Algernon Blackwood's novella The Wendigo was initially released in The Lost Valley and Other Stories (Eveleigh Nash, 1910). Simpson, a divinity student, and his uncle Dr. Cathcart, an author of a book on collective hallucination, are two Scotsmen on a moose-hunting trip with guides Hank Davis and the nature-loving French "Canuck," Joseph Défago, in the forest north of Rat Portage in Northwestern Ontario. Simpson eventually succeeds in returning to the main camp, where he meets up with the others. Dr. Cathcart and Hank follow him back to continue the search for Défago, and as they set up camp once more in the bush, Défago or some repulsive impersonation of Défago appears before them before slipping away into the darkness once more. They return to the main camp feeling conflicted and frightened by what they have seen, only to discover that Défago—the actual Défago this time—has made his own way there while experiencing delirium, exposure, and frostbite. He passes away shortly after, leaving the three guys perplexed and unsure of what happened. Punk could have been the one to explain it to them, but as soon as he smelled the awful odor Défago was carrying, he ran away to his house.
Algernon Blackwood, one of the most prolific ghost story authors in the genre's history, was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist, and short story writer (14 March 1869 – 10 December 1951). According to the literary critic S. T. Joshi, Incredible Adventures (1914), a collection of short stories, "may be the finest weird book of this or any other century," and "His work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's." A few weeks after his passing, his nephew carried his ashes to the Swiss Alps' Saanenmöser Pass and spread them among the peaks he had cherished for more than 40 years. Shooter's Hill is where Blackwood was born (now part of south-east London, then part of north-west Kent). He attended Wellington College and resided at Crayford Manor House in Crayford from 1871 and 1880. His mother, Harriet Dobbs, was the widow of the 6th Duke of Manchester; his father, Sir Stevenson Arthur Blackwood, was a Post Office official. Following many strokes, Blackwood passed away. Officially, cerebral thrombosis was the cause of his death on December 10, 1951; arteriosclerosis was a contributory factor. At the Golders Green Crematorium, he was cremated.
