For this series of posts we challenged ourselves to write a piece which attempts to convince the reader of the existence of some mythological creature. It turned out to be a fun exercise in fantasy and persuasion!
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The Wendigo
By Sarah Sokol
There are many stories of fearful myth and legend that exist in our world. Many may seem fantastic, ridiculous, seductive, even terrifying. When it really comes down to it, none of these half human, half beast creations of sinful gods or wild magics, are real. If there’s one thing all these creatures have in common, it’s that they are foreign entities. They are Other, preying on humans, singing to them with a siren song to crash a sailor on the beach, or a man with a bull’s head who rapes women in a maze.
These stories are all provably false. Metaphors, mere fantasies, something humans have contrived. Their purposes may be at times noble or ignoble, but they are all inventions of our own minds.
I do submit to you, however, that a true monster does exist in this world. One acknowledged by centuries of practice, and in the modern world. A real creature that could inhabit you, or any of your loved ones, at any time, for no reason whatsoever. A truly chilling and terrifying nightmare.
The Wendigo.
Perhaps you are not familiar with the creature of which I speak. However, you are certainly aware of the behavior it causes. Cannibalism. The Wendigo is a gaunt, ravenous spirit, the very spirit of greed itself, of constant starvation and constant gluttony. Its hunger swells to fill its form until there is nothing else left. There are those who have spoken of sighting a Wendigo in its true form, ghostly, gaunt, twisted, with skin stretched tight over bones, ravenously falling upon humans. Indeed, this very image may be what sparked so many numerous tellings and retellings of a zombie apocalypse.
In its most terrifying form, however, the Wendigo takes on the bodies and faces of your loved ones. Your friends. An innocent man sitting beside you on the bus. Its hunger drives it outside of physical bonds, and causes it to inhabit us. Of course, the Wendigo is only its name in certain areas of the world, but regardless of what you call it, wherever there is starvation, desperation, greed, and cruelty, so there too is the Wendigo. It has been wreaking havoc on this, the ultimate taboo of humanity, since the dawn of time.
It should not surprise us that Neanderthals have been known to fall upon each other, breaking each other’s bones to consume the marrow and brains. In the middle ages, people from Crusaders in Syria to the Aztecs, participated in the deadly slaughter and consumption of their fellow man. To the new and struggling American colonies in the 1600’s, the Wendigo found its way. More recent examples of the depravity this creature causes are found in numerous serial killers such as Boone Helm, Albert Fish, and Jeffrey Dahmer. A most chilling case involves a Czechoslovakian killer named Ladislav Hojer who confessed to killing a woman, cutting off her breasts and vagina, and attempting to eat them with mustard.
Where does evil of this depth originate, in man? There is no conclusive answer, whether it be from some external source, from our upbringing, or that we are simply “born that way.” I submit to you that its origin is insatiable greed, and from this greed, springs the Wendigo.
Can we truly say this creature does not exist when there is such ample evidence of its influence? It is the absolute pinnacle, the representation of humanity’s lust for power and dominance over each other, and selfish, instinctive strive to survive above all else. Humans created this evil spirit, and humans must now live with it. Ignoring this creature will not make it disappear. The first step is to acknowledge the reality.
Just remember… There is nothing humanity should fear more than itself.
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