From the Russian Baba Yaga to the Haitian Mètminwi, boogeymen adapt to the fears and peculiarities of the cultures that create them. Among these localized horrors, the Native American Wendigo stands out as one of the creepiest legends to survive all the way into modern times. Originally the product of oral storytelling, the Wendigo inevitably found its way into popular culture, becoming a staple of the horror genre. With Scott Cooper‘s recent Antlers proving that the cannibalistic beast remains as frightening as ever, I’d like to take a look back on the evolution of this unique man-eater and what its different portrayals have to say about those who keep its story alive.
Also called Windigoo and Wetiko, with numerous phonetical variations depending on time, place and demographic, the creature we now know as the Wendigo was originally described as a malevolent being associated with winter and starvation. While some Ojibwe traditions depict the beast as a gaunt humanoid from beyond the grave, accompanied by the constant stench of decay and a heart of ice, other stories describe it as a giant that grows as it feeds, remaining in a permanent state of emaciation. The common thread between nearly all versions of the creature is its never-ending hunger for human flesh, with some experts interpreting the monster as a cautionary tale against greed and gluttony.
Contrary to popular belief, these original stories don’t describe the antlers or animalistic features that we now associate with the Wendigo, with scholars theorizing that these details are the result of settlers adding a bit of euro-centric flair to native lore. The Wendigo legend was actually so widespread among first nations that “Wendigo Psychosis” became known as a clinically accepted illness in psychiatry, similar to clinical lycanthropy in western medicine.
I’m obviously no expert on First Nations belief systems (especially when the only Native American blood I have comes from another hemisphere), so I’d recommend reading Basil H. Johnston‘s The Manitous and Shawn Smallman‘s Dangerous Spirits: The Windigo in Myth and History if you want a more in-depth explanation of the Wendigo and its origins.
Until Dawn’s Wendigos were surprisingly accurate.
However, when it comes to popular culture, our fascination with the Wendigo can be traced back to Algernon Blackwood‘s 1910 novella appropriately titled The Wendigo. Telling a chilling story about a group of hunters who encounter the titular creature deep within the Canadian wilderness, Blackwood’s reimagining of the beast as a malevolent trickster has been praised by the likes of H.P. Lovecraft and August Derleth as a harrowing tale of supernatural horror. It was also adapted for a younger audience in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, further popularizing the legend. While some scholars accuse the tale of propagating harmful Native American stereotypes, there’s no denying that it became the basis for most future depictions of the myth.
Blackwood’s influential yarn led to several horror writers reinterpreting the monster in their own stories. Stephen King notably featured the Wendigo in Pet Sematary, where it’s depicted as a horned spirit responsible for the novel’s undead shenanigans, though adaptations usually exclude the creature’s scenes. A furry and super-strong version of the Wendigo also became a part of the Marvel universe as a recurring super villain, facing off against the likes of the Hulk, Wolverine and even the Guardians of the Galaxy in Eidos-Montréal’s recent videogame.
One of my personal favorite interpretations of the Wendigo is in Antonia Bird‘s Ravenous, which provides a less tangible but equally monstrous take on the legend. Featuring a garrison of misfit soldiers facing off against a super-powered cannibal (played to perfection by the legendary Robert Carlyle), this bizarre yet brilliant thriller reimagines the Wendigo as an unseen satire of Manifest Destiny and colonization. Not having a monstrous transformation actually puts Ravenous more in line with some First Nation interpretations when compared to other versions of the story, as some scholars see the Wendigo as a Native American critique of greedy colonizers acting like they’re in a “dog-eat-dog” world.
In 2001, the creature would be revitalized in popular culture with Larry Fessenden‘s Wendigo, a cult classic best known for popularizing the beast’s animal-like appearance. Though it’s more of an eerie family drama than a traditional creature feature, the movie interprets the Wendigo as a shapeshifting nature spirit that’s neither good nor evil, ultimately serving as a heroic figure for the young protagonist. The unique design here steals the show, with the monster sporting a creepy silhouette and a deer-like head, complete with the now-iconic antlers. While the movie isn’t widely known, you’ve almost certainly seen its take on the monster.
Ironically, Fessenden was unhappy with the creature’s on-screen presence.
Fessenden would actually go on to revisit the Wendigo several times in his future projects, putting a ghostly incarnation of the creature in his ecologically-minded The Last Winter and having Doug Jones play an ill-fated cannibal in the Fear Itself episode Skin and Bones. The director also contributed to and appeared in Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn, which is arguably the most popular piece of Wendigo-centric media ever made. While none of these takes are 100% mythologically accurate, it’s always fun to see how Fessenden re-shapes the Wendigo to suit his storytelling needs.
From the 2000s onward, the Wendigo also showed up in several television shows after a boom of Buffy/X-Files-inspired paranormal programming. From Supernatural to Teen Wolf (and even a couple of unexpected appearances in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the DuckTales reboot), it became clear that the myth was more popular than ever. One of the best-serialized uses of the Wendigo was in Bryan Fuller‘s Hannibal, where Will Graham hallucinates an antlered monster as a reflection of his therapist’s cannibalistic tendencies, resulting in some appropriately spooky imagery and subtext in an already creepy show.
More recently, the Guillermo del Toro-produced Antlers (based on a short story by Nick Antosca, also inspired by Blackwood’s novella) once again brought the monster to the big screen with one of the most terrifying depictions of a Wendigo in all of media. While Scott Haze’s transformation is slow, painful and tragic, going through several stages of the legend before turning into the horned abomination we know and fear, the filmmakers are really using the creature’s never-ending hunger to explore the story’s themes of cyclical addiction and abuse. Strangely, this version of the story inverts the original description of a heart of ice, instead opting for a constantly burning heart that glows in the dark.
While there’s no predicting where storytellers will take the Wendigo next, this man-eating spirit has lived in our imaginations for centuries and will likely continue to exist as long as human avarice persists. Whether the creature is meant to be a metaphor for the evils of Manifest Destiny or simply the physical incarnation of greed, the Wendigo is one of horror’s most versatile monsters and I’m glad that more artists are using it to tell chilling stories.
“Hannibal”