Title The Wendigo Series --- Author Algernon Blackwood Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing 1910 Category Classics Warnings None Main Characters Dr. Cathcart, Simpson, Hank Davis, Punk, Joseph Défago Main Elements Folklore, spirits

Algernon Blackwood's classic tale, The Wendigo. An influential novella by one of the most best-known writers of fantasy and horror, set in a place and time Blackwood knew well.

This book is available for download at Project Gutenberg.

A group of men go moose hunting in the Canadian wilderness. A doctor and his nephew, both from Scotland, a Native American to guard the campsite, one guide called Hank and a French Canadian guide named Defago. As no moose were to be found, each guide took one man and headed off into the woods. What Simpson and Defago encountered however wasn't quite what they had set out to find...

I've read two other books in the past few years that dealt with the Wendigo legend, the second of which was actually inspired by Blackwood's short story (The Wolf at the End of the World, That Which Should Not Be) so that's what lead me to find this version of the legend.

Now its an early 20th century tale, so don't expect a lot of action, but that's what makes these kinds of stories classics, its more the buildup to the horror than the horror itself. The description of the places, the characters, and what remains unseen throughout. I didn't really find it scary or creepy for the most part, though the Wendigo usually gives me the willies (maybe because I am in Canada and thus within its potential reach?) but those fiery feet were very disturbing!