WEBVTT 00:00:00.859 --> 00:00:04.360 There's ghost towns all over this country left 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:08.619 to rot cuz of hard times money dried up Disasters 00:00:08.619 --> 00:00:14.339 hit folks moved on but Portlock, Alaska That 00:00:14.339 --> 00:00:17.859 one's different Portlock weren't abandoned cuz 00:00:17.859 --> 00:00:20.579 of no bank failing or the earth shaking loose 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:24.219 beneath it Weren't cuz folks just got bored and 00:00:24.219 --> 00:00:28.780 packed up. No, they ran left behind their homes, 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:31.420 they're living their whole damn town, because 00:00:31.420 --> 00:00:33.719 something out there in them mist -soaked woods 00:00:33.719 --> 00:00:37.240 sent them running. For years, folks whispered 00:00:37.240 --> 00:00:41.539 about Nantinac, a massive shadowed thing lurking 00:00:41.539 --> 00:00:45.679 just beyond sight. A beast, they say, too big 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:49.500 to be a man, too smart to be an animal. But what 00:00:49.500 --> 00:00:52.719 if it weren't just Nantinac stalking portlock? 00:00:53.460 --> 00:00:57.000 What if the land itself was rotten? cursed from 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:00.179 the start, a place where the air carries voices 00:01:00.179 --> 00:01:03.820 that ain't there, where lights dance in the trees, 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:06.819 leading folks somewhere they ain't meant to go. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:10.200 Where the dead don't rest easy, their bodies 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:13.659 found mangled, twisted, like something out there 00:01:13.659 --> 00:01:17.219 was playing with them before it was done. The 00:01:17.219 --> 00:01:20.579 people of Portlock didn't just leave, they fled, 00:01:21.060 --> 00:01:24.099 and they never looked back. What really happened 00:01:24.099 --> 00:01:28.120 out there? Step careful now, we're heading straight 00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:33.599 into the dark. Welcome to Kentucky Melodies America's 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:36.799 Scariest Stories, where we bring you ghostly 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:40.640 legends, spooky haints, and bone chilling tales 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:44.180 from all over this great land. These stories 00:01:44.180 --> 00:01:46.359 will have you looking over your shoulder all 00:01:46.359 --> 00:01:50.219 night. So pull up a chair, dim them lights, and 00:01:50.219 --> 00:01:55.480 let's dive into the eerie and unexplained. Well, 00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:58.819 now let me spin y 'all a yarn about the Al -Utik 00:01:58.819 --> 00:02:01.379 folks and their reckoning with a fearsome critter 00:02:01.379 --> 00:02:05.980 they called Nantanak. Long before them, Westerners 00:02:05.980 --> 00:02:09.659 set foot in these parts around the early 1900s. 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:12.460 The Al -Utik people had been roaming these lands 00:02:12.460 --> 00:02:16.919 for over 7 ,500 years. They made their homes 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:19.960 in the coastal stretches of South Central Alaska. 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:23.639 including the Kodiak Archipelago and the Canai 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:27.780 Peninsula. Now, despite the land's bounty and 00:02:27.780 --> 00:02:30.780 beauty, there was a particular spot they steered 00:02:30.780 --> 00:02:34.139 clear of, a place that would later be known as 00:02:34.139 --> 00:02:38.000 Portlock. To the Aluteek, that patch of earth 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:42.680 was forbidden. They spoke in hushed tones, about 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:46.639 Nantinok, a towering, hairy creature that walked 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:50.479 upright like a man but was far from human. This 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:53.979 wasn't no campfire tale meant to spook the youngins. 