Coffee House Writers

Top Menu

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Article Categories
    • Creativity
    • Culture
    • Design
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Fiction
    • Food
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Home
    • Lifestyle
    • Memories
    • Nonfiction
    • Poetry
    • Politics
    • Relationships
    • Sports
    • Style
    • Technology
    • Travel
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Our Founder
  • Meet Our Admin
    • Chief Editors
    • Editors
    • Poetry Editors
    • Advertising Team
    • Recruiting Team
  • Testimonials
  • Apply
  • Login

logo

Coffee House Writers

  • Home
  • Article Categories
    • Creativity
    • Culture
    • Design
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Fiction
    • Food
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Home
    • Lifestyle
    • Memories
    • Nonfiction
    • Poetry
    • Politics
    • Relationships
    • Sports
    • Style
    • Technology
    • Travel
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Our Founder
  • Meet Our Admin
    • Chief Editors
    • Editors
    • Poetry Editors
    • Advertising Team
    • Recruiting Team
  • Testimonials
  • Apply
  • Login
  • Self Allegiance

  • Abstract

  • What Comes Down the Chute

  • Magical Convergences

  • En Medias Res

  • September

  • Back Roads

  • Find Your Passion and do it with Desire and Purpose

  • Turning Forty

  • Sick at Netherfield

  • I’ll Pull One

  • A Piece Of Deadwood

  • The Island Flamingo: Chapter 17

  • Perils of Gaming

  • Paradise Falls: Chapter 8

  • Autumn Whispers

  • The Red Maiden, Part Twenty

  • The Witching Hour

  • Getting Away with Murder

  • The Inhabitants

  • All the Books

  • The Vampire of Longbourn

  • Cause of Death

  • An Ode to Swedish Metal

  • Éowyn, Queen of Earth

  • Reading Values

  • Autumn, Halloween’s Escort

  • The Thing About Football

  • Score Success for Two

  • The Island Flamingo: Chapter 16

TravelCultureEntertainmentCreativityFamilyLifestyleRelationshipsFiction
Home›Travel›Alaska’s Qalupalik

Alaska’s Qalupalik

By VL Jones
August 18, 2020
3085
1
Share:
Alaska's Qalupalik
https://pixabay.com/images/download/monster-5369480_1920.jpg?attachment&modal

Anyone who loves Greek stories remembers the classic ‘Odyssey.’ Well, I do, anyway. I remember the part where Ulysses has his men plug their ears. Plugging their ears kept them from hearing the sirens – sirens that used their beautiful voices to cause ships to crash on nearby rocks.

Sirens and Mermaids are so similar in description that two creatures often get mixed up. In comparison, Sirens sing beautiful songs to enrapture luckless sailors.  Mermaids sit on rocks looking lovely, their legendary beauty luring wayward ships to their doom. Enthralled by the Mermaid’s illusion of beauty, the sailors overlook the danger, rugged rocks hiding in the watery depths of the ocean.

Sirens only exist in Greek myths.  Well, Alaska has a version of the Siren too. The Inuits call her ‘Qalupalik,’ and unlike the gorgeous Mermaids, she is a hag. Inuits description of a Qualupalik is that of an aquatic humanoid with scaly, bumpy skin. They also have fins coming out of their heads, backs, and torsos. Their hands, clawed and webbed, are made for hunting children.  Inuit parents loved scaring their children with tales of the Qalupalik and to beware of the smell of sulfur – a sure sign that Qualupalik was stalking them.

The Qalupalik is the Alaskan version of ‘the Boogeyman.’ Instead of singing to their prey, they hummed instead. They lurk near the water’s edge carrying an Amautik on their back.  Hunting at night, they are on the lookout for naughty children to whisk away.

The Inuit live in the Arctic region of Alaska where the ocean provides their means of survival. The Inuit use the Qalupalik to keep their children safe. Curious by nature, children tend to meander away from their homes.

Knowing how children are, Qalupalik likes to hunt near the water’s edge and hum. She lures misbehaving children away from the safety of their homes and village by her humming. This technique is similar to singing used by the Sirens of Greek mythology.

Inuit women wear the Amautik to secure their babies on to their backs. The myth has the Qalupalik using it to tie kidnapped children to the Amautik. Then she spirits them away; where and why differs. One theory is that the Qalupalik eats them, but other legends vary about what happens to the children.

It’s thought the Qalupalik takes the children to an ocean cave. In these caves, she places them under a sleeping spell. Other sources suggest that the Qalupalik needs the children’s energy to stay alive. So, as long as there are children, the Qalupalik will live forever.

Some have suggested that the Qalupalik kidnap children to raise as their own. None of the myths mention if there is a race of Qalupalik or if there is only one.

There could be two scenarios. The first being that the Qalupalik requires children’s energy to survive. The siphoned energy may not last very long. Kidnapping children would provide a continued power source. Ensuring the Qalupalik would always stay youthful.

We can suppose that there is more than one Qalupalik. Like Sirens and Mermaids, there could be a pod of them. The most interesting question is if Qalupalik kept children? How long did she keep them? Assuming she didn’t kill them immediately.

Inuit parents warn their children to listen for the humming. Qalupalik used their humming to lure the children away from their families. Parents warn them to stay close to home, or the Qalupalik would get them if they didn’t. Emphasizing, they would remain safe as long as they listened to their parents. The parents warn them about wandering too far from home or getting close to the water’s edge.

If the Qalupalik can’t lure the child away from their parents, they used other methods. They would knock under the ice as a way of enticing unsuspecting children to an ice hole. Once the curious child saunters near the weak spot, the Qalupalik grabs them, disappearing into the ice, never seen again by their family.

