Portlock: The Village Everyone Fled From

Deep on the Gulf of Alaska coast, on the rugged southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula, lies a ghost town that didn't die because the fish ran out or the economy collapsed. It died because of fear.

In this episode of Drive-Thru Towns, host Andrew Wilcox takes us to Portlock (also known as Port Chatham), a place so unsettling that an entire community abandoned it simultaneously in 1950. Settled in the 1920s as a thriving salmon cannery town, Portlock’s story took a dark turn in the 1940s when mutilated animal carcasses, missing hunters, and bodies with inexplicable wounds began to appear.

We explore the legend of the Nantiinaq—a large, hairy, human-like creature rooted in Alutiiq tradition—and the chilling reality of a town that simply walked away, leaving buildings standing and artifacts scattered, never to return.

• The Cannery Boom: How Portlock briefly thrived as a commercial hub for the Gulf of Alaska’s fishing fleet.

• The "Nantiinaq" Reports: The chilling accounts from the late 1940s that led local elders to believe a traditional Indigenous cryptid had claimed the area.

• The Great Exodus: Why the entire population fled by 1950, leaving a working fishing village to rot in the salt air without an official explanation.

• Modern Echoes: The unsettling experience of modern visitors who find the "Unga-type" isolation of Portlock still carries the weight of its abandoned history.

If you have a taste for the strange and the unexplained corners of the American map, follow the show on Spotify to catch every stop on our journey.

• Instagram: @50statefamily

• LinkedIn: Andrew Wilcox

• Email: wilcoxlegal@gmail.com

• Host: Andrew Wilcox

• Theme Music: Special thanks to Chloe Jones for the music. Discover more of her work at chloejonesmusic.co.uk.