"The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tautly over its bones. Its complexion the ash gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets, the Wendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips it had were tattered and bloody, unclean and suffering from suppurations of the flesh, the Wendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption."

The Wendigo is a mythical creature appearing in the mythology of the Algonquian Native-American people. It is a malevolent cannibalistic spirit into which humans could transform, or which could possess humans. Those who indulged in cannibalism were at particular risk, and the legend appears to have reinforced this practice as a taboo.

The best known way to become a Wendigo is through cannibalism. By eating another human being, even out of necessity for survival, a human can be overcome by these spirits and be transformed into one. The fear of turning into this creature was so strong that it was preferable to kill one's self rather than resort to cannibalism.

There is a condition known as "Wendigo Psychosis" under which people with access to food sources would inexplicably become overcome with the need to consume human flesh. One such person, a Cree man named Swift Runner, famously slaughtered his entire family in 1878 and ate them, despite being only 25 miles from the Hudson Bay Company's supply post.

In 1907 a Oji-Cree man named Jack Fiddler and his brother were arrested for killing over 14 people who he claimed were Wendigos or about to become them.

Artist Statement:

I was inspired to create this sculpture after I read the tale of the Wendigo. This lesser-known mythological demon certainly strikes a nerve, we've all heard the stories of unfortunate travelers, who, when faced with life or death situations, have been forced to eat their own dead merely to survive. We've all experienced the innate dread, when our minds wander off to these darker places... What would you do if you had to resort to cannibalism to survive? Would such a traumatic experience change the very fabric of your being, into something irrevocably more sinister?

"Wendigo" is the culmination of hundreds of hours of work, in a labor of love to create something haunting, yet powerful in its concept. Most of us will never be forced into the unfortunate position of having to eat another human being, but we all still have a bit of monster in us. No matter how many lights we turn on, our own little demons will always be there, relegated to the deepest, darkest corners of our souls. Ever present, desperately seeking to claw their way out at a moments notice…

This unique artwork is crafted from real animal pelts, leather, and high grade taxidermy materials. A custom built distressed steel stand is included.

- Jade Leichliter, Longpig Productions, LLC.



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WENDIGO

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