THE WENDIGO

Among the most feared and well-known of the Native American monsters is the insatiable Wendigo.

TV fans may have seen depictions of the man-eating monster in popular shows like "Supernatural" and "Grimm".

It has also been namechecked in books such as Margaret Atwood’s "Oryx and Crake" and Stephen King’s "Pet Sematary".

 

Generally described as an ice-covered cannibalistic “man-beast,” the Wendigo (also spelled Windigo, Weendigo, or Windago) legend comes from the Algonquin-speaking tribes North America, which includes nations such as the Pequot, Narragansett, and Wampanoag of New England. The story of the Wendigo is also found in the folklore of the First Nations of Canada, such as the Ojibwe/Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Cree.

 

Some tribal cultures describe the Wendigo as a pure evil force comparable to the boogeyman. Others say the Wendigo beast is actually a possessed human who was taken over by evil spirits as punishment for committing misdeeds such as selfishness, gluttony, or cannibalism. Once a troublesome human is turned into a Wendigo, little can be done to save them.

Physical Appearance

The physical appearance of this monstrous beast differs between legends. Most describe the Wendigo as a figure about 15 feet tall with an emaciated, haggard body, signifying its insatiable appetite for feeding on human flesh.

In his book "The Manitous", First Nation Canadian author and scholar Basil Johnston described the Wendigo as a “gaunt skeleton” that gave off “a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption.”
The legend of the Wendigo has been passed down through generations of tribes. One of the most popular versions of this myth tells the story of a Wendigo monster that was defeated by a little girl who boiled tallow and threw it all over the creature, making it small and vulnerable to attack.

While the vast majority of alleged Wendigo sightings occurred between the 1800s and 1920s, claims of the flesh-eating monster man still surface around the Great Lakes territory every so often. In 2019, mysterious howls allegedly heard by hikers in the Canadian wilderness led to suspicions that the horrific sounds were caused by the infamous man-beast.

 

Text from https://allthatsinteresting.com/native-american-monsters

Wendigo

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