Rate this encounter: Britney Ridgers - Fort Kent, Alberta, Canada - June 18, 2009

My husband and I recently moved to a new town about 10 kilometers outside of the town we lived in before. As we have moved around a lot, and lived in many different houses and cities, we have had very many encounters with the paranormal.(On my mother's side of the family we are all Romanian gypsies, and most of the members in my family are mediums and have very special gifts. I happen to have such a gift as being a medium.)

When I was a child I saw many things I could not explain, and most would scare the hell out of me. I would see spirits on a regular basis, and I have come to learn to live with this "gift" as most people call it. I did not see it as a gift, until my great grandmother explained to me our history, and many of my ancestors have the same gift, and other gifts as well. My most recent encounter was when we moved to a small town called Fort Kent, Alberta. It was our first night in our new home in the farm lands of Fort Kent. Our home was built in 1918, so it is very old, but also extremely gorgeous! I was getting my daughter ready for bed, and the upstairs window was open for the day as we were moving stuff into our home. I heard what sounded like wolves in the distance, but I was raised in the woods, and a pack of wolves didn't sound like this. It sounded like a high-pitched screeching, mixed with children laughing loudly. As I walked out of the bathroom with my daughter, I looked into the woods of my backyard, just as I glanced I saw a tall, white-furred mammal. It wasn't an animal, and it wasn't a person, it was a mix in between a human and a dog. As scared as I was, I ran downstairs with my daughter in my arms, and I told my husband about it. He agreed that we should look up the history of the town in the archives at the Fort Kent Library the following day.

The next day we didn't unpack like normal people would do, we packed up our daughter and went to the village library to read up on the history of Fort Kent. And as it is written in the archives of the Town Back in 1920, A young doctor and his wife had moved to Fort Kent during the war From England. He started up an in-home practice to help the people of Fort Kent, since The Cold Lake Air Force and weapons base was only 20 minutes away. His practice was successful until a swarm of rats came into the town carrying a plague of small pox and infected half of the town with this plague. The Doctor treated these people but couldn't do anymore as he knew they were going to die. The Doctor's wife happened to get the plague as well, and when she died he locked himself in his house, not accepting any patients, and he built a shrine with his wife's lifeless body. As the Indians of the area have warned people in this town about the spirit of the "Wendigo" which preys on weak souls, possesses them, and when such a thing possesses you, you tend to crave and eat the flesh of your own beings… humans. The doctor became insane, and the townsfolk didn't know the doctor's wife had passed away. The doctor slowly invited one person after another to his home, killed them, and ate them. Once the town's people started to notice more and more people were going missing, they were suspecting. So the doctor went on a rampage on the town of Fort Kent. He killed and ate all but 11 people in 1921. He ate their flesh, and left a pile of bones. In 1921 it was recorded that 150 people had lived here, and no one had seen the doctor. It's told that he ran off into the woods leaving everything in his home behind, and that he was possessed by the Wendigo. The townsfolk of Fort Kent say that you can hear him screeching with laughter at night in the woods.

I told my neighbor of what I saw in the woods in my back yard and he told me that is the Spirit Wendigo you are seeing. My neighbor's great grandmother and great grandfather lived here when the massacre had happened. They were part of the 11 people who were spared in 1921. His parents were born and raised out here, as well as he and his children. He tells his kids they have to be inside the house by 6 PM. As my farmer neighbor has told his kids in front of me, "You don't want the spirit of the Wendigo coming for you when the dark comes, you best be gettin' in the house and washin' up for supper." As he had advised to me, I should be getting indoors before the dark comes.

I have studied the spirit of the Wendigo as much as I could to find out, what it looks like, and so forth, but as for it being a spirit.. I have been told that what I had seen in the woods that first night in my home, was the Spirit of the Wendigo. At night time when I am in bed, I still hear the Wendigo's screeching laughter off into the woods.