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:57.740 Nantanak was seen as a predator, lurking in the 00:02:57.740 --> 00:03:01.020 dense forest, ready to pounce on those who wandered 00:03:01.020 --> 00:03:04.860 too deep. Hunters who dared venture into its 00:03:04.860 --> 00:03:09.000 domain often never returned. The few who did 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:13.099 come back were forever changed, their eyes haunted 00:03:13.099 --> 00:03:16.969 by what they'd seen. They'd whisper, but feeling 00:03:16.969 --> 00:03:19.889 eyes watching them from the shadows, hearing 00:03:19.889 --> 00:03:22.849 footsteps that weren't their own, and catching 00:03:22.849 --> 00:03:25.669 glimpses of glowing red eyes piercing through 00:03:25.669 --> 00:03:29.689 the dark canopy. Such accounts weren't taken 00:03:29.689 --> 00:03:33.509 lightly. They served as warnings to others. For 00:03:33.509 --> 00:03:37.030 the Al -Atiq, the area that had become portlock 00:03:37.030 --> 00:03:40.669 was no place to settle. It was a realm best left 00:03:40.669 --> 00:03:44.539 untouched, shrouded in mystery and danger. But 00:03:44.539 --> 00:03:47.900 when the western settlers arrived, eager to tap 00:03:47.900 --> 00:03:50.840 into the land's riches, they dismissed these 00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:54.039 ancient warnings. And as the stories go, they 00:03:54.039 --> 00:03:58.199 paid a steep price for their disregard. This 00:03:58.199 --> 00:04:01.080 hears the story about a place far from these 00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:04.539 Appalachian hills, a remote corner of Alaska 00:04:04.539 --> 00:04:10.280 known as Portlock. Back in the early 1900s, this 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:13.460 here settlement sprang up. taking its name from 00:04:13.460 --> 00:04:17.220 a British sea captain, Nathaniel Portlock, who'd 00:04:17.220 --> 00:04:20.519 sailed those icy waters in the late 18th century. 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:25.500 The town flourished on the back of a salmon cannery, 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:29.660 attracting loggers, fishermen, and their kinfolk, 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:32.379 all looking to carve out a life in the rugged 00:04:32.379 --> 00:04:36.379 wilderness. They built themselves a post office, 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:39.339 a schoolhouse, and the cannery's smokestacks 00:04:39.339 --> 00:04:42.120 puffed steady as a train on a mountain grade. 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:46.819 But from the get -go there was an unease settling 00:04:46.819 --> 00:04:50.399 over Portlock, like a low fog creeping through 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:53.620 the hollers. Fishermen, while mending their nets 00:04:53.620 --> 00:04:57.040 along the shore, would pause, cock their heads, 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:00.360 and swear they heard voices carried on the wind, 00:05:01.079 --> 00:05:04.180 whispers and tongues unfamiliar, as if the very 00:05:04.180 --> 00:05:08.360 land was murmuring secrets. Hunters, seasoned 00:05:08.360 --> 00:05:11.600 as any Appalachian woodsman, ventured into the 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:15.120 dense forests, their rifles at the ready, only 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:18.360 to vanish without a trace, swallowed whole by 00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:22.639 the timbered maw. Those few who did return spoke 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:26.319 of feeling watched, of twigs crackling just beyond 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:29.420 the lantern's glow, but could never catch sight 00:05:29.420 --> 00:05:33.600 of what shadowed them. Then there were the footprints. 