According to A Dictionary of Ghost Lore by Peter Haining:
The wendigo is a Canadian entity, half phantom, half beast, who lives in the forests and preys on human beings, particularly chil- dren. The belief in this horror dates back to the earliest Indian legends and it is said that the wendigo will eat the flesh of its victims. According to R.S. Lambert in "Exploring the Supernatural" (1955), 'Wendigos (who might be women as well as men) were believed to have entered into a pact with evil spirits, lurking in the for- est, who helped them kill their victims.' The legend of this crea- ture has been immortalized in Algernon Blackwood's short story "The Wendigo" (1907). In W.T. Cox's "Fearsome Creatures of the Lumber Woods" (1951) a number of other Canadian "wood horrors" are listed, including the hodag, the whimpus, the hoop-snake, the celofay, and the filamaloo.
Noah Broadwater (lseifer@usa.net) adds:
The posting on 'Wendigos' or 'Wendegos' (there are two spellings) is quite interesting and accurate from a folk point of view. Anthropologically, however, a different definition exists. 'Wendigos' are people who have a psychological problem. This occurs to people who starve out in the sub-arctic region. This hunger often causes a psychological imbalance. The person becomes cannibalistic and tries to eat other humans or anything that will provide food, including rotting animals. This often begins at night during sleep where the afflicted will turn in their sleep and attempt to eat whomever is next to them. The Inupiak (sp?) Native Americans are the most affected by this due to their migratory lifestyle and harsh environment. Currently Canadian hospitals are treating people affected by this phenomena.
More from a reader:
From: "Drachen" (drachen@home.com)
To: obiwan@ghosts.org
Subject: WENDIGO CRAP
Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 16:19:37 -0600
I have been doing tonnes of research on the 'wendigo' for an animation screenplay I'm doing, and you REALLY have your facts mixed up..
First, it is a spirit or race of small people or race of giants, there is either ONE or there are many different ones... they can be human, or they can be a shapeshifter, they can be walking across a river and their head touching the clouds, then they can change form and be inside the lodge with regular people...
they exist primarily in the wintertime, and these storys are told to children to warn them of getting lost. and they mainly occur in the treelines of canada... there is a similar spirit I came accross from the northern regions of the states, however with that you merely get lost and never find your way back home if you ever cross his tracks...
and there are approximately 45+ different ways of spelling it, as it is a cree word, and there are five different dialects of cree, which, basically when letters are pronounced, the we (or i) followed by an asperated H sound followed by the N/D/T sound it is neither one of those but rather a sound right in between, so you can see whoever wrote about these things may not have been phonetically based in their writings. also the G/K is in between for the last part, which in some is pronounced similar to cow or rather gow.... and in some like go...
It is also known as atchen, mahtsie (phonetically spelled) and several other words... There are MANY stories, there are only a few things consistant about it... the wendigo suffers an insatiable appetite, they have jagged or sharp teeth, their hearts are made of ice, and their lips look as if animals have nibbled them off or the wendigo themselves have chewed them off... *sometimes the tongue too*,
they sometimes smell, and ussually their obsession becomes everything to them letting their hygene suffer terribly, scraggly hair, shreds for clothes etc...
There are many different stories that say who or how you become a wendigo, some say that only bad people become one, some say that a powerful medicine man can make one, some say that you become one in dreams, and some say that only indians can be one, some say that only men, and some say anyone can become one...
The culture that the wendigo is a part of, believe deeply in dreams, if by chance you dream of eating a person, then you may drive yourself to do so, as one rule is to dream it is to become one...
Also there are tonnes of storys concernign the wendigo, and I have read a ton of them... so far only one or two White'mans versions have been semi accurate, otherwise its romantisized and stupid, with NO basis in what it actually means or represents....
Another thing... the wendigo is NOT a good spirit but rather a very evil spirit... if you come accross the tracks and cross them, of the wendigo there are only three options, 1. you become one yourself, 2. you become the victim of one and are consumed, 3. you die of fright and freeze to death...
