Wendigo

The Wendigo is a creature that reminds you to be prepared when entering the woods for any amount of time. Something is always watching you.

I was first introduced to the Wendigo when I watched Supernatural, the second episode of season 1. It was the first episode of Supernatural that I had ever seen and the monster terrified me, the episode being one of my favorites to this day. It was this episode that started my love for Supernatural and I can happily say that I've watched the entire series and loved (most) every minute of it. So, what kind of a monster was the Wendigo in Supernatural?

Welcome to Blackwater Ridge where Sam and Dean (Supernatural) go to help find missing campers. Well, the Park Ranger seems to think that the campers, a group of teenage boys, will be back. A family member thinks differently. She thinks something happened to her brother and his friends. Well, she was right. A Wendigo ate their faces. . . and their bodies. . . all except her brother who was the only survivor of the group because the Wendigo likes to store their food for later consumption.

The boys (Sam and Dean) described the Wendigo in the following way.

"Wendigo" is a Cree Indian word. It means "evil that devours." They're hundreds of years old. Each was once a man, sometimes an Indian or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter. During some harsh Winter, a person finds themself 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. (Source)

Well, that's fun.

Supernatural - What is A Wendigo?

These creatures are terrifying, man eating things that live in cold climates like the woods of Minnesota or Michigan on into Canada. They are strong. They are fast. They are tall (over 6 feet, so not huge, but whatever). They are also very smart and hundreds of years old in which they go long winters without eating. So, just as you shouldn't mess with a bear who has just come out of hibernation, don't go trying to find a Wendigo, cause you will probably die. In fact, here's a list of all their supernatural abilities.

• Voice Mimicry - Is that Uncle Jim calling in the distance?
• Immortality - YOLO has nothing on these guys
• Super Speed - Faster than Usain Bolt
• Super Strength - Stronger than Zydrunas Savickas
• Super Agility - More agile than. . . some agile dude. Bruce Lee? IDK
• Invulnerability - to like, knives and guns
• They got the sharp claws - Like Freddy Krueger
• Super Senses - Hear and see you from miles away
• Super Stamina - They don't tire out man. You do, especially after a large meal.

What do these things look like? Well, in the show of Supernatural they look like a tall, naked, old man with freaky teeth. Take a look for yourself.

Supernatural - How to Kill A Wendigo

So, how do the boys kill this creature and save the day? Flare gun to the chest. These things don't like fire. Well, I guess nothing really likes a flare gun to the chest. It's a useful tool. If you do find yourself stuck in the woods with a Wendigo around, here are some things that could possibly help you.

• Fire - keep that fire going. In fact, surround yourself with fire. They don't like that.
• Anasazi Symbols drawn in a protective circle
• Iron - They don't like Iron but it is untold if that can actually kill them or if it just deters them.
• Silver - This Metal will kill them. You take a silver stake and drive it through their heart, then dismember them with a silver ax. Brutal.
• Demons - Of course Crowley's Demons were able to capture Wendigos. They're demons.

The Wendigo is mentioned in about 6 different seasons of the show and I always love to hear about the monster that introduced me to Supernatural.

Supernatural is just a show though and they have creative liberties. So where did this creature really come from?

Real Lore

This creature comes from the Algonquian people and arises from a cannibalistic spirit. Humans can transform into one or a spirit could possess humans, either way the human is not gonna be human much longer. I mean, if you want to eat people and have an insatiable need to eat human flesh, then maybe you're too far gone anyways. It is said that in times of famine or food scarcity the Assiniboine, Cree, and Ojibwe preform ceremonial dances to ward off cannibalistic feelings. There is a recorded ceremony in the United States in Minnesota - I just couldn't find a date. There have been cases for some individuals who are on route to becoming a Wendigo, or in other words have "Wendigo Psychosis," are killed in order to prevent Cannibalism. An example of Wendigo Psychosis comes from a Plains Cree trapper from Alberta, Canada. Swift Runner and his family were starving in the winter of 1878. His oldest son died and suddenly Swift Runner kills and eats his wife and 5 remaining children, just 25 miles from food supplies. Because he didn't just eat the son that had died, but the entire family AND that they were so close to supplies, this was not a last resort for survival. He had Wendigo Psychosis and was executed.

In 1907 an Oji-Cree chief was known to kill people who he thought had Wendigo Psychosis. He was arrested for homicide and died in jail 3 days before his pardon. This event goes to show that not many people believe in becoming a Wendigo or that people actually turn into this creature. It's myth and some argue that Wendigo Psychosis isn't real even though there are eyewitness accounts among the tribes of this event. Of course, that's the case with many myths. Today, the idea of the Wendigo is just a "Culture-specific disorder," where people have a "Rare, historic accounts of cannibalistic obsession." Some Native Americans do understand that the Wendigo is a conceptual idea to describe those with a greed for human flesh.

Description

Aside from the fact that a Wendigo creature could be real or not, let's look into what they look like. Supernatural was correct in stating that they like cold climates and that they like to hunt at night. These creatures are associated with being malevolent, cannibalistic, liking the Cold North Winter and being in a world of starvation and famine. It is said that they will grow with each meal, making it impossible to be satisfied. They are giants, extremely thin, and always on the hunt in waking hours.

These beasts are still humanlike in communication and it is said that one time a Native American boy was taken by a Wendigo. The boy was too thin though, sot the creature kept this boy alive and sent him into a village to get some food. The tribe went out to kill the creature and even in a dying state the Wendigo began to eat his own, dismembered body parts.

Physical description says that they are thin and large, smell like decaying flesh, have no lips that show jagged teeth. There is also an Alpha or a Master Wendigo which is 30 feet tall, covered in white fur and has antlers and a mouth full of fangs. The Master Wendigo can control the weather to make things cold and control lesser Wendigos. They can also create more Wendigos without having that person eat human flesh.

So, in conclusion, these beasts are wicked and I know for sure I would not want to run into one of these out in the woods. So, be safe out there and carry a flare gun with you at all times. It just might save your life.