Wendigo in "The Round House"

The Windigo shows up on occasion in Louise Erdrich's The Roundhouse. The reason the Windigo is such an important image in The Roundhouse is because it characterizes Linden Lark. Linden is a sociopath who destroys essentially everything in his path without showing any remorse in any way,much like the Windigo.
The only difference between the two is that the Windigo is an anccient spirit who has an insatiable hunger for human flesh, while Linden is simply a sociopath who doesn't care who he hurts.


pg 306
when Joe's dad says,"Traditional precedent. It could be argued that Lark met the definition of a wiindigoo, and that with no other recourse, his killing fulfilled the requirements of a very old law."



p180
Muushom, " . . .. But not before you had agreement in the matter. you couldn't do it alone. There was a certain way the killing of a wiindigoo must be done." This show's how Lark could be a difficult foe and shouldn't be faced alone,  which makes even more sense as to why Cappy helped Joe with killing him.


Louise Erdrich's opinion on the Windigo
"The wiindigoo really arises out of a human being’s way of being and thinking and it has to be contained and controlled by the people closest to that person," Erdrich said.  "Western justice can’t meet the demands of a reality of this kind. The traditional way of justice is the only way out."

Keeping yourself Safe!

This is not a sure fire method for protection from these beasts, they move too fast many times to even have a chance.
If you are camping in an area that may be known for wendigo sightings, you will want a fire going at all times. Some theories behind this creature are that its heart and/or its whole body is made completely of ice. Which is why you have the fire, but if you only injure it it will get mad and not care all too much about there being fire. There's also theories on silver being able to injure them just the same.

But the most common is fire.

fig. 1 fire in its form

"There are two ways to destroy the Wendigo. One  is by destroying its heart which is said to be made of ice. First one needs to incapacitate the Wendigo, next drive a silver stake through its heart in order to shatter it, then put the pieces in a securely locked silver box and bury it in consecrated ground. After, you must dismember the body with a silver tipped axe and the pieces must be salted and burned to ashes and scattered to the four winds. Once this is done one wouldn't need to worry about the Wendigo, however, if these procedures are not done properly there's a high chance of the Wendigo coming back to life and of the Wendigo wanting revenge on its would be hunter.The other way is to burn it alive. One would need a flare gun or a Bow and arrow with the arrow on fire. Make sure to aim for the heart or else the Wendigo's soul would still be there and would find another body to take over." source

Unfortunately I could not find one thing I was hoping to add...

There are theories on a windigo in either the Dakota, or Ojibwe culture. That he's a shapeshifter. In capturing him and burning him alive this clan scattered his ashes to the four winds, like the above information recommends, he came back the next year as mosquito that continue to eat us alive today. 

fig. 02 the mosquito death from the opening sequence of Dexter

But there's a chance that this monster may be something completely different from a Wendigo... 

Windigo Psychosis

The origins of the Windigo cannot be traced back to one specific location but the legend was born in the Algonquin tribes based in Northern United Sates and Canada.
Windigos can be created through cannibalism or through possesion.


In native american tribes cannibalismn was and still is a big taboo. Many native americans believed that if a human became weak and decided to eat another human being in order to survive they would become possesed by the spirit of the Windigo. Some native americans commited suicide instead of eating another human beings flesh, simply because of the fear of becoming possesed by the Windigo.Some see the Windigo as a mental breakdown of sorts. When an individual is stranded, hungry, and cold they may develop cannibilistic thoughts and if time continues to go by without food these thoughts may eventually be acted upon. 
Psychologists have discovered a disorder known as Windigo Psychosis. Windigo Psychosis a a mental disorder in which a human consumes human flesh and aquires some of the attributes of the Windigo, an unsatiable hunger for human flesh. This is a very strange mental disorder because it was solely derived from Native American culture. Here is an old story in which a man struggles with Windigo Psychosis
“August 15, 2005 – In 1896 a man traveling through the woods near Trout Lake, in northern Alberta, reported having a strange vision of a creature. The encounter apparently drove him mad. He, and his fellow villagers, believed he’d been possessed by a Windigo – a malevolent spirit that afflicts its victims with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. As his condition worsened, the man’s neighbours locked him in a cabin. One eyewitness, a fur trader from Scotland, said that the man hardly resembled a human being at one point. Frightened villagers eventually executed the man, buried him and piled logs on his grave to make sure he couldn’t come back to life, as he had vowed to, unless a priest came to the village within three days. Strangely enough a priest did arrive – apparently the first ever in that area – and found all the villagers huddled in a shack, fearing for their lives.”
- spooky tale told in Northern Alberta source
Windigo Psychosis has even made it to main stream shows such as It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. In the following clip it can be seen what normal life is like after being afflicted with Windigo Psychosis. 

