Myth to Modern Media: Wendigo

As promised in my last journal, here is the result of my research into how this mythical monster has been interpreted in modern stories. I love seeing how mythology and folk lore impacts modern culture. The wendigo is not as well known as other supernatural beings I have studied in the past, such as werewolves, but the variety of interpretations is just as impressive.

Since this is an essay-like journal I may clean it up later and submit it with more examples as a deviation. Still not sure if there would be any benefit in that. This type of analysis-based writing is fun, so I may continue later with more reviews of the Batman comics I own featuring the Scarecrow.

Different Native American tribes have variations on the wendigo, so all of these features will not necessarily be present in any given story. References are The Manitous: The Spiritual World of the Ojibway (Basil Johnston), Where the Chill Came From: Cree Windigo Tales and Journeys (Howard Norman), and Windigo: An Anthology of Fact and Fantastic Fiction (John Colombo).

Origin: Algonquian tribes (Montagnais-Naskapi, Ojibwa, Cree, and others) firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_gr…

Other common spellings: windigo, witigo, witiko

How to become a wendigo:
People with greedy personalities are predisposed.
Committing cannibalism. The myth reinforces the severity of the taboo as a fate worse than death. Once a person has become a cannibal the evil spirit enters them and they will never stop hungering for human flesh.
A medicine man's curse. The medicine man can prevent a hunter from finding game, tempting him to turn on his family for food. The shaman can also send bad weather or even send the wendigo spirit directly to possess someone.
Having a wendigo as a guardian spirit. If a person sees the wendigo in a dream or vision and accepts its offer as a guardian, they will be cursed.
Wendigo psychosis, a culture-bound syndrome. A person would become convinced they were becoming a wendigo, leading to a few documented cases of murder and cannibalism. Symptoms include nausea, depression, lethargy, obsessive thoughts about starvation, visual delusions of people as animals, and ignoring normal food out of hunger for human flesh. In the early stages the sufferer may recognize what is happening and warn others to stay away, or ask to be put to death. If it was too late for a medicine man's cure they would be killed and their bodies burned to end the curse.

Characteristics and abilities:
The wendigo can take the form of a normal human, or be a giant (20+ feet tall). The giant may be the physical form of the spirit, or a cursed person who grows larger and hungrier with each victim they consume.
Corpse-gray skin and an emaciated appearance.
Exposed teeth from lips eaten away in hunger.
A frozen heart, or a body like an icy skeleton.
Craves human flesh year long, or only in the winter.
Desires the warmth of human flesh and blood.
Eats wood, moss, and other forest foods when it doesn't find people.
A howl that can weaken or kill humans with fear.
Sends bad luck or bad weather.
Animal helpers. Animals such as owls, foxes, or wolverines may bring starvation or try to trick people for a wendigo.

How to defeat a wendigo:
Melt its frozen heart. A person becoming wendigo may be immersed in boiling water or have boiling fat poured down their throat. A giant may be stabbed with a heated metal weapon.
Weasel attack. A person can call to a weasel for help or shapeshift into one, and the weasel crawls down the wendigo's throat to chew its frozen heart.
Shoot it with a silver bullet. French reports from the 1600s compare if to their familiar myth of the werewolf, so it seems some cultural crossover added new traits after European contact.

Greed is the most common theme interwoven in the myths. The wendigo represents excessive human desires and the stories encourage the virtue of moderation. Versions in modern fiction focus on a wide variety of negative emotions, though some just use the myth to create a generic boogeyman.

The Wendigo (short story, Algernon Blackwood, 1910) www.yankeeclassic.com/miskaton… Whole story
Theme- Man vs. Nature
Characteristics- No physical description given. Seems to be able to hypnotize its victims. Leaves large tracks and can fly through the air.
I'm not sure if I would call this a horror story. It is suspenseful and creepy at parts, but in the end I mostly found it depressing. The main theme seems to be the effects of isolation on the human mind. The wilderness is described beautifully, but there is something alien about it, as if spending too much time there takes something from the minds of "civilized" men. There is no mention of cannibalism, and the wendigo seems to exist only to torment people with minds susceptible to losing themselves in the forests. It presents no real danger to the other characters, but the process of watching it mess with poor Défago is pretty disturbing.

Incredible Hulk #162 (Marvel comic, 1973) www.killermovies.com/forums/f9… Scans from multiple comics
Theme- Create a monster for the Hulk to beat up
Characteristics- Super strength. Nearly indestructible. Aggressive and cannibalistic. Looks like a furry white ape monster with a lizard tail.
I can't help but wonder if the Marvel version is responsible for many of the artistic depictions you see today, which look like a really nasty yeti. I still haven't figured out where the deer skull-headed version came from. The comic artists, who are obsessed with drawing ridiculously muscle-bound things, seem to have decided they would rather it look like this than a giant skeletal creature. The theme of cannibalism is there, but for some reason the gods have decided to give immense power to the cannibals with a curse that allows them to keep murdering people. To be bigger jerks, they even curse one guy who eats his own severed fingers to avoid starvation. The curse also has the amusing effect of making its victims scream "WENDIGO!" the way Pokémon can only say their names (yes, I grew up during that craze and watched the cartoons ).
The Wendigo ends up fighting an amazing variety of superheroes and teams, including the X Men, Alpha Flight, Captain Marvel, Spiderman, and Ghost Rider. It is one of the first antagonists for Wolverine to fight along with the Hulk in his comic debut. The link includes scans from many different comics, which I enjoyed despite their incompleteness. Incredible Hulk #162 is actually kind of sad. The Hulk has a child-like desire to help the person who has fallen under the curse and hears his telepathic screams for help as the spirit controls his body and slowly destroys his mind.

The Wendigo (short story in horror anthology, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Alvin Schwartz, 1981) www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBGmMX… Recording of story reading
Theme- Scare kids
Characteristics- Same as in the Blackwood story.
This is an extremely condensed version of Blackwood's story. In a way I like it more because of quicker pacing and a more suspenseful ending. The reduction of detail takes it even further away from resembling the myth though.

Incredible Hulk TAS (cartoon, 1996) www.youtube.com/watch?v=j996_C… Full episode in two parts
Theme- Pride
Characteristics- Same as Marvel comics version, but presumably less indestructible. Aggressive, but doesn't seem interested in eating people. Also replaces the lizard tail with one that looks more like a wolf's, which I think looks a bit better.
I never saw this cartoon growing up, but what an awesome action-packed opening sequence!
This version follows the "create a monster specifically suited for the Hulk to beat up" formula, but with a censorship twist. They've removed any reference to cannibalism and made the curse a one-time punishment on a man because of his pride. He won't break the curse until he loses in battle, and the Hulk is the only one who can beat him. Rather tame compared to some of the comic storylines. It does have some hilarious physics though, as you get to watch a man handcuffed to the Hulk get dragged around and smashed up without so much as a broken wrist to show for it. Apparently normal humans in this world are as tough as the wendigo.

Ravenous (movie, 1999) www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO98NM… Trailer
Themes- Immortality, selfishness
Characteristics- Super strength and speed. Regenerative powers and a more youthful appearance. There is no mention of spirit possession and the only change to the victim's personality is the compulsion to continue eating human flesh.
This is one heck of a weird movie. The horror/comedy tone is set right at the beginning, as it opens with first a deep quote by Nietzsche ("He who fights monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster."), and then "Eat me" (anonymous). Nietzsche quotes seem a bit overused, so I thought that was a nice touch.
The myth is strangely out of place in the setting, 1840s California, though apparently the natives here are familiar with northern myths and it doesn't matter where you are for the curse to strike. The act of cannibalism in this version doesn't so much lead to spirit possession as the stealing of some kind of "soul energy" from the victim, which both prolongs the cannibal's life and leads to insatiable hunger. The villain becomes the embodiment of selfishness when he decides on a whim to see if murdering and eating someone will cure a terminal illness. Though not outright stated, this seems to offer a path to immortality without aging. The protagonist must decide which is the greater fear- death, or giving in to selfish desires.
I don't go looking for movies specifically for the gore, but Ravenous certainly isn't stingy with it. I do enjoy black comedy though, and this delivers with things such as cheerfully energetic music during creepy chase scenes, Robert Carlyle's performance as an enthusiastic and hammy cannibal, and jokes about eating people.

Skin and Bones (horror anthology TV show, Fear Itself, 2008) www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCowv3… Clip containing behind the scenes info
Themes- Anger, vengeance
Characteristics- Super strength and speed.
Of all the versions I've seen this is one of the closest visually to the myth. The makeup effects are wonderful, and the freaky way Doug Jones smiles suggests a lipless mouth with hungry teeth constantly showing. Cannibalism lets the spirit enter the victim's body, but there seems to be an element of anger or desperation needed for it to latch on. In one scene another character shares a cannibal meal with no apparent repercussion. We don't see the victim before he is cursed, but there are hints of unresolved bitterness in his past. The spirit amplifies this to monstrous proportions, blending these negative emotions with its own vicious appetite.

Recent Favorites Feature
Mr. Fox.Mr. Fox smiles and says
"You have the prettiest meat."
Mr. Fox Mr. Fox
Smiles.  Pointed teeth that rip and pull clink together like glass. I'm sure his tail is curling under his coat.
Mr. Fox loves me.
His eyes follow my shivers up and down as he works. They are a pretty yellow and faded green. They are cunning and kind.
I remember those eyes staring at me from the leaves, and trace the steps from there to here.
His kindness is worth it, I decide.
Mr. Fox is a gentleman.
He says 'please' and 'thank you' and never leaves the table until everyone is done.
Mr. Fox is a bachelor.
He loops his arm in mine and kisses my cheek.
"Pretty meat is good to eat."