• Introduction
• Stories of Shamans
• Thunder House: the legend

"Together we all went to the other side of the river and walked up to the Thunder House. It was very powerful to have the Elders up there, remembering and telling us new stories that they remembered. Many had not been to the Thunder House in many years and many students and people from the community had never been up there. It was important to have this connection where the stories and the physical sites became connected."
Ericka Chemko

Click on the Elders for their Thunder House legend narratives

    

  

The Thunder House Legend

Throughout history the Thunder House has been connected to powerful shamans and a common story or legend about two young orphans. In this story the children are left behind at the Netsilik River. In order to seek revenge on those who left them behind, the children became thunder and lightening.

As part of the project the elders travelled to the Thunder House to teach the archaeology survey team about the site.

The Thunder House is an important archaeological site. It continues to play a major role in the oral narratives of the area and much of the knowledge of how it was used and why it was built lies within those stories.

It is hoped with future projects like the Archaeological Survey and Oral Narratives project that sites such as this can be recorded and preserved for the next generation.