Scary Stories Treasury – The Wendigo – Silent Photoplay: A Place for Stories of All Types

Read Time:6 Minute, 38 Second

The Wendigo Kitty: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Winterjoy: ⭐⭐

Welcome to month 17…. that’s seventeen (wow!) of our journey through Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. If you’d like to start from the beginning, start here with the very first story in the series.

This time we’re going to take you into cold country. The Wendigo is my very favorites, beating out Harold by a small margin. It is indigenous folklore, and a pretty brutal monster story, too!

The Wendigo

A wealthy man wanted to go hunting in a part of northern Canada where few people had ever hunted. He traveled to a trading post and tried to find a guide to take him. But no one would do it. It was too dangerous, they said.

Finally, he found an Indian who needed money badly, and he agreed to take him. The Indian’s name was DèFago.

They made camp in the snow near a large frozen lake. For three days they hunted, but they had nothing to show for it. The third night a windstorm came up. They lay in their tent listening to the wind howling and the trees whipping back and forth.

To see the storm better, the hunter opened the tent flap. What he saw startled him. There wasn’t a breath of air stirring, and the trees were standing perfectly still. Yet he could hear the wind howling. And the more he listened, the more it sounded as if it were calling DéFago’s name.

“Da-faaaaaaaaa-go!” it called. “Da-faaaaaaaaay-go!”

“I must be losing my mind,” the hunter thought.

But DéFago had gotten out of his sleeping bag. He was huddled in a corner of the tent, his head buried in his arms.

“What’s this all about?” the hunter asked.

“It’s nothing,” DéFago said.

But the wind continued to call to him. And DéFago became more tense and more resless.

“Da-faaaaaaaaay-go!” it called “Da-faaaaaaaaay-go!”

Suddenly, he jumped to his feet, and he began to run from the hunter. But the hunter grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground.

“You can’t leave me out here,” the hunter shouted.

Then the wind called again, and DéFago broke loose and ran into the darkness. The hunter could hear him screaming as he went. Again and again he cried, “Oh my fiery feet, my burning feet of fire . . .” Then his voice faded away, and the wind died down.

At daybreak, the hunter followed DéFago’s tracks in the snow. They went through the woods, down toward the lake, then out on to the ice.

But soon he noticed something strange. The steps DéFago had taken got longer and longer. They were so long no human being could have taken them. It was as if something had helped him to hurry away.

The hunter followed the tracks to the middle of the lake, but there they disappeared. At first, he thought that DéFago had fallen through the ice, but there wasn’t any hole. Then he thought that something had pulled him off the ice into the sky. But that made no sense.

As he stood wondering what had happened, the wind picked up again. Soon it was howling as it had the night before. Then he heard DéFago’s voice. It was coming from up above, and again eh heard DéFago screaming “. . . My fiery feet, my burning feet . . .” But there was nothing to be seen.

Now the hunter wanted to leave that place as fast as he could. He went back to camp and packed. Then he left some food for DéFago, and he started out. Weeks later he reached civilization.

The following year he went back to hunt in that area again. He went to the same trading post to look for a guide. The people there could not explain what had happened to DéFago that night. But they had not seen him since then.

“Maybe it was the Wendigo,” one of them said, and he laughed. “It’s supposed to come with the wind. It drags you along at great speed until your feet are burned away, and more of you than that. Then it carried you into the sky, and it drops you. It’s just a crazy story, but that’s what some of the Indians say.”

A few days later the hunter was at the trading post again. An Indian came in and sat by the fire. He had a blanket wrapped around him, and he wore his hat so that you couldn’t see his face. Then hunter thought there was something familiar about him.

He walked over and he asked, “Are you DéFago?”

The Indian didn’t answer.

“Do you know anything about him?”

No answer.

He began to wonder if something was wrong, if the man needed help. But he coudljn’t see his face.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

No answer.

To get a look at him, he lifted the Indian’s hat. Then he screamed. There was nothing under the hat but a pile of ashes.

*****

The above story was based on a story narrated to Schwartz by a Professor from the University of Maine, Edward M. Ives. He also says that the name DéFago was taken from the Algernon Blackwood story The Wendigo. Blackwood’s story is pretty similar to the story Schwartz included in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, though the ending is different and it is a much longer, more fleshed out story. I would recommend reading it, though it is too long to reprint here. You can find it here on Gutenberg.

Kitty

In what environment did you read the story? In front of my computer in my computer chair!!!
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? Yes. I also remember being very curious what exactly a Wendigo was.
Analyze the actions of the characters in in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? I don’t think I’d have gone hunting. It’s just not my thing. If I was a hunter who liked to go to remote areas to hunt, I guess their actions made sense. I don’t think I’d go alone with only a single guide to accompany me, though.
Which was your favorite and least favorite characters and why? My favorite character was the people who were too scared to guide him on this hunting trip. They were smart. My least favorite character was the Wendigo, because what did Défago ever do to you??
What did you think of the storytelling style? I liked this one! I thought it was pretty spooky
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? I think it depicted footsteps very well.
Your overall rating and why: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ I love this monster story from the indigenous peoples if Canada.

Winterjoy

In what environment did you read the story? In my room with the windows open wearing a sweatshirt in JUNE!
Do you remember having read this story as a kid? Nope
Analyze the actions of the characters in the story. Did they make sense? Would you have done anything differently? I guess? The hunter maybe had a good reason to go hunting in treacherous territory but I would chicken out. It’s unclear if DeFago knew of his curse prior to this journey and chose to ignore it.
Which was your favorite and least favorite character and why? The hunter could have tried harder to get DeFago???
What did you think of the storytelling style? At 3 pages long, I lost minutes of my life! Why so long???
Examine the art for the story. What are your thoughts on it? It’s fine. The trees are like Bob Ross trees but scarier.
Your overall rating and why: ⭐ ⭐ It’s cool to hear scary stories from other cultures. This one was cut and dry and not very scary. Somebody should have been eaten, in my opinion. Donner Party type stuff.