My Little Corner of Canada

by JOHN AMAGOALIK

The Inuit world is filled with fascinating stories and unexplained mysteries. Inuit songs and legends tell of spirits and unearthly creatures. Every community has stories of paranormal phenomena, frightening incidents, and elusive beings that reveal themselves in the darkness of night.

Other cultures in other parts of the world tell of the Yeti, Big Foot, ghosts, and alien beings. Our culture has similar stories, only with different names.

The most common are the stories of “the little people.” Right across the Arctic, the accounts are similar. They are small and elusive. Many have claimed to have caught a glimpse of them.

There are some individuals who claim to have had encounters with them. There are even a few individuals who say they have actually lived with them over a long period of time.

Another common story among hunters is about a large winged creature that visits them in the middle of the night.

They tell of waking up to sounds of large wings and something landing on top of their Igloo. They see shadows of large clawed feet digging into the snow. Their dogs are howling and barking. They hear unearthly sounds from the creature. More flapping of wings and the creature is gone. They check for prints the next morning and find the prints of a large clawed creature on their igloo.

I thought this was an isolated story when I first heard it from my father while we were still living in Nunavik.

But I was surprised to hear almost an identical story from two hunters from Baffin Island. My father’s story took place more than 50 years ago. The incident with the two Baffin Island hunters happened recently.

There are enough stories about strange things to fill many books. This is one of the things that makes life so interesting.

There are unexplained mysteries about the world around us that pique our human curiosity and keep us looking for answers.>