Nahanni Valley · The Headless Valley

Nahanni National Park was among Canada’s first World Heritage sites: deep canyons, high waterfalls, and hot springs steaming below the snowline. It is also the country most loaded with legend from the gold-rush years.

In 1908 the McLeod brothers went into the mountains to prospect and disappeared. A skull later found is said to have been separated from its body, and the nickname “Headless Valley” spread from there. In the decades after, more men disappeared in the same valley.

The First Nations account is of a woman in the valley who does not allow men to enter. The park notice says: there is no mobile signal here, so leave your itinerary.

Natural Mysteries / Northwest Territories · Canada / 1908