Strange Stories of Alaska and the Yukon

by Ed Ferrell

From the pages of early-day northern newspapers comes a startling collection of accounts of the extraordinary and the Mammoths discovered frozen whole in the icy grip of a glacier. A tropical valley hidden deep in the wilderness. Sea serpents sighted off the Bering Sea Coast. A ghostly maiden's endless search for the young miner she loved. Lost mines containing unimaginable wealth in gold.

Genres: Paranormal, Nonfiction, Horror, History, Short Stories, Historical

160 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1996

Reviews

[Christopher Angulo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some fun stories.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories in this collection have as their location Alaska and the Yukon and are dated back to the early days of Russian and American exploration. The Yukon gold rush of 1896-1899, where somewhere around 100,000 prospectors made the journey to the gold fields led to many of the stories. Yet, most of the stories in this collection are similar to stories from other areas.
Quite naturally, some of the stories are about lost gold mines. Although the weather conditions are much harsher than in the American Southwest, the general form of the lost gold mine stories closely match the tales of lost gold mines in the American Southwest. A lone or small team of prospectors find a gold mine, struggle out with high grade ore and then for whatever reason, cannot find or direct the way back to the find.
Most of the ghost stories also share many features with ghost stories from other locales. Again, the only real difference is the location context. There are also stories of the “lost valley” form, where there is an isolated region warmed by hot springs with extremely lush vegetation and the best hunting. Pretty much the kind of heaven that people living in the arctic would create. There are also stories about a version of Sasquatch.
The most interesting and perhaps the most plausible stories are those that involve the possibility of woolly mammoths still living in isolated regions of the Arctic in the late 19th century. Intact bodies of such creatures have been found and the scientific consensus is that they went extinct a few thousand years ago. Since the region is so isolated and the mammoths so well adapted to the cold conditions, it is conceivable, however remote, that some had survived into the nineteenth century. Finding instances of animals long thought extinct is an occasional phenomenon.
While the stories in this collection are generally not wildly unusual or even unique to the area of Alaska, they are fun to read. Given the current movement to try to bring back the woolly mammoth, it would be amazing if one could be found that was well-preserved and had more recently died.

[Scott Schmidt · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some great nuggets of the unknown in this collection of stories and legends. The most interesting aspect is that all of them are taken directly from newspaper accounts from the late 1800s to early 1900s, back when most of the world was still a mystery, so it's fun to hear reporters and editors opinions on matters such as living woolly mammoths roaming the great north and valleys of tropical paradise tucked in between frozen wastelands.

[Morgan Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I'm being honest I was really bored throughout this book. I did find some of the stories really fascinating and I did end up doing a bit of research on my own after the books were over since I was so intrigued. But there were only two or three of those stories and the rest just kind of bored me and I skimmed over the last few pages.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brief newspaper articles of various lore in Alaska. He didn't go in depth on any, no photos (though I doubt most of the people wouldn't have the equipment to pose for), or provide follow up. Like did the mammoth that was killed in the valley really end up on display at the Smithsonian? If so, how about a photo?

[B Zimp · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of published stories from early Alaska pioneers and Alaska Natives about strange occurrences in the Last Frontier. From Bigfoot, weather shamen, missing planes, to tropical paradises it’s a unique retelling of the unexplained experiences in the late 1800s.

[Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun collection of unexplained phenomena.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an anthology of Alaskan stories and it is a nice of fun. fun.

[Matt French · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some sections are boring, but for the most part, enjoyable stories.

[David Corleto-Bales · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of interesting but rather disappointing, this book is simply a retelling of various "tall-tale" newspaper articles from Alaska and Yukon newspapers from the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Most had absolutely no basis in fact and were simply made up by enterprising reporters who wanted to provide something other for their readers than news about the weather being awful. Some tales of lost mines were kind of cool.

[Kristine Rieger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really intriguing. Some of the stories seem plausible. There are footnotes included to show articles that were written to support some of the claims. I sure would like more information about the tales in this book.

[Hew La France · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listen to our review on our podcast:

https://anchor.fm/hew-j-la-france/epi...


Or read our review on our website:

https://pagesinthecorner.com/f/strang...

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love things weird. This is a quick read of things bizarre. Some have been disproved...others remain a mystery. All in all, a fun read.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read.

[Sherri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book about some of the strange things that went on in Alaska.

[Steve]

It's a fine, albeit repetitive, collection of old tales and newspaper stories. Maybe if they were organized by year instead of topic, I'd have found it less repetitive.