memes

It all depends on whether you have good internet connection.

I'm Indigenous and I'm actually more afraid of other people in a populated place ... you never know what these damned humans will do next.

I have a cabin in the woods with no internet, phone or communications ... it's even out of cell phone range and I feel safer there than anywhere else.

I grew up with stories of Windigo ... my parents used to freak us out with campfire stories in the dark and then pat us on the head and tell us to go to bed staring into the dark. My grandmother used to warn us not to make such dirty smoky fires because Windigo might see it from far away and find us.

I spent many nights alone out there and never had a problem ... or maybe that is just want Windigo would like you to think.

The stories go hand in hand with stories of cannibalism in my culture. Many of the stories suggest that during times of famine, which regularly occurred before our modern era back about a hundred years ago, people would go mad with hunger. You have to realize that families of about five to ten people lived alone out there alone for months at a time or even years. And when famines occurred, the families would disappear and there would only be one lone survivor and everyone would quickly realize what happened. The legends suggest that over time, those people who had tasted human flesh eventually just started seeing others as prey to be eaten and consumed ... they had been taken over by the spirit of Windigo.

And the stories get better because there is no one description of Windigo because it's a legend that any one who has ever seen very few ever live to tell. One description we were taught as kids is that it is covered in mounds of animal furs and layers of human skin to misshape its human body into a giant monster. The other feature was the teeth and mouth ... before it gets to the point of eating actual people, the famished person first starts eating themselves. They start ripping off portions of their lips and mouth to eat. It exposes their teeth and they can no longer close their mouth properly. So now you have this big hulking thing wandering around in the bush and when it looks at you, all you see is human teeth.

This is the Ojibway-Cree version of Windigo in the mushkeg and northern lake lands of Ontario. The descriptions vary from tribe to tribe throughout North America but this is the one I grew up with.

After many years of being in the bush ... I've yet to see one ... but late at night next to my camp fire in the wilderness, I always think of these stories.

1. I was surprised by how nervous some of the people who visited me from the city were when I lived in a slightly rural area. It wasn't even that remote - I had a neighbor across the street! Telling people that there were no bears and a lot less crime didn't convince them to relax.

2. A moonless night away from any artificial light is dark. Can't-see-your-own-feet dark, and also so quiet that you start hearing a lot of noises that you aren't used to hearing. It's really unsettling. But of course I just carried a flashlight.

And people wonder why the Founding Fathers wanted the right to bear arms.

They were scared. The spirits of their stolen land knew their sins.

It's nice until you have to go to the store.

Damn cityfolk, afraid of their own shadow.

Two questions:

1. How good is the internet there?
2. Does it come with the Skulldog/deer thing?

Internet isn't negotiable because I do have to be able to work from home. The skulldog is cute and would be nice but not an absolute necessity like the internet.

Happiness is hiding from the cops, apparently 😅

Leshy gonna roast you.

A couple other forest guardians

I feel like that would just get really, really lonely.

That looks like a Jötunn

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ritual_(2017_film)

You can even leave your doors unlocked and let your guard down.

Even for a minute?