Any person becoming a wendigo will always ask to be killed when in their right mind... there is a story of a man who was a good man, and strong and handsome... he had a wife, and children, one day his wife made comment to her brother who lived in a village, as she and her family lived outside the village a ways... she made a comment that she was starting to fear for her children and her husband has not been the same for a few day, waking up from bad dreams... the brother tried to reassure her and said he would check up on her later that week.
a week passes and he sees his brother in law in the village and asks how hes been doing and how his sister was... the brother in law said that he is fine and his bad dreams are gone now... and then he leaves. The brother is no longer concerned, but the rcmp were in the village that week and decided to check up on all the people. So they headed out to where the Husband lived with his wife, and they found him there with a dead child carcass drying...
He turned to the officers and calmly said, I'm glad you are here, you can kill me now...
The rest of the family had already been eaten. What shocked them the most was that there was PLENTY of moose, deer and fish, as well as a huge variety of berries both drying out beside the human flesh.
The man was arrested and the villagers were shocked and angry that they were taking so long to kill this man as it was tradition. An elder who knew the man since he was a small child offered to be the one to kill him so that his soul would not return to harm others. (a belief held among the cree and dene population) However he had to wait for trial, and wait and wait.... for about six months plus he waited. He was found guilty, and when he was sentenced to be hung, his last words were, "this could have been less painful had you followed my wishes to kill me in the first place."
There you go...
This is just one story of the wihtikow... (my personal favorite spelling of it)
There is a book called 'the wendigo' if you really want to get some good information about it, it delves into the stories, of all kinds analyses each one, both culturally and scientifically, there is something called the wendigo psychosis, that they beleive happens, such as what happened to the donner party...
e mail me if you have any particular questions... thanks... and PLEASE make changes in your FAQs for this... feel free to omit a bit of this if it is too winded for you. There is still SSSOOOOO much more about this...
Carrie
Will o' the wisps are a natural phenomenon that nevertheless appear ghostly in nature. The wisps, which are actually ignited pockets of swamp gas, hover over swamps and swampy areas and glow blue. They can move (carried by breezes and air currents), and many observers have noted that the wisps seem to mimic a person's movements... when the observer moves forward, so does the wisp. Will o' the wisps can appear as one glowing ball or as many tiny flickers.
Will o' the wisps have also been called such fanciful names as "corpse candles," "fox fire," and "elf light." The phenomenon is also knows as ignis fatuus which means "foolish fire". Some believe the mysterious floating lights to be portents of bad luck or even death. Researchers believe that many people have mistaken will o' the wisps for the ghostly lanterns of trains and/or their long-dead conductors.
Contributed by Christine White (christin@meaddata.com):
According to People magazine February 15, 1988:
"It happened so fast. At 9:25 am, Monday Feb. 1, only hours after developing what appeared to be flu symptoms, Heather O'Rourke, child star of the Poltergeist horror films, was rushed from her home in Lakeside, Calif., to the hospital; she was in septic shock and cardiac arrest. An hour later she arrived by airlift, alive but in critical condition, at Children's Hospital and Health Center in San Diego.
There she was operated on for intestinal stenosis, an acute bowel obstruction, a congenital condition neither her mother nor stepfather had suspected. At 2:43 pm, Heather died on the operating table. She was 12 years old."
Subsequent issues of People tell how doctors first diagnosed and treated her for Crohn's disease. The parents sued the doctors for wrongful treatment, but I don't know what happened to the suit.
Heather O'Rourke's death is often associated with the "Poltergeist curse," a run of bad luck that plagued those involved with the original film for years afterwards.
Ghostly visitations fall into several distinct categories. Here are a few of the most common.
* Crisis Apparitions -- These ghosts appear most often to their loved ones at a moment of great crisis or death. Typically, the ghosts appear only once to a special loved one who may be many miles away at the time of the accident.
* Doppelgangers -- Doppelgangers are ghostly doubles of living people. Often the doppelganger is not visible to the person himself, and will simply follow the person around. In some cases a person will come upon his own doppelganger who is typically engaged in some future activity. Doppelgangers are traditionally considered omens of bad luck or even death.