00:05:34.089 --> 00:05:37.670 Great human -like tracks pressed deep into the 00:05:37.670 --> 00:05:41.569 mud, far larger than any man's boot, and heavier 00:05:41.569 --> 00:05:45.970 than a grizzly's paw. These signs set the townsfolk 00:05:45.970 --> 00:05:49.009 on edge, but they chalked it up to the wilds 00:05:49.009 --> 00:05:53.009 being wild, and carried on, though with eyes 00:05:53.009 --> 00:05:57.269 a mite wider and ears pricked sharp. As the years 00:05:57.269 --> 00:06:00.230 ambled on, these unsettling events grew more 00:06:00.230 --> 00:06:03.980 frequent. like a storm brewing on the horizon. 00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:07.939 Disappearances became common talk over supper 00:06:07.939 --> 00:06:11.319 tables, and the rare bodies found bore marks 00:06:11.319 --> 00:06:15.319 that no one could rightly explain, mangled and 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:18.800 torn as if some beast had taken to hunting man. 00:06:19.720 --> 00:06:23.040 The forest, once a source of livelihood, had 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:26.100 turned into a place of dread, where even the 00:06:26.100 --> 00:06:30.560 bravest hesitated to tread. The air in Portlock 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:33.879 grew thick with fear, palpable as the morning 00:06:33.879 --> 00:06:38.000 mist. Families began to pack up, leaving their 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:41.160 homes and the canneries constant hum behind, 00:06:41.560 --> 00:06:45.920 seeking safer grounds. By the end of the 1940s 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:49.319 the town stood silent, abandoned to the elements 00:06:49.319 --> 00:06:52.980 and whatever lurked in the shadows, a ghost town 00:06:52.980 --> 00:06:56.939 birthed not by economic bust or natural disaster, 00:06:57.370 --> 00:07:00.490 but by an overwhelming, unspoken terror that 00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:03.910 drove folks away, leaving only whispers on the 00:07:03.910 --> 00:07:07.990 wind to tell their tale. By the time the 1920s 00:07:07.990 --> 00:07:11.310 rolled in, Portlock weren't just a town no one 00:07:11.310 --> 00:07:15.250 wanted to move to. It was a place folks was starting 00:07:15.250 --> 00:07:18.949 to run from. The forest that once promised good 00:07:18.949 --> 00:07:21.829 hunting had turned into a thing of nightmares. 00:07:22.250 --> 00:07:25.529 And the waters that once fed the town began giving 00:07:25.529 --> 00:07:29.209 back things that didn't belong there. At first, 00:07:29.550 --> 00:07:33.269 it was a hunter here, a trapper there. Men who 00:07:33.269 --> 00:07:35.970 knew them woods like the backs of their own hands, 00:07:36.470 --> 00:07:39.449 going off to check their lines or bring back 00:07:39.449 --> 00:07:44.089 fresh meat, only to never return. The first body 00:07:44.089 --> 00:07:47.110 showed up in the shallows of the lagoon, all 00:07:47.110 --> 00:07:50.470 twisted up and broken. their flesh torn clean 00:07:50.470 --> 00:07:54.230 off the bone in places. Some had been gutted 00:07:54.230 --> 00:07:57.589 like a deer, their innards spilt out into the 00:07:57.589 --> 00:08:01.569 tide. Others looked whole on the outside, not 00:08:01.569 --> 00:08:04.769 a mark on them, yet their faces was frozen in 00:08:04.769 --> 00:08:08.870 some kind of silent, unholy scream, like they'd 00:08:08.870 --> 00:08:11.569 seen something so awful that their spirits just 00:08:11.569 --> 00:08:14.230 up and left, for their bodies even knew they 00:08:14.230 --> 00:08:18.959 was dead. And it didn't stop. Year after year, 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:23.279 more men went missing. Then, one autumn, a group 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:25.740 of loggers disappeared like a puff of breath 00:08:25.740 --> 00:08:29.920 on a cold morning. It was near a week, for anyone 00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:33.460 found them, and when they did, they wished they 00:08:33.460 --> 00:08:36.600 hadn't. Their bodies was scattered along the 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:39.580 riverbanks, not piled up like victims of a flood, 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:43.059 but spread out, deliberate like as if they'd 