One Halloween night, as the sun slipped beneath the horizon, the young children were coming back from their rounds through the little Yup'ik village on the tundra in Southwest Alaska. The teenagers had waited their turn and eagerly squeezed out of their home, as their mother told them they were allowed to leave. They raced through to each of the small houses that dotted the … [Read more...] about Ghost Tales of the Arctic: The Frozen Spectre
yup'ik
Ghost Tales of the Arctic: The Red Skeleton
Like many other folktales of the arctic region, Yup’ik folklore emphasized keeping children safe from the elements and the dangers of being alone and ill-prepared. This folktale is no different, but it definitely gave me goosebumps the first time I heard it over an early-winter bonfire. A very long time ago, in the Cape Prince of Wales, in a village off the shore, there … [Read more...] about Ghost Tales of the Arctic: The Red Skeleton
Ghost Tales of the Arctic: Don’t Take What Belongs to the Dead
While attending college in the Interior of Alaska, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Yup’ik—a Central Alaska Native language—on Halloween of my second year, my professor deemed it appropriate to tell us Alaska Native ghost stories. Hearing these stories in Yup’ik gave unique perspective on the particular experience of growing up in … [Read more...] about Ghost Tales of the Arctic: Don’t Take What Belongs to the Dead