[PW] Wendigo in Minnesota

[Charles Early]

There's another Sleeping Giant Island off the Dingle Peninsula in 
Ireland.  Like the one on Lake Superior, seen from the shore it looks like 
someone lying down.  When I saw it last fall our tour guide explained it 
was the body of a giant defeated by Finn McCool (Fionn Mac Cumhail) and 
thrown into the sea.  (You can see a picture from my trip at 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16225909@N00/263458948/, but the angle makes 
it hard to see the resemblance).  There doesn't appear to be much 
information about this island anywhere on the web.

At 07:39 PM 3/11/2007, you wrote:
>"Sam Friedman" <safriedman at gmail.com> writes:
>
>  >Hello,
>
>  >I've been reading the thread for about a month now, and I'd like to
>  >take a stab at posing a question.
>
>  >I'm an MLIS student and I've been practicing my information search
>  >techniques, but I'm stumped when it comes to this one.  I got this
>  >in an email from a friend and I haven't been able to find much
>  >information, other than recalling there was a book I read titled
>  >"Shadows in the Asylum" that featured some passing mention of Wendigo
>  >and islands in Wisconsin.
>
>  >The Question:
>  >Where is the island that is supposed to be the dead body of the
>  >Windigo? I remember being told the story in both my Ojibwa and Dakota
>  >classes when I went to Anderson Elementary, but I can't recall the name
>  >of the island nor can I find the tale. If anyone has a knowledge of the
>  >story of the 'Windigo and Big Foot' please enlighten me.
>
>As far as I know there is no 'the' Wendigo. According to what I now of the
>legends, Wendigo is a kind of monster that a human can become, sort of like
>a human can become a werewolf or a vampire. Most often it seems to be a
>curse brought on by eating human flesh. Apparently this is a folklore device
>to discourage cannibalism, much like the ancient Greek legends that deal
>with the same thing being severely punished by the gods.
>
>The Wendigo might very well have been adopted into modern horror stories, of
>course. "Shadows in the Asylum" sounds like a Lovecraft mythos title. I'd
>bet that a search on Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and a few of the other
>major Cthulhu mythos contributors would turn up a story featuring a/the
>Wendigo. (And it might very well have been made a 'unique' monster for story
>purposes. But in the original legends it is a type, not an individual.)
>
>The idea of an island being a body sounds like a mis-recollection of the
>legend of the Sleeping Giant. An island in Thunder Bay, Ontario (_Canada_
>not Minnesota) looks roughly like a prone human form from shore, and there
>is an Ojibwa legend about it. I don't know if this was also incorporated
>into modern horror or fantasy stories. :) You can find various versions.
>Here's a short one:
>
>http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TheSleepingGiant-Ojibwa.html
>
>
>Native American Legends
>The Sleeping Giant
>An Ojibwa Legend
>
>Standing on the shores of the City of Thunder Bay, one can look across the
>waters and see a great formation of land known as the Sleeping Giant.
>Mystery and legend surround this strange phenomenon of nature. A great tribe
>of Ojibways lived outside Thunder Bay on Isle Royale. Because of loyalty to
>their gods and their industrious and peaceful mode of living, Nanna Bijou,
>the Spirit of the Deep Sea Water, decided to reward the tribe.
>
>The Great Spirit told the chief about the tunnel that led to the center of a
>rich silver mine. He warned that if the Ojibway tribe were ever to tell the
>White Man of this mine he, Nanna Bijou, would be turned to stone. The
>Ojibways soon became famous for their beautiful silver ornaments. The Sioux
>warriors, upon seeing the silver on their wounded enemies, strove to wrest
>the secret from the Ojibways.
>
>Torture and death failed to make the gallant Ojibway tribesmen divulge their
>secret. Sioux chieftains summoned their most cunning scout and ordered him
>to enter the Ojibway camp disguised as one of them. The scout soon learned
>the whereabouts of the mine.
>
>One night he made his way to it and took several large pieces of the
>precious metal. During his return to the Sioux camp, the scout stopped at a
>White Trader's post for food. There, without furs to trade, he used a piece
>of the stolen silver. Two White Men, intent upon finding the source of the
>silver, filled the scout with firewater and persuaded him to lead them to
>the mine. Just as they were in sight of "Silver Islet", a terrific storm
>broke over the Cape. The White Men were drowned and the Sioux scout was
>found drifting in his canoe in a crazed condition.
>
>A most extraordinary thing happened during the storm. Where once was a wide
>opening to the bay, now lay what appeared to be a great sleeping figure of a
>man. The Great Spirit's warning had come true and he had been turned to stone.
>
>Today, partly submerged shaft to what was once the richest silver mine in
>the northwest, can still be seen. White Men have repeatedly attempted to
>pump out the water that floods in from Lake Superior, but their efforts have
>been in vain. Is it still under the curse of Nanna Bijou, Spirit of the Deep
>Sea Water? Perhaps...who can tell?
>_______________________________________________
>Project Wombat
>list at project-wombat.org
>http://www.project-wombat.org/

Charles Early
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