The manner in which certain footprints tell certain unbelievable things is really a marked triumph in craftsmanship.' Lovecraft said of The Wendigo: 'Another amazingly potent though less artistically finished tale is The Wendigo, where we are confronted by horrible evidences of a vast forest daemon about which North Woods lumber men whisper at evening. may be said to lead among the stories of the supernatural. Grace Isabel Colbron remarked in her 1915 essay, Algernon Blackwood: An Appreciation that: 'For sheer naked concentrated horror, unexplained and unexplainable, such tales as 'The Wendigo'.As an Indian, he instantly understood that Défago had seen the Wendigo. Punk alone could have explained it to them, but he fled home as soon as he caught the terrible odour that Défago carried with him. He dies soon after, and the three men are left in a state of bafflement and uncertainty about what has occurred. Cathcart and Hank go back with him to search for Défago, and when camping once more out in the wilderness, Défago – or some hideous parody of Défago – appears before them before vanishing once again into the night.Ĭonflicted and disturbed about what they have witnessed, they return to the main camp to find that Défago – the real Défago this time – has made his own way back, suffering from delirium, exposure, and frostbite. Simpson finally manages to make his way back to the main camp, where he is reunited with the others. 'Oh! oh! This fiery height! Oh, my feet of fire! My burning feet of fire. Eventually, both sets of tracks vanish, and Simpson believes he hears Défago's distant voice calling out from somewhere in the sky above: The larger set of footprints are not human, and gradually it seems that Défago's own tracks have metamorphosed into smaller versions of the larger set.

He follows his footprints in the snow for many miles, realising that Défago's are not the only set of tracks. Later Défago runs off into the night, forcing Simpson to go and look for him. That night, Simpson wakes to find Défago cowering in terror from something outside the tent. Simpson and Défago make camp, and it soon becomes clear that Défago senses – or at least thinks he senses – some strange and fearful odour on the wind. Cathcart goes with Hank, while Défago guides Simpson in a canoe down the river to explore the vast territory beyond. While their Indian cook, Punk, stays to tend the main camp, the others split up into two hunting-parties Dr. Cathcart, an author of a book on collective hallucination – are on a moose-hunting trip with guides Hank Davis and the wilderness-loving French ' Canuck', Joseph Défago. In the wilderness north of Rat Portage in Northwestern Ontario, two Scotsmen – divinity student Simpson and his uncle, Dr. The Wendigo is a novella by Algernon Blackwood, first published in The Lost Valley and Other Stories (Eveleigh Nash, 1910).

Algernon blackwood's the willows