WENDIGOS: THE RETURN

A little over a year ago I came here, excited by the new books on wendigo folklore I had recently acquired. Some of you may recall the thread, which can be found here:

suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/44551658/

Well, I'm back. With much of the US gripped in nasty winter weather, it seemed appropriate. I've got more books and more wendigo folklore, largely from the Cree and Ojibwa traditions. There's shaman vs wendigo stories, guardian spirits, 80 ft+ ancient wendigos, spirit possession dreams, wendigo cures, and psychotic cannibalism.

If you want to chat about emaciated famine spirits of the eternal winter, come on in.

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Feel free to ask wendigo-related questions if you have any. In the meantime, I'll relate some of the stories I've got.

The first one is a Cree story, about three people who went out trapping during the winter, and stayed out til early spring. Wendigos were very active in winter, but in northern parts of Canada early spring weather can be especially bad, right on the tail end of the true winter season, and this period was thought to be especially dangerous.

The group consisted of a man, his sister, his wife, and their dogs. During the winter they set up camp around one lake but as spring came on the man left the women and started a new camp at another lake some miles away, with the idea that the women would come join him later. They had been traveling by river, and the canoe was left with the women while the man went overland to the next lake.

After setting up the new camp, the man had troubled dreams. In Cree tradition, every person has their own pawakan, or guardian spirit, acquired in a coming-of-age ritual, though shamans tend to have multiple spirit-helpers acquired over time. The average pawakan spirits normally offer aid only in the form of dreams, but in dire circumstances may intervene more directly. It's considered a symbiotic relationship, with the human giving offerings and performing favors for the spirit in return for aid. The nature of the spirit is different for each person. This man's was a Rock, and it sent him a dream of a wendigo.

The man dreamed of the monster prowling through the woods near the lake where he had left his sister and wife. When he awoke, he realized the dream was truth, and abandoned his camp to rush back down along the river to the women's camp.

Miles away, the women also realized something was amiss. Some of the dogs had gone missing. Others were acting strangely, cowering in fear and shivering, barking at something in the woods. Beyond that, there was an uneasy feeling. The Cree often reported that wendigos caused a sort of spiritual malaise, affecting people as they drew closer, causing feelings of loneliness, of cold, and of general apathy. You don't want to cook, or hunt, or get up. Think seasonal affective disorder, but worse.

Anyway, the women notice this and it scares the hell out of them. They pack up camp very quickly, grab the remaining dogs, pile into the canoe, and strike out. The wendigo reaches their camp not long after. As some of you may recall from the last thread, these monsters can often seem confused and disoriented, even a little crazy, but they're not dumb. The wendigo recognized a hastily abandoned camp, saw where a canoe had been beached, and put 2 and 2 together. It struck out along the river in pursuit.

So the man was going upriver on foot, the women were going downriver by boat, and the wendigo was hot on their heels. The group all came to a head in the narrows, where the river cut deep and cliffs rose on all sides. The man arrived, and in the distance he saw the canoe, and on the shore he saw the monster. It was gaining. Wendigos are tall, gangly creatures with long strides. They can move very quickly. With no weapon that can kill the monster, the man sits down and enters into a trance. He forces himself to dream, and in his dream he calls out to the Rock, his pawakan. He pleads for aid.

As the canoe enters the narrows and the wendigo follows, Rock hears and consents. The cliffs snap shut across the river like a massive pair of jaws. The canoe carries on safely... while the wendigo is caught between the Rocks,

Will post a little more in a bit. Next story will be about a colossal ancient wendigo, killed without magic.

So this next story comes courtesy of George Nelson, a 19th century fur trapper who traveled extensively in sub-Arctic Canada. He kept a journal and seems to have been fascinated with Native superstitions and religion, though one has to filter through his own ethnocentrism.

Anyway, one story he relates is a myth that he sets in "the days of Noah," IE the ancient past. In this time endigos were more common than they are now, and some reached truly massive sizes. Their depredations were threatening to exterminate the human race. One large group of natives, all from different tribes, had gathered together for mutual safety against one particularly fearsome wendigo, taller than the tallest trees. Nelson notes trees in the region tend to reach a maximum of 50-80 ft, depending on species. As they sheltered against the winter storms, the tribe became aware that this monster had found them again and was drawing near.

A quickly assembled council came up with a plan: they couldn't beat the wendigo in open battle, but perhaps they could build a trap. However, they will need bait. As they talk through how to pick the best candidate an old woman with iron grey hair steps forward and volunteers. She says she is so old already that it makes more sense for her to take the risk, as the younger members have their full lives ahead of them. The assembled natives are aghast at sending a respected elder to her death, but short on time and deeply moved by her selflessness, they proceed.

