Blood and Myth, the Hulu documentary film, tells the tale of an acclaimed actor named Teddy Kyle Smith, who was accused of a series of violent crimes. The more interesting bit was that he stated in his testimony that he was made to do those crimes by mythic dwarf-like beings called the Inukun from Alaskan folklore. James Dommek, a drummer and documentary maker, got interested in the case when he heard certain recordings of Teddy from when he was in the custody of the state troopers. The actor vividly described his encounters with the mythic creatures and the profound effect they had on him. So let’s find out if he actually saw the Inukun or if it was a desperate fabrication to escape justice.
What was Teddy Kyle Smith accused of?
Who would have imagined that the guy who played the character Egasak in Andrew Okpeaha Maclean’s On the Ice, the actor who was credited with breaking the stereotypical way in which the world saw people from Alaska and who made the world understand that the land was rich in culture and they had their own beliefs and traditions, would be the one found guilty of first-degree attempted murder? Teddy hailed from a small village in Alaska called Kiana. He lived there with his mother, and he had a sister named Lorene. One fine day, his mother was found dead at her home, and the first witness, Annie Reed, who reached the house, stated that Teddy was standing there smiling at her as if nothing had happened. The village just had a village public safety officer at that time, and there were no Alaskan troopers present in the vicinity. Reed informed the safety officer about what had happened, and after that, Teddy escaped from the house and didn’t return until he was finally caught by the troopers some 50 miles into uncharted territory. There were no signs of forced entry, and there were no wounds on the victim’s body to suggest that there was force used on her. Also, the experts weren’t able to determine the cause of her death. Some believed she had a natural death, while some said Teddy strangled and killed her. But there was no evidence to substantiate their claims. Also, another weird thing happened while Teddy was on the run. He bumped into two brothers, Paul and Chuck Buckel, in a hunting cabin deep in the woods. All of a sudden, Teddy turned violent; he shot at them and then escaped with all their stuff. Luckily both the brothers survived, even after Chuck was literally shot in the chest. It was no less than a miracle that the brothers survived in the woods for 20 hours before they were rescued. They also couldn’t understand what snapped inside the man and why he turned against them all of a sudden. Teddy was eventually caught by the state troopers, and legal proceedings were initiated against him.
Was Teddy found guilty by the court?
Teddy was found guilty of first-degree attempted murder by the jury, but the point was that there were a lot of people who believed that some magic spell had been cast upon him and it was not his doing. The most bizarre yet fascinating thing about Blood and Myth was that Teddy stated that he had had an encounter with the Inukun, mythical little beings who were said to have psychic powers and whom the Inupiaq people feared. Teddy said that he didn’t know why he shot at the Buckel brothers or how his mother died. Now, if he would have made an insanity plea, then probably the court would have taken that into consideration. But Teddy stated very clearly that he did not suffer from any such mental illness and he was of a completely sane mind. But time and again, even when the troopers were investigating him and when he was cross-examined in court by the prosecution, he said quite firmly that he met with the Inukun. I can understand why he was found guilty, because how can a prudent person accept that the mythological characters who found a mention in the Alaskan folklore existed in reality? But the mystery thickens when James Dommek Jr. meets Teddy’s sister, Lorena. She told him that she believed her brother when he said that had nothing to do with their mother’s demise. She said it with a lot of certainty, and she told him that even though she couldn’t find a logical explanation beyond what had happened, she trusted her brother. Another amusing thing happened when some archaeologists were sent to examine the area along the Kobak River, as the government wanted to figure out if the area was safe for mining. The archaeology team was accompanied by a tribal liaison officer named Mary Black. In their report, the experts stated that they found little settlements, which they knew for sure did not belong to normal people. Mary, when interviewed by James Dommek, stated that it was she who asked the team to leave the area immediately, as she knew that those settlements belonged to Inukun. But the fact remained that nobody was able to prove anything, which was why Teddy was given a 99-year life sentence (the maximum one could get in Alaska) without any possibility of parole.
Did Teddy Actually Meet The Inukun?
James Dommek was able to interview Teddy Kyle Smith and felt that he bought his story. Teddy told him that though he was not suffering from any kind of mental illness, he was taken over by a weird energy that even he couldn’t understand. He said that he never murdered his mother, but he knew what a prudent man would think if they saw the crime scene. He said that he felt extremely guilty for shooting at the Buckel brothers, though he never intended to do so, and he didn’t even know why he did it. James told him that the Inukun were always mentioned in the stories that his great-grandfather wrote. Teddy said that some things in life couldn’t be explained. He said that he felt that the Inukun wanted to tell him how westernization had ruined their culture. They wanted him to know that what other people perceived as progressive was a deterioration of a society’s social culture and the environment. Teddy felt that they wanted to tell him how the current generation did not respect the land or their elders and were just soaked in greed and concerned about their benefit. James and Lorena believed him, and so did people like the tribal liaison officer, Mary Black. It was said that, once, the people and the Inukun lived together, but then, according to folklore, blood was spilled, and they vanished into the woods, never to be seen again. Yet people felt their presence, and time and again they felt that these Inukun were keeping a close watch on them. There was a sense of fear that existed in people pertaining to the Inukun, as they were believed to be sinister beings. I don’t know if what Teddy experienced happened in reality or if he was just not in a healthy state of mind. But if, hypothetically, he considered that encounter really did happen, then I would believe that the Inukun respected nature, and after seeing men cause such widespread destruction, they just decided to go their own way and hide in their cocoon. Teddy is still in the Goose Creek Correctional Facility in Wasilla, and he says that to date he carries the guilt of shooting at the Buckel brothers, even if he didn’t do it of his own free will.
