The Wendigo

Written by Algernon Blackwood

Narrated by B. J. Harrison

A monster lurks in the Canadian forests. If the legends are to be believed, a small band of hunters is about to meet the Wendigo.

The legend of the Wendigo originates from folk stories from the Plains and Great Lakes Native Americans. The creature is a malevolent spirit, known to possess and even eat humans.

Algernon Blackwood crafts this ghostly tale masterfully, filling it with atmosphere, tension, and drama.

• Language: English
• Publisher: B.J. Harrison
• Release date: Jan 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781957934273

Algernon Blackwood

Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) was an English journalist, novelist, and short story writer. Born in Shooter’s Hill, he developed an interest in Hinduism and Buddhism at a young age. After a youth spent travelling and taking odd jobs—Canadian dairy farmer, bartender, model, violin teacher—Blackwood returned to England and embarked on a career as a professional writer. Known for his connection to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Blackwood gained a reputation as a master of occult storytelling, publishing such popular horror stories as “The Willows” and “The Wendigo.” He also wrote several novels, including Jimbo: A Fantasy (1909) and The Centaur (1911). Throughout his life, Blackwood was a passionate outdoorsman, spending much of his time skiing and mountain climbing. Recognized as a pioneering writer of ghost stories, Blackwood influenced such figures as J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, and Henry Miller.

Reviews for The Wendigo

[Paul Bernal · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great story and a great narrator equal a great experience.

[arkrayder · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Wendigo was written by Algernon Blackwood in 1910. The Wendigo, a creature from Algonquin legend, is a cannibalistic spirit which possesses humans and causes the possessed to transform into an extremely emaciated creature, which is skeletal gray in color and exudes the stench of putrefying meat.A small hunting party embarks on an expedition through the densely forested and unclaimed north Canadian wilderness to hunt moose. The party splits into two pairs, and the main characters Simpson and his native guide, Defago, are subjected to profoundly ominous and unnerving events. Defago is dragged from the pairs tent and disappears into the trees. Simpson escapes and returns with the rest of the group whereupon they discover Dafago but strangely altered. The Wendigo takes the reader along through the tale as if they were a member of the hunting party. A sense of dread of the unknown is slowly developed. This book is a superbly written campfire tale.

[seldombites · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Wendigo is creepy in a way only Victorian stories can be. It is a short story, but an intense one. It did not take me long to read this story but it stayed in my head long after I finished, leaving me with a vague sense of unease and dread for the remainder of the night. I will be keeping this book in my collection and I recommend that horror fans read it if they can.

[finxy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Review from BadelyngeA Dr. Cathcart and his nephew Simpson go hunting for moose in the Canadian wilderness, accompanied by two Canadian guides and a native American cook.On the surface this classic horror story by Algernon Blackwood revisits the sort of set-up that worked so well in The Willows. There are other similarities but they feel quite different; the other worldly eeriness of the Willows is quite different than the overall tone in The Wendigo. The first half of The Wendigo is very powerful, with the characters having their differing world views challenged by the perilous vastness of the natural world. The focus at this stage is more on Simpson as he sets out with Defago, one of the guides, to explore 50 Island Water in search of those elusive moose. These are the most powerful scenes as he contemplates the wild space about him and Defago starts to be broken down by his own superstitious knowledge. Blackwood characterises Simpson as being a 'student of divinity' counterpointing Cathcart's rationalistic adherence to science and the bulwarks of civilisation. Blackwood also describes one of the guides as being 'nearest primitive conditions' by which I believe he means that he (Hank) is the most in-tune with nature. It's a challenging and atmospheric read that pitches human instinct against rationalism, superstition against science and the awe of nature against the human social constructs of civilisation. The weakest part of the story is The Wendigo itself or more accurately Blackwood's choice to focus so strongly on one of the more absurd elements of the legend. I'm talking about the flaming feet. It's still a great story full of Blackwood's beautiful contemplative descriptive prose. It's not quite in the same weird horror league as The Willows but then again, what is.

[caanderson-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like the tension, the story line, and some of the characters. It’s the racism that I can’t get past.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pretty good for a tale written over 100 years ago. Basically a creepy campfire tale. One feels a growing sense of dread from early on. Good atmospherics and not too predictable.

[altheaann · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

(1910) A hunting party that ventures into forbidden territory has a run-in with a creature out of legend. This horror classic has some very well-done elements. I like how the 'rough' talk of the huntsmen and their guides is contrasted with the lovely and evocative descriptions of nature. Blackwood does an excellent job of conjuring up the vastness and mystery of the untamed North American wilderness. Unfortunately, it does contain a few racial slurs and depictions which, while they may serve to contribute to the setting of the story, are quite jarring to a modern reader. There are also elements of the 'horrific' in this story that came off as... well, just a bit silly. But overall, the juxtaposition of small blustering (but strangely vulnerable) men against the unknown is quite effective. It does indeed evoke "savage and formidable potencies lurking behind the souls of men, not evil perhaps in themselves, yet instinctively hostile to humanity as it exists..."

[david_masumba · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If I was a suspersticious person, it would have been a miracle to read ALGERNON BLACKWOOD'S short story THE WENDIGO but the story comes from an era of discipline which does not support the animated story but still a goodread.