* Repeated Actions -- Many apparitions are always viewed repeating the same motions or scenes. Many classic hauntings fall into this category. An example of this type of haunting is The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall, who was always seen moving down a hallway with a lantern in her hand. Usually these ghosts pay little or no attention to the observer.
* Poltergeists -- Poltergeists are the only spirits who leave immediate physical traces. Poltergeists are best known for throwing things about and producing rapping sounds and other noises. In fact, the word "poltergeist" means "noisy ghost" in German. Poltergeists often occur where there are children on the brink of puberty, and often interact with people.
* Ghostly Sounds and Lights -- Sometimes a haunting will consist entirely of the sound of footsteps or ghostly music. There are also many legends of ghost lights, which are often said to be caused by someone's ghostly lantern or by a spectral motorcycle or train.
* Possessed Objects -- Sometimes inanimate objects are said to be cursed or possessed. A very famous example of a supposed cursed object is the Hope Diamond. Sometimes a particular piece of furniture will refuse to stay in place, even moving in front of the owner's eyes.
Ed and Lorraine Warren are a husband and wife team who investigate paranormal activity. Their most famous case is probably the Amityville horror. The reliability of their research is considered questionable by many. The Warrens currently make a living by travelling the lecture circuit and releasing the occasional book.
You can visit their website (The New England Society for Psychic Reasearch) at http://www.warrens.net/.
The Fox sisters (Margaretta and Kate/Cathie) caused a sensation in the late 1840s, when the news broke that they could communicate with a spirit in their home in Hydesville, NY. The "spirit" communicated through rapping sounds (e.g., two raps for yes). The sisters went on to become professional mediums, and were instrumental in founding the spiritualist movement. Later in their lives the sisters admitted to faking the spirit raps (many researchers had been insisting all along that the noises were faked), but at least one of them took back the confession before she died. Despite this, the Fox sisters are generally considered frauds.
From the alt.dreams FAQ, maintained by Olaf Titz (olaf@bigred.ka. sub.org):
"3.1. What causes sleep paralysis?
"A. Conventional wisdom: REM atonia is a normal function of the body. The muscles that move the body are "turned off" during REM sleep, which prevents you from acting out dreamed actions in reality. Non-REM sleep paralysis after waking up ("old hag") is caused by a failure to re-activate the muscles immediately. Normally this condition lasts only a few seconds, but sometimes it can go for a minute, which causes a very scary feeling. You are damn sure you're awake now but you can't move. This is extremely unpleasant but at least not dangerous."
Symptoms of old hag include hearing footsteps, seeing a presence (in the past, because of people's fear of "witches", this was often an old woman, from which the name derives), and a feeling of not being able to breathe or move.
Here is a typical Old Hag experience. This was posted on a.f.g-s.
From: bwallace@epix.net (Penny)
"... I turned out the light and settled down to go to sleep. As I was lying in bed thinking, I became aware of a rustling sound emanat- ing from the turret. I focused on the sound, trying to determine its origins. A breeze over papers? A mouse? As soon as I dismissed these possibilities the rustling sound stopped and was replaced by the sound of stealthy, shuffling footsteps that were headed in my direction. The sense of a presence was suddenly so strong that it filled the room. I was terrified. The critical detail here is that I clearly remember pulling the blanket over my head (I was lying on my back.) The next thing I knew I was paralyzed--I couldn't move a finger. The footsteps continued their approach and the next thing I knew, a tremendous weight settled on my chest, forcing me into the mattress. I felt that there was a menacing presence. [...] It was nasty! The intense, dreadful weight continued to press down on me, almost like a large animal settling itself on my body. I thought I would go through the mattress. I knew that I was awake, I was not dreaming, and that something evil was in the room with me. Somehow, my childhood years of Sunday School paid off and I prayed to be re- leased. In that instant, it was over."
Next time you read a book of true ghostly accounts, keep the old hag phenomenon in mind. Most likely you will find a few classic old hag experiences (especially by authors who are unaware of the phenomenon) which the victim assumed were paranormal.