00:08:43.059 --> 00:08:46.509 been hunted down, one by one and left where they 00:08:46.509 --> 00:08:49.710 fell for some unseen thing to admire its work. 00:08:50.429 --> 00:08:54.049 Word spread quick, but fear kept folks from talking 00:08:54.049 --> 00:08:57.710 too much. Ain't no one wanted to admit that something 00:08:57.710 --> 00:09:01.370 unnatural had its grip on portlock, but fear 00:09:01.370 --> 00:09:04.830 can turn to foolishness just as quick, and one 00:09:04.830 --> 00:09:08.710 feller, a hunter by trade, had more bravado than 00:09:08.710 --> 00:09:11.990 sense. He laughed in the face of the stories, 00:09:12.360 --> 00:09:15.620 said all them disappearances was just bad luck 00:09:15.620 --> 00:09:19.600 or bears. He took off into the woods one evening, 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:23.440 rifle slung across his back, claiming he'd prove 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:26.259 once and for all that the only monsters out there 00:09:26.259 --> 00:09:30.899 was in folks' heads. Days later he was found 00:09:30.899 --> 00:09:34.779 hanging from a tree deep in the timber, his head 00:09:34.779 --> 00:09:37.759 twisted all the way around like something had 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:40.139 grabbed him and wrung his neck like a chicken. 00:09:41.420 --> 00:09:44.740 After that, even the bravest of them started 00:09:44.740 --> 00:09:47.519 locking their doors before the sun dipped too 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:50.679 low. They kept their shotguns propped by the 00:09:50.679 --> 00:09:52.899 front door and their windows shuttered tight, 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:55.840 listening to the knot like it might whisper their 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:59.919 names next. Then came the stories about her, 00:10:00.299 --> 00:10:03.840 the woman in black. Some claimed she was a ghost. 00:10:04.299 --> 00:10:07.600 Some said she was a warning. She'd appear near 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:10.779 the cliffs when the fog rolled in. standing still 00:10:10.779 --> 00:10:14.159 as a gravestone, her long dress whipping in the 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:17.980 wind, though no wind was blowing. Those who saw 00:10:17.980 --> 00:10:20.940 her said she never moved, never looked their 00:10:20.940 --> 00:10:24.440 way, but the moment you took your eyes off her, 00:10:24.740 --> 00:10:29.559 she was gone. It wasn't just Nantanak stalking 00:10:29.559 --> 00:10:35.519 them woods, Portlock was cursed. If Nantanac 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:38.500 was the only horror lurking in them woods, folks 00:10:38.500 --> 00:10:42.200 might have found a way to fight back. But Portlock? 00:10:43.179 --> 00:10:46.740 Well, Portlock had more than just one devil in 00:10:46.740 --> 00:10:50.820 its shadows. The nights in that town was never 00:10:50.820 --> 00:10:54.639 quiet. The wind carried sounds it shouldn't. 00:10:54.860 --> 00:10:59.059 Footsteps in the dirt, slow and deliberate, pacing 00:10:59.059 --> 00:11:02.320 round cabins like a wolf circling a wounded deer. 00:11:03.209 --> 00:11:06.210 But when a man got up the nerve to fling open 00:11:06.210 --> 00:11:10.070 his door, shotgun in hand, there weren't nothing 00:11:10.070 --> 00:11:13.909 there. The air would be dead still, but the moment 00:11:13.909 --> 00:11:16.909 he shut the door, them steps would start right 00:11:16.909 --> 00:11:20.850 up again. Some nights, folks swore they saw lights 00:11:20.850 --> 00:11:24.289 floating through the trees, a sickly blue -green 00:11:24.289 --> 00:11:28.279 glow dancing just out of reach. They looked like 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:31.679 lanterns carried by unseen hands, beckoning the 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:35.360 foolhardy into the timber. But the second anyone 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:39.000 got close, them lights was gone, like a match 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:43.000 snuffed out in the wind. And then there was the 