What is fascinating about myths and legends is the grain of truth in them. Many tales are born from real events, but in the retelling, the story transforms. With each retelling, the story changes until it takes on a life of its own.

Like the retelling of a car accident. Each witness, remembering something different about the same accident.

The Inuit lived in a harsh and unforgiving environment. It is dangerous for children to venture far from the safety of their homes. Crashing, through deceptive solid looking ice, would take only seconds. The child would freeze in the water in minutes.

Like the old Bardic Legends of the Celts, oral stories told for entertainment served a dual purpose. These stories can relate to real-life situations; scary stories of Qalupalik could be a parent’s way of keeping their children safe.

That brings up another interesting question then. Is the Qalupalik a real myth or a way to keep their children safe. The Inuit live near the Arctic waters, so creating a water demon isn’t farfetched.

Myths orally recounted in the past and translated into a written language are relatively recent. However, tales like these have origins. They begin somewhere and somehow. That means someone had to have seen something like a Qalupalik. Or close enough to come up with the description in the stories.

That’s a scary thought, that someone has seen this creepy cryptid and that those children were taken by something like a Qalupalik.

Living in the Arctic region is filled with danger.  Protective parents aware of those dangers would use a story once told for entertainment as a warning instead. Saying to beware of the Qalupalik was a way to keep their children safe.

Whatever the Qalupalik’s origins, it is a creepy myth. I would be careful of getting to close to the water’s edge even as an adult.

TagssirensinuitHistoryalaskaInuit mythArticleNorth Americamermaidsgreek mythologymythicalUrban legendsanthropologyhorrorcryptidsurban legendcryptozoologyoral traditionsLegendindigenous traditionsStorytellingmythologyQalupalik
Previous Article

The Red Maiden, Part Two

Next Article

Clock Is Turning: A Poem

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

VL Jones

V. L. Jones is a paranormal enthusiast and a horror writer. When she isn't writing stories to scare you under the covers? She is planning her next ghostly trip. V.L. Jones has a short story, Devil's Highway, published in Elements of Horror: Fire by Red Cape Publishing. She blends the horror genre with elements of urban legends and cryptids. She is also a proud member of the Horror Writer's Association (HWA) and the Horror Authors Guild (HAG).

Related articles More from author

  • CreativityHealthFamilyRelationshipsFictionHomeEntertainment

    Everybody Hates Kris (Joker Fanfiction), Part One

    May 4, 2020
    By Scarlett Faye
  • sunset, mountains, clouds
    PoliticsCreativityFamilyEnvironmentRelationshipsFiction

    Second Sun Horizon – Chapter One – Part One

    December 30, 2019
    By Xander S. Lee
  • Hearts
    CultureCreativityFictionEntertainmentRomance

    Happy Valentine’s Day

    March 8, 2021
    By Keely Messino
  • StyleRelationshipsPoetryMemoriesLifestyle

    Heaven’s Doing the Time Warp

    December 2, 2019
    By Christopher C. Bartlett
  • https://pixabay.com/photos/the-sea-the-waterfall-ocean-waves-3018128/
    EntertainmentTravelPoliticsCultureCreativity

    The Real Mother Of Dragons: The Lore Of The Serpents Of Old Part II

    April 22, 2019
    By jlwilling
  • Cherokee Wampus Cat
    EntertainmentLifestyleTravelCultureCreativityFiction

    Cherokee Wampus Cat

    October 27, 2020
    By VL Jones

1 comment

  1. Qalupalik: Child-Snatching Water Hag Of Inuit Folklore – LoreThrill 18 May, 2023 at 12:30 Reply

    […] – Astonishing Legends Alaska’s Qalupalik – Coffee House Writers The Inuit Sea Monster, The Qalupalik Qalupalik – […]

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You may be interested

  • hands wrapped in lights
    PoetryMemoriesCreativityRelationshipsFiction

    Hands

  • Woman's Portrait
    RelationshipsFictionMemoriesCreativityFamily

    The Battle Within

  • MediaCreativityEntertainment

    BoJack Horseman: An Essay

Timeline

  • September 25, 2023

    Self Allegiance

  • September 25, 2023

    Abstract

  • September 25, 2023

    What Comes Down the Chute

  • September 25, 2023

    Magical Convergences

  • September 25, 2023

    En Medias Res

Latest Comments

  • A Piece of Deadwood, is in this Week’s Coffee House Writers Magazine – Ivor.Plumber/Poet
    on
    September 18, 2023
    […] Hello dear readers and followers, I am now writing for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on ...

    A Piece Of Deadwood

  • Cast In Marble (is up at Coffee House Writers Magazine) – Ivor.Plumber/Poet
    on
    September 8, 2023
    […] Hello dear readers and followers, as you may know, I now write for “Coffee House ...

    Cast In Marble

  • In This Limbo, (at Coffee House Writers) – Ivor.Plumber/Poet
    on
    September 8, 2023
    […] https://coffeehousewriters.com/in-this-limbo/ […]

    In This Limbo

  • A Day At The Race, (is up at Coffee House Writers Magazine) – Ivor.Plumber/Poet
    on
    September 8, 2023
    […] Hello dear readers and followers, as you may know, I now write for “Coffee House ...

    A Day At The Races

  • A Welcoming Roar, is up at Coffee House Writers Magazine – Ivor.Plumber/Poet
    on
    September 6, 2023
    […] Hello dear readers and followers, I now write for “Coffee House Writers” magazine on a ...

    A Welcoming Roar

Find us on Facebook

About us

  • coffeehousewriters3@gmail.com

Follow us

© Copyright 2018-2023 Coffee House Writers. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s administrator and owner is strictly prohibited.