Ghostly tales of the trail

There are strange things done 'neath the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold.
The arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold.

--Robert Service, The Cremation of Sam McGee

There's a 1988 print by official Iditarod artist Jon Van Zyle titled "Beyond the Unknown," and it represents Van Zyle's encounter with spirits on the Yukon River. Van Zyle tells the story in Lew Freedman's book, "Iditarod Classics" (1992, Epicenter Press), how he was mushing along the Yukon River between Blackburn and Kaltag around three or four in the morning, and then, "As I got closer to this area, I heard 'whisper, whisper, whisper' -- talking. A murmuring. And it got louder and louder and more distinct. That went into laughter. Nothing raucous, not 'Ho, ho, ho' -- just nice laughter. Like someone was having a good time..."

Van Zyle explained how the laughter alternated with applause which got loud and then died off, and he continued, "Nobody was there. I wasn't dreaming, I was awake. When I came back I did a painting about it. A priest called. He said, 'I used to be on the Yukon River and I know where that spot is.'"

Van Zyle never met the priest, but he did some research and learned there was a massacre in the area, some missionaries were killed, and he wrote, "I think those are the people. They were watching a bunch of crazy dog mushers. And they gave me a little round of applause. I think it was neat. The priest told me, 'You're not the first person who's heard these people.'"