Taking a turn towards evil, no way I want to project the personalities and actions of the Wendigo and Skinwalkers on people like my friend. Although I want to focus truly on the outcast aspect of these creatures. The Wendigo coming from eastern tribes told the tale famous among hunters and gatherers. It is about hunters and gatherers who become lost in a blizzard and they resort to cannibalism. The punishment for cannibalism is to be transformed into a Wendigo, a rotten deer that stands on two legs with human limbs. A Wendigo is forever cursed to be hungry and its story is a good precautionary tale about the dangers of becoming a cannibal.
Another dark story is the Skinwalker. Since murdering family members is taboo, one becomes a skinwalker by killing their own family. This is a curse that turns into one into the skinwalker who appears as a person who carries pelts on them all the time. They had the ability to transform into animals by carrying their pelts but society would view them as vile people that they must stay away from. There is perhaps truth to this as family murderers are held in extreme contempt.
At the OSU library, you can find “Wendigos, Eye Killers, Skinwalkers: The Myth of the American Indian Vampire and American Indian “Vampire” Myths” that describes these “vampire” like myths.
CG painting by Alec Tucker