Valley Of The Headless Men

A pair of Scots/Métis prospector brothers who lose their heads — literally — in one of the most remote wilderness areas in the world? Yeah, that’s a sidetrail I can’t resist.

From Fodor’s Travel:

Lured by reports of gold in the area, brothers Frank and Willie McLeod journeyed from Edmonton, Alberta to the Nahanni range in 1904. Traveling with primitive gear, they traversed hundreds of kilometers by train, boat, and foot during a numbingly cold winter until they reached Gold Creek. Their efforts were rewarded that year and they returned to their home in Fort Liard with gold in hand. However, not satisfied, the brothers made a second expedition into the Nahanni range in 1905. They never returned.

Nothing was heard from Frank and Willie until brother Charlie McLeod led a search in the park in 1908, where he discovered two skeletons at their camp on the river’s edge in a vast valley. Their heads had been severed and one man lay with his arm outstretched towards his gun, the blankets were thrown across his brother as if he had leaped suddenly from the bed, read reports. From that day forward, the valley has been known as Deadmen Valley, and the creek called Headless Creek.

Canadian folklorist Hammerson Peters* has written on the Nahanni and its mysteries, and offers an animated video on the McLeod Bros.

Here’s a piece on the multitude of deaths and disappearances in the Valley of the Headless Men from the esteemed MrBallen**:

*We’re going to see (and hear) quite a bit of Hammerson Peters in these parts. He’s done a whole lot of storytelling in the frontier/wilderness folklore vein. He’s also a woodcarver and a Métis fiddler.

**MrBallen is Jonathan B. Allen, a former Navy SEAL,  wounded (nearly fatally) in Afghanistan in 2014. He has built a following of nearly 5 million viewers on YouTube, telling true crime tales of the dark and mysterious.