Hey everyone.
I am thinking about the scenes in the story where the windigo's (did i spell that right?) were being killed.
Strangulation is the key. Why. It is up close and personal, and in the case of Xavier he looks right in the eyes of the man, or Windigo, that he is kiling. They had other ways of "hunting" and killing prey, so why strangulation.
Any thoughts?
5 comments:
Sounds like this is a research question for you folks....
Hey Holly - do you think it might have something to do with stopping the flow of air, or more specifically, the breath of life? There are many other ways to kill a person (or a windigo) but if they felt this evil (spirit?) was threatening their society, it might have been more meaningful to stop the flow of air and also they probably looked into the eyes of the "windigo" when it was leaving as a sign that they were not afraid of it....Maybe?
hi again :-)
I just found some interesting articles in my searches for 'killing a windigo.' One of them states:
One of the most famous Wendigo hunters was a Cree Indian named Jack Fiddler. He claimed to kill at least 14 of the creatures in his lifetime, although the last murder resulted in his imprisonment at the age of 87. In October 1907, Fiddler and his son, Joseph, were tried for the murder of a Cree Indian woman. They both pleaded guilty to the crime but defended themselves by stating that the woman had been possessed by the spirit of a Wendigo and was on the verge of transforming into one entirely. According to their defense, she had to be killed before she murdered other members of the tribe.
This was from: http://www.prairieghosts.com/wendigo.html
here's another:
It is believed that the only way to kill the windigo and the malevolent spirit is to burn the body of its host into ashes.
this is from: http://www.bigfootmuseum.com/bigfoot/aka_windigo.php
hi again - if anyone is interested, I have a journal article from JSTOR called
Windigo Psychosis: The Anatomy of an Emic-Etic Confusion.
Let me know if you want it and I'll email it to you. It is in pdf form.
those are both good ideas -
Jim, u mentioned stopping the flow of air- so the air that is inside the possessed person is stopped and stiffled, maybe so that it cannot release back into the world?
that thought would make sense when you take into account Anne's comment about burnign the ashes. ads if after u strangle the life from the spirit trapping it inside the hosts body, burning it would forever dispose of it.
very interesting.
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