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| Wendigo by Iren Horrors |
A Wendigo is, according to wikipedia, 'a mythological creature or evil spirit from the folklore of the First Nations Algonquin tribes based in the northern forests of Nova Scotia, the East Coast of Canada, and Great Lakes Region of Canada and in Wisconsin, United States.'
Humans can become wendigoes if they are possessed by one of these evil spirits, but this isn't the only way for them to turn. Consuming human flesh can also make you become a Wendigo, as can being in the company of other wendigoes for a long time. Some First Nation tribes also believed that if you became too jealous or consumed by greed, that was another sure fire way of becoming one of these cannabalistic, ghoul-like creatures.
*Note - there are some terms in these old newspapers which people will find offensive, such as 'Indian' or 'half-breed.' These terms have been left in to stay true to the original text. *
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(From the Ottawa Daily Citizen, dated Saturday Morning, July 21st 1860)
CANNABALISM IN THE SELKIRK COUNTRY - SIX PEOPLE MURDERED AND EATEN
From the Red River Nor'Western
Detailed accounts of a case of cannabalism far surpassing in atrocity that recently noticed in these columns, have lately been received - The victims in this instance were six in number - a Salteaux Indian and his wife and four children - and the cannibal one of the youngest members of the family! A rumour of this fearful tragedy was current in the settlement some time since ; but the story was too revolting to obtain general credence. Incredible as it may appear, however, the tale has been confirmed by too many to leave any doubt as to its correctness.
The most reliable version we have been able to collect is as follows :- About the beginning of March, a Salteaux named Ka-wa-kie-sick, who was wintering near Lac de Roseaux, went a short distance south of "Dawson's track" to hunt moose. On his way, he noticed in the snow the trail of Indians who appeared to have been catching rabbits : and, while following along to visit them, he was startled by finding an Indian woman lying dead near the track. Her remains were so horribly mutilated as to lead him to at once suspect a case of cannabalism. To all appearances, she had been sitting snaring rabbits, when she was killed by being shot through the back of the head. The skin of her arms, and also of her legs from the knee downwards, had subsequently been torn off by the murderer to be devoured! A short distance further on, the hunter saw a boy named Sha-way-goniash sitting by a little fire. He was about ten or twelve years of age, and had been cooking something that had the appearance of human flesh. After a brief conversation, the hunter became convinced that the young wretch before him was the cannibal, and would at once have tomahawked him, but forebore, lest, in that event, he himself should be accused of the cannabalism.
Leaving the boy at the fire, therefore, Ka-wa-kie-sick proceeded to a tent close by, and here a still more frightful scene met his gaze. Inside lay the bodies of an elderly Indian and four of his children - all of whom had been murdered! The father had evidently been shot while sitting in the tent : and it is supposed he must have been the first victim. From the appearance of the snow, a struggle would seem to have taken palce between the murderer and one of his brothers. Portions of some of the bodies were cut away, and from their decayed appearance the hunter concluded that the murder had been perpetrated several days previously, and that in the meantime the boy had been living on the flesh!
That a boy so young should thus be able to butcher so many people can only be accounted for by the superstitious dread with which the Indians regard a "Windigoo," or man-eater. It is said they are perfectly powerless when a cannibal approaches them, and that they rarely make an effort to defend themselves.
In the present case, the murderer could not have been urged to the commision of the crime by starvation, for there were rabbits enough in the tent. When the atrocity became noised among the tribes in the neighborhood, Sha-way-gonaish was hunted from place to place like a wild beast ; and at length, being found skulking in a camp at the Lake of the Woods, with the intention, it was conjectured, of furnishing himself with some more victims, he was chased into the woods and shot by his uncle.
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Sadly, as can be seen in these newspaper reports, episodes of both physical and mental illness were often misunderstood as being a wendigo case, as well as those unfortunate souls who became hungry enough to resort to cannabalism when isolated in the wintery northlands...
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(From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, dated August 19th 1879)
A CURE FOR CANNABALISM
How the Indians Serve Suspected Man-eaters.
We hear of a little tragedy at Lac Seul, Keewatin, one of those fortunately rare occurences that stand out with such miserable distinctness from the usual even tenor of Indian life ; being carried down as this will from generation to generation - produced to while away and thrill the long winter hours in the lodges of the people.
The incident immediately mentioned is of the Indian at the Lac who had incurred in some way the suspicion of cannabalism, and who was slain at once by the band - being cut to pieces by an ax and thrown into a fire that consumed all vestige of the unhappy man. With some knowledge of cases of real and imputed cannabalism among the Indians, in lack of knowledge of the actual facts serving to condemn this man, we are inclined to believe that he was more the victim of fear on the part of others than ought else.
There is nothing to the Indian mind more fraught with dread and horror than unnatural appetite. The thought of it is a skeleton as ghastly to them as their own "wendigo," and creeps with a baleful celerity (swiftness of movement -DF) through their secluded camps, poisoning their every hour, carried at such length to such a height that "outre" or strange conduct on the part of an individual, spring from what source it may - is often set down to the incipient stage of the mental aberration - or, more strictly speaking, obliquity - that culminates in the destruction and devouring of their fellows - and in this they are as unreasoning as even the Puritans of old who burnt and ducked to death so many innocent old women and children, possessed with the absurd idea that they exorcised the power of witchcraft.
Mentioning the fact stated before to an old resident - one thoroughly conversant with Indian life and Indian character - it recalled to him a tragedy of this kind personally known to him. Some twenty years ago, while living with the Indians on the north shore of Lake Superior, engaged in the trade, he knew well a handsome, clever, young Indian who was the son and chief actor in what follows. The father of this young fellow was an old and rather infirm man, and from inability to hunt or fish, as was his wont to contribute his quota to the lodge supply, was often hungry, and so contracted a habit, when the rest were aslepp, of getting up and seeking among the cooking utensils for remnants of food. This prowling about at midnight among them aroused their fears that he was seeking a strange meal, which, growing rapidly, culminated in the old man being brought before a regular council convened to examine into the facts of the case. Pressed by questions and prejudgment - the poor old fellow, in a hopeless dull way, admitted the implied charge and suggested that they had better kill him, and so it was decreed - his grown son, the young man adverted to, being appointed to slay him, they arguing with a rude pathetic justice that he should fall by no hand less dear than that of his child. It was done ; his son cleft his skull with an axe, and the father lapsed from hunger and suspicion into rest.
The Rev. Father Faver, an admirable and accomplished man - coming up from the Jesuit mission at Ft. William, and perfectly conversant with Indian life - stated that the old man was simply a victim to the fears and ignorance of those who put him out of the way, "I may say, while on this theme," continued our informant, "that one of the finest little Indian women I ever knew had on one occasion, when starving, eaten two of her children to save the rest. There was no mark of remorse or aught else about to show that she recalled it as one of the necessities of a terrible winter.
"There can be no doubt, however, of the fact that human food once eaten by some of the Indians induces a diseased and horrible appetite for more, and in pursuit of and indulgence in it they become bloated, blasted in looks, in fact, devilish, and are hunted down by the others and shot like ferocious beasts - as they are. It is idle to suppose, however, that this appetite is peculiar to the Indians ; there are too many like attested cases among European races to permit it an instant ; but wherever it manifested, and the fearful demoralization made apparent, can be found food for suggestive thought that reaches down to the very depths of depraved impulse - a region from which one, with a very prayer, recoils."
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(From the Salina Herald, dated Thursday, December 17th 1891)
And before I go, thanks also to the Tired Parents on Twitch who inspired me to look up Wendigo sightings after playing the brilliantly spooky game Until Dawn! Go check out their schedule for some more spooks before Halloween!
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