Wendigo Psychosis

The Wendigo is a described as an emaciated-looking giant, with a grayish complexion and sunken eyes. The malevolent creature stinks of death and decay; it grows in size proportionate to what it has eaten, yet, it can never be satiated. Thus, it is the incarnation of greed and excess.

The Wendigo is closely associated with starvation, extreme cold, and social taboos such as cannibalism. According to legend, the consumption of human flesh could cause a person to be taken over by the spirit of the Wendigo; going insane from the cold could also change one into a Wendigo.

Some believed that all who were afflicted by the Wendigo were not beyond redemption. Treated kindly, and fed normal food, a Wendigo can be rehabilitated and can become human again. This condition—in which a person is afflicted by the spirit of a Wendigo—became known as “Wendigo Psychosis.”

Wendigo Psychosis

Wendigo Psychosis is a phenomenon in which a person goes mad; the victim desires human flesh and fears turning into a Wendigo. It starts after a prolonged period of being inside—to escape the cold temperatures and deep snow—with little food. A feeling of melancholy takes over and the sufferer loses their appetite and begins having nightmares. Eventually, the victim goes insane and is consumed by the idea of eating human flesh.

Those who were unfortunate enough to fall victim to Wendigo Psychosis were often treated by their village shaman. Treatment for Wendigo Psychosis included isolation and the force-feeding of fats. The practice of force-feeding was an attempt to satiate the sufferer, and in some cases, to induce vomiting. Vomiting was induced in an effort to expel the Wendigo’s “heart of ice” which had to be melted to prevent its return.

Of course, treatment for Wendigo Psychosis did not have a high rate of success. In a study of 70 cases of Wendigo Psychosis treatment, 9 sufferers were ostracized from their communities; one committed suicide; strangely, 2 were themselves killed and eaten; the results of 15 cases are unknown; 10 people actually recovered. The remaining 33 were killed, some of whom consented to their own deaths rather than living out the remainder of their days as a Wendigo.1

It is worth noting that the vast majority of those who were treated for Wendigo Psychosis had not yet engaged in cannibalism. They were, however, overwhelmed by the thought of eating human flesh. When treatment failed, and a suspected Wendigo was killed, it was an attempt to stop the Wendigo from eating people before it could get started. It is also worth mentioning, treatment was not always attempted. Death was often the first method employed against suspected Wendigos. The following sad account was written by Reverend Egerton R. Young, a Methodist minister, in 1871 and preserved in his personal scrapbook:

Another dreadful event has occurred about a hundred miles from us. A boy about fifteen years old went crazy, and in his ravings kept asking for flesh to eat. At last he said, “I will surely kill somebody, and eat them if I can!” One day he attacked his father and tried to bite him. The father and elder brother of the crazy one then deliberately strangled him and burnt his body to ashes. They have a superstitious belief that unless the body of a crazy person is consumed by fire, it comes to life again, and ever after a great source of trouble and affliction to its friends…2

Probably the best-known case of Wendigo Psychosis is that of Ka-Ki-Si-Kutchin, better known as Swift Runner. During the winter of 1878–1879, Swift Runner murdered his wife, mother, brother, and his five children and ate them. Swift Runner was arrested by Canadian authorities and after his arrest, he confessed to his crimes and claimed that he had been possessed by the spirit of a Wendigo. Perhaps he was. Nevertheless, it was Swift Runner, not the Wendigo, who was held accountable for his crimes; he paid the ultimate price. Swift Runner was hanged on December 20, 1879 at Fort Saskatchewan. This was the area’s first legal hanging and perhaps the most memorable.

A section of my book Detours Into the Paranormal: Atlantic City Road Trip is devoted to the Wendigo and Wendigo Psychosis. Check it out!

Notes:

1. Jennifer Brown, “The Cure and Feeding of Windigos: A Critique,” American Anthropologist 73, no. 1 (February 1971), 21.

2. Egerton R. Young. Letter dated 1871. Rossville, Norway House, July 29, 1871. Personal scrapbook. Retrieved from American Anthropologist 73, no. 1 (February 1971), 22.

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