Strangers Among Us (Volume 10)

by David Woodman

In 1868 American explorer Charles Francis Hall interviewed several Inuit hunters who spoke of strangers travelling through their land. Hall immediately jumped to the conclusion that the hunters were talking about survivors of the Franklin expedition and set off for the Melville Peninsula, the location of many of the sightings, to collect further stories and evidence to support his supposition. His theory, however, was roundly dismissed by historians of his day, who concluded that the Inuit had been referring to other white explorers, despite significant discrepancies between the Inuit evidence and the records of other expeditions. In Strangers Among Us Woodman re-examines the Inuit tales in light of modern scholarship and concludes that Hall's initial conclusions are supported by Inuit remembrances, remembrances that do not correlate with other expeditions but are consistent with Franklin's.

Genres: Nonfiction

184 pages, Hardcover

First published September 7, 1995

Reviews

[Warren Wulff · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the follow-up to Unravelling the Franklin Mystery, Woodman delves into the impossible-to-prove possibility that some Franklin survivors walked to the Melville Peninsula, an incredible feat, in their condition, if true. While I doubt that the unexplained strangers the Inuit saw were Franklin survivors, they were beyond doubt real, and we have no explanation as to who they were. Woodman does fantastic research to compare all existing journals, notes, and books and is wise in not landing firmly on one particular solution to this mystery. Indeed, the book is stronger for letting the mystery stand and instead focusing on critical reasoning of the evidence. I would recommend reading Unravelling the Franklin Mystery first, as well as tackling some general histories outlining the Franklin Expedition and the Northwest Passage before reading this book, which focuses on just a few aspects and assumes the reader has a good grasp on the overall story.

[Unwisely · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another from my to-read-list-from-the-past.

It wasn't a bad book, but I would describe it as for Franklin Enthusiasts only. It's been a while since I was really immersed in the arctic stuff - I checked my history here and apparently I read the bulk of the stuff before I started logging. So the details weren't fresh in my mind, and the author doesn't provide much context. (I believe the introduction said this bit was excised from another book he had written, which might explain that, although, dang, a brief review might've helped.

Woodman has gone exhaustively to the surviving notes of Charles Hall, who was himself searching for Franklin (about 20 years after they probably starved). He does seem to have pretty good evidence that some of the Franklin party made it that far, and it sounded to me - although he didn't come out and say it - that at least one group may have been killed by a particular band of Inuit (south of the one Hall stayed with).

It's an easy read, with a fairly scholarly tone - not in that it was dense, so much as that he refused to draw any conclusions.

[William Battersby · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful and haunting title - and so is the rest of the book. As with Woodman's 'Unravelling the Franklin Mystery' this is an authoritative and scholarly analysis of Inuit memories of the last survivors of the Franklin Expedition. Highly recommended.