<- Pilot
  • Terri Hughes Burton
  • Eric Kripke
  • Ron Milbauer
  • David Nutter
  • November 1, 2005 - November 12, 2005

Summary

Official WB Description Dean and Sam follow the coordinates left in their father's journal and land in the middle of the woods where they investigate the disappearance of several campers. The two brothers soon learn they are dealing with a Wendigo, a creature made famous in Native American legends. A Wendigo is a former human whose cannibalism has transformed him into a creature with supernatural strength and speed that feasts on human flesh.

Timeline

November 1, 2005 Tommy and friends begin camping trip
November 2, 2005 Sam's apartment catches fire and Jessica Moore dies
November 3-9, 2005 Winchesters at Stanford; Jessica Moore's funeral
November 7, 2005 Tommy and friends taken/killed by Wendigo
November 10, 2005 Winchesters arrive at Blackwater Ridge; speak to Ranger Wilkinson, Haley Collins, and Shaw
November 11, 2005 Hike into forest to look for Tommy; Roy shoots Wendigo; Wendigo kills Roy
November 12, 2005 Wendigo takes Haley and Dean; Sam and Ben find cave and free Dean and Haley; Dean kills Wendigo; wrap up and leave

After spending a week in Palo Alto looking for the thing that killed Jessica, Dean and Sam head to Blackwater Ridge and the coordinates their father left in his journal. At the Lost Creek Trail Ranger Station, Ranger Wilkinson mistook the brothers for friends of Haley Collins, the sister of a boy, Tommy Collins, who went missing while on a camping trip with two friends. On a hunch, Dean and Sam visit Haley, and she showed them the last video Tommy sent her via cellphone before he disappeared. She also informed them that she and her younger brother, Ben Collins, have hired a guide and were headed into the hills to find Tommy the next morning.

Sam does some research and found that people went missing in Blackwater at regular intervals - every 23 years. He also played Tommy's last video in slow motion, and he and Dean spotted an extremely fast moving shadow on a tent wall. They then went to visit Shaw, a survivor of an alleged bear attack in 1959. The old man told them that it was not a grizzly that attacked his family, but a creature that was smart enough to unlock the cabin door, roared like no man or animal, and moved like lightning. They go back to Blackwater the next morning and arrive just as Haley, Ben, and their guide, Roy, are setting out for Tommy's campsite. When the group reached the campsite, they found ripped tents and damaged equipment. Screams for help sound in the distance so they all ran to check, but there was no one there and when they returned to the campsite, their packs had been taken.

With the help of their father's journal, Dean and Sam realized that they were facing a Wendigo. They informed the disbelieving group, and Dean drew Anasazi symbols for protection as they made camp for the night. Sam argued with Dean that he wants to abandon this hunt and search for their father. Dean replied that they had to help others; it was "the family business." Once again, cries for help were heard, and Roy ignored Dean's warnings and ran into the dark with his gun. He gets caught by arms out of the tree and does not come back.

The next day, Dean and Sam explained that Wendigo means "evil that devours". They were once human, but had become something else when forced to eat human flesh to survive. Tommy may still be alive, as Wendigos hibernate and liked to store live food, so they followed the Wendigo's bloody trail. Eventually, Roy's dead body fell from a tree and the Wendigo appeared, which caused everyone to scatter. Haley and Dean were captured by the Wendigo, but Sam and Ben followed a trail of peanut M&M's that Dean left behind. They eventually found Dean, Haley, and Tommy hanging from the ceiling of an abandoned mine, and they cut them loose.

Dean got hold of two flare guns along with the rest of their stolen supplies, and while Sam left with the Collins siblings, Dean tried to draw the Wendigo away. The Wendigo followed Sam instead, cornering their group; however, Dean appeared from behind and shot his flare gun into its chest. The Wendigo burst into flame and dropped dead. They made their escape, and summoned help. The group then fabricated a story to tell the police - they were attacked by a bear. Haley thanked Dean and then left with Tommy and Ben in the ambulance. Dean joked that he hated camping and informed Sam that they would find their dad. Sam agrees but in the meantime - he's driving.

Music

  • Foreigner - Hot Blooded
    Plays in the car when Sam wakes from his nightmare.
  • Lynyrd Skynyrd - Down South Jukin'
    Plays at the bar where the guys discuss the case and watch the video on the laptop
  • Rush - Fly by Night
    Plays at the end when Sam's driving the Impala and they leave the woods

Trivia

Writing the Episode

  • A "Northern Indian Tribe" is referenced not only in the episode but by the writers and Eric Kripke as one of the sources for the wendigo legend. This tribe is actually the Ojibwe of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and lower Canada. The name comes from the Ojibwe word "wiindigo" (pronounced WEEN-di-GO). Many traditional members of the tribe believe the creature to actually exist in the woods and at times put out offerings of tobacco or food to appease it.
  • The wendigo legend features prominently in the Stephen King novel Pet Sematary.
  • Tommy is seen reading a copy of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces before he's taken by the wendigo in the episode teaser. Eric Kripke has confirmed more than once that his writing is influenced by the Hero's Journey.

