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The Hungry Manitou[1] (also known as The Brainbug, Manitou Ghost, and Brainbug Possessor)[2] is a powerful entity tied to a demon curse levied by a Native American medicine man in the 1600s[3] who possessed a boy named Scotty and Peter Venkman and took over the Fantastic Land just outside Schenectady.

History[]

The Hungry Manitou was conjured as part of an Indian curse placed on European settlers in Pre-Revolutionary War era North America, as early as 1616 A.D., by an Algonquian medicine man.[4] The Manitou possessed people and feasted on their souls. The more emotional, the better the Manitou was satiated. Over time, it quickly developed a taste for the greedy. However, the Manitou didn't discriminate between victims and began wiping out whole settlements. The death toll became so high, the medicine man regretted his decision. He tried to call it off and banish it back to the spirit world.[5] He failed. After great effort, he made a binding deal with the Manitou using witchcraft and a bluff[6]. Roughly once per generation, the Hungry Manitou awoke somewhere in New York and conducted a cycle haunting, fed, and went back into hibernation.[7][8] According to the updated Bilderberg Guide, the Manitou manifested at Woodstock (not that the Hippies noticed).

Just after the grand opening of a new Fantastic Land, one of the first patrons of the park was possessed by a powerful spirit. Scotty's physical appearance was transmogrified as a result. The spirit began forming lesser spiritual constructs and erected an impenetrable green force field around the park. It was also able to speak through the field by forming a face and mouth, only telling those outside to go away. The Ghostbusters were called in by the Governor to deal with the situation. A Proton Grenade was able to temporarily punch a hole in the field and harm the entity, allowing the guys to venture inside. They discovered the park itself was also transmogrified by the spirit. The Manitou recovered and sealed up the field, stranding the Ghostbusters inside. They fought through several of its minions and found the Manitou, who was about to feed on 16 victims in the northwest corner of the park. The Manitou ignored the Ghostbusters and dispatched Bruce the Horrible Chimp Manifestation. They quickly captured it, the Manitou was impressed and agreed to speak with them. Over the course of the audience, it sensed great greed in Peter Venkman and possessed him.

However, when the Manitou sensed no fear it set up an audience with Peter on the mental plane while also battling the other three Ghostbusters. Peter quickly realized the Manitou wasn't being completely honest with its reasons and deduced it became addicted to devouring souls of hosts overcome with fear. The Manitou became enraged and denied Peter's claim. However, upon realizing Peter would never show fear, the Manitou vacated Peter's body to find another to feed on. The Ghostbusters immediately confined it in three streams and trapped it.

The Hungry Manitou was one of the ghosts accidentally released from the Containment Unit when Ron Alexander and Jillian Holtzmann tested their Remote Access Teleportation Unit. It took refuge in a circus in a parallel dimension. A few days later, a field team consisting of Ray Stantz of Dimension 68-R, Gabriel Sitter of 50-S, Janine Melnitz, Ron Alexander, Patty Tolan of 80-C, and Garrett Miller of 68-E arrived in search of it. They canvassed the circus but Garrett was possessed by the Manitou and it generated a Giant Murder Clown construct around themselves for protection while it proceeded to feed on him. The Manitou savored its freedom as the Murder Clown counter attacked the Ghostbusters.

Patty proposed using the Trap-Gates to exorcise Garrett but Ray 68-R countered they then wouldn't have any left to send the Manitou to the Containment Unit. He believed their only move was to weaken the construct with full power streams. Garrett found himself on the mental plane and met the Hungry Manitou. The Manitou contended it was more careful with choosing a victim and called him greedy and dumb, took his form, and extended its right arm to grab him. It was confident Garrett wasn't nowhere near as smart as Peter and it had no qualms about calling him a cripple. Garrett surprised the Manitou and broke free. It revealed its true form and declared Garrett would know fear. Garrett did a hand stand then fought back by imagining his feet into particle throwers. The Manitou called him an insecure fool that pretended to take pride in being half a man as it created three zombie-like constructs of Eduardo Rivera, Kylie Griffin, and Roland Jackson that tried to mess with his mind. Garrett recognized those as thoughts he had on his bad days. He countered he didn't have many of them and conjured a proton slinging wheelchair then blasted the Manitou at full force. The Manitou grabbed Garrett with its tail but became distracted. It noticed the other Ghostbusters were trying something. He realized they blew up Ron's Proton Pack but it was too late to react. The explosion dispersed the Giant Murder Clown and freed Garrett. The Manitou was angered. It decided to forgo its hunger and kill everyone. Garrett blasted it from behind as it charged towards the others. Ray and Patty stood up and opened fire, too. Gabriel threw out his Trap-Gate and captured the Manitou.

