Wendigo

The Wendigo.

The Wendigo was a primal demon who terrorized the Native American Algonquians and other Native American races in both Stephen King's novels Pet Sematary and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

Origin

The Wendigo might be linked with the three Moirae, because of its ties with Death. The Wendigo prematurely cuts the thread which binds humans to life, so it might be linked with Atropos. The Wendigo inhabited the entire Northern Hemisphere of North America, around Canada, and had supreme dominion over every creature and every organism in its domain.

Sometime in its life, the Wendigo encountered the Micmac Burial Ground in Maine, in the place which become Ludlow. The Micmac Burial Ground lain not too far through the woods from a pet cemetery which was used by the town's future children. The Wendigo then cursed the Micmac Burial Ground and the curse's consequences were that any corpse that was laid in the ground become reanimated in a day, but was a cannibal. After they saw that danger, the Micmacs abandoned Ludlow and resettled elsewhere.

Pet Sematary

Throughout the white settlement of Ludlow, the Wendigo lurked behind the scenes and manipulated events in the town just as Pennywise and André Linoge' manipulated events in the towns of Derry and Little Tall Island. The Wendigo reanimated whatever animal was laid in the newly-rediscovered Micmac Burial Ground, such as bulls, cats, and dogs. It reanimated the dog of Jud Crandall, a native to the town, and his father, who knew of the cemetery, warned Jud against future excursions. Once reanimated from death, the "resurrected" corpses showed more aggression than usual and frequently attacked strangers. They lived for roughly ten years and then died again.

During World War II, however, the burial ground's pull became stronger, when a man named Timmy Baterman was killed in Italy and was shipped back to be buried. Timmy's dad buried him in the Micmac Cemetery and felt the pull. Timmy was reanimated and came back to his father's house, but was possessed by the Wendigo. That did not escape attention, and a group of townspeople, including an adult Jud, came back to Timmy's house and demanded his dad to undo the evil that he had unleashed. Tim's father refused to notice anything unusual, although he was physically ill. Tim, who was still possessed by the Wendigo, gave away dark secrets about the men who came to speak to his father, which scared the men senseless and they then left. However, that night: Tim's father shot his son, doused the house in flames, and then shot himself. The doctor thought that Tim had been dead for weeks because of how decomposed his body became.

Once the Creed Family moved to Ludlow, Louis Creed's daughter, Ellie, lost her cat, Winston Church, on the highway. An older Jud then took Louis to the Micmac Burial Ground and persuaded Louis to bury Church. Church was subsequently reanimated and came back to Louis' house the next day. Church was more aggressive than usual as it was possessed by the Wendigo: Church took only raw meat, hissed at its owners, and smelled terrible.

Shortly afters, Louis' infant son, Gage, was killed on the highway when he was mowed down by a lorry. Louis went mad and, despite Jud's protests, took Gage up from his grave, carried him through the woods to the Micmac Cemetery, and narrowly avoided the Wendigo on the way, whose presence he actually saw. The Wendigo let Louis pass unimpeded, as it knew what he was about to do. Louis buried Gage and the next morning, Gage was reanimated. Gage, possessed by the Wendigo, killed Jud and Louis' wife, Rachel, and then came for Louis. But Louis was quick, he killed the possessed Church, and then killed the possessed Gage. The Wendigo, bereft of a human body, bid its time in the woods as it waited for another victim. Louis then happened to drag Rachel through the trees to the Micmac Cemetery - one of Louis' friends tried to follow, but was scared off by the Wendigo's laugh.

The Wendigo then reanimated Rachel Creed's body, walked back to Louis' house, and killed him that night, which completed its vengeance against the townspeople.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

A young teen girl named Trish McFarland stumbled off her route in the woods while she hiked with her family, she got increasingly lost and had numerous breakdowns. The Wendigo then took advantage of that, pursued her, and intended her to be its next victim. During the course of her journey, the Wendigo left grisly omens through the woods, such as mutilated deer. Three supernatural messengers came to Trish in the woods, such as the Subaudible, (her family's view of God) another messenger in the form of her science teacher, and a prophet of the God of the Lost, which was the Wendigo. The Wendigo's Prophet said that resisting the pull of the Wendigo was useless and that the Wendigo was irresistible: All who resisted, were met with death. Trish denied ending up as food and persisted in trying to escape the forest. Eventually, through sheer will, she did find a way out, and ended up on a motorway through the woods, but was accosted by the God of the Lost; the Wendigo, in the form of a grizzly bear, which then attacked her. She threw her walkman at it but the Wendigo was shot at briefly by a hunter and retreated after it saw that it had met its match. Trish was then subsequently rescued and the Wendigo remained in the woods and waited for more victims.

Appearances

• Pet Sematary
• The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon