Wendigo (creature)
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| Wendigo | |
|---|---|
| Powers and Abilities | Strong and fast it can imitate human voices as a lure, will trap its victims and keep them alive for long periods to feed from |
| Vulnerabilities | can be kept at bay with a protective circle of Anasazi symbols, shot, Silver-tipped Bows and Arrows |
| Appearance | humanoid - tall with elongated limbs |
| Episode(s) | 1.02 Wendigo (episode) |
A creature that was once human but was transformed into an immortal evil spirit when it took up the practice of cannibalism. Wendigoes are cursed to wander the land, eternally seeking to fulfil their voracious appetite for human flesh.
Various Native American tribes tell slightly different stories about this creature and refer to it by different names – Wendigo , Witigo , Witiko and Wee-Tee-Go – but each version roughly translates to mean the evil spirit that devours mankind . Around 1860, a German explorer translated Wendigo as cannibal .
Wendigoes are believed to live in the northern woods of Minnesota and in the north central regions of Canada . Kenora , Canada , has been given the title of Wendigo Capital of the World by many. Sightings of the creature in this area have continued well into the new millennium.
Wendigoes are generally rumoured to be gigantic spirits, over fifteen feet tall, lanky and with glowing eyes, long yellowed fangs, terrible claws and overly long tongues. Sometimes they are said to have a sallow, yellowish skin; other times they are described as being matted with hair. The Wendigo's full powers have never been recorded. The creature excels at stealth and is a near-perfect hunter, knowing and using every inch of its territory – caves, hills, trees and bushes. Some stories posit that Wendigoes can control the weather through the use of dark magic.– Pad of Definitions (1.02 Wendigo (episode)), Official Website
[[1.02 Wendigo (episode)
While trying to find their father, Sam and Dean help a family whose brother has gone missing on a camping trip. He has been taken by a Wendigo, but they find him alive in a cavern where the Wendigo stores its victims as living food sources. Dean kills the creature by shooting it with a flare gun.
Wendigo Lore
- Windigo is actually a mental illness that some First Nation's suffer from. It is a culturally bound illness (meaning that it doesn't occur outside of First Nations groups) where the person suffering from the illness believes that they could be possessed by an evil spirit that would turn them into homicidal cannibals.
- Windigo is actually a derivative of the Ojibwe (Native American) folk legend of the "Wiindigo" (pronounced WEEN-di-goh), a creature much like that shown in Supernatural. However, in Ojibwe folklore the Wiindigo is described as more werewolf-like than human-like and does not possess the ability to mimic human voices. Many traditional Ojibwe people still believe this creature to exist in the woods of Northern Minnesota as referenced by Dean in this episode.
- The Wendigo features prominently in the Stephen King novel Pet Semetary