An amusing incident from a reader:
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 14:58:04 +0000
From: "Mr. Lamb" (brlamb@zeus.kern.org)
To: obiwan@ghosts.org
Subject: "old hag" theory
I have been reading the stories at your site for a few weeks now and I will be posting my own very true very scary tale soon. But first I'd like to ad my own theory or explanation of "old hag".
A female neighbor of mine would often complain to her husband that several nights a week she would awake with the sensation of being smothered. She claimed that it felt like someone laying across her body, at once pinning her down and forcing the air from her lungs. She said during these episodes she felt panicked and paralized. She was convinced that their bedroom was "haunted" Her husband finally grew tired of listening to her complaints and forced her to get a complete physical and mental check-up. Long story short...she actually suffered from Sleep Apnea. Her "old hag" was actually caused by her inability to breathe!
Her husband still thinks this is hilarious and anytime she says something that may be false he grumbles "ghost my ass, i bet it's your damn deviated septum again"
The Old Hag phenomenon as astral projection:
From: "Bryan Chandler" (Tokabowla@worldnet.att.net)
To: obiwan@ghosts.org
Subject: Regarding your "Old Hag" FAQ...
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 1999 18:09:12 -0500
Hey great page! This is regarding your "Old Hag" thing on your FAQ pages. I have an alternate explanation that while still classifies itself as "paranormal", but actually has nothing to do with ghosts.
Many as I do believe that the experience of sleep paralyses is actually due to an Out Of Body Experience. Ever lay in your bed, on the edge of sleep, not thinking of anything, and suddenly have the sensation your falling, as if through your bed?! Realizing this you suddenly "catch" yourself, and jump up in your bed. I've had this feeling many times throughout my life.
There are those (myself included) who believe that this is the sensation of your soul or "astral body" leaving your physical body. At some point while on the edge of sleep, it's believed that your physical body infact does fall asleep, however your consciousness or "astral body" actually doesn't join you in sleep, but rather becomes disconnected from your physical body. There are those who claim to do this regularly, and can travel anywhere there hearts may desire, and that there is no actual "time" experience in this state. Many claim of being able to go to friends houses who live hundreds, possibly thousands of miles away and listening in on conversations that their friends may have with others, and later being able to describe these conversations to their friends that they could not possibly of heard! Other things similar to this are apparently possible.
Strange buzzing or "frying" sounds, and the feeling of a heavy weight upon the body are also associated with the entering of the OBE state, along with the feeling of being "pushed into and through the bed". These strange sounds and feelings may explain the "Old Hag" experience.
As far as I know there is no danger of death, or not being able to return to your sleeping body. Infact it is said that you can return at any time you wish. If you experience this phenomenon, and are able to not "catch yourself", you just might be able to experience an OBE. I however have never personally been able to keep from "catching" myself from the falling sensation. I suppose when your on the edge of sleep, your instincts act before your consciousness can interject.
Bryan C.
There are some places where the land is shaped in such a way that it can sometimes appear that things are going uphill when they are really going down. Some people attribute this type of activity to paranormal causes.
Jason Hoffman (Jason.Hoffman@nopc.jaxx.com) explains it this way:
"This was explained very simply on a TV show several years back. There is a place known as "Gravity Hill" where the road is on a slight decline. But the trees on the side of the road, instead of being vertical, lean down the hill. So that if you are standing sideways on the road, with the down side to your left, the trees `should' appear to lean to the right, but actually lean to the left. This makes the downward side of the hill seem to be the up side of the hill. The grade is so slight that it throws off your balance, so you become con- fused.
"This has been illustrated in fun houses at amusement parks...'The Leaning Room'. After being in the room for a minute, your natural sense of balance tries to correct itself. Then, you try to roll a ball down some parallel bars, but the ball rolls up instead."
Here is another explanation by Paul Johnson (paj@gec-mrc.co.uk):
"The brain uses a collection of techniques for deciding which way is up. The balancing organs in the inner ears only work when you stand still, so for most purposes the brain uses visual rules-of-thumb.
"Amongst these are:
1. The ground is, on average, horizontal.
2. Walls are vertical.
"So these mystery spots are usually on broad, empty plains with a slight slope. The slope isn't noticable, and rule 1 is applied by the brain to get a wrong answer for the horizontal. Hence any slight lessening of the slope looks like a slight upward rise on a flat plain, even though it is actually still downhill. So things rolling down the slope look like they are rolling uphill.
