Mary Hartwell Catherwood (1847-1902) wrote two strange Northerns for the same book: The Chase of Saint-Castin: and other Stories of the French in the New World (1894). Now you may never have heard of Ms. Catherwood. She was an American writer who began as a historical writer as Mary Hartwell and even used the pseudonym Lewtrah, (Hartwell backwards with an L removed). In the second half of her career, she took an interest in Canada and the French. Historian Francis Parkman praised her accuracy. Today, I suspect she is little read.
The Chase of Saint-Castin contains two episodes of interest to us. The first of these is called “The Beauport Loup-Garou”. This story takes place during the 1690 Battle of Quebec. Frontenac versus Sir William Phips, it supplies the background for the story of Gaspard, a French farmer who must wait as French forces hold off the English. Before the battle, Gaspard knows things are bad because he hears sorcerers and werewolves are spotted in the area.
Le Moyne de Sainte-Helene comes to his door and they discuss all the men involved in the battle to come. Gaspard notices that Saint-Helene’s skin looks odd, that he is changing. The man is a loup-garou. He leaves before he can change completely. Later, after the English have been routed, Gaspard hears that Le Moyne de Sainte-Helene has died in battle. Even werewolves die willingly for the glory of France.
As horror stories go, this one is no Manly Wade Wellman shocker. (I mention Wellman, because he too liked to tell horror tales with a little history mixed in.) The purpose of the story is not to shock or terrorize but to make a statement about the esprit de corp of the French.
The second, and more often anthologized, tale is “The Windigo”. The tale is set in Sault St. Marie and takes place after the Fall of Quebec (1759). The English now run Canada but the French continue to live among the Chippewa. Jacques Louizon, his wife, Archange, and his Chippewa mother-in-law, Madame Cadette live in the woods. Cadette carries the body of her dead husband with her until a relative releases her of the burden. None of her in-laws remain alive so she must carry the morbid reminder with her forever. Catherwood supplies many details of life in the woods, with the sled dogs and hunting. After a fairly long intro she brings in the Windigo, as a legend to scare disobedient children.
Madame Cadette tells us:
“Not so easy to kill a windigo. Bad spirits help windigos. If man kill windigo and not tear him to pieces, he comes to life again.”
Archange herself shuddered at such a tenacious creature. She was less superstitious than the Chippewa woman, but the Northwest had its human terrors as dark as the shadow of witchcraft.
Mary Hartwell Catherwood explains the Chippewa belief. That anyone who ate human flesh would not be satisfied with any other meat thereafter. Such a person would become deranged and possessed by spirits and must be destroyed for the safety of the community. The eating of human flesh usually happened during a terribly lean winter but this was no excuse. Anyone who became a cannibal would be shunned until killed. The windigo is identifiable by its strong reek that can’t be hidden.
Later Louizon goes missing. He is not home for his supper and his canoemen have all returned. The villagers blame a woman they believe is a windigo. (I suppose it wasn’t so good that she kept admiring how fat the boy Michel was!) They chase her with the intention of burning her to death. She flees and only the appearance of Louizon proves her blameless. Louizon had gone off by himself to think. He was feeling jealous because his pretty wife was so popular among the village men. But it is too late for the windigo woman. She has been strangled. They bury her in the woods.
This story uses both the Chippewa supernatural version of the Windigo as well as the more modern ideas about a type of psychosis that drives people to cannibalism. Catherwood delights in the evil spirit stuff but can’t allow the story to be actually supernatural (like “The Beauport Loup-Garou”.) She defaults to a more logical explanation. Mary Hartwell Catherwood’s two strange Northerns are intriguing from a historical perspective but a little short on actual thrills and chills. Some of the ideas around cannibalism show up in the 1999 film Ravenous.
