The Wendigo traces back to Northern Minnesotan Native American folklore.

Financial lending company TitleMax took a break from lending and loaning to research each state's scariest urban legend.

"Americans have been seeing odd phenomena and coming up with scary stories and legends to explain them for centuries," Bonnie Gringer says. "We’ve gathered some of the best, most obscure, and creepiest urban legends in the United States to spook your friends!"

Legends listed included the horrifying (Dead Children's Playground in Alabama and The Phantom Hitchhiker of Black Horse Lake in Montana) to intriguing (The Loveland Frog of Ohio and The Bandaged Man of Oregon) to the downright demonic (Annabelle the demonic doll in Connecticut and The Devil's Chair in Florida).

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Minnesota's scariest urban legend -- according to Gringer at TitleMax -- is a creature of  Native American folklore called the Wendigo, also spelled Windigo.

"This is one of the oldest legendary monsters, dating back to the folklore of Native Americans, who hunted these 15-foot-tall, shape-shifting creatures even into the early 20th century. Anyone who resorts to cannibalism and tastes human flesh will become one."

According to AllThatsInteresting.com, the wendigo was a lost hunter. During a brutally intense winter, his hunger drove him to cannibalism.

"After feasting on another human’s flesh, he transformed into a crazed man-beast, roaming the forest in search of more people to eat."

Today, wendigo sightings have been reported in forests of cold-weather areas like Minnesota and Canada.

Read more about the wendigo here and check out the full list of spooky urban legends below!

The Scariest Urban Legends in Each State - TitleMax.com - Infographic
Developed by TitleMax.com

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