In which we explore the scariest (in my humblest opinion) cryptid.

GOD, I'm SO HAPPY this photo exists.

Quick note: the wendigo is deeply rooted in the cultures of Native American tribes around the Great Lakes region. I'm not a member of any of these tribes, so if I get something incorrect, please let me know. Also, I'm aware that wendigos reside MUCH more in religion and folklore than cryptozoology, but they're often lumped in with other cryptids, hence their inclusion here. Hopefully, in doing so, people can learn more about the wendigo and how it's an important cultural symbol.

TIMELINE

late 1800s-1920s - the most wendigo sightings occur

winter of 1987 - Swift Runner becomes a wendigo

1907 - "The Wendigo" is published

________________________________________________________________________________

LOCATION

Great Lakes Region, North America

Nova Scotia, Canada

Rosesu, Minnesota

________________________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

Wendigo, and the various other names this creature goes by, all roughly translate to "the evil spirit that devours mankind." So, yeah. Terrifying.

Wendigos are, put simply, cannibals. In Native American folklore, if you eat another human - whether you're forced to by starvation or do so out of your own free will - you turn into these fearsome creatures. Some sources even claim that you can turn into a wendigo simply by meeting one in the woods or being possessed by the creature in your dreams, which is a terrifying concept - you're not even safe while you sleep.

The wendigo stands at 15 feet tall. Its malnourished frame is home to glowing eyes, dog-like teeth, and a long tongue. The creature is described as devoid of lips or other softer features, likely because of its association with the cold and frostbite. There's also the possibility that it chews off sections of its own face because it's constantly starving. Yum. Unsurprisingly, this unappealing being smells like rotting flesh and decay. Topping off its toes and fingers are devilish claws, perfect for shredding their prey.

A common misconception is that the wendigo looks like an emaciated deer, with antlers and all. This is the pop-culture interpretation of the wendigo, not how it was originally depicted by Native American tribes. Wendigos are humanoids - you can think of them like ruined humans. The artwork of emaciated deer is top-notch, though, I must say - this monster's inspired some really cool stuff.

Wendigos actually hibernate for several months out of the year, presumably because of the utter exhaustion that comes from brutally murdering innocent people. However, once they do come out to play, they have a little fun with it. They mimic screaming human voices, surround their targets with strange noises, and bait their prey into falling for traps. But when it comes right down to it, wendigos go in for the kill, sudden and ruthless. Have fun sleeping tonight!

Also, locking a door between you and this terrifying creature does absolutely nothing. It can unlock and open doors - because why the hell couldn't it, it still has thumbs - so you and your loved ones aren't safe in your cabin in the woods. No safer than you were among the trees, anyway.

Wendigos are never full. They're constantly walking around in a semi-starved state, meaning that you aren't safe just because a wendigo has recently eaten. To make matters even worse, some say that wendigos grow based on how much human flesh they consume.

Wendigos come with all sorts of fun perks, such as incredible speed, superhuman endurance, and insanely heightened senses.

The only tried and true way to kill this thing is silver straight through its heart. In a pinch, a silver-covered knife will do the trick. Then break the heart into pieces, lock the pieces in a shattered box, and bury the box in a church cemetery. This is because the creature can easily regenerate, and silver's the only thing that slows it down. Yes, you heard me - chopping its heart into confetti and burying it in a church graveyard won't kill this SOB. Instead, you have to dismember the body with a silver-plated ax so you can then salt and burn the body before scattering its ashes to the wind. Or bury the pieces in a remote location. If you skip even a single step, this creature can stitch itself back together and kill you. Slowly.

(Fun fact: this creature has been adopted and adapted by several Native American tribes, all of whom have different descriptions of the beast! For example, the Algonquians sometimes claim that the monster is made entirely of ice.)

________________________________________________________________________________

FIRST SIGHTING

Rather than there being a fixed first sighting, a myth perpetuates the humble beginnings of this horrid beastie. The first wendigo was said to be a fearsome Native American warrior who made a deal with the devil - his soul in exchange for unmatched combat skills. Once he had won the battle, he was banished from his tribe, having lost his soul in upholding his end of the deal. To make matters worse, he now had cannibalistic tendencies. It was a pretty bad day all around.

Records of this legend date back to the 17th century.

________________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOWING SIGHTINGS

SWIFT RUNNER

This case is tragic and brutal, although it's more folklore than anything. Supposedly, during the winter of 1878, Swift Runner, his wife, and his six children were isolated from their community. Swift Runner transformed into a wendigo (or developed wendigo psychosis - read below). Supplies such as food could be purchased a mere twenty-five miles away at a trading post, but Swift Runner didn't even attempt to make it there. He devoured his wife and their remaining children - several had mercifully died of starvation before being ripped apart by their own father.

