Hi all!
This week I have decided to talk about the Children of Purgatory, the mysterious group in Mute who have a vast knowledge of wendigos and are able to catch them and release them into the world. I did release a few facts in the Mute Advent Calendar, but I thought I would expand on them a bit more for those who are curious!
As stated in one of my daily facts, they were created in 1908. Several small towns across the United Kingdom were suffering from animal attacks. First it was livestock and general wildlife that would be found in forests torn to shreds. Then, people started going missing. Their bodies never showed up however, and although those still alive took more precautions the amount of people that disappeared without a trace increased each day. Hunters flocked to these areas in an attempt to hunt whatever beast was causing all the destruction, but they too would disappear after a few days.
One man, Hubert Ward, was a prolific hunter in his youth but had to lessen his hunting trips due to ill health. However, he had been reading about the incidents with great interest. Every disappearance made him more interested in the hunt, especially when townspeople started calling out for 'monster hunters' to help with their issue. He eventually persuaded his two sons, Jack and Robert, to go with him to the nearest town. He told them he only wanted to inspect the tracks and talk to the townspeople and not participate in the hunt itself.
So, they travelled and were met with solemn faces and distraught townspeople. That night three men and two women had gone missing, seemingly snatched right out of their beds. Each house was left a mess, with possessions being upturned and blood all over the floors and walls. Many had heard the screams during the night, but they were too afraid to offer any assistance. Hubert visited each house and made notes of what he found in each one. They all had the same pattern: claw marks all over the walls and floors, a blood trailing leading towards the door and to the trees not far off. But no bodies. He assumed that whatever was attacking the townspeople was dragging the bodies back to its lair, but the tracks didn't match this.
Both him and his sons decided to spend the night in the town, and set a trap outside the inn they were staying at. That night a couple went missing and their trap was untouched. Robert was starting to lose his nerve at this point and tried to convince his father and brother to return home, but they dismissed him. They were both fascinated by the mystery at this point and wanted to join the hunt.
Hubert noticed that the creature mostly attacked at night and decided to conduct his hunt then. Visibility would be poor, but he hoped that setting a trap might enable him to catch the beast once and for all. He and his sons dug out a pit in the forest and covered it with a net which was then hidden by leaves. Not wanting either of his sons to come to harm, he decided to use a dead cow as bait for the creature. All three of them crouched in the bushes and waited for hours. They shivered in the cold but didn't dare move too much just in case it alerted the creature.
Once the sun started to peak over the horizon, they gave up. Jack was the first to move to dismantle the trap, when the creature struck. Hubert described the creature in his notes as being: "a hideously disfigured man with unnaturally pale skin" with "sharp talons on each finger that could slice through bone with ease". Hubert doesn't elaborate on his son's attack, but they are able to get him back to the town with grave injuries. The townspeople had never seen a survivor of the beast before and crowded around all three of them as they tried to find help. Eventually they find a doctor who is willing to take a look at Jack.
As the day goes on his son's condition worsens and Robert again tries to convince his father to abandon the hunt. Hubert refuses, blinded by rage. Jack doesn't succumb to his injuries and instead starts to change, which Hubert notes as if: "a demon had entered him and changed him beyond recognition". What happens next is not documented well, as many of the pages are torn or damaged. From what the Children of Purgatory pieced together Jack transformed and attacked the townspeople. The missing townspeople, most of whom were transformed into wendigos, also descend on the town in a massacre. Hubert, Robert and the surviving townspeople, including the doctor who treated Jack, burned the town to the ground. This was successful, as he noted: "so many charred remains" of the wendigos.
He, Robert and the doctor, William, returned to Hubert's home and started writing up their findings. With the events in town and his poor health, Hubert's health declined quickly. However, his surviving son continued to read about the beast in other areas across the country. William suggested capturing the creatures and keeping them hidden somewhere so they could not terrorise people again. But Hubert argued: "these souls cannot pass on, if we stop them they will be suffering for all eternity" and "what happened to those we killed? Do they get to see the gates of Heaven or are they forever trapped in a grotesque form?". Instead, he elected to capture them and release them on those who "committed grave sins".
The three of them created the Children of Purgatory but Hubert unfortunately passed a few months later due to his ill health. Robert and William kept to their word and discovered ways of catching the wendigo. By this point however word had spread that the creatures could be killed with fire. So, they only managed to capture five from the remaining towns. As they travelled they recruited more members and studied the wendigos where they discovered their weakness to silver. So, each member always kept a piece of silver on them in case of an attack. Over the decades the Children of Purgatory kept to Hubert's word of only releasing wendigo on those who committed sin. But in Mute, that has all changed thanks to new leadership...
That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week!
