“It is called Atcen…Djenu…Outiko…Vindiko. It has a dozen names in a dozen lands, and it is older than the hills. It feeds, and the more it feeds, the hungrier it becomes. It starves even as it gorges. It is the hunger that cannot be satisfied.”
So Rick Yancey, a best-selling author of horror and fantasy novels, introduces the mysterious and terrifying monster that wreaks havoc in his novel The Curse of the Wendigo. The “Wendigo,” as it is most commonly referred to, is a figure that plays an important and complex role in the traditional belief systems of a number of Algonquian-speaking peoples throughout North America, including the Cree, Ojibwe, and Naskapi Innu, among many others. Although it is known for its insatiable hunger for human flesh, this dynamic mythological figure also has benevolent attributes and played an important religious, philosophical, and social role in the communities in which it was conceived.
Since being introduced to the horror fiction genre by Algernon Blackwood in 1910, the Wendigo has made a number of appearances in American popular culture. The examples span a wide variety of media, from Stephen King’s novel Pet Sematary to the popular web-based video game World of Warcraft. It also appears in a number of movies, television shows, and even a number of Marvel comic books.
This paper will explore how – and why – the Wendigo has been incorporated into so many products of the American horror and fantasy genres, often in such a way that the more dynamic aspects of the figure and the important and complex role that it had to the people and communities in which it was conceived are all but entirely eliminated, reducing it to little more than a zombie-like, cannibalistic monster fueled by pure evil and an insatiable, taboo hunger.
About the presenterNatalia Marie Zecca-Naples
I am a Philadelphia native and current student at Delaware Valley University. I have completed a minor in Latin through Wilson College and continue to study Latin through Cambridge University. My primary academic interests are linguistics, foreign language study (particularly Romance languages), and 19th century British literature. Outside of school and work, I enjoy reading, writing and spending time outdoors.