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:46.460 voices. Low whispers slithering out from the 00:11:46.460 --> 00:11:50.240 bones of abandoned cabins, voices speaking words 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:53.940 that ain't from no tongue folks recognized. Some 00:11:53.940 --> 00:11:57.860 sounded soft, almost inviting, like they was 00:11:57.860 --> 00:12:01.840 coaxing you closer. Others was sharp, urgent, 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:04.940 like a warning, though what they was warning 00:12:04.940 --> 00:12:09.820 about, no one could say. But the worst was him, 00:12:10.360 --> 00:12:13.600 the shadow man. Fishermen out on the bay seen 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:17.500 him standing on the shore, tall and still, staring 00:12:17.500 --> 00:12:20.019 out at the water like he was waiting for something. 00:12:20.860 --> 00:12:23.940 No matter the time of day, his shape was pitch 00:12:23.940 --> 00:12:27.169 black. like he was cut out of the world itself. 00:12:28.049 --> 00:12:30.769 Some tried to row closer, but the moment their 00:12:30.769 --> 00:12:34.610 boat neared the land, he was gone. Not like a 00:12:34.610 --> 00:12:39.269 man slipping into the woods, just gone. By the 00:12:39.269 --> 00:12:43.269 1940s, Portlock weren't just scared, it was on 00:12:43.269 --> 00:12:47.389 the edge of madness. One last time, a group of 00:12:47.389 --> 00:12:50.600 men decided they'd had enough. They grabbed their 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:53.600 rifles, strapped on their knives and swore they'd 00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:56.159 track down whatever was killing their people. 00:12:56.860 --> 00:13:00.379 Maybe it was a beast. Maybe it was something 00:13:00.379 --> 00:13:03.600 worse. But they never got the chance to tell. 00:13:04.620 --> 00:13:07.879 Days later, the river gave them back what was 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:10.799 left of them. Their bodies was ripped apart, 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:13.840 torn to shreds like something had taken its time 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:17.549 playing with its food. Bones was found scattered 00:13:17.549 --> 00:13:20.850 up and down the shore, stripped clean, like they'd 00:13:20.850 --> 00:13:24.789 been picked over by scavengers. That was it. 00:13:25.870 --> 00:13:28.470 Whatever lived in them woods wasn't just hunting 00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:32.889 anymore. It wasn't just lurking. It had claimed 00:13:32.889 --> 00:13:37.590 portlock. By 1949, there weren't a soul left 00:13:37.590 --> 00:13:41.029 in town. Families packed up what they could, 00:13:41.669 --> 00:13:45.039 left homes standing with tables still set, Beds 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:49.120 still made as if they meant to come back. But 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:54.120 they never did. Portlock was abandoned. Not because 00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:57.080 the fish ran out. Not because the money dried 00:13:57.080 --> 00:13:59.799 up. Because no one wanted to be the next one 00:13:59.799 --> 00:14:03.419 the wood swallowed whole. Even after all them 00:14:03.419 --> 00:14:06.679 years, Portlock ain't silent. The town might 00:14:06.679 --> 00:14:10.659 be abandoned. It's cannery rusting away. It's 00:14:10.659 --> 00:14:13.960 buildings sagging under the weight of time. But 00:14:13.960 --> 00:14:18.679 something out there, it ain't gone. Back in the 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:22.179 1970s, a group of hunters come passing through, 00:14:22.539 --> 00:14:24.919 figuring they'd set up camp near the old town 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:29.019 for the night. They was seasoned men, used to 00:14:29.019 --> 00:14:32.139 the kind of cold that seeps into your bones and 00:14:32.139 --> 00:14:36.080 the dark that makes most folks uneasy. But they 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:38.500 weren't ready for what the night had to say. 00:14:39.960 --> 00:14:43.399 Just past midnight, The forest began to scream. 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:50.419 Not an owl. Not no wolf. This was something unnatural. 00:14:50.940 --> 00:14:53.340 A sound that curled the blood in their veins. 00:14:53.860 --> 00:14:57.440 A whale that stretched out too long, too deep, 00:14:58.200 --> 00:15:00.440 vibrating in their chest like it was trying to 00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:03.740 shake them apart from the inside. They didn't 00:15:03.740 --> 00:15:07.440 waste time. They left their fire burning, left 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:10.570 their gear right where it sat, and they never 00:15:10.570 --> 00:15:15.549 came back. Then, in the 1990s, a bush pilot flew 00:15:15.549 --> 00:15:18.870 low over the bay, making a routine pass when 00:15:18.870 --> 00:15:22.169 something caught his eye. There, on the shore, 00:15:22.389 --> 00:15:26.870 stood a figure, tall, broad, and still as a statue. 00:15:27.990 --> 00:15:31.269 A man, he thought at first, but there was something 00:15:31.269 --> 00:15:34.950 off, something too big about the shoulders, something 00:15:34.950 --> 00:15:39.200 wrong in the way it stood. He circled back, It 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:44.899 was gone. Not just disappeared, but erased. The 00:15:44.899 --> 00:15:48.080 sand where it had stood was smooth, untouched. 00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:51.720 No footprints, no sign it had ever been there. 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:55.200 Like the land itself refused to hold its shape. 00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:59.759 And in 2018, a fisherman made landfall near the 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:03.919 ruins, taking a break from the sea. As he walked 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:07.620 along the shore, he came across footprints. Huge 00:16:07.620 --> 00:16:10.730 footprints. He said each one was twice the size 00:16:10.730 --> 00:16:13.970 of his own boot, sunk deep into the damp earth 00:16:13.970 --> 00:16:17.350 like whatever left him was heavy, unnaturally 00:16:17.350 --> 00:16:20.870 heavy. He followed him a ways, but the more he 00:16:20.870 --> 00:16:23.649 walked, the more he felt something watching him, 00:16:24.169 --> 00:16:27.090 a pressure in the air, like the whole forest 00:16:27.090 --> 00:16:30.669 was holding its breath. And then the whispers 00:16:30.669 --> 00:16:35.850 started. Nothing loud, just a soft murmur on 00:16:35.850 --> 00:16:38.500 the wind. The kind that makes the hairs on the 00:16:38.500 --> 00:16:41.720 back of your neck stand up. Couldn't tell what 00:16:41.720 --> 00:16:45.340 it was saying, but he knew what it meant. Get 00:16:45.340 --> 00:16:49.139 out. Folks who visit Portlock today talk about 00:16:49.139 --> 00:16:53.320 that same unnatural silence. That same watchful 00:16:53.320 --> 00:16:56.799 presence. That same cold dread that don't come 00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:00.179 from the wind, but from something deeper. And 00:17:00.179 --> 00:17:03.460 that leaves us wondering, what if Nantanak was 00:17:03.460 --> 00:17:06.819 just one piece of the puzzle? What if the people 00:17:06.819 --> 00:17:09.579 of Portlock weren't just running from a beast, 00:17:10.180 --> 00:17:14.539 but from something much, much worse? To this 00:17:14.539 --> 00:17:19.000 day, Portlock sits empty, its bones rotten beneath 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:22.240 the weight of time, its silence stretching out 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:25.839 like a warning whispered on the wind. Ain't no 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:29.299 families setting roots there, no loggers taking 00:17:29.299 --> 00:17:32.859 their axes to the timber, no fishermen mending 00:17:32.859 --> 00:17:36.410 their nets along the shore. It's just hollow 00:17:36.410 --> 00:17:39.569 cabins, sagging docks, and the ghosts of all 00:17:39.569 --> 00:17:43.230 them that never made it out. Some say it was 00:17:43.230 --> 00:17:46.630 a rogue bear, some monstrous beast that took 00:17:46.630 --> 00:17:50.029 a lichen to human flesh, tearing folks apart 00:17:50.029 --> 00:17:53.509 till there weren't none left to feed on. Others 00:17:53.509 --> 00:17:56.369 whisper about a killer hiding in them woods, 00:17:56.890 --> 00:17:59.990 a madman lurking in the shadows, picking off 00:17:59.990 --> 00:18:02.890 the unsuspecting till the town was naught but 00:18:02.890 --> 00:18:05.710 fear and empty streets. But then there's the 00:18:05.710 --> 00:18:08.390 ones that don't talk about bears or killers. 