Reality TV is a combination of an interesting idea and non-actors who will illustrate it as long as they don't have to memorize a script. When I heard about one taking place in Portlock, Alaska, I had to see if it has any basis in reality whatsoever. The history of Portlock is certainly mysterious. The town on the Kenai Peninsula grew up around a salmon cannery in the early 20th century. But it was completely abandoned in 1950.
Around the 1940s, it was reported that several Dall sheep hunters had disappeared in the hills outside Portlock; it was also stated in a 1973 article from the Anchorage Daily News that dismembered bodies of some of the missing had washed ashore in the lagoon.[3] These events led the residents of the community to flee en masse, and the town's post office officially closed between 1950 and 1951.[3][1][5] Many villagers blamed the unexplained deaths and disappearances on a Bigfoot-like creature referred to locally as Nantinaq.[6][7]
The residents of Portlock moved to Nanwalek and Port Graham. In recent years, some people in Nanwalek have raised the possibility of re-establishing a community in Portlock. The story was certainly ripe for the reality show treatment. Discovery+ is streaming a series called Alaskan Killer Bigfoot (subscription required) that follows a group of guys going to Portlock to check it out.
We don't know how "real" this reality show is, but the story that inspired it is very creepy.
(Update 2/8/2023) From Only In Your State:
Hunters and gold miners who headed into the mountains started to disappear. In 1931, one man that was chopping wood was found murdered, seemingly by a single blow that seemed stronger than a human could manage. This alarmed the townspeople.
One group hunting a moose reported finding giant footprints also stalking the same animal. They arrived at the site of a bloody battle and no moose was found. Footprints over 18 inches long headed from that spot into the foggy mountains. Occurrences like these began to show up regularly. In the local dialect of Alutiiq, the language of the area, the creature is called a “nantiinaq,” half-man, half-beast.
Whether or not a Nantinaq is to blame, enough people were killed to cause everyone else to leave. -via Boing Boing