The Land Before Time—PART 26: Before the Smithsonian, Something Legendary This Way Came
But before venturing into Chaco history, let’s take a moment to view a couple of other pertinent legends. The first I would like to consider is that of the Wendigo (sometimes spelled Windigo), or “the evil spirit that devours mankind.” This name is also associated with the word “cannibal.” While some of this lore originates closer to Canada, there are legends that drift as far south as the Navajo region and even toward the American Midwest. According to legend, these are evils creatures, sometimes even giants of as much as fifteen feet in height, who at one time were human beings. But once a person would turn to cannibalism, even under emergency or starvation circumstances, they “changed” forever. They would be overcome with evil spirits who would possess them and permanently transform them into an evil being. In some instances, the Windigo