Unsolved Canadian Mysteries · Unsolved Canadian Mysteries

Bonus - The Disappearance of Lake Anjikuni Village

·27 min·1 clip

The Torn Gashuk is an Inuit entity, and one version is a bear with human arms.

1. Unsolved Canadian Mysteries covers the bonus case of the Disappearance of Lake Anjikuni Village in the Northwest Territories. 2. Kenton DeYoung hosts with co-host Dylan Fairman, and both are part of the on-mic debate about the case. 3. The episode asks whether the Lake Anjikuni story is an urban legend, a misreported event, or something tied to Inuit beliefs. 4. Kenton places the opening in November 1930, with Joe LaBelle approaching Lake Anjikuni by canoe. 5. He describes the village as about six tents and roughly 25 people, then says the settlement was silent when LaBelle arrived. 6. Food was left out, the tents were empty, and some dogs had died from starvation while others were cut loose and fed fish. 7. Kenton says LaBelle found a cemetery area with a stone cairn opened up and no obvious sign of a struggle. 8. The account says LaBelle contacted the next nearest village, then the RCMP came back with him to inspect the abandoned site. 9. Kenton says the RCMP floated a blizzard theory but did not find that explanation convincing because women and children were missing too. 10. He then says the newspaper story spread and later prompted RCMP officials to deny that they had ever investigated the village. 11. Kenton points out that the reported location is extremely remote and that Lake Anjikuni is a freshwater lake far from any large community. 12. He says later researchers challenged Joe LaBelle’s biography, describing him as a junior trapper from Manitoba rather than a seasoned northern hunter. 13. Kenton also notes that the reporter was known for writing for Weird Tales and similar pseudo-horror publications. 14. He says the story evolved over time, with later versions increasing the number of missing people and adding new witness claims. 15. Kenton rejects a simple Wendigo explanation because he says a Wendigo tears people apart, while this story centers on disappearance and an opened cairn. 16. He also rejects a zombie reading and jokes about vampires and aliens before returning to the documentary details. 17. The most important turn comes when Kenton finds the name Torn Gashuk in the original article. 18. He explains that Torn Gashuk is an Inuit entity, compares it to a trickster figure, and argues that the terminology makes the article look more specific than a generic ghost story. 19. The episode is conversational, skeptical, and loosely structured, with Kenton and Dylan trading jokes while still following the evidence. 20. Listeners who like northern mystery stories, folklore debates, and archive-based speculation will get the most out of it, while people wanting a tightly sourced forensic history lesson may skip it.

As heard by us

A Canadian disappearance story told as skeptical banter, with a bear explanation in the mix.

Kenton and Dylan treat the story like a live argument, not a tidy mystery. They move from Wendigo lore to zombies, vampires, aliens, and then to the bear explanation, checking which details actually hold up instead of settling for the loudest theory.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for northern weirdness, source skepticism, and a final answer involving a bear.

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