According to ancient legends, in the forests of the northern United States and central Canada, a terrible monster lives on human flesh. Native American tribes today associate the disappearance of their hunters and ordinary tourists with the insatiable disposition of a monster called Wendigo. This creature can take the image of a person or a beast, change its voice in order to lure a traveler into the thicket. The first mention of the cannibal is found in the manuscripts of the XVII century, compiled by missionaries from the words of the Indian leaders.
What does Wendigo look like?
Among the indigenous peoples of the North American continent, the image of a forest demon is associated with cold, hunger, darkness. The descriptions of the appearance of the monster may vary slightly, but they all agree on one thing: the wendigo is a supernatural evil creature that mercilessly crackes down on everyone who meets in its path.
According to Algonkin Indians living in the Great Lakes region, the body of the monster is almost transparent, its skeleton and heart are made of ice. There are no fingers on Wendigo’s hands, huge yellow fangs protrude from a bloodless mouth without lips. The monster moves very quickly and silently, it is difficult to notice it until you come up against it.
Ojibwa hunters describe the appearance of the Wendigo as follows: “This is a giant creature the size of a tree. He has sharp teeth and long claws, glowing eyes and a huge tongue, his whole body is covered with fallen hair. Where Wendigo passes, deep traces of blood remain. "Hissing breath is heard for several miles, and the stench emanating from his body resembles the smell of a decomposed corpse."
Monster Habitats
Wendigo lives in dense forest thickets, where birds do not sing and animals are not found. The monster avoids bright light, so during the day he hides in underground caves or abandoned mines. Since Wendigo is a demon of cold and darkness, the monster prefers to hunt its victims with dusk.
The ogre is well versed in the dark, knows every inch of his territory and can change the weather with the help of black magic. He is extremely voracious and insatiable, but sometimes he makes supplies by hanging pieces of human meat on the branches of trees, or buries them in holes dug with sharp claws. The evil monster captures living people, locking the unfortunate in his den in case of power outages.
Where do Wendigo come from?
One could not believe the legends. Indeed, from the point of view of a civilized man, Wendigo is who? Just a fictional character, existing in the imagination of poorly educated Indians. But the fact is that there are a lot of these creatures, they say, even today they appear in the forest and mountainous regions of North America, capturing ever new territories.
Wendigo are not born, they become. The Wendigo spirit can enter any person if he voluntarily or involuntarily breaks the taboo of cannibalism. This happened more than once in the old days, when famines occurred in the villages of the North American Indians, caused by crop failure or severe weather conditions. If one of the fellow tribesmen, trying to save his life, ate another person, a terrible retribution ensued - the cannibal's body was covered with hair, his teeth turned into fangs. The wendigo curse that had been incurred had to go into the forest in order to continue to do its dark things.
The population of monsters also increased due to immigrants, travelers, gold miners, who were forced in extreme situations to eat the bodies of their comrades in order to avoid starvation. Who knows, it is possible that similar cases are occurring today, since from the time from time to time traceless disappearances of tourists are recorded in local forests.
Deal with the devil as an act of self-sacrifice
There is another, more noble version of the appearance of Wendigo. This happened during periods of protracted tribal wars. To protect a kind from mortal danger, one of the most brave warriors made an agreement with forest demons and adopted the image of an ultra-strong invulnerable giant.
After defeating the enemies, the hero was not able to regain his human form and he replenished the ranks of the evil cannibals. His former fellow tribesmen began hunting for Wendigo, because, having adopted the image of a beast, he became very dangerous, sparing neither children, nor old people, nor women, in the name of whose salvation he had committed a heroic deed.
Voluntary Becoming a Monster
Indians believe that any person who has expressed such a desire can become a monster. To do this, supposedly, you need to completely refuse food for several days or weeks, and when hunger becomes unbearable, go to the darkest forest thicket. Wendigo will surely find a daredevil and, depending on his mood, will either feast on an exhausted body, or turn a volunteer into his own kind.
It is also believed that some shamans, with an excessive enthusiasm for black magic, unwittingly or intentionally become Wendigo. The evil spirit, which has infused the sorcerer, drives the unfortunate man into the forest away from human eyes.
Is it possible to escape from a bloodthirsty monster?
Running away from the monster is almost impossible. The giant moves faster than the wind and can catch its victim in no time. There is an opinion that wendigo is like a zombie or a vampire, so it can easily be killed with a silver bullet or stabbed with an aspen stake. Unfortunately, these methods do not work on the cannibal.
