Two Brothers Found Gold in the North, Then Were Found Without Their Heads
Their discovery on a remote riverbank in 1908 gave the creek its name, and started a legend that never faded.
Pinecone Diaries: Canada's Stories & History · Valley of the Headless Men: The Dark Mysteries of Nahanni ValleyIn 1908, three years after Willie and Frank McLeod vanished in northern Canada, their brother Charlie headed into the Nahanni Valley in the Northwest Territories with a search team. On a riverbank in a section of the valley later called Deadmen Valley, he found what was left of them as skeletons. Both were missing their heads.
The McLeods were prospectors drawn by rumors of gold in the remote valley. In 1904, they traveled in and found ground that looked promising. They returned home carrying gold samples as proof.
Hungry for a bigger strike, they set out again in 1905. This time they brought a Scottish engineer with them. None of the three was ever seen alive again.
That discovery is why a stretch of river there came to be called Headless Creek. After Charlie found his brothers headless on the bank, with their heads never recovered, people began giving the creek that name. Rumors grew that a curse hung over the valley or that hostile forces watched over it.
The mystery only deepened because the engineer who had gone in with Willie and Frank was never accounted for. His fate remained unknown, leaving only two headless skeletons on a riverbank and deaths no one could explain.
Questions people ask
Where is Headless Creek today?
It is a tributary of the South Nahanni River in the Northwest Territories. The area is now largely within Nahanni National Park Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978. It remains remote wilderness, reached mainly by small plane or by river.
Did the McLeod brothers really find gold?
They returned from their 1904 trip with gold samples, which convinced them to go back. Later accounts said they bragged the gold was remarkably rich. The site they supposedly found became known as the Lost McLeod Mine, and it has never been located.