~THE WENDIGO!~
There is soooo much information about Wendigos on the web. And there is so much more information about the Wendigo that is not posted in this entry. But I tried to do my best to cover the basics. Feel free to search the Wendigo for yourself. Like I said, there is a ton of information about the Wendigo on the web. I find this topic really interesting and I think you will too. Anyway, here we go!
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WHAT IS A WENDIGO?
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"Northern US and Canadian AmerIndian Tribes, including the Ojibwa, Cree, Saulteaux, Naskapi, Innu and Montagnais, believe that the Wendigo (also called Windigo) is a real creature that stalks the forests and prairies. It’s a malevolent cannibalistic monster that can possess people and turn them into Wendigos."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://suite101.com/article/the-paranormal-wendigo-legend-and-encounters-a376173
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"The Wendigo is a supernatural entity of enormous power, the embodiment of insatiable hunger, gluttony, unbridled evil, and the savage predator. Befitting its bestial nature, the Wendigo possesses supernatural strength, speed, endurance, and senses. The beast is able to rip a human apart with little effort, and the Wendigo moves so quickly that it cannot be seen by the human eye. Any wounds that are inflicted on the Wendigo’s body are healed very quickly, although wounds caused by silver tend to heal very slowly. It is invulnerable to most conventional weapons, excluding arms incorporating pure silver. The Wendigo thrives in even the harshest climates, immune to extremes of cold."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://demonhunterscompendium.blogspot.com/2010/06/wendigo.html
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"The Wendigo's classification has remained debatable, jumping somewhere between the physical and biological anomolies associated with Cryptozoology and a spiritual view ranging from malevolent spirit to forms of demonic possesion."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://paranormalunknown.blogspot.com/2008/05/wendigo.html
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"The Wendigo is a demonic spirit believed by Algonquin-based Native American tribes to possess humans and turn them into cannibals."
"The term "Wendigo" or "Windigo" is used to describe both the evil spirit as well as the creature that humans can become when possessed by the spirit."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/wendigo-legend.html
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"The Canadian Encyclopedia defines a Wendigo as a “spirit...that takes possession of vulnerable persons and causes them to engage in various antisocial behaviours, most notably cannibalism.”"
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10278
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THE WENDIGO LEGEND
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"Many tribes believe that the Wendigo originates as a human being, who once possessed by the evil Manitou is transformed into the beast. It is considered a flesh-eating demon of winter that has a man buried deep inside of it. The Innu people of Quebec and Labrador believed that the human who was host to a Wendigo spirit would grow exponentially in power and size with each meal he took, along with the spirit inside of him. In such cases, the only way to kill the spirit (and the man who is now seen as a giant) is with the help of Kushapatshikan, a Shaking Tent Ceremony."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://chrishibbard.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/the-many-faces-of-the-wendigo/
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"The legend of the Wendigo or "Windigo" – two of the most common of at least forty variants of the Algonquin word “witiku” – is known in much of Canada, the Maritime provinces, the Northwest Territories and parts of the northern United States. Among the various Algonquin tribes are the Micmac or Mik’maq, Montagnais, Naskapi, Algonquin, Abenaki, Ojibwa, Cree, and the Blackfoot."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10278
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"According to Native American mythology the Wendigo was once a great warrior, when faced with an enemy he could not defeat the Wendigo could give his soul and life in exchange for the power needed to defeat the enemy and save his tribe. However, once the threat was eliminated the Wendigo was forced to leave his tribe and wonder the countryside for eternity. The Wendigo is further more cursed with a taste for human flesh. The first accounts of the Wendigo myth by explorers and missionaries date back to the 17th century. They describe it rather generically as a werewolf, devil or cannibal. Different origins of the Wendigo are described in various forms of the myth, besides a warrior giving his soul to save his village other versions of the myth state that a hunter may become a Wendigo when encountering it in the forest at night, others state that a person may become a Wendigo as a result of being possessed by the creature in a dream. When the cannibalistic element of the myth is expressed, it is said that anyone who eats the flesh of a human will be transformed into a Wendigo."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://www.unknownexplorers.com/wendigo.php
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"The legends of the Wendigo were being passed down from generation to generation long before the Europeans ever stepped foot in what is now the United States. There are nearly as many different versions to the legend, as there are descriptions of the creature itself."
