The Vanishing Village of Lake Anjikuni
A 1930 newspaper story told of a trapper who found an entire Inuit village empty, with meals left half-cooked.
What was reported
In November 1930, a newspaper in The Pas, Manitoba, published a story by journalist Emmett Kelleher. It said a fur trapper named Joe Labelle had arrived at a familiar Inuit village by Lake Anjikuni and found it deserted: kayaks still on the shore, food left over cold fires, and no footprints leading away.
The story was reprinted around the world, and over the decades grew in the retelling, with the village's size swelling from a few dozen people to more than a thousand.
Explanations offered
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police looked into the story and found no evidence that the village or the disappearance existed. Historians think it was invented or greatly exaggerated. It remains popular in books of mysteries.
- When
- Reported in November 1930
- Where
- Angikuni Lake, Nunavut, Canada
- Witnesses
- A fur trapper, as told by a newspaper
- Status
- Mostly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.