00:18:09.589 --> 00:18:13.390 They talk about Nantanak. They say he's still 00:18:13.390 --> 00:18:16.269 out there, stalking them trees, watching the 00:18:16.269 --> 00:18:19.710 land that once belonged to him alone. They say 00:18:19.710 --> 00:18:22.930 he's waiting, listening for the sound of men's 00:18:22.930 --> 00:18:26.309 voices to return, for the smoke of cook fires 00:18:26.309 --> 00:18:30.809 to rise again. And when they do, he'll come back. 00:18:31.329 --> 00:18:34.690 And then there's another kind of fear. The kind 00:18:34.690 --> 00:18:38.349 that don't got no shape, no face, no footprints 00:18:38.349 --> 00:18:42.049 in the mud. The kind that says Portlock itself 00:18:42.049 --> 00:18:46.430 don't want no people. A cursed place, a hollow 00:18:46.430 --> 00:18:49.769 land that rejects the living, swallows them up, 00:18:49.950 --> 00:18:52.990 spits them out in pieces or worse, takes them 00:18:52.990 --> 00:18:57.529 whole, leaving nothing behind but silence. Whatever 00:18:57.529 --> 00:19:01.789 the truth may be, one thing's for certain. Ain't 00:19:01.789 --> 00:19:07.200 no one stays in Portlock, Not for long. So, what 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:10.799 do you think happened in Portlock? Was it a creature, 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:14.579 a spirit, or something else? Did the town fall 00:19:14.579 --> 00:19:17.460 to a flesh and blood predator, hunting people 00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:20.700 till none were left? Or was it something tied 00:19:20.700 --> 00:19:24.000 to the land, a darkness that don't take kindly 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:28.279 to settlers? Maybe Nantanak wasn't just a beast, 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:31.579 but a guardian of something worse. Would you 00:19:31.579 --> 00:19:34.769 visit Portlock? Would you step into that forgotten 00:19:34.769 --> 00:19:38.549 town, feel the heavy silence, listen for the 00:19:38.549 --> 00:19:41.430 footsteps that ain't yours? Or would you keep 00:19:41.430 --> 00:19:44.269 your distance, knowing some places don't want 00:19:44.269 --> 00:19:47.849 visitors? If given the chance, would you spend 00:19:47.849 --> 00:19:51.890 a night there? Share your thoughts in the comments, 00:19:52.549 --> 00:19:55.710 and if you crave more chilling tales of the unknown, 00:19:56.369 --> 00:19:59.470 don't forget to subscribe, because sometimes 00:19:59.470 --> 00:20:02.369 the scariest places ain't the ones we remember. 00:20:02.750 --> 00:20:06.569 They're the ones we were meant to forget. If 00:20:06.569 --> 00:20:09.269 you made it this far, reckon you got a taste 00:20:09.269 --> 00:20:13.690 for the eerie. So don't stop now. Port Lock ain't 00:20:13.690 --> 00:20:16.130 the only place where shadows move on their own 00:20:16.130 --> 00:20:19.769 and folks disappear without a trace. There's 00:20:19.769 --> 00:20:23.109 plenty more tales waiting for you, just beyond 00:20:23.109 --> 00:20:28.190 the firelight. Go on, take a step deeper. Check 00:20:28.190 --> 00:20:31.190 out our other spooky stories right here at Kentucky 00:20:31.190 --> 00:20:34.960 Melody. where the haints still whisper, the legends 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:38.160 never die, and the dark's always got something 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:42.700 watching. So go on ahead and watch another, but 00:20:42.700 --> 00:20:45.319 if the shadows in the corner seem to be lurking 00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:47.660 closer, they probably are.