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URECAT - UFO Related Entities Catalog

About 1800 to about 1910, Koyuk, Alaska, USA:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

Fortean researcher Mark Chorvinski reported in 1990 on a story that was handed down to Lois Foster through her great-grandmother to her grandmother to her, saying three little men came to the Inuit village of Koyuk around 1800.

The great-grandmother said they came in a "silvery looking disc that sailed though the air".

The now quite elderly grandmother told she saw them during her childhood in the early 1910's. She told her granddaughter that they were very strong, able to lift heavy logs and dead deer without help, that they were stranded in the village because something was wrong with their disc, preventing them to go home.

It is said they eventually learned to speak the native language and communicated with the villagers.

Basic information table:

Narratives:

[Ref. pr1:] PHILIP L. RIFE:

The author says that according to natives stories handed down from generation to generation, in a remote Eskimo village near Koyuk, Alaska, around 1913, a "silvery disc that sailed through the air" became permanently disables, and three ufonauts were stranded there.

It was said they possessed greath strength for their size, learned the native language and lived with the Eskimo. They were described as elderly in 1913 and presumably died a few years later.

[Ref. jc1:] JEROME CLARK:

The author says a legend was handed down to Lois Foster through her great-grandmother to her grandmother, saying three little men came to the Inuit village of Koyuk around 1800. The great-grandmother said they came in a "silvery looking disc that sailed through the air". The now quite elderly grandmother claimed she saw them during her childhood in the early 1910's. She told her granddaughter that they were very strong, able to lift heavy logs and dead deer without help, that they were stranded in the village because something was wrong with their disc, preventing them to go home.

They eventually learned to speak the native language and communicated with the villagers.

Jerome Clark comments that the story is probably a conflation or traditional Inuit beliefs in little people, "as such belief is universal" - and UFO lore.

Jerome Clark says the source is Mark Chorvinski, in "Our Strange World", January 1990, in Fate, pp 17-19-22-23, 26, 28.

[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:

Albert Rosales indicates that in Koyuk, Alaska, in "1805" at an unknown time, "Natives told of seeing a silver disc like object that sailed through the air and then landed. Apparently three human-looking "little men" emerged from the object and reportedly stayed in the village for a while."

The source is indicated as Mark Chorvinsky, Fate January 1990.

Points to consider:

I managed to find a picture of Lois Foster in the Quad City Herald newspaper for December 23, 1976. The article tells how she remembers Eskimo Christmas celebrations, but does not mention the UFO story. At least this proves Lois Foster was not invented:

The dates are probably not quite reliable. It can be noted that if the alleged UFOnauts came around 1800 and were still around about 1910, they sure lived longer than humans.

List of issues:

Evaluation:

Extraterrestrial visitors or exaggeration or ufological distortions.

Sources references:

* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.

• [---] ? "Our Strange World", article by Mark Chorvinski, in Fate magazine, USA, pp 17-19, 22-23, 26, 28, January 1990.
• [pr1] * "It Didn't Start With Roswell", book by Philip L. Rife, Writers Club Press publishers, USA, page 91, 2001.
• [jc1] * "Unnatural Phenomena: A Guide to the Bizarre Wonders of North America", book by Jerome Clark, ABC Clio publishers, USA, page 5, 2005.

Document history:

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This page was last updated on February 17, 2013.