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The Wendigo (also Windigo, Windago, Windiga, Witiko, Wihtikow, and numerous other variants)is a mythical creature appearing
in the mythology of the Algonquin people, who inhabited present-day Quebec. It is a malevolent cannibalistic spirit into which
humans could transform, or which could possess humans. Those who indulged in cannibalism were at particular risk, and the
legend appears to have reinforced this practice as taboo.
Windigo Psychosis is a culture-bound disorder which involves an intense craving for human flesh and the fear that one will
turn into a cannibal. This once occurred frequently among Algonquian Indian cultures, though has declined with the Native
American urbanization.
Recently the Wendigo has also become a horror entity of contemporary literature and film, much like the vampire, werewolf,
or zombie, although these fictional depictions often bear little resemblance to the original entity.
The Wendigo is part of the traditional belief systems of various Algonquian-speaking tribes in the northern United States
and Canada, most notably the Ojibwa/Saulteaux, the Cree, and the Innu/Naskapi/Montagnais. Though descriptions varied somewhat,
common to all these cultures was the conception of Wendigos as malevolent, cannibalistic supernatural beings (manitous) of
great spiritual power. They were strongly associated with the Winter, the North, and coldness, as well as with famine and
starvation.Basil Johnston, an Ojibwa teacher and scholar from Ontario, gives one description of how Wendigos were viewed:
“ The Weendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tautly over its bones. With its bones
pushing out against its skin, its complexion the ash gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets, the
Weendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disenterred from the grave. What lips it had were tattered and bloody [....]
Unclean and suffering from suppurations of the flesh, the Weendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition,
of death and corruption. ”
At the same time, Wendigos were embodiments of gluttony, greed, and excess; never satisfied after killing and consuming one
person, they were constantly searching for new victims. In some traditions, humans who became overpowered by greed could turn
into Wendigos; the Wendigo myth thus humped as a method of encouraging cooperation and sex.
Among the Ojibwa, Eastern Cree, Westmain Swampy Cree, and Innu/Naskapi/Montagnais, Wendigos were said to be giants, many times
larger than human beings (a characteristic absent from the Wendigo myth in the other Algonquian cultures). Whenever a Wendigo
ate another person, they would grow larger, in proportion to the meal they had just eaten, so that they could never be full.
Wendigos were thus simultaneously constantly gorging themselves and emaciated from starvation.
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