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IrelandYes Theory's Nome guide runs the saloon, the fire department and the searches
The third Alaska episode moves from muskoxen and gold mines to a police chief standing on the beach where Florence Okpealuk was last seen.
Yes Theory
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Why this story? One of the most watched videos since yesterday, with 911,494 views.
50 hours in the American town where people disappear
Video summary
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- 1:15Staffan and Thomas land in Nome on bush planes after flying through a storm from Kivalina.
- 5:45Staffan approaches a herd of muskoxen, and a local named Jim stops to warn him.
- 10:48At the Board of Trade Saloon, Jim turns out to be the owner, fire chief and search-and-rescue director.
- 14:16Thomas presents a sponsored segment for the data-removal service Incogni.
- 20:00Police Chief Mike Heintzelman shows them the beach where Florence Okpealuk was last seen.
- 24:14Radar, whose real name is George, gives them a tour of an active open-pit gold mine.
The man who pulls up in a truck to warn Staffan Taylor away from a herd of muskoxen turns out to be the right person to ask about Nome. Jim owns the Board of Trade Saloon, the town's oldest bar, and he is also its fire chief and the director of search and rescue. "We have a number of missing people still," he tells Staffan, minutes after the muskoxen start moving his way.
"50 hours in the American town where people disappear" is the third episode of Yes Theory's "Uncovering Forgotten Alaska" series, following the Kivalina trip and the visit to a Russian town in Alaska. It drew more than 900,000 views in its first 11 hours.
Thomas Brag and Staffan arrive on small bush planes after a stormy flight from Kivalina. Nome has no taxis, so they ride with Radar, a gold miner who has worked 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, for three and a half months. Later he admits that Radar is a nickname and his real name is George.
The serious part of the episode belongs to the police station. Police Chief Mike Heintzelman drives the pair to the beach where Florence Okpealuk was last seen. He describes years of searching in which "every place was a dead end," and explains why the FBI was called in. A local woman, Molly, speaks about the high rates of Native people who go missing or are murdered. The chief also talks plainly about alcohol and substance abuse in the town: "We gotta recognize that we have a problem, and that's the first thing to change things." The video does not offer a solution. Instead, it sets the internet's theories about the town beside what the people who live there say. The description asks anyone with information to contact the Nome Police Department.
The episode ends in an open-pit mine. Shawn, owner of Northwest Gold Diggers, says his crew took 2,000 ounces in five weeks, then laughs off the question of whether that makes him a millionaire. Many viewers say they recognize him from Discovery's Bering Sea Gold. The video includes a paid segment for the data-removal service Incogni.
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- Channel
- Yes Theory
- Subscribers
- 10,200,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 9,035,580
- Channel views, pace per day
- 1,060,300 (on a normal day: 956,934)
- Video published
- November 8, 2026
- Video views so far
- 911,494 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 1,386,006
The numbers
Eleven hours after its release, the third Alaska episode has already drawn a large audience, following two earlier episodes that went on to reach millions.
