By the Gods!

The Wendigo

The Wendigo is a malevolent, cannibalistic spirit from Algonquian mythology that has been popping up more and more in popular culture (the X-men canon of all places), so here is what you readers need to know to stay safe.

The Wendigo is depicted as an enormous creature with an insatiable appetite for man-flesh. It most often appears in First Nations mythology in the Northern United States and parts of Canada, ever-seeking its next meal. The beast represents famine, starvation, and the cold, so is most often seen as emaciated or skeletal in appearance, with an ash coloured hide. To really drive the point home on how unpleasant this thing is, it gives off a constant odour of decay, death, and corruption.

The worst part, however, is that the Wendigo spirit isn’t just a roaming physical form looking to gobble you up; people who have indulged in cannibalism are susceptible to Wendigo-possession. Scientists speculate that the experience varies from “horrifying” to “really really spooky.” So the next time you’re at a party and a plate of people-pops is passed around, remember: just say no, else Wen-di-go.

Medusa

Medusa was a beautiful gorgon that originated from Greek mythology. She and her sisters were known for destroying many-a-warrior with their stone cold glares. With one glance into the slithering she-devils peepers one would turn to stone.

Medusa was once a beautiful woman before she was transformed into a gorgon. You’re may be wondering who Medusa pissed off to be changed into such a horrible beast. The go to response is Hera, since well….you know. Hera didn’t have the resources of today, like anger management or the option of anonymously trolling to vent, so she expressed any rage by destroying a wrong-doer’s life. But not this time. Medusa and Poseidon were actually getting busy one day and unfortunately they did not choose the location of their love shack wisely. They decided to get it on in Athena’s temple, which is kind of like doing the dirty deed in your niece’s bed.mSo Athena punished Poseidon and Medusa by turning her into a horrible monster, ie, a gorgon.

Another story suggests that Medusa was always a gorgon and was one of three sisters. Interestingly she was the only one of the three that wasn’t immortal.

Medusa is also the mother of Pegasus and Chrysaor. They flew out of her neck when Perseus chopped off her head with the help Athena. To be fair, It’d be hard to not be ticked off if your uncle and some snake-haired-strumpet made nooky in my house. 

Chimera 

The Chimera (Kai-MARE-uh, not chai-MARE-uh) is an ancient Greek mythological monster. It was a horrible fire-breathing monster from Lycia in Asia Minor, and daughter of Typhon and Echidna along with other multi-headed creatures such as Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Hades, and the Hydra, the multi-headed monster from the 2^nd Labour of Hercules.

The Chimera is a lioness whose tail is the head of a snake, with an extra goat’s head in the middle of its back. Homer describes the Chimera in the Iliad as “a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat’s head on the top of the forehead and a lion’s on the bottom, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire.”

Pliny the Elder believed that the Chimera came from an area of Turkey known as the Lycian Way in which naturally occurring gas vents emit burning methane. Maybe that’s where global warming came from, too?

The Chimera was eventually defeated by Bellerophon with the help of Pegasus. Because the Chimera had three heads on different parts of its body it was impossible to sneak up on, and many died trying. Bellerophon, riding Pegasus, shot at the Chimera from the safety of the sky, and was able to kill it. Homer adds that Bellerophon attached a lump of lead to the end of the spear, which melted in the fiery breath of the beast and choked it to death.