The Wendigo, one of the most incredible cryptid legends of all time. also, one of the least well known of all. Folklore of this creature comes to us from Native American Algonquian tribes based in the northern forests of Nova Scotia, the East Coast of Canada, and Great Lakes Region of Canada. The characteristics of the beast range in a few ways but are generally the same.
A larger than normal creature. 6-10ft tall, rotting flesh, and long gaunt limbs. An elongated snout and head cresting usually with antlers. The creature lives as a spirit inhabiting a person, or as a bad person who begins to change either way. They start as a human, in most legends taste human flesh through various acts of cannibalism. The person then begins to shift ind transform into this new being.
Never dying, never satiated, hungry, angry, and terrifying.
One of the best descriptions I could find came from a Native American scholar from Ontario Canada-
"The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tightly over its bones. With its bones pushing out against its skin, its complexion the ash-gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets, the Wendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips it had were tattered and bloody ... Unclean and suffering from suppuration of the flesh, the Wendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption "
Now, Personally Toss in bigfoot and Dog-men, of all this to me would be the most terrifying being of legend to see. The legend of these creatures still survives today. In modern culture there are uses of them in Video games like "Until Dawn", and in movies. A recent movie coming out is called Antlers (link below to trailer.
There have also been real life stories of modern people stating they have indeed had run ins with these Wendigo. A grain of salt of course due to the fact that making up scary stories is one of the internet's favorite pass times.
Our first encounter comes from Redit, imagine that.
"We see a thing, we assumed it was a deer. The problem was it REEKED like a rotting corpse and we could hear very heavy almost distressed breathing from the thing. What had us initially think it was a deer were the very obvious antlers on its head. We make some noise to scare whatever it is, screaming, growling, making a general ruckus to no effect. This thing stands up on two scrawny hoofed (we think) legs and looks right at us, its eyes glinting in the moonlight like an animal in headlights. When it saw us it was dead silent. No more breathing or anything. This thing looked to be at least 6-7 foot tall, hunched over, pale skin and patches of fur like an animal with mange, lanky like a deer with an elongated face. It lets out a cataclysmic sounding howl. It was like a woman, a man, and a dying rabbit screaming all at the same time."
The user reports running back to their campsite and having someone stay watch overnight, but the creature was not seen again.
The next account was made by a young man on cryptozoologynews.com He and his cousin had been playing hide and seek on family property. It was around dusk in Northern OH,
"It was getting dark and I was the one searching. I heard leaves crumpling, and when I turned to look, I saw what looked like a deer on its hind legs. I clearly remember seeing “dog legs” running, but the rest of the body was straight up. And it ran with incredible speed, and I knew it wasn’t either of my cousins hiding. I ran as fast as I could back to the house, and my one of my cousins was running in too, he saw the same thing. It still creeps me out to this day, because my uncle always told us how he saw weird things on that property."
Going back a little ways, the final report comes from 1993. The witness claims that he was around 8 years old at the time and he had been staying with his family at his grandparents’ house in a rural, forested area near the town of Hockessin, Delaware. One morning he says he woke to a clear day with the sun shining in through the window and also the surreal sight of the silhouette of a deer with a huge rack of antlers standing just outside. Things would get bizarre rapidly, the witness goes onto report.
"It was RIGHT there, like almost pressed against the window in profile. I stared in awe. And that is when it changed. In one smooth movement, it reared up on its hind legs and it was no longer a deer, but a man. There were only two men in the area, my grandfather and my dad, and it was clearly neither (not sure if that made it better or worse). Grandfather was very built for his age, dad had a gut. This silhouette was clearly younger, muscular but not in the “like a brick” way my grandfather was. It exuded strength. And scared the hell out of me. It stared to the side for a moment, and then strode off with purpose. Looking back, I want to tell myself it was just the imagination of a half-awake child, but I remember the awe and the utter fear I felt when the “deer” changed."
These accounts follow similar reports throughout history. Some report deer headed men, shape shifters, or other creatures. These could all be the same type of entity, or even the same type of shape shifter. It is possible that some of these could be mis-identification of a normal deer, possibly a mangy one as well. All in all there have been reports from before white men came to America, and it is clear the Wendigo may still stalk the forests, looking for its next meal.
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