Goblins, orcs and troubles - what terrible monsters the devil's imagination did not give birth to, but this is not all the planets inhabited from a cloud of chaos and darkness. Now I want to introduce you to such a horror of death as the Wendigo, a creature known as Windigo and Windego.
This deadly creature is described in Native American legends, especially among the Algonquian people.
These peoples are among the most widespread and numerous Native American groups in North America, and have in the past lived along the Atlantic coast and in the Great Lakes region.
However, in the memory of other Indian tribes there are also mystical creatures like the Wendigo, roaming in the legends of the Iroquois and their Algonquian neighbors. Among these cultures, the nightmare known as Stonecoat (Stone Skin) bears some resemblance to the Wendigo cannibal incarnation. Just do not look for the cause of bloodlust in moral or moral deformity, the matter here is similar to something else, in a terrible mutation of the organism.
Who is the Wendigo, mysticism and horror of the jungle
Unquenchable hunger, thirst for human flesh and blood, that's what the name Wendigo means. If you avoid frightening words, then this is "an evil spirit that devours the human body and soul." Another comparative concept to this jungle minotaur, which is said to have been applied by a German explorer sometime in 1860, was the combination of the word "Wendigo" with the name "Cannibal".
Speaking of the bloodthirsty cannibal killer, their sense of an insatiable thirst for human flesh is noted, and according to some rumors, they are still hungry. The feeling of animal hunger was reflected in the appearance of the monster, he is extremely, rather even painfully thin. However, despite the thin physique, the human eater is presented in myths as a huge humanoid beast with a height of about 4.5 meters.
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Yes, there is a slight difference in the physical description of this creature in different cultures. But in general, as a rule, the legends agree, the mystical creature has burning eyes, large and sharp yellow fangs, and a long tongue licking the remains of the feast from its face. The bones of this passion are covered with yellowish skin, although other stories claim the monster is covered in matted hair on rotten skin.
In fact, inaccurate descriptions are quite understandable, since it is obvious that those who met the devilish creature, for objective reasons, could no longer give evidence.
The appearance of the Wendigo in the world
In accordance with the most popular version of the origin of the Wendigo, it is recognized that the creature appeared at the time when people were sliding towards cannibalism. Even when a person justified it by survival, an evil spirit appeared in the frame of life. It turns out that when a person eats meat of his own kind, he is invaded by an evil spirit, and he himself becomes a Wendigo, undergoing powerful mutations of the organism.
The Pact with the Devil is mentioned by another version of the origin of this death specialist, reporting: the first Wendigo was a warrior who made a pact with the devil. Worried about saving his tribe, the warrior sold his soul to the devil, voluntarily transforming himself into a Wendigo and condemning him to mutation. When peace came, and the tribe no longer needed a terrifying clot of evil in the flesh, the leaders acted cruelly - the warrior was expelled from the tribe, doomed to live separately from the world.
It's a nightmare, but some believe that a human heart still lives in this terrible creature, forced to dwell in a body beyond its control. This person is trapped, and by killing the devilish bastard, it also kills the person. At the same time, some legends cite cunning mystical manipulations with the help of which a person can be successfully saved. - Although, most likely, this is nonsense, since no one has yet managed to terminate the contract with the Devil.
However, in most cases, death is the only way to free a person from the evil spirit that has captured his body. Wendigoag are believed to still roam the American forests, and it is also rumored that many people have disappeared over the years who were eaten by these creatures. Many reports of Wendigo sightings come from those places, not only by Native Americans, but also by white settlers.
In the late nineteenth century and the beginning of the new, an embittered and blood-hungry creature appeared near the village of Roseau, in northern Minnesota, and judging by local stories, every time this huge creature was seen there, someone suddenly disappeared.
Perhaps this whole story is an invention of lovers of mysticism, however, as soon as the evil creature left the place, all the mysterious disappearances of people stopped, and everything returned to normal life without anxiety.
It must be said that this legend about the warrior lives on firmly in folklore. Among the inhabitants of the Cree culture there is a traditional dance "Wihtikokansimoowin" - "Wendigo dance". In it, a terrifying forest dweller is represented by dancers in a satirical color, making fun of this phenomenon from mythology. Some Native Americans even became "Wendigos hunters". - By the way, we already wrote about the death dance of the "Grim Reaper".
So, about mysticism and reality - at the beginning of the twentieth century, an 87-year-old man, Jack Fiddler (-Jack the Fiddler), was brought to justice for the murder of a Cree woman. While pleading guilty to the murder of a fellow tribe, in defense, he said the following: the woman was going to become a Wendigo, because she was possessed by an evil spirit. For this reason, I had to kill her before she killed the other members of the tribe.
In addition, the trial ended with an unexpected confession from Jack Fiddler, who publicly stated that I had killed at least 13 other Wendigoags throughout my life.