The only way to prevent a Wendigo attack is to make a fire. Therefore, the locals, going to the forest, always take with them a large supply of matches. The monster never approaches the burning fire. Surely there are other secret methods of destroying monsters, since both Indians and white immigrants periodically went out to fight them.
Vicious Forest Hunters
Wendigo (the demon of the forest) is known by several names - Vindigo, Vitigo, Whitiko and Wi-Ti-Go, but each of them translates approximately in the same way: "an evil spirit devouring human flesh."
At the dawn of the development of the North American continent, many immigrants quite seriously took the stories of the Indians about Wendigo. Moreover, there was every reason for that. Persons who had gone hunting periodically disappeared, and in the forests of Northern Minnesota more than once they saw a wandering monster. They say that single individuals of bloody monsters still live here, and in the period from 1800 to 1920 there were especially many of them.
Some daredevils declared a real war on the giants, calling themselves professional Wendigo hunters. Jack Fidler, the most famous fighter with cannibals,, according to his own statement, managed to destroy fourteen Wendigo. He neutralized the last of them, being already an 87-year-old man.
In 1907, Fidler and his son appeared in court for the murder of an Indian woman. Without denying their guilt, the hunters said that they could not have acted otherwise, since the unfortunate woman was wrapped in “Wendigo fever”. In a short time, a woman would turn into a monster, endangering the lives of a large number of people.
Wendigo Fever Symptoms
No matter how terrible and bloodthirsty the Wendigo is, in some cases, after meeting with him, people managed to survive. But just as the conversion to vampires takes place, a person bitten by a forest monster began to gradually acquire the appearance of a monster. First of all, the psyche suffered. The unfortunate were tormented by hallucinations and nightmares.
Wendigo psychosis could arise without contact with a monster, for example, against the background of prolonged starvation. The man was overcome by the fear of becoming an ogre, it began to seem that no food could satisfy his hunger, except for human meat. And although these symptoms were usually false, in the Indian tribes such an obsessed were executed.
What a person feels when turning into a wendigo
Before becoming a monster, infected with "Wendigo fever" begins to smell a strange smell, his body shakes with severe chills, every night he is afraid to sleep, fearing the recurrence of nightmares. Then the unfortunate pain in the legs appears, the feet burn as if scorched by fire. In the end, getting rid of clothes and shoes, the future monster runs away into the forest, where its final transformation takes place.
How they managed to capture the sensations of werewolves remains a mystery. Obviously, turning to a monster, a person would not describe the subtleties of the process to former fellow tribesmen or comrades. Probably, films about Wendigo played a significant role in the appearance of this information, which were shot a lot both in the past and in the present century. Among the most popular films on this subject, one can distinguish the picture of Larry Fessenden Wendigo (2001) and the horror film “The Blair Witch: Coursework from the Other World”, released by the independent American cinema studio in 1999.
Wendigo Syndrome as a Mental Illness
An ancient Native American legend is reflected in the definition of the modern medical term "psychosis of wendigo." Some experts find the existence of such a disease very controversial, while others believe that with certain changes in the psyche the patient has an intense desire to taste human flesh and fear of becoming a cannibal.
Exposure to this psychosis is observed only among the Native American population living in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. The disease usually develops in winter in people who find themselves isolated by heavy snow for a long time.
Initial symptoms are anorexia, nausea and vomiting. Subsequently, a person develops the illusion of turning into a monster. Surprisingly, the incidence of Wendigo psychosis declined sharply in the 20th century, when Native Americans began to actively engage in Western culture.
Modern ideas about Wendigo
And nowadays, many seriously believe in the existence of an evil forest monster. It is reported that already in the new millennium, Wendigo was allegedly seen in the northwest of Ontario, near the city of Kenora. According to the testimonies of hunters, traveling merchants and travelers, the monster often appears on the shores of Lake Forest. According to legend, it is in these places is the den of the evil cannibal. The town of Kenore is given the unspoken title of the World Capital of Wendigo.
They say that a bloodthirsty monster almost five meters tall still roams the forests and prairies of the North American continent, terrifying not only local residents, but also visiting tourists. Despite all the efforts of the fighters with the monster, we have to admit: Wendigo cannot be killed, it is immortal.