WENDIGO

The Wendigo is a very real creature of the northern woods and prairies of Northern Minnesota and North Central regions of Canada. The Wendigo is often encountered by hunters and campers in shadowy forests. But, Kenora, Canada is the place most known for its Wendigo sightings that have well continued into the millennia, earning it the title “Wendigo Capitol of the World.”

The description of a Wendigo is generally the same: incredibly thin, glowing eyes, long yellowed fangs and very long tongues, over fifteen feet tall with sallow yellowish skin. The spirit is said to have a voracious appetite for human flesh, causing the disappearance of various forest dwellers. “They’re hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian, other times a frontiersman or a miner or a hunter.”

Inuit Indians of the region call the Wendigo by various names, including Witigo, Wikio, and Wee-Tee-Go but each of them are roughly translated to mean “the evil spirit that devours mankind.” Native American versions claim that the Wendigo once had been human but had been transformed into a creature by the usage of dark magic.

According to lore, the Wendigo is created whenever a human resorts to cannibalism. “During some harsh winter a guy finds himself starving, cut off from supplies or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp. Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality. If you eat enough of it, over years, you become this less than human thing. You’re always hungry.”

While, according the early settler’s version of the legend, the Wendigo would often be seen as an omen of a death in the community. A Wendigo had allegedly made a number of appearances near a town called Rosesu, in Northern Minnesota, from the late 1800’s though the 1920’s. Each time that it was reported, an unexpected death followed, and finally it was seen no more.

It has been claimed that the Wendigo’s full powers have never been recorded. From what we do know the creature excels at strength and is “a damn near perfect hunter.” It knows every inch of it’s territory, every cave, tree and bush. “More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it’s awake it keeps it’s victims alive. It uh, stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants.” It can also control the weather through the use of dark magic! Because of this, the Native American tribes have actively hunted the creature in the past.