British author Algernon Blackwood was born on this date, March 14, in 1869. Blackwood was a major influence on many writers of the weird tale in the early years of the 20th Century, including H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard.

Along with “The Willows”, “The Wendigo” is one of Blackwood’s best known tales.

It concerns a group on a moose hunting expedition in the Canadian wilderness.  A psychiatrist, his nephew, two guides, and a cook are having no luck on their hunt, so they decide to split up.  The uncle and his guide go west, the nephew and his guide canoe across the lake they are camped by and hike some distance to another lake, and the cook stays in the base camp await their return.

The nephew and his guide have an encounter with a wendigo, a creature of Native American legend. First there’s strange smell that disappears as quickly as it comes. Then the guide runs screaming into the forest just as the sun is rising. The nephew follows two sets of tracks in the snow.  One he doesn’t recognize. The other are the tracks of the guide. They get further and further apart until they are further apart than a human can stride.

The nephew manages to return to the base camp after failing to find the guide. He returns with his uncle and the other guide. What they find…, well, you’ll just have to read the story.

I’ve left a lot out in my summary.  This story is straight-forward, without a lot of twists or surprises, although there are a few. The strength of this tale is Blackwood’s ability create atmosphere and mood. The isolation and vastness of the forest is as much a character as the people trying to survive in it.

The only other Blackwood stories I’ve read are “The Willows” and “The Price of Wiggin’s Orgy”. The former, too, sets a creepy mood, while the latter is considered a comic story. I’ll definitely be reading more of Blackwood’s work.