"Sometimes locals exploit rule 2 by putting up buildings that conform to the visual horizontal instead of the actual one. This reinforces the illusion quite strongly.
"If you are ever shown one of these spots, check a map with contour lines drawn on to find out how flat it really is."
The following information was provided by David Fluker (df0328@aol.com).
"If anyone out there is interested in attempting to photograph para- normal activities or spirits, here is how to do it right!!
1. You need to purchase 35mm Kodak HIE-135/36 film. This is B&W Infrared film used for this and other more scientific purposes. You can either purchase the film at a local professional photo shop or order it direct from Kodak at 1-800-242-2424 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-800-242-2424 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-800-242-2424 end_of_the_skype_highlighting in Rochester, NY. The roll costs around $10.00 each including shipping.
2. Once you have the film in your hot little hand, you need to ask your friendly photo-pro at the shop for an 87 filter to use with it. (if he/she doesn't know what this is, have them call the 800# above and get Kodak to tell him/her.
** the reason for the 87 filter is to eliminate all existing light du- ring photography and only to have the IR on the film. (Even though it may be dark in a room, there is still existing light that will effect your exposure so use the 87 filter!!)
3. Once you have captured you entity on film, either send the film back to Kodak or get it processed at the best quality lab in your area. It needs to be processed under three types...hc110, d19, or d76. The best for supernatural purposes is d76 as this gives the most normal overall exposure. You can also have it processed HC110 but this is a much higher contrast index and used mainly for special scientific pro- jects."
In addition, David Chorley notes that HIE 135-36 needs to be loaded and unloaded in a darkroom, because the little felt light trap is not impervious to IR.
Yet more info provided by Joseph W. Metcalf:
1. HIE can not be used in cameras that have a "window" on the back to see the film-type & exposures printed on the film cannister nor can it be used in cameras that use an infrared film-transport sensor or IR focus system. (In other words, get out the old manual-everything SLR. (In addition, I would be very wary of using HIE in cheaper point-and- shoot type cameras. The light seals just ain't all that great.)
2. Some type of plastic developing tanks can leak IR light. The best bet for developing is Kodalux or a major pro lab. Find a lab that you trust and ask questions!
3. The #87 filter will completely block visual light. A #25 (red) filter can also be used with HIE to block everything except the red- visual and infrared spectrum. (Makes focusing a bit easier if you have the light to work with.) HIE is also sensitive to UV light and can get the same type of haze from ultraviolet as daylight film does.
HIE with the #87 filter can be used to photograph through fog (or darkness, of course.) It is possible that anything similar to fog could transmit the IR light instead of reflecting it and would not show up on the film.
4. A flash will work with HIE, although I think it would be most effective for this application with an #87 filter of it's own. (We wouldn't want to scare anyone away.)
5. There is no recommended film speed for HIE. A good starting point is 50 or 100 ASA for D-76 processing. A test roll, with exposures logged, is recommended.
6. IR light requires a focus adjustment from visible light. Some manual-focus cameras will have an infrared focus mark to indicate the offset. If not, experiment. The difference is small, but it could be significant.
7. HIE has a "salt and pepper" grain. It is a nice artistic effect, but the resolution is not the same as conventional films.
8. And, yes, the film is light green!
Mark Korven (Mark_Korven@goodmedia.com) gleaned the following quote from the book The Scandal Annual 1991.
"A Wall Street bond trader sued for return of a $32,000 down payment he made on a $650,000 Victorian mansion on the Hudson River in Nyack, New York. The Reason: he said nobody told him that three Revolutionary War ghosts haunted the dwelling. The owner of the house had refused to return the money, saying that the ghosts were very friendly. The judge ruled in her favor, stating that the law can't take supernatural entities into consideration.
"That ruling panicked lawmakers in neighboring Connecticut, which evidently has more than its share of spooks. Legislators pushed though a "Ghostbuster" bill, making it mandatory for all home seller to disclose any spiritual phenomena related to the property."
