Trigger warning: This article mentions murder, gore, cannibalism, detailed descriptions of emaciated and deathly figures, and more disturbing content. Turn away now and read something else if you believe you are sensitive to such content. Enjoy…
Welcome and welcome back! Today, I wanted to take apart and analyze one of my favorite myths; the Wendigo.
Above, you see the Native American Wendigo (I do not own this fan art).
The Wendigo, or “Wetiko” as some Native tribes called it, is a mythological creature that was mentioned and sighted across what is now known as Canada and the United States. Some say it is an evil spirit, but I digress.
The Plains, Great Lakes, and First Nations Natives have stories surrounding the Wendigo. They vary, of course, but they all hold core similarities.
For example:
The Wendigo is a tall humanoid figure with ashy-gray skin and a stench of death. Its greed is immeasurable, it won’t stop at killing one person, it needs everyone. It has a heart made of ice, tattered, dry bloody lips, and there’s usually an unexplained cold chill before it arrives. Its skin is desiccated, with eyes that are deeply pushed back into their sockets. It is so thin that it is gaunt and emaciated-looking.
I know that nowadays the Wendigo is nothing but a cautionary tale told to kids in certain states in the U.S. to make sure they behave and that it’s been reduced to social commentary and horror fiction for adults.
But even so, even a skeptic can’t deny the sheer awesomeness of one of these bad boys.
Above, you see a more humanlike depiction of the Wendigo.
Real quick, I just wanna take a pause to ask you all to please subscribe to my Newsletter and share this post to get it out to the world. Thanks!
The Wendigo is gluttonous. It is said in some stories that it retains some human abilities and features, like speaking and using tools. The Wendigo can survive partial dismemberment as well in some stories.
In some stories, the cognitive-ness of the Wendigo varies, but in one story I found, there was a large Wendigo that found a boy he wanted to eat, but he considered the kid “too thin” to be delicious, so he accompanied the boy until he was “fat enough” to be eaten. The Wendigo carried a knife to cut the boy’s hand every now and then to check if the boy had gotten fatter. But one day, the boy went into a nearby village and told everyone about the Wendigo that was following him. They went to kill the creature but only managed to cut off his legs. The next day, the villagers returned to where they had left the Wendigo, only to find it had autocannibalised itself by eating the bone marrow from its own legs.
In modern Psychiatry (which I’m currently studying ;p), the idea of Wendigo Psychosis is more of a diagnostic instead of being a part of a larger story or myth.
In fact, there was one man by the name of Swift Runner, who was a Cree Native American, who was believed to have Wendigo Psychosis.
Above, you see Swift Runner.
He was from Alberta, Canada and he had six kids. His eldest son died of starvation in the winter of 1878. He and his family were twenty-five miles away from the nearest Hudson’s Bay Company post where they could’ve gotten food, and he still butchered his wife and remaining five kids to consume them. And what makes this case so disturbing is the fact that he was so near a food source and ate his family anyway.
But they do say that Wendigo Psychosis leads to intense cravings for human flesh, and the fear of becoming a cannibal. Others suggest it’s a culture-bound syndrome, but I digress.
This horrible, disgusting human being (if you can still call him that) was arrested, tried, convicted, and hung at Fort Saskatchewan…
Above, you see Fort Saskatchewan.
Anyway, thanks for making it all the way through with us, I was just about ready to pull my hair out when I realized I was already done. I have to say guys, this is one amazing way to de-stress from my daily life, so once again, thank you.
Thank you for being here this week with just you and me, with nothing but our blue light-lit computer screens between us. Below, I’ve included a Treble playlist of the songs I listened to while writing this post. Enjoy! (Also, I’ve included a good video by Lore Lodge explaining the Wendigo a bit better than I ever could).
I left a button down here for those of you who have considered changing their ways and long to be Redeemed.
Well, I’ll see you soon enough, bye!
(I do not own any of the photos used in this article, all rights reserved to The Dominion of Canada).