Always Sunny In Philadelphia- Windigo Psychosis

If really out there...

Lost Tapes..

The Lost Tapes, made by Animal Planet shows what could have happened in the chance that you are viewing someone change into such a creature. Or what could happen to you. While their video looks like it was made by an amature, it still shows how it happens.

fig. 01 Wendigo Art

There are theories that the new monster Slender Man, is actually a evolved Wendigo, being that none of his bodies are ever found. While he derived from a game, there are still people who think he's really out there.

This is that Game

In this game, you collect 8 notes before he finds you and the game ends. And you can tell that he's close by your camera becoming fuzzy. (He seems to interfere with technology.) The notes are as follows:

fig. 02 These are the notes you must find.

The map is also itself set in the dark, so its very easy to be confused by such a thing. 

fig. 03 the map to the slender man game. 

It is always best to avoid Slenderman. If he catches you. Its game over. 

fig. 04 The monster

fig. 05 Artist rendition of Slenderman

Just run... Run as fast as you can, unless you are well prepared to take the Wendigo down.

And for that you need to be prepared with fire. Not a flashlight and a video camera.

Wendigo Cave

This is an actual cave theorized by Native Canadian (American) Culture. It was said to house those that turned into a wendigo until they died off or were destroyed by fire after being trapped in.

fig. 1 cave drawings from Ontario, Canada

Yes, there is a way to defeat them if you can catch them. Don't die trying, we will not be liable for any deaths that come of reading this blog.

Yes, There is a Cheesy Horror Film

As with many stories in folklore that are supposed to scare or intimidate the listener/reader, there always seems to be a low budget movie to cover this idea to the director's liking. This movie entitled "Wendigo" cave out in 2001 and here's a short description on the plot from wikipedia:

"George is a highly-strung professional photographer who is starting to unravel from the stress of his work with a Manhattan advertising agency. Needing some time away from the city, George, his wife Kim, and their son Miles head to upstate New York to take in the winter sights, though the drive up is hardly relaxing for any of them. George accidentally hits and severely injures a deer that ran onto the icy road. After George stops to inspect the damage, he's confronted by an angry local named Otis who flies into a rage, telling George that he and his fellow hunters had been tracking the deer for some time. An argument breaks out, which leaves George feeling deeply shaken. When George and Kim arrive at their cabin, they discover that a dark and intimidating presence seems to have taken it over.

The next day, when they stop at a store in a town near the cabin, a shopkeeper tells Miles about the legend of the Wendigo, a deformed beast from Indian folklore who changes from a human to a hideous beast after engaging in cannibalism. The Wendigo also has supernatural powers and can change its appearance at will."

Check it out if you have a chance!

The introduction of a Wendigo that Sam and Dean from Supernatural found in the north western united states. Obviously, they're confused because Wendigos aren't usually out this far from Minnesota.

Mythology Behind The Windigo

The windigo is a myth of Northern Native American culture, the stories behind them vary wide and far in details, but the one thing that is the same in all of them is how they come to be. They're cannibals. Windigos were once human, but through eating of human flesh they either became the monster themselves or are simply possessed by a demon that transforms them. The word wendigo (pronounced wehn-dee-go) itself comes from the Native American Algonquian language, meaning “evil spirit that devours mankind.” The apperance of Windigos vary through different myths, but two of the most common depictions of Windigos is a tall lanky creature with dark evil eyes and with greyish skin. The other common depiction of a Windigo is an ice giant that appears much like a man except its size is much greater and its skin and hair are white. Some things that both of these depictions of Windigos have in common is that they both have an insatiable craving for human flesh, and the only way to kill them is to burn them with fire.

Comic's poking fun

While the Wendigo is mainly found in Native American culture, there are many things that bring it to the light of common sight. This such comic, The Uncanny X-Men, deals with Wolverine mostly when he faces the wendigo with his gang of mutants.