There are many theories of what ghosts (if they indeed exist) are. Some people believe that ghosts are the residual energy left behind by an emotionally strong person or event. This theory holds that more energy/electrical impulses are expended during periods of high stress or excitement, and that the energy lingers for a long time.
Freud thought that ghosts are actually the visions of people who are afraid of death. In this sense, ghosts would not be real at all but rather a projection of our subconcious mind.
A somewhat plausible theory is that ghosts are telepathic images. That is, a sensitive person would pick up past vibrations from the area they were in and witness an event or person as it appeared many years ago. This would also explain instances where a person sees a loved one at or near the moment of the the loved one's death, since the loved one could be unconciously projecting their thoughts to the receptive person.
Ghosts might also be the result of time slips, if time is nonlinear. An event that happened in the past might be seen briefly in our time because of a fluctuation in time/space.
On his show -Mysterious World-, Arthur C. Clarke has speculated that our minds might play images to our eyes (the same way our eyes relay messages to our brain, but in reverse), almost like a movie screen. In this way ghosts would be bits of our imagination come to life.
A caul is a piece of the fetal membrane that covers the heads of some babies when they are born. This occurrence is relatively rare, and because of this folklore says that a baby born with a caul possesses psychic powers. In the past, people would keep cauls and placed great value upon them as good luck charms.
An incubus is a demon which assumes male form and lies on people (usually women) and has sexual intercourse with them in their sleep. The female version of an incubus is called a succubus.
According to the excellent book Ghost Sightings by Brian Innes, the oldest written report of a ghost comes from the Bible, in the first book of Samuel. Saul goes to a medium ("a woman that hath a familiar spirit") and asks her to conjure up the deceased Samuel, which she does. Samuel appears in the form of "an old man covered with a mantle."
Another very old ghost sighting comes from Ancient Greece. A Greek writer named Pausanius wrote around 150 AD about a haunting at the site of the battle of Marathon (490 BC). In the words of Pausanius:
"At this place you can hear all night horses whinnying and men fighting. No one who stays there just to have this experience gets any good out of it, but the ghosts do not get angry with anyone who happens to be there against his will."
Notes: The description of Samuel in his undead state, covered with his mantle, seems to set a precedent for the sheet-covered ghost so favored in Western culture. Although Samuel was conjured and perhaps not a "true" ghost, Pausanius' account is clearly that of an already established haunting which must have been well known at the time.
Again, natural oddities such as ball lightning and "will o' the wisp," imagination, and simple misinterpretation are often mistaken for paranormal occurences. Here is an interesting bit sent in by a reader:
From: "Hilli" (iridium@tegmentum.net)
To: obiwan@ghosts.org
Subject:
Date: Monday, February 11, 2002 6:29 AM
Dear Obiwan,
My name is Hilli and I recently graduated from UCLA with a bachelor degree in neuroscience. I have been reading some of the stories that people have submitted to your page. Having been a scientifically-minded person all my life, I couldn't help reacting to some of the situations that the writers have described by asking myself how such things have happened. For example, some writers have described smelling strange scents when supposed apparitions were about; I am familiar with the mechanism by which the brain interprets scent--molecules diffuse into the tectorial membane in the nasal cavity and activate connections in the brain which are interpreted as scents. So in order for the writer to have experienced a scent, this neural pathway in the brain would have to be activated by something.
Certain relatively-common neural disordes are characterized by such connections becoming activated in the brain without external sensory stimuli, and are expressed in the patient in the form of images, scents, sounds, and so on. Often these sensory experiences are aided by the patient's memories--for example, a memory of a relative will influence visual stimuli, and the patient will report having seen the relative. These sensations are very real and not mere illusions--they are as real to the patient as images of objects that are in the patient's actual visual field.
I can't help wondering whether a lot of the experiences that people discuss in the stories they submit to your webpage are manifestations of such neural mechanisms. I have worked with patients, myself, who have experienced such sensory experiences as part of the symptoms of their condition. I think this information is worthwhile to mention on your website for those who are not familiar with neuroscience and neuropathology.
Ghostly goodies!