Nelson is vague on what the trap consists of, but it is built at the edge of the woods, overlooking a large clearing, between two trees. Some sort of structure seems to be built between the two trees, and it conceals a crossbar laden with stones and other weights. The old woman sits beneath it.

If I were to create a Wendigo or Wendigo-based creature, what would some key features be? I don't know much about Wendigos.

>Good health? Speed? Invulnerabilities? Spells?

Before long the booming footfalls of the wendigo are heard as it strides across the icy wastes. A blizzard comes with it, roaring and screaming, and the monster towers above everything, a moving monolith in the dark. When it spies the old woman at the edge of the woods (who has lit a fire to keep warm) it draws close, its face a mixture of "pity, contempt, rage, and voraciousness." The creature, like many wendigos seems mentally disturbed. As it crouches down to inspect the old woman, its fast face drawing near to the ground, speaks.

First the monster says "Why, old woman, what are you doing here?" in a voice of concern and kindliness. Then its tone changes harshly, and it says "I will Grind you." Nelson notes the creature's erratic nature, saying it changes tones repeatedly in the conversation.

The old woman explains she's been abandoned to die by her uncaring tribe, who view her as a useless old woman. However, she offers to tell the monster where the tribe is hidden and what precautions it has taken, warning the wendigo that without her knowledge the monster might be in danger. Though skeptical anything could threaten him, the monster agrees to hear what she has to say.

The wendigo comes closer, its head entering into the shelter between the two trees, saying "what a place they have put you. Did they think to conceal you from me?"

At this point the old woman pulls on a concealed branch in the snow, triggering the trap. The weighted crossbeam descends on the wendigo's neck, pinning its head to the ground. The tribe rushes out of the woods as the monster struggles to free itself, and with hatchets and chisels they swarm over its body. The wendigo crushes and kills anyone it can seize, but the humans are relentless. Hacking and chipping, they tear through its frozen body to reach its heart of ice. Though the heart is hard as stone, they crack and break it as much as they can.

As the heart is sundered, the wendigo begins to weaken. The warriors set fire to the wooden trap about its head, then pile more and more wood onto its body, turning the creature into a massive bonfire.

At least the creature is consumed, and the tribe returns to its camp, knowing that at least for now, they will have a period of relief from the powers of winter.

Right, so, wendigos are monsters from Algonquian mythology. Pic related is probably the best visual depiction I've seen online. They are created when a person freezes to death in winter, engages in survival cannibalism, breaks some sort of spiritual taboo, or is cursed by a shaman. In each case a wendigo spirit attacks them in their dreams and, if they succumb to its tricks and temptations, it enters into their bodies and transforms them.

Wendigos appear as hideously emaciated human beings, as if in the late stages of starvation. They have a bottomless hunger, chewing on themselves if they can't find fresh meat, and many wendigos are noted to have missing lips, toes, fingers, etc, as a result. They are supernaturally strong, easily capable of tearing a person apart with their bare hands, and they brings blizzards and ice storms with them. As they eat their grow in size, so their stomachs are never quite full.

Small wendigos, those who have transformed recently and are still about human size, can be killed with an axe to the back of the head or by strangulation, but they must be burned afterward. All wendigos have a heart of solid ice and recover from only mundane damage. Only fire can destroy them and melt the heart. Older wendigos, or those that have eaten well, can be truly massive in size, and at that point only the intervention of a shaman can defeat them.

Speaking of shamans, one anecdote I read is about a clan that lived on an island in the river. For the most part life was good, and they rarely needed their shaman for much. She was an old woman, her hair in long, grey braids, always with her shawl drawn up over her head and smoking a big pipe. She was a somewhat spooky presence, and people didn't much like talking to her. When she was consulted it was mostly for simple things like cures and love potions.

One day, the wind began to blow and storm clouds began to darken the sky. The children began to feel cold, and were rushed indoors. The old shaman arose, told the tribe to bring her a hatchet, and ordered them all to stay inside with the children. Then she went down, alone, to the waterside.

A wendigo was crossing the river, only its head visible above the water, its long strangly hair floating about it like a halo. As it neared the shore it saw the shaman, standing with the hatchet bared in one hand. The two locked eyes and for a long time neither moved. Then the monster swiveled away and submerged, swimming off in another direction. The shaman watched it go until she was convinced it wouldn't be turning around, and then went back to her clan to let them know the coast was clear.

People still thought she was spooky after that, but they were gladder to have her around.