*BREAKING: Ancient Burial Ground Discovered

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Gold Water Cave

On September 25th, while completing basement-level renovations, construction workers unearthed a previously undiscovered cave system directly underneath The Boneyard, the Wraith's home stadium in Yellowknife.

Yellowknife was first founded in the 1930's as a gold/diamond mining town, so it was theorized that these caverns were just forgotten mine shafts. Being located in close proximity with Great Slave Lake, the cavern was flooded, which made exploration difficult. But after one of the original construction workers found a few flakes of gold in the water, wannabe pioneers flocked to Yellowknife in hopes of striking it rich. It was a modern day gold rush as cave explorers donned their scuba suits and slowly explored the icy waters of the newly dubbed "Gold Water Cave."

What they found was much more alarming: Bodies. Lots of bodies.

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*** A diver exploring Gold Water Cave ***[/div]


The Discovery

On October 3rd, divers found the frozen remains of about two dozen individuals partially covered in ice under the waters of Gold Water Cave. The news spread quickly across the archaeological community. What happened to these people? Was Gold Water Cave truly an old mine shaft, and these people were trapped as the cave flooded?

Two days later, Dr. Jerry Baker, an archaeological professor from the University of British Columbia, removed two of the mummified bodies from Gold Water Cave for examination. What he found out would shake the city of Yellowknife to its core.

"They're Native Americans. Their bone structure is consistent with the Dene indigenous peoples, but these bodies are older than any we've ever found before, older than the known Dene tribes. And the bodies seem to have been wrapped. Gold Water Cave must have been a burial ground for ancient First Nations peoples thousands of years ago!"

News of the discovery spread like wildfire. Gold Water Cave contained dozens of partially mummified Native American remains thousands of years old, potentially the oldest preserved human remains ever found in the Americas. As archaeologists flocked to Yellowknife for a chance to research the site, citizens of Yellowknife began to feel uneasy.

"It makes me uncomfortable," said Sally, a Yellowknife local who had lived there her whole life. "I don't they should go poking around an ancient burial ground. And it's right under The Boneyard! There's something wrong about that."


The Curse?

Ever since Dr. Baker removed those two bodies from Gold Water Cave on October 5th, strange things have been happening around the site. Dr. Baker, a healthy 43 year old man, fell off his bike just one day after publishing his findings, hit his head on the curb, and died. Dr. Baker's assistants, who had helped him remove the bodies, both fell ill with serious food poisoning before also passing away.

Archaeologists called these tragedies bad luck, but others felt that something more sinister was at play.

It wasn't long before local tabloids and media pundits ran with the story. The (now ironically named) Boneyard, home stadium to the Yellowknife Wraiths, was built directly on top of an apparently cursed ancient Indian burial ground! Surely it was no coincidence that Archibald Booter, the long-tenured kicker for the Yellowknife Wraiths, suddenly retired from the NSFL just days after the news broke.

But is there really a curse? How far does it spread?

The Yellowknife Wraiths have largely been regarded as an under-performing team for the past two seasons. Their history is full of choke jobs and bad luck, and many fans now believe it's because of a curse.

This past season, despite having the best point differential in the NSFC, the Wraiths are missing the playoffs. They lost at home to a rebuilding and broken Yeti team. Their newly hired co-GM mysteriously disappeared after just one week in office. They got hit with a tampering penalty after their GM Spike Crown contracted a strange disease, putting him in a trance under which he illegally tampered with another team's players.

While logical thinking would conclude that this is just typical bad luck, Wraiths fans (and some players) believe it is something more supernatural.

"It explains everything!" Francois Lamoreaux exclaimed passionately. "We're the unluckiest team in the league, there is no way to explain it other than that we're the victim of an ancient curse! We should get compensatory draft picks for this."

"Yeah, so, we might be cursed," Bork Bjornsson said sarcastically at his press conference yesterday. "But that's not going to hold us back, and we aren't making excuses. Even if it's real, that's just another distraction that we're going to push through as a team."

We were able to catch up with outspoken cornerback Kevin Cushing to get his insight on whether or not there is a curse. He had this to say: "You are out of your mind if you think I'm going to say anything about that."

People who believe in the curse have been trying to think of ways to break it. Maybe they should tear down the stadium and move somewhere else? Should the team name "Wraiths," named after malevolent spirits, be changed? Maybe they should return the two bodies that Dr. Baker removed, or hire a Yellowknife tribe shaman to try and undo the curse?

Meanwhile, others dismiss the claims as childish superstition.

Nonetheless, the Wraiths are preparing for S4, and the atmosphere is surprisingly optimistic.


The Future

Newly hired co-GM Bork Borkington had this to say about the Wraiths future, "We're feeling pretty good. Even with the cap penalties and this apparent curse, we have very strong pieces in place and we feel good about our plans to address our weaknesses. Last season was obviously a disappointment, but I won't blame some curse for it. We're going to own our mistakes and learn from them. Our offense will continue to be one of the most dangerous in the league, and we are very pleased with how our defense is improving. We have no plans of rebuilding or taking any off years. Next season is going to be big for Yellowknife."

We asked Borkington if the Yellowknife Wraiths had any plans to tear down the stadium and move the team, or to re-brand into something less spooky because of the curse.

"Absolutely not. This team means too much to the Yellowknife community, and Yellowknife means too much to us. We aren't going to move just because some people think there's a curse."

Despite the confidence in his voice, Borkington seemed visibly shaken. Perhaps he's worried the curse will see him suffer a similar fate to Archon, who mysteriously vanished without a trace.

Is there really a Yellowknife curse? Is there anything that can be done to break it? This reporter leaves the answers to these questions to you.



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