"Although there are two key components that seem to be included in every version of the story, number 1 resorting to cannibalism is thought to be the primary way of becoming a Wendigo, and number 2, even though the physical descriptions may vary, the wendigo is almost always described as a very thin, pale skinned creature that reeks of death and will only continue to grow larger after eating the flesh of a human."
"The Wendigo stories are said to have first begun during a time of tragedy and misfortune hundreds of years ago. The Algonquin tribes from the northern United States and southern parts of Canada were on the verge of starvation, as natural food sources were running dry."
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"The Algonquin legends claim that after a tribesman fed upon the flesh of another man he would soon go missing from their encampment never to be seen in his human form again. Within a few days others would begin to disappear as well leaving only their bloody clothing as evidence of foul play, but on rare occasions there would be a witness to the gruesome act."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://dsduby.hubpages.com/hub/The-Wendigo-Fate-Of-The-Cannibal
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"Although different tribes had different traditions, most stories describe the primal wendigo as a gaunt humanoid giant with decayed skin and long yellow fangs. The creature’s eyes glowed in the dark and it was always hungry for human flesh. These huge monsters could be heard howling in the forest on winter nights and were said to have powerful dark magic, but wild wendigo spirits outside in the wind were only half the story. If a person broke the ultimate Algonquian taboo, and decided to prefer cannibalism to starvation, he or she would begin to turn into a Wendigo. After eating human flesh, a person’s humanity would disappear and their heart would become cold. No food could slake a wendigo’s appetite except for human meat (and even that could not be eaten in sufficient quantity to fill up). Monsters of unnatural appetite, these transformed wendigos would bring death and ruin to all other people unless they fled into the wilderness or were killed by a medicine person."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://quinazagga.wordpress.com/2012/10/27/the-wendigo/
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WHAT DOES A WENDIGO LOOK LIKE?
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"Wendingos are said to have different appearances, but they are most commonly described as garish in appearance, with glowing sunken eyes and sharp yellowish fangs. They can be as tall as fifteen feet, emit a putrid odor and have a ravenous appetite for human flesh. These entities have a close affinity with the forest’s predatory animals. It's said that they travel together and Wendigos share their kills with other carnivores. Kenora, Canada has the dubious distinction of being the Wendigo Capitol of the World."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://suite101.com/article/the-paranormal-wendigo-legend-and-encounters-a376173
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"To paraphrase various complex and detailed descriptions of the creature, the Wendigo is an extremely skeletal creature lacking any real muscular tissue other than skin and bones, it's skin color ranges from yellow to ash gray, and its eyes range from deep blackened pits to glowing yellow eyes. The description varies quite a bit at times; adding hair, fur, fangs, antlers, and other variations, the Wendigo is one truly left up to the darkest reaches of the human imagination. Some groups believed whenever a Wendigo ate another person, they would grow larger, in proportion to the meal they had just eaten, so that they could never be full."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://paranormalunknown.blogspot.com/2008/05/wendigo.html
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"Over the years, the Wendigo has been given numerous and varied attributes, including the ability to change shape, a body and/or heart of stone or ice, and formidable strength and speed. In some accounts, the creature was said to be in excess of ten to fifteen feet tall, with sallow, yellowish skin, glowing eyes, long yellowing fangs and an abnormally long tongue. Still other accounts suggested a creature so thin that it couldn’t even be seen from the side."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10278
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"Some claimed the beast appeared zombie-like while others described the Wendigo as having the body of a corpse, but the head of an animal such as a dear or even large cat. Still others insist the creature appeared inhuman in any way what so ever."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://dsduby.hubpages.com/hub/The-Wendigo-Fate-Of-The-Cannibal
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"Its appearance can vary much like its name, yet many sources describe the Wendigo spirit as being a giant, a gigantic skeleton made of ice. In these stories, the Wendigo may have a tall and lanky body made of flexible ice, ranging in size from “higher than the treetops” to “twenty feet above the highest mountaintops.” Others describe it as a walking corpse with long, stringy hair; and still more as with jaundiced skin covered in pale fur and even with a star on its forehead. In one variation of the story, the creature could only be seen if it faced the witness head-on, because it was so thin that it was invisible from the side. That few of the descriptions of the giant form of Windigo are identical may perhaps be due the “blind fear” that is supposed to overcome anyone who encounters such a horrific beast."