Filming

  • Filmed in July 2005 in Vancouver.
  • The coordinates John left point to Arizona, not too far from Flagstaff. The Lost Creek Wilderness Area, part of Pike National Forest in Colorado, is approx 39.3,-105.5. When Supernatural was picked up, it was supposed to be shot in Los Angeles (for Two Guns, Arizona); however, it ended up being shot in Vancouver so the area on the script was renamed "Blackwater Ridge, Colorado".
  • "If you look at the final version of 'Wendigo', you almost never see the creature. Believe me, there is a lot more footage of that wendigo front and center that is on the cutting room floor because I just wasn't happy with the way it looked. Any creature we create has the burden of having to be realistic. ... it wasn't as awe-inspiring and terrifying as we'd hoped it would be, and he looked more like Gollum's tall, gangly cousin than anything else." - Eric KripkeSupernatural The Official Companion Season 1, p. 23, 24
  • The wendigo ended up being 7' 2".Supernatural The Official Companion Season 1, p. 145

Other

  • The Meaning of the Episode Title: "Wendigo" names the monster of the week.
  • The title of the episode, "Wendigo", refers to the creature of Native American myth. Certain Native American tribes believed that human beings could be turned into or possessed by the spirit of a wendigo if they engaged in cannibalism.
  • The subtitles on the DVD sections are:
    1. Out of the night.
    2. Hunting.
    3. Family Business.
    4. Wendigo legend.
    5. Cannibal's lair.
    6. End Credits.
  • In lore, wendigos didn't have the ability to mimic voices.
  • With the show's move from Los Angeles to Vancouver, David Nutter was asked to stay and direct the first episode. He had to "start with a whole new group of people and get them excited... it's doing another pilot for half the time and half the money," comments Nutter. "It was a real tough experience, but Cyrus Yavneh put together a great crew with George Grieve in Vancouver, and Bob Singer, and it just worked out perfectly."Supernatural The Official Companion Season 1, p. 22
  • On Tommy's last call home, he indicated it was "day 6" of his camping trip, Haley told Dean and Sam that she and Ben hadn't heard from him in 3 days, and Ranger Wilkinson said Tommy wasn't a missing person because his back country permit to Backwater is good until "the 24th."
  • It shows on the tombstone that Jessica's birthday is on January 24th, same as Dean's.
  • In Sam's nightmare, the visual of the hand coming up out of Jessica's grave and snatching his wrist calls to mind the end of the movie Carrie, based on the novel by Stephen King.
  • Blackwater Ridge Review - Young Boy Incredibly Survives Savage Attack - October, 1959

    Nine-year-old Stevenson Shaw crawled out of Lost Creek yesterday morning, barely alive. Injured, exhausted, and clearly traumatized, the boy claimed that a monster had dragged his parents off into the night.

    The rangers coordinated a search party, but were unable to find any trace of Stevenson's parents, save for the trail of blood that led off into the woods. "That kid's parents got mauled by a grizzly, plain and simple," Ranger Daniels asserted. "Where it took them, I couldn't tell you."

    When asked what he saw, the boy trembled as he spoke. "I... I didn't see it - it moved so ... so fast. It wasn't a bear. That roar was unnatural..." Then young Stevenson Shaw looked at me with an intensity this reporter's rarely seen. "How'd it get inside our cabin? It didn't smash a window or break the door. What kind of bear can turn a doorknob?"

    I had no answer for him, and I suspect no one ever will.

    By Henry Morgan


    Supernatural The Official Companion Season 1, p. 25
  • The bag of M&M's that Dean pulls out is a one pound bag of peanut M&M's, although more than half of it is already eaten.
  • Jay Gruska, the composer, was also the composer for the Charmed episode of "Wendigo". Charmed showed the wendigo as more of a werewolf.Supernatural The Official Companion Season 1, p. 22
  • Supernatural.tv: Inside the Legend: Wendigo

Pop Culture


  • When the Winchester brothers first meet Haley Collins, Dean tells her they are rangers with the park services. When Haley asks for ID, Dean holds up a convincing fake ID with the name Samuel Cole. This could be a reference to Samuel Colt, the maker of the Colt and its original thirteen bullets.
  • Dean: Her brother's missing, Sam. She's not gonna just sit this out. No, we go with her, we protect her, and we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy Predator friend.
    This is a reference to Predator, a film staring Arnold Schwarzenegger that features extraterrestrial species characterized by its trophy hunting of other species, namely humans, for sport.
  • Dean: Tell me, uh, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?
    Bambi the Dear and Yogi Bear are both famous forest-dwelling cartoon characters.
  • Ben: Like the Donner Party.
    The Donner Party were a group of 19th century settlers who were traveling west when they were caught in a blizzard in the Sierra Nevada, and some resorted to cannibalism.
  • Sam: It's better than bread crumbs.
    A reference to the Grimm's fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, in which the children leave a trail of bread crumbs through the forest so they'll find their way home.

Species

  • Human
  • Wendigo