what is a wendigo

The Wendigo is seen as pure evil that posses greedy Algonquin people. The ashes must be scattered to the four winds. In the wilderness north of … [13] Although descriptions can vary somewhat, common to all these cultures is the view that the wendigo is a malevolent, cannibalistic, supernatural being. It is said that an angry wendigo can cause the sky to darken and extreme weather such as harsh winter winds, tornadoes, and blizzards. In these cases, the wendigo usually proceeds to convert the home into its lair and will hibernate for months (or even years) until it is awakened by its hunger and driven to eat more human flesh. This brings the malevolent spirit a sense of excitement and anticipation for the kill. [28] He eventually confessed and was executed by authorities at Fort Saskatchewan. Wendigo psychosis is a mental illness that is associated with wendigo possession, and there have been multiple cases reported in the Ontario area. They heard the Windigo calling the boy. Although a wendigo is able to exist in the physical world, it is actually a spirit form. [31][32] Others have pointed to a number of credible eyewitness accounts, both by Algonquians and others, as evidence that wendigo psychosis was a factual historical phenomenon. This ailment attacked our deputies; and, as death is the sole remedy among those simple people for checking such acts of murder, they were slain in order to stay the course of their madness. "[36] Out of equilibrium and estranged by their communities, individuals thought to be afflicted by the wendigo spirit unravel and destroy the ecological balance around them. It has 3200 HP. The terror of their victims is perhaps the only form of joy a wendigo feels. It is said that once the creature captures the scent of its prey, it will always know where the person travels no matter how far they go. Like many spirits, the wendigo has the ability to become invisible, fly, become undetectable, or possess humans. Unmarried individuals appear like a young girl clad in an overcoat that completely covers and conceals her entire body, and one cannot tell what is inside. Wendigo psychosis is a fascinating condition with a storied history. These victims are never seen again and are assumed to have been eaten by the wendigo. Stretching out its arms . One day they came to an Indian village and the Windigo sent the boy to the Indian village to get some things for him to eat. A wendigos eyes are said to be large – much larger than the average humans. [39] Lockhard's ideas explain that wendigos are an expression of a dark aspect of human nature: the drive toward greed, consumption, and disregard for other life in the pursuit of self-aggrandizement. They are also intuitive about their hunting needs. Twenty-five miles away from emergency food supplies at a Hudson's Bay Company post, Swift Runner butchered and ate his wife and five remaining children. When the winter was over and he was discovered for his crimes he was put on trial for killing and eating his family. . "[11], The Wechuge is a similar being that appears in the legends of the Athabaskan people of the Northwest Pacific Coast. There are other versions of the wendigo that claim the beast is a decomposing humanoid with the head of a deer. One of the most terrifying aspects of a wendigo is its inability to be satisfied. When it was determined that he was only 25 miles away from the nearest supply outpost and could have avoided starvation by simply traveling to obtain more food once the weather lightened up, he was diagnosed with wendigo psychosis. [44], Without explicitly using the term, the 1995 novel Solar Storms by Chickasaw author and poet Linda K. Hogan both explored the mythology of the wendigo and used the creatures as a device to interrogate issues of independence, spirituality, and politics, an individual's relationship to the famiy, and as a metaphor for corporate voracity, exploitation, and power viewed as a form of cannibalism. The wendigo can mimic any sounds it has heard, including voices. A wendigo is ruthless and enjoys terrifying its prey before making a kill. Windigo psychosis may well be the most perfect example of the construction of an Aboriginal mental disorder by the scholarly professions, and its persistence dramatically underscores how constructions of the Aboriginal by these professions have, like Frankenstein's monster, taken on a life of their own. [6] This can induce vomiting and in one Cree folk tale and one twentieth-century interview with a survivor in Canada, the suffering individual vomited ice. and consuming all it can. According to the most commonly cited descriptions, a wendigo is a giant cannibalistic creature who feasts on humans until it's no longer hungry. As the tale of the wendigo is associated with colder climates, it is often hypothesized that the tale was told to prevent people from engaging in the taboo act of eating human flesh. The Indians asked the Windigo if there was any fat on them. Wendigo or Wind igo psychos is is a psych iatr ic cult ure-b ound disor der manife stin g mainl y by the mons ter ari ses from t he posses sion of a met huma n According to legend, wendigos will do everything in their power to avoid fire (possibly because it is thought that their hearts are made of ice). wa, which may have meant "owl. With each feed, the wendigo … After eating his eldest son, Swift Runner became consumed with greed for human flesh and killed his wife and remaining 5 children in order to cannibalize them. The wendigo is a ruthless and savage predator. The wendigo is seen as the embodiment of gluttony, greed, and excess: never satisfied after killing and consuming one person, they are constantly searching for new victims. If they sense that they may soon run out of a food supply they will sometimes take the entrails of their victims and put them in large pots as a backup measure. During Callahan's Revenge, It had a spawn in Dead Man's Rest. Recognized by their emaciated physiques, spider-like limbs and tattered pale skin, the Although a wendigo is a fearsome opponent, they are not impossible to defeat. He was eating the juice (marrow) from the inside of the bones of his legs that were cut off. Other versions claim the eyes of a wendigo are pushed back into the skull of the creature and constantly roll back and forth in blood. The wendigo is often depicted as a demonic spirit that has power over winter storms and weather events. Definition. [42] In an early short story by Thomas Pynchon, "Mortality and Mercy in Vienna" (first published in 1959) the plot centers around a character developing Wendigo Syndrome and going on a killing spree. ", in which the creatures are described as "poor souls turned into monsters by obsession and desperation. A wendigo can be harmed by fire, but their wounds will heal quickly and they will only become more angry and obsessed with their intended victim. "Who, What, Where, Wendigo?" “The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tightly over its bones. Their tongues are said to be a terrible blue and the mouth of the creature is always covered in blood. Some controversial new studies question the syndrome's legitimacy, claiming cases were actually a product of hostile accusations invented to justify the victim's ostracism or execution."[35]. As a concept, the wendigo can apply to any person, idea, or movement infected by a corrosive drive toward self-aggrandizing greed and excessive consumption, traits that sow disharmony and destruction if left unchecked. Commonly found in Tribal Forest, Tribal Village, the Plantation, Callahan's Manor, Pinewood Hills, and occasionally Bear Paw Valley or The Swamp. In historical accounts of retroactively diagnosed Wendigo psychosis, it has been reported that humans became possessed by the wendigo spirit, after being in a situation of needing food and having no other choice besides cannibalism. Many descriptions of this version of the wendigo claim that the entrails of the creature are sometimes visible because of the extreme decomposition of the body. . "Windigo Psychosis: A Study of Relationship between Belief and Behaviour among the Indians of Northeastern Canada." Joe Lockhard, English professor at Arizona State University, argues that wendigos are agents of "social cannibalism" who know "no provincial or national borders; all human cultures have been visited by shape-shifting wendigos. Synopsis. [45], Other creatures based on the legend, or named for it, appear in various films and television shows, including Dark Was the Night and Ravenous. ...no actual cases of windigo psychosis have ever been studied, and Lou Marano's scathing critique in 1985 should have killed off the cannibal monster within the psychiatric annals. It is said that wendigos have the ability to grow to a size that is unfathomable by the human mind and that the sight of a wendigo who has devoured many souls is enough to make the human heart freeze in terror. The creature is often described as having long limbs and being extremely thin (almost emaciated) due to its extreme hunger. 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