Apr 16, 2026 · 48 min · 14 segments
A two-part series | A New Brunswick railway worker discovers a burned‑out shack deep in the woods, with three members of a young family dead inside. But their infant is missing, and there's a trail of…
[somber music] The year was 1936, and the location was Pacific Junction, a remote railway junction in the Atlantic province of New Brunswick.
It was a bitterly cold evening in early January, and Canadian National Railways worker Omar Lutz was suddenly woken up by the sound of his dog barking incessantly outside.
Omar went out to see what the disturbance was and found his dog running up and down the road, barking into the darkness as snow fell over the wooded area.
The following day, Omar was back at the station at around noon when a man burst in, saying he needed help.
The man was a local trapper and logger named Otto Blackney, and he said he'd just run straight from a horrific scene at a small settlement less than a mile away.
Otto said he'd gone to the small shack belonging to another trapper named Philip Lake, who lived there with his young family, but he was instead confronted with a smoldering mess.
All that remained of the Lake family shack was the frame and a lone wood-burning stove that stood in the middle of what used to be the family's living area.
The scene was starkly contrasted by the surrounding blanket of snow on the ground.
Otto said that he gingerly approached the smoking ruins, and just inside the doorframe, he saw something he'll never forget.
The flesh was practically all burned off." The body was unrecognizable, but Otto immediately assumed it was likely Philip Lake.
It was a remote, unpopulated area, but he knew there was a manned railway station nearby, so he started running in that direction.
Once he got to the road, he started to see drops of blood peppered along in the snow, and then he came across a baby's bottle.
Omar Lutz realized that Otto was describing the same stretch of road that he lived on, and this was likely what his dog was barking at just after midnight the previous night.
Otto continued, saying after he picked up the bottle, he saw some tracks in the snow and started to follow them.
Quote, "They seemed to stop every few minutes, and the person or persons appeared to have gathered up snow.
[somber music] The year was 1936, and the location was Pacific Junction, a remote railway junction in the Atlantic province of New Brunswick.
It was a bitterly cold evening in early January, and Canadian National Railways worker Omar Lutz was suddenly woken up by the sound of his dog barking incessantly outside.
Omar went out to see what the disturbance was and found his dog running up and down the road, barking into the darkness as snow fell over the wooded area.
The following day, Omar was back at the station at around noon when a man burst in, saying he needed help.
The man was a local trapper and logger named Otto Blackney, and he said he'd just run straight from a horrific scene at a small settlement less than a mile away.
Otto said he'd gone to the small shack belonging to another trapper named Philip Lake, who lived there with his young family, but he was instead confronted with a smoldering mess.
All that remained of the Lake family shack was the frame and a lone wood-burning stove that stood in the middle of what used to be the family's living area.
The scene was starkly contrasted by the surrounding blanket of snow on the ground.
Otto said that he gingerly approached the smoking ruins, and just inside the doorframe, he saw something he'll never forget.
The flesh was practically all burned off." The body was unrecognizable, but Otto immediately assumed it was likely Philip Lake.
It was a remote, unpopulated area, but he knew there was a manned railway station nearby, so he started running in that direction.
Once he got to the road, he started to see drops of blood peppered along in the snow, and then he came across a baby's bottle.
Omar Lutz realized that Otto was describing the same stretch of road that he lived on, and this was likely what his dog was barking at just after midnight the previous night.
Otto continued, saying after he picked up the bottle, he saw some tracks in the snow and started to follow them.
Quote, "They seemed to stop every few minutes, and the person or persons appeared to have gathered up snow.
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