Show Notes
In the winter of 1879, a Cree hunter named Swift Runner returned from the Canadian wilderness without his family.
He claimed they had starved to death.
But when investigators followed him back into the forest, they discovered something far more disturbing.
Swift Runner had murdered and consumed members of his own family. He claimed an evil spirit had driven him to do it.
For generations, Indigenous communities across the northern forests and Great Lakes had told stories of a terrifying being associated with insatiable hunger, cannibalism, and the darkest months of winter.
They called it the Wendigo.
Tonight, we're investigating the history and folklore behind one of North America's most frightening supernatural legends.
From early accounts recorded by French missionaries to the horrifying crimes of Swift Runner, we'll explore the beliefs surrounding the Wendigo and the people accused of becoming one.
We'll also examine the remarkable story of Jack Fiddler, an Indigenous leader who claimed to have defeated fourteen Wendigos, the controversial history of so-called Wendigo psychosis, and how Hollywood transformed an ancient figure of hunger and greed into the antlered monster recognized today.
Because the original Wendigo wasn't simply something waiting in the wilderness.
It was something a person could become.
Welcome to Day 25 of 31 Days of Halloween
More from Haunted American History
In February 1927, William Fuld fell to his death from the roof of his factory in Baltimore.
In the winter of 1590, an elderly Scottish healer named Agnes Sampson was brought before King James VI of Scotland.
In 1967, the RMS Queen Mary arrived in Long Beach, California, after more than three decades crossing the Atlantic.
In Savannah, Georgia, ghost stories are everywhere.
On November 13, 1974, a young man ran into a bar in Amityville, New York, shouting that his parents had been shot.