Obscure Occurrences : The beheadings in the Valley of Headless Men

 Apart from being an extremely wild place that has craggy terrains, weather that makes you wish that you’d have better stayed home and animals that would not mind taking a piece of you, the Nahanni Valley in the North-western territories of Canada also holds a frightening reputation for beheading its unfortunate visitors. Throughout the years, a lot of travellers haven’t made it out of the valley. With some lucky ones found in a beheaded state, others were lost and never found again. Do you still wonder why it is called the “Valley of Headless Men”?

Naha- A Cannibalistic Tribe that obscurely disappeared

 Dene, an indigenous tribe, inhabited the region surrounding the Valley for centuries together. This tribe has multiple tales about a tribe they dreaded, Naha. Even more, Nahanni is itself a word with Dene roots which means “the river of the land of the Naha people”. According to the Dene, the Naha were a warrior tribe that lived in the high mountains and raided the lowlands to loot and kill. Mysteriously, they simply disappeared and were never seen again. So, did they move to some other region, get killed by disease or are they still hideously living in the valley itself? While some consider this to be a legend of the indigenous tribe, others think that they still inhabit the valley and are the ones behind its visitor’s decapitation.

The valley claims its first victims

 200 Mile Gorge is a special place in the Nahanni Valley. The Dene elders say that something unknown that is evil inhibits this area. Also, the valley started to be fondly called the “Valley of Headless Men” only after the event that occurred at this place. In the early 20^th century, during the “Klondike Gold Rush”, two men ventured into Nahanni Valley to test out their luck. In 1906, Willie and Frank McLeod, two brothers with Métis ancestry, canoed the river to reach the valley. This would turn out to be the last instance when they would be seen alive.

 The brothers never returned and a search squad was deployed to find their whereabouts. In 1908, their skeletons were discovered in a place that appeared to be their campsite. Both their skeletons had a missing skull and one of them appeared to be reaching out for a gun. A person named Weir who accompanied them was still missing.

Victims Pile up

 In 1917, the corpse of a Swiss man named Martin Jorgenson was found in the Valley. Yet again, his body was decapitated and it was found near his cabin which was burned completely. In 1926, A woman named Annie Laferte went missing in the wilderness. She was later reported to be seen by an Indian man who saw her climbing a hill completely naked. A year later, in 1927, another corpse, in fact just a skeleton, was found in the vicinity. It was found to be that of a man who was pursued by the Police for multiple years.

 Just a year later, A man named Angus Hall went into the valley only to be lost forever. A few years later, in 1931, the burnt corpse of a man named Phil Powers was discovered near his cabin. Just five years later, in 1936, Joe Mullholland and Bill Epier were engulfed by the mystery of the valley and they were never found again. The only thing that was discovered was their burnt-down cabin.

 Later in 1945, a man from Ontario was found dead in his sleeping bag with his head missing which was never found. During the same period, another man named John O’Brien was found frozen next to his campfire. Yeah, you read it right frozen next to a campfire. From 1908 until now, more than 44 deaths or disappearances have been officially recorded.

Theories

 The Dene locals claim that the Valley is haunted and have avoided it for centuries together. Some outsiders, however, think that one of the valley’s 250 subterranean caverns is the entrance to the “Hollow Earth”. Although the most logical explanation seems to be that the extreme weather of the terrain and the deadly predator it houses were the cause of the deaths and disappearances, the missing heads cannot be well explained. Some claim that the prehistoric animals that inhibited the place never actually went extinct and still dwell in these uncharted territories. With so many theories floating around, the enigma surrounding the Nahanni Valley still remains obscure.

 This Valley of Headless Men is one of the remaining unexplored places in the world. With Yellowknife which is located 500 kilometres, being the closest city, the region seems to have been protected by nature itself from humans. If you ever plan to explore it keep in mind that the easier route would be through air or water. You can very well choose to trek your way but keep in mind that the grizzlies and wolves won’t mind feasting on you. Even if you are lucky enough to stumble upon these predators, the rough terrain would surely take a toll on you. These factors make this place human repellent.