Classification[]

Egon Spengler stated the Manitou was a Class 6 at minimum.[9] It was ultimately determined the Manitou was a Class 5 parasitic entity.[10] [11]

Powers[]

The Manitou has the powers of flight, possession, animation, creation and control of lesser constructs, transmogrification, and force field generation. It also see has several more unique abilities such as looking into people's souls, speaking with hosts on the mental plane, and splitting its concentration between the physical and mental planes.

The Manitou must be in possession of a host to be able to manipulate the environment psychokinetically or to form new spectral constructs.[12]

The Manitou requires more than close spiritual proximity to facilitate its feeding on the victim's soul. It is addicted to greedy souls overcome with fear and desire to run away.

Description[]

As described by Tristan Jones and Dan Schoening, the Manitou has a body reminiscent of brain-like matter and a bulky flesh like human gums, eight eyes, feeble "Alien Queen" forearms and bigger "Popeye" arms, a tail reminiscent of a spinal cord, and retracting stinger tentacles.[13]

Trivia[]

  • In Native American mythology, a Matche-Manitou is considered a bad spirit.[14]
  • On the back cover of the Ghostbusters Volume 2 trade paperback, the Manitou design from page 26 of Issue #7 appears next to Mayor Lenny's right arm but is obscured by the lettering. It can be seen in the cover's unlettered format.[15]
  • On page 12 of Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #6, Egon refers to the Hungry Manitou.[16]
  • On the Convention Cover of Ghostbusters: Get Real Issue #1, the Hungry Manitou makes a cameo right of the creative team's names.
  • On page 16 of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #2, one of the images conjured is of Manitou.
  • The Hungry Manitou is mentioned in the Giant Murder Clown's bio on the 45th Crossing Over Virtual Trading Card, posted on July 24, 2018.[17]
  • On July 26, 2018, Tom Waltz posted Crossing Over Virtual Trading Card #46, the Hungry Manitou.[18]

Appearances[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. Kylie Griffin (2012).IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters Issue #6" (2011) (Comic p.2). Kylie says: "...A "Hungry Manitou..."
  2. Ghostly Gallery (2012).IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters Issue #7" (2012) (Comic p.24, 26).
  3. Kylie Griffin (2012).IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters Issue #6" (2011) (Comic p.3).
  4. Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.50). Paragraph reads: "The Hungry Manitou was a demon summoned by an Algonquian man to prey upon a small group of English settlers."
  5. Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.50). Paragraph reads: "The death toll was so high that the Native American who had conjured the spirit regretted his actions and sought a way to banish the Hungry Manitou back to the spirit world."
  6. Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.50). Paragraph reads: "He failed, but by using witchcraft, he was able to bluff his way into a deal with the demon; the Hungry Manitou would agree to sleep for decades at a time, allowing men to thrive, before he woke once again to feed on a limited number of victims and then returned to hibernation."
  7. Kylie Griffin (2012).IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters Issue #6" (2011) (Comic p.2). Kylie says: "...A "Hungry Manitou..."
  8. TomWaltz Tweet 7/26/18Virtual Trading Card reads: "The HUNGRY MANITOU was conjured to bedevil North American colonists in the 1600s -- but this perpetually hungry Class 5 didn't discriminate between victims. After great effort, it was bound to a cycle of sleeping, waking, and eating and left for future generations to deal with."
  9. Egon Spengler (2012).IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters Issue #6" (2011) (Comic p.3).
  10. Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.50). Paragraph reads: "CLASS V. ANCHORED TO THE STATE OF NEW YORK. POSSESSOR."
  11. TomWaltz Tweet 7/26/18Virtual Trading Card reads: "Classification: Class 5 parasitic entity."
  12. Narrator (2016). Insight Editions- "Tobin's Spirit Guide" (2016) (Book p.50). Paragraph reads: "Once separated from its human host, the Manitou was no longer able to manipulate its environment psychokinetically or form any further spectral constructs."
  13. Ghostly Gallery (2012).IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters Issue #7" (2012) (Comic p.24-26).
  14. Turner, Patricia and Russell Coulter, Charles (2000). Dictionary of Ancient Deities, p. 307. Oxford University Press, New York NY USA, ISBN 9780195145045.
  15. Dapper Dan Schoening deviantArt 7/10/12
  16. Egon Spengler (2013). IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #6" (2013) (Comic p.12). Egon says: "If Venkman can manage to exorcise himself from a possessing entity, I should at least be able to talk this rabble into releasing Janine."
  17. TomWaltz Tweet 7/24/18
  18. TomWaltz Tweet 7/26/18


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Non Canon[]

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