"A more common description of the Wendigo is as such: humanoid in appearance, twenty to thirty feet tall with long arms, no lips, jagged teeth too big for its mouth (or yellowish canine fangs), an extended tongue and wicked claws on each hand. Very repulsive, this human-like Wendigo is said to be naked, covered in tree sap, moss and other swamp detritus, with skin stretched too tight over an emaciated frame and a from which huge red eyes glow like embers. The Wendigo fiend’s visage is manlike but horrible beyond all imagining, so much so that to look directly upon it is to faint or be killed instantly. If not composed entirely of ice, then it either has a heart made of ice or ice flowing through its veins."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://chrishibbard.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/the-many-faces-of-the-wendigo/
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WENDIGO SICKNESS AND PSYCHOSIS
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"Note: Wendigo Psychosis is also an associated mental condition. (As with the term Wendigo, the associated mental condition has many referenced spellings and alternative terms) It refers to a condition in which sufferers developed an insatiable desire to eat human flesh even when other food sources were readily available, often as a result of prior famine cannibalism Windigo Psychosis is identified by Western psychologists as a culture-bound syndrome, though members of the aboriginal communities in which it existed believed cases literally involved individuals turning into Wendigos. Such individuals generally recognized these symptoms as meaning that they were turning into Wendigos, and often requested to be executed before they could harm others."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://paranormalunknown.blogspot.com/2008/05/wendigo.html
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"“…Windigo Psychosis is a disorder involving an insatiable craving for human flesh, coupled with the fear of becoming a cannibal…In Algonquin mythology, the Wendigo is a cannibalistic spirit that had the ability to possess humans (and human forms;). . .So it’s pretty safe to say, this disorder does not seem to be entirely neurological. IT spans everything from the spiritual to the physical. . . but the one thing it doesn’t seem to affect is. . . [brains]."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://nosecreekplayers.wordpress.com/2012/07/24/the-history-of-the-windigo/
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"According to some psychological anthropologists, there is the Windigo Sickness – a Psychic Disorder: Caused by Egotistical Abuse of Psychic Powers or Abilities. Anthropologist Morton Teicher described the alleged mental condition of people believing they are or will be Wendigos, that he dubbed the Windigo Psychosis. This has been reported in the Northern Algonkian Tribes living around the Great Lakes. It usually happens in winter when people are isolated and have little food. Initial symptoms are, generally, a poor appetite, nausea and vomiting. Then, victims develop a delusion of being transformed into a Windigo or fear becoming one. They feel intense anxiety and sometimes attempt suicide. Windigo sickness is caused by egotistical abuse of personal power."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://suite101.com/article/the-paranormal-wendigo-legend-and-encounters-a376173
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"There is a condition known as "Wendigo Psychosis" under which people with access to food sources would inexplicably become overcome with the need to consume human flesh. One such person, a Cree man named Swift Runner, famously slaughtered his entire family in 1878 and ate them, despite being only 25 miles from the Hudson Bay Company's supply post."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/wendigo-legend.html
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"The “Windigo Psychosis” is a well-documented and legitimate psychological condition, and there is to this day a band of Ontario Indians that go by the name of Windigokaan, who dress as clowns and perform elaborate dances at their annual Sundance. Push back from the computer and visit the local library however, and there is an absolute treasure trove of Wendigo-related information to be found, though still very little in the way of art."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://chrishibbard.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/the-many-faces-of-the-wendigo/
