunting trip, he thought, but had been unexpectedly
Speaker 1: caught up in a lethal shift in the weather. It
Speaker 1: wasn't unheard of, but certainly unlikely considering the Inuit's experience
Speaker 1: with such matters and how unlikely it would be for
Speaker 1: the entire village to have gone out together, nor were
Speaker 1: they likely to have simply moved camp or joined another settlement,
Speaker 1: since there was simply no way they would have left
Speaker 1: all their possessions behind in the process. Then, in the
Speaker 1: final tent, Lebelle found something else, an Inuit charm placed
Speaker 1: just inside it, a device to ward off evil spirits,
Speaker 1: and one in particular that the Inuit were most wary of,
Speaker 1: an entity known as a torn rack, who was often
Speaker 1: blamed for causing terrible events. Le Belle knew this spirit
Speaker 1: to be something monstrous, with a grotesque face and two
Speaker 1: long tusks sticking up from its nose, though he wasn't
Speaker 1: the superstitious kind. As he stood outside moments later, surrounded
Speaker 1: by the stillness of the tundra, as a quiet breeze
Speaker 1: slipped through the village, it was hard to resist the
Speaker 1: sense of unease steadily intensifying inside him. LaBelle wandered down
Speaker 1: to the edge of the lake and gazed over its
Speaker 1: mirrored surface. Could they have drowned? He thought? It seemed
Speaker 1: ludicrous to think so, considering their skill on the water.
Speaker 1: Unless they had been forced to take some kind of
Speaker 1: drastic action, but LaBelle dismissed this idea too. Turning back,
Speaker 1: he noticed something he hadn't picked up on before, a
Speaker 1: pile of stones scattered about just behind the village. Having
Speaker 1: swiftly made his way over to it, LaBelle realized it
Speaker 1: was a cairn of some sort, the remnants of a
Speaker 1: traditional grave site. What didn't make any sense, however, was
Speaker 1: that the grave was open and whatever had been buried
Speaker 1: in it was now gone. Hearing the wine of the
Speaker 1: dogs behind him, LaBelle stayed on to catch them a
Speaker 1: few fish before eventually deciding to head back out. Throughout
Speaker 1: the rest of the trapping season, LaBelle would encounter a
Speaker 1: host of other Inuit communities, but none had any idea
Speaker 1: as to what could have happened to the missing villagers.
Speaker 1: All muttered something about the torn rack. Some have speculated
Speaker 1: that this event never actually took place, but was instead
Speaker 1: concocted from the imagination of writer Frank Edwards, who included
Speaker 1: an account of it in his nineteen fifty nine collection
Speaker 1: of stories Stranger than Science. Recently, however, the truth became
Speaker 1: a little less clear when an earlier account of the
Speaker 1: story was actually traced back to a November twenty seventh,
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty article that appeared in The Bee, a Virginian
Speaker 1: newspaper from the town of Danville in the United States.
Speaker 1: The article, written by one Emmett Kelleher, also goes on
Speaker 1: to mention a few other details. At the first opportunity,
Speaker 1: le Belle is said to have contacted the Royal Northwest
Speaker 1: Mounted Police, who Julie began an investigation of the case.
Speaker 1: A short time later, an unknown ten year old boy
Speaker 1: was said to have arrived out of the blue at
Speaker 1: a settlement a hundred and fifty miles to the north
Speaker 1: of the abandoned camp. When quizzed by police, the boy
Speaker 1: was apparently unwilling to say exactly where he'd come from.
Speaker 1: Not long after that, a man named Salmec entered a
Speaker 1: hospital located somewhere along the Hudson Bay Railway line, suffering
Speaker 1: from severe frostbite on both his legs. Since the man
Speaker 1: didn't speak English, doctors were forced to wait until a
Speaker 1: translator it could be found to find out what exactly
Speaker 1: had occurred. However, when they finally located one Salmac refused
Speaker 1: to talk to them, repeating only that same familiar word
Speaker 1: torn rack. I'd like to thank Scott Bathgate for recommending
Speaker 1: this story. If you enjoy listening to Unexplained and would
Speaker 1: like to help supporters, you can now go to Unexplained
Speaker 1: Podcast dot com Forward Slash Support. All donations, no matter
Speaker 1: how large or small, are massively appreciated. All elements have
Speaker 1: Unexplained are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe
Speaker 1: and rate the show on iTunes, and feel free to
Speaker 1: get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the
Speaker 1: stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an
Speaker 1: explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can
Speaker 1: reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com, or Twitter
Speaker 1: at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com. Forward
Speaker 1: Slash Unexplained Now. It's time to take care of yourself.
Speaker 1: To make time for you, teledoc gives you access to
Speaker 1: a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling
Speaker 1: your best. Speak to a licensed therapist by phone or
Speaker 1: video anytime between seven am to nine pm local time,
Speaker 1: seven days a week. Teledoc Therapy is available through most
Speaker 1: insurance or employers. Download the app or visit telldoc dot com,
Speaker 1: Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast Today to get started. That's t
Speaker 1: e LA d oc dot com Slash Unexplained podcast