The Journals of my inquiries into the Walker Creek incidents.

Or, The frustrating tale of how I lost my girlfriend and everything else important in my life because of my mad little obsession with a small town in Northern Alberta.

By Kyle N. Deller

July 18th, 2008

It was a little over two years ago when I first heard of Walker Creek. I do really wish I hadn’t. I was dating a girl named Leah at the time and her mom was from there, sort of. I’ll get back to that later. Hearing about Walker Creek started me on the journey to where I am now. I found other stories about this place an followed leas an made some connections, I think. I grew obsessed; other things in my life, fell away or just shriveled as I watched negligently. Now I am a 22 year old college dropout with no career prospects and no girlfriend. I sleep on a friend’s couch and spend hours each day staring at old notes and newspapers or glaring into half empty mugs, sometimes coffee, usually whiskey.

Leah’s mom, Lori was born in Lloydminster and she had a fairly normal upbringing. However when she was 17, she found out that her mom had been married before and had a son named Bobby with a guy named Peter DuFour. Lori never got to meet her newly discovered half-brother, her mom wouldn’t let her. However, she did find out that Bobby had supposedly witnessed the murder of his aunt in Walker Creek at the hands of a monster from the basement that then ate her. Bobby is currently residing in a mental hospital in Edmonton. Anyway, when Lori found out about Bobby’s story, she dropped out of school and moved to Walker Creek to find out the truth. I don’t think she found it, she did find Leah’s dad though.

Anyway, apparently my obsession was too much and she will likely never speak to me again. However I can’t really stop trying to find the truth. I’ve spent at least two years of my life interviewing people and hunting through old newspapers and it’s got me nowhere. Even when I went to the town, no one really gave me a lot of information. They actually seemed like they were hiding something, or, at the very least, uncomfortable with discussing it.

March 10th, 2006

That thing Leah told me about her uncle a few weeks ago really messed me up. There’s gotta be more to the story. Why would Bobby DuFour make up such a weird story about his aunt getting eaten by a monster? What happened to Bobby’s dad? Why did his parents split up, did it have to do with his supposed mental condition? Why didn’t Lori’s mom tell her that she had a brother? What’s all the secrecy About?

Leah seems less interested, but she is supportive. She knows that I’m inquisitive and passionate and that I can’t turn down a good story. I was worried that she’d think I was being a bit too intrusive into her family’s story, but she seems okay. A friend of her mom’s from Walker Creek is coming through town tomorrow and she set up a lunch meeting for he and I. I spoke to him on the phone today and he assured me he’d be buying lunch, which is pretty neat, me being a student and all. He also said he avoids going back to Walker Creek because one time he went back for a visit and his dog went missing. Whatever, I’ll find out more tomorrow.

March 12th, (3AM, specifically), 2006

WHAT A FUVKING WASTEOF TiME!!! ‘m sorry, I’m a but drunk. Vic didn’t tell me a godddamn thing about Bobby or even Walker Creek in general. He would not, however, stop biching about his dog. Apparently, that happened, like 1o years ago. He’s hung up on this stupid trivial event. . .. I’m going to bed, I think I might have woken up Leah stumbling in drunkenly.

Same day, little bit afternoon, 2016.

So, I had lunch with Victor Saluzzo yesterday. He owns apartments and other properties in Walker Creek, but no longer lives there. Anyway, he bought lunch, droned on about stuff I don’t care about and kept ordering way too many drinks. He missed his flight and decided to keep drinking, also ordered me a bunch. He retold the story about his dog a few times, with greater, yet somehow foggier detail. He also told me about some wedding he went to in Walker Creek where Leah’s mom’s cousin was a bridesmaid. The only things I really learned are-Vic can drink a lot(so can I)

-His sister owns a restaurant

-He’s crazy because he thinks his dog

was murdered

-Other useless small town gossip that I

don’t think has to do with Bobby

DuFour.

March 20th, 2006

Well, I spent a solid week still being pissed off about Vic and his damn dog story. Anyway, I found something online to vastly improve my mood. Apparently some of the big events in Walker Creek were reported and recorded by a newspaper in a nearby city called Grande Prairie. I found that wedding that Vic was talking about, between a certain Dr. Mark Shaw and Susan Caine in 1972

“Service to be held at Mill Street Presbyterian at 12:30 by Reverend Malcolm McFarlane, followed by an open reception at the Captain’s Inn and Pub at 6:30. The reception includes supper, toonie bar and a 9:00 performance by local group Ricky French and the Fellas.”

That wasn’t too interesting, but I also found report of a girl who died tragically while camping with her family in 1968. Apparently Sarah Krieger fell in the river and her dead, partially chewed body was found the next morning some distance downstream.

On a different site, there was a piece about why the Old DuFour house at the end of Perrault Lane could neither be preserved as a local historical site, nor could it be destroyed. The house had been built in the late 1800’s by brothers Henri and Pierre DuFour, who basically built the whole town, or at least paid for it. It seems that Nancy DuFour, who I mentioned earlier as the victim of the grisly murder left the house to an as yet unknown third party. For weird legal reasons, the current owner does not want to be identified and definitely does not want the house destroyed or turned over to the town, by sale or gift. It simply sits there, covered in overgrown weeds and chipped paint.

What I’d really like to find is the obituary for Nancy DuFour, but that is more likely to be in only the local Walker Creek newspaper. I’m not sure if they have one, but it is definitely not available online, I looked.