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"Windigo Psychosis is the medical term given to those people presumed "windigo" (cannibalistic). The term applies to the Algonquin Ojibway, as well as Cree (Witigo). It is hard to pin down any real biological causes, as hunger seems to be the only one. Rather it is more likely that windigo psychosis was a cultural disease. The most commonly known cure for windigo psychosis is bear fat or bear grease."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://bearnation.forumotion.com/t12-the-wendigo
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PROTECTION AGAINST WENDIGOS
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"According to lore, the single way to be safe from these creatures is to kill them. Wendigos can only be executed by silver, iron and steel. The creature’s hunters must keep fires ablaze at all times. Using amulets, protective spells, charms and fetishes is advised because they have power over the beast. Earplugs are employed to block the monsters’ shrieks. Firearms with silver bullets or a stake, sword, axe, knife and arrows dipped in silver can be used to dispatch a Wendigo. The body should be burned to ashes or thrown into deep water or a well."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://suite101.com/article/the-paranormal-wendigo-legend-and-encounters-a376173
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WENDIGOS AND MURDER
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"In earlier times, the Wendigo was taken quite seriously in certain quarters. There are numerous accounts of people being convicted, and even executed, for being a Wendigo. One famous Wendigo hunter, a Cree Indian named Jack Fiddler, boasted of killing fourteen of the creatures, but was imprisoned for the last of these killings – that of a Cree woman believed to be possessed by a Wendigo."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10278
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Quote:
"On a cold December day in 1879, a man was hanged in Fort Saskatchewan, putting an end to one of the most horrifying killing sprees in Alberta history. Swift Runner was executed for murdering and then eating eight members of his own family over the previous winter. He believed he was possessed by Windigo, a terrifying mythological creature with a ravenous appetite for human flesh."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://werewolves.monstrous.com/the_case_of_a_real_wendigo.htm
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"Until reports of a murder in Cat Lake, Ont., in 1898 surfaced in Winnipeg, few settlers knew about the Windigo, the worst kind of evil spirit in Algonquin folklore. To the ancient Algonquin (which includes Cree, Ojibway and Blackfeet) of old, Windigo was known by many names such as Chenoo, Atchen, Witiku, and Kewok.In January, Manitoba Provincial Police officers arrested two members of the village of no-treaty Cree at Lac Seul for killing their chief, Ahwahsakahmig.The chief claimed he'd been invaded by Windigo and begged four villagers to shoot him. "Ahwahsakahmig lifted his right arm and showed us where to shoot," said oneof the men through an interpreter. The chief's body was taken to the edge of the village, covered with brush, and destroyed by fire."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://www.hotspotsz.com/Horror_of_the_Windigo_drove_some_to_murder_(Article-1128).html
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BECOMING A WENDIGO
Quote:
"The best known way to become a Wendigo is through cannibalism. By eating another human being, even out of necessity for survival, a human can be overcome by these spirits and be transformed into one. The fear of turning into this creature was so strong that it was preferable to kill one's self rather than resort to cannibalism."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/wendigo-legend.html
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Quote:
"Northern lore suggests that one can become a Wendigo in various ways, including being bitten by one, tasting human flesh, extreme hunger, being bewitched by a shaman or even by simply dreaming of a Wendigo."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10278
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Quote:
"Theories of how one becomes a Wendigo are varied, but they all resort to one cause: cannibalism. Some believe a human could transform into the Wendigo, while others believed the phenomena to be related directly with possession by a Wendigo spirit. No matter, all cultures in which the Wendigo myth appeared shared the belief that human beings could turn into Wendigos if they ever resorted to cannibalism or, alternately, become possessed by the demonic spirit of a Wendigo."
SOURCE: READ MORE:
http://paranormalunknown.blogspot.com/2008/05/wendigo.html
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- Rachel Livingston
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