Eighty-seven of us headed out that day from a little place called Independence. We had dreams of living on the beaches and starting a new life. We persevered through storms, floods, lack of food and medicine that would have turned any sane person back because our dreams were larger than our brains.

 So of course after all that, surviving the heat of the desert, why would we turn back when other travelers warned of snow? It's snow! It's fluffy.

Eighty-seven men, women, and children made camp next to Truckee Lake. That's when the blizzards came. I heard they attempted rescue, I’m positive that they were unsuccessful.

I saw the frozen body of my wife… And I thought, “Why has God done this to me?”... at least, at the time… but with what happened later… with those creatures, I’m happy she didn’t have to witness…

You ever lock eyes with a Wendigo?

Sometimes that Wendigo looks right at you. Right into your eyes. And the thing about the Wendigo, is he's got glowing, lifeless eyes. When he comes at you, he doesn't even seem to be real until he bites you, and you feel the cold chill run through your blood, and you hear those awful high-pitched screams. The snow turns red and despite all your pleading and your screaming, the Wendigo come in and they rip you to pieces. After one night, we were down to sixty-five people. I don’t know how that averages out, but it wasn’t good.

The next morning, bumped into a friend of mine, Jacob from Kansas City. Poker Dealer. Dreams of being a banker in California. I thought he was asleep, I mean, we all slept in the same cabin to increase our ability to survive. I reached over to wake him but he was just a torso and a head. I knew then, The Wendigo was more than just a beast of hunger. It left that there to terrify us. It also fed on our fear.

We were rescued nine days later. The blizzard was over. Nine days of waiting for my turn to die. Eighty-seven went into that Blizzard, only 3 survived. The Wendigo took the rest.

Anyway, I'm rich now.