STRANGER THAN FICTION
by
Marilyn Bueckert

     Years ago, my father, Bill White, was stationed at Cambridge Bay in the Arctic. He spent a lot of time with the natives whom he came to respect tremendously. He related the following story to me and it was later part of the book "Mountie in Mukluks" (Harbour Publishing).

     "There was only one incident that happened while I was in the north that I could not understand. It was not a medicine man who was involved. The Hudsons Bay Company had an Inuit working for them, called Katapko. He often used to come over to the police post and visit with me and I think I learned more of the Inuit language from him than from anyone. He was extremely patient in pronouncing the various words and had the ability to tell a story by pantomime.

     One day in February, Katapko dropped over to the post and as usual, talked about everything else except what he had come to tell me. After some time, he announced, "I think there is a team coming."

     Now dogteams were coming and going all the time but they were Inuit teams and a minute or two later he volunteered the information that it was a white man who was coming.

     That winter there were only two white trappers trapping inland from Kent Peninsula in different areas. Before going in to trap in the fall of the year, the trapper would always call at the police post and tell us where he was going and how long he intended to be trapping. He would tell us when to expect him back out. At this particular time, no one was due for another two months. I asked Katapko when this person was coming. He thought for a minute then said "In three sleeps." I asked him how he knew it was a white man coming and he said, "I feel that way."

     I was not too impressed at the time, but sure enough, three days later, a trapper by the name of Pete Brant, arrived at the post. He had had a mishap and lost part of his supply of food so was forced to make the trip some two months early for more supplies. I asked him what natives he had seen on the way in and he replied that he had not seen one native all winter. I asked him how Katapko knew that he was coming and he said that it was impossible. He had seen no one and he could not answer the question.

     I checked this out from every possible angle and yet could not come up with an answer as to how Katapko knew Pete Brant was coming. The only thing I could possibly suggest is that it was a form of ESP.

     Another time Katapko came over to the post and during the course of the conversation told me that he had been down to Burnside the night before. Now, Burnside at the head of Bathurst Inlet was over one hundred and fifty miles from Cambridge Bay and I knew it was impossible for him to go down and back that quickly. I asked him what he went down for and he told me of who he had visited and how they made out with their trapping. I asked him how he went down and he told me he flew down.

     Katapko was very honest and sincerely believed that he had been down to Burnside Inlet and the only thing I could suggst was that he had had quite a vivid dream.

     I have read many stories, supposedly documented by the Australian Government, concerning Aboriginal natives there when they are reputed to have the ability to send thought messages over one hundred miles away. The scientists claim that at one time, everyone had the ability to send thought messages but over the years this power became latent and that now it is only found among the most primitive people."

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I hope you enjoyed this story Dad told us, that to us, was certainly stranger than fiction. The book is a wealth of stories of how the Inuit people lived in the late 1930s before much of their lifestyle was destroyed by intruders to their land.

Marilyn Bueckert