JACK FIDDLER

Cree member Jack Fiddler told a Methodist minister that in his time as a shaman, he had killed fourteen wendigos, and even killed people before they "turned" to prevent them from reaching their final, monstrous form.

Jack and his brother, Joseph, were arrested for murdering people well before they turned into these terrifying cryptids. Let this be a lesson to you all - preemptively stopping crime by committing another crime is still no bueno.

ROSESU WENDIGO

In the late 1800s up to the early 1920s, a wendigo was supposedly repeatedly sighted in the small town of Rosesu, Minnesota. The legend goes that every time it was sighed, disaster followed it, usually in the form of death. This is when most of the sightings happened, and the wendigo faded into history - for the most part - after this.

________________________________________________________________________________

MAJOR MEDIA APPEARANCES

There are so, so many. I'll include some of the more famous ones here, but feel free to leave your own in the comments.

"THE WENDIGO"

Algernon Blackwood published a short story about the myth of the wendigo in 1907. The story centers around a hunting party that travels into the woods and encounters the wendigo. This helped push the idea of the wendigo into popular - specifically non-native - culture, ensuring that the myth of the wendigo would persist for decades to come. Good job, Algernon!

"SUPERNATURAL"

I will admit - I used to be a raging "Supernatural" fan. This was years ago, trust me, but I vividly remember watching the episode that featured the wendigo - season one, episode two, to be exact. It creeped me out and was the first time I had heard of the monster. Because of that, this media mention holds a special place in my heart.

"GRIMM"

"CHARMED"

STEPHEN KING'S PET SEMATARY

WENDIGO WOODS

Traveling up and down New France, Wendigo Woods is a haunted house centered around this creature. Its premise is that it started out as a camp for researchers to study the flora and fauna of the area, only named after the wendigo because of the legend. However, when the wendigo actually did appear, a security team shut down the research camp..and now it's up to you to join the security team, explore the camp, and uncover the wendigo's secrets.

I am the biggest wuss ever when it comes to this sort of stuff, but by god, this sounds like so much fun.

________________________________________________________________________________

POSSIBLE HISTORICAL SOURCE

INTENSE FAMINE

Back in the good ol' days, before electricity and running water and modern medicine, people had a rough time just surviving. Native Americans faced their own struggles, especially those in the American Northern Midwest and Canada, with brutal winters causing rampant starvation. Some believe that the story of the wendigo was born from these times, when starving Native Americans may have turned to cannibalism during the colder months as a means of survival.

MENTAL ILLNESS

In the stigmatized days when mental illness was demonized, several conditions could have inspired fear in misunderstanding tribal members. Schizophrenia or bipolar personality disorder, for example, would have been grossly misinterpreted. Some believe that Native American tribes created the myth of the wendigo to give themselves a good reason to kill the mentally ill. If they believed their loved ones had turned into monstrous cannibals, it would be easier to murder them and rid themselves of the problem they couldn't hope to understand.

Anthropologists, in fact, believe that "wendigo" more accurately translates to a catch-all for all mentally ill people.

Wow. This got real dark, real fast. If you're one of the millions of people on Earth struggling with mental illness - then congratulations! You're a wendigo.

WENDIGO PSYCHOSIS

This relates to the whole "mental illness" thing but is a specific - and highly disputed - condition in modern medicine. Supposedly, wendigo psychosis occurs when people suddenly have intense cravings for human flesh and are deathly afraid of becoming cannibals. If this is a real condition, it may have been prevalent in some Native American tribes and led to this legend.

People claim that wendigo psychosis develops during long periods of isolation, especially those when the isolated person is surrounded by cold and snow. This fits with the location of the wendigo, who resides in the chilliest parts of North America.

Now, this wouldn't have inspired the legend of the wendigo, because it was named after the creature. But I wanted to include it in this chapter as an interesting thought piece. Is there a mental disorder that can make you suddenly want to eat people? Who knows? But it sure is a chilling concept!

WHITE PEOPLE

Are any of us surprised?

Okay, I'll be serious. Many anthropologists believe that the wendigo was only created after the arrival of white people in the Americas. Why, might you ask? Because the tribes' folklore had to change to accommodate the horrific violence, genocide, and supply shortages they were facing at the hands of their new white neighbors.

I won't delve too deeply into the psychological explanation for this because I, myself, am a white teenage girl, so I really have no hope of understanding the struggles of Native Americans. However, it makes sense that in a world that was rapidly changing and displacing them, many tribes would invent a new force of evil just to keep up.

______________________________________________________________________________

Meme

________________________________________________________________________________

Further reading

feel free to check out my sources to read the articles I used for yourself!