Scratch of the Wendigo..

We all know, unless, of course, you haven't heard of the tale and ongoing mystery of the Native American history of the beast. As we call it, to this day, the Wendigo.. We describe it to be a flesh eating monster whom creeps in the shadows of the night silence, who stands very tall, containing antlers with the body of a decomposing deer and sharp, long claws. It was, we believe to be, once a human. A human to then crave lonely wonderers in the dark. Specifically, the woods.

Now in a nutshell, the history of this beast goes back many many years ago. People have said to believe that the Wendigo was born from a human after being punished from a Native American tribe for committing an act such as cannibalism, while facing starvation. Sounds dark, doesn't it? Well as such of a transformation, the worry begins to linger.

Speaking of linger. It is said that if you are walking in the darkness in an open forest or field, you can actually pick up a scent of a foul odor. An odor of, well, described as a corpse. It can usually be a sign that one is nearby and hunting for it's next prey. I'd keep my distance.

Now, aside from history class, let me tell you a story that I experienced a few years ago.. Ever since I was in high school, which was about 4 years ago, I've been fascinated by the tale of the Wendigo, yet very scared about it, which I'll get to soon. There's always been that thought in the back of my mind that there may be something crawling in the shadows. Usually, of course, whenever I'm in the mountains near potential caves and lots of trees. You know, where there's nowhere to be seen or heard in a case of an event.

But this didn't happen in the forest, thankfully. It occurred in my local town in Colorado. I was hanging with two of my closest friends, yes, in which we still are to this day. We were all three driving around in my old SUV just trying to find something to do which is difficult where I'm from. So, we eventually came up with the brilliant idea of just parking back at one of their houses to talk and waste time. It was night, mind you.. I also happened to live in his house that his parents own. But that's besides the point.

As we were just rambling on about life and watching videos of memes to pass the time, one of us came up with the topic that I've been talking about, the Wendigo. Expected, we all immediately got chills down our spines because of how intimidating the subject can be to talk about with the night sky above. Now, we definitely weren't fully aware that discussing such a thing could've been dangerous. Supposedly, even just talking about it at the wrong place and time, can potentially attract one. We didn't expect much, but to only scare each other. That wasn't the case, after all.

The group then decided to continue talking about the beasts of the night wilderness. We even played videos, loud in the car speakers of how they may sound if you ever encountered the presence of any. It only added to the goosebumps we were all experiencing. Then, from the back window of the car, there was a loud scratching sound. All of our heads turned back faster than we could blink. Immediately, the whole car was freaking out and almost lead to a panic attack. As soon as we looked ahead, once again, the same sound occurred. They were highly encouraging me just to speed off and escape whatever it was. But before anything, I was like "wait, look back there again!" Quickly snapping back, they came to find out that it was actually just my broken back window wiper in which made that sound scraping the glass. They weren't very happy with me.. Prank well worth it though. Haha. So I thought..

After hearing them yell at me for a few minutes, our other friend decided to leave the car, into his, in which was parked at our house. Don't worry, we left on good terms.. But us two being left in the car, we just decided to go back into the house and play video games or something. As you would expect, still a little freaked out from the previous topic, we ran to the front door just to avoid being outside. Arriving in home base, we calmed down a bit and went into my room to play games. His parents were also sleeping so we tried to stay quite. But there was a sudden disturbance, who we did not cause.

But, not even 5 minutes passing of sitting in the room, him and I heard his parents complaining about something waking them up. We ran out to their room in a panic to find out what they heard. They first asked us if we were messing with them. We obviously said no considering they both had to work in the morning. We then asked what happened, while heavily breathing. A shocking response came our way..

They both mentioned that there was very loud scratching coming from the side of the house. Right outside their bathroom window, to be precise. Silence swarmed the room as my friend and I looked at each other in disbelief. "Aree, are you serious?.." I said in a stutter. They replied saying the same thing again as the both of us were speechless. Finally, him and I began to tell them exactly what the conversation was that happened in the car. They just kind of blew it off and went back to bed, as it was pretty late.

Both of us went back into my room trying to figure out what it may have been. There was the elephant in the room involving the obvious topic that was recently discussed. We both leaned towards the possibility of it being a Wendigo threatening us with a warning shot. Or, maybe even something more of a serious matter. The consideration of going out to check what it was wasn't even there. Eventually, the decision was made to go check it out in the morning. We were so afraid that he even slept in my room with me. Not to mention it took us hours to fall asleep.

As the sun rose high in the sky, him and I woke up and instantly darted outside in the backyard to investigate what caused the sound. Walking over to the window of the bathroom, our jaws dropped.. In the sight of our eyes, we saw two, very deep scratches right beside the window. No trees or any objects were around the house to cause such aggressive looking marks. It was as if, something.. Angry, wanting to leave a sign, punctured the side of the house as a message. A message to not mention the one, so openly, of many, whom lives in the shadows...

To this day, my friends and I still believe the reasoning pointed out for the outcome that occurred that night. Was it really what we think it was? We may never know. Being skeptical completely necessary in this instance, the topic is still brought up occasionally every time we're reminded of it. Was, or was it not, the Wendigo.....