‘When the boy went into the spirit iglu [house], he saw two beings on the sleeping bench. One had long ears. The other had a wolf’s tail. And the boy saw crowds of other beings piled on each other under the bench. These were people’s souls that were trapped there.’ Told by Asatchaq Jimmie Killigivuk, Point Hope 1976.

‘A man had a dream. A spirit came to fetch him, and took him to his iglu [house] under the sea ice. When they were inside, the spirit told him: “You will catch a wolf this winter. But don’t cut the skin. Then you will catch a whale next spring!”’ Told by Asatchaq Jimmie Killigivuk, Point Hope 1976.

Like other parts of the world, northern Alaska was known to be home to numerous mythological beings and spirits (Fig. 1). Many of them were feared, and individuals protected themselves by magical means, such as amulets. As the monsters and other supernatural beings were depicted differently from village to village and perhaps from carver to carver, they are not always easy to identify.

The kokogiak, perhaps depicted in Fig. 2, was a dangerous monster the size of a large polar bear, with eight to ten feet. It was known to move over the ice on its back, and reportedly ate humans. Waving its legs and shouting ‘ko, ko’, in imitation of a hunter in distress, it lured humans to come closer, and then caught them.

Another feared monster was the tiritchiq. This was a large worm or caterpillar-like dragon with several pairs of legs, possibly like the creature depicted in Fig. 3. Further south, in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta, the crocodile-like palraiyuk was known to live in lakes and marshlands, and attack animals and humans that come too close.