Wendigo: The Monster Born of Starvation and Greed

What is the Wendigo?

Many sources refer to the Wendigo as a being of Algonquian legend. “Algonquian” isn’t a tribe itself, but a grouping of tribes based on the type of language, which makes the claim that it is “an Algonquian legend” misleading (Willoughby, 1908). The word “Wendigo” does indeed come from the Algonquian group of Native American languages, however. Many different spellings of the word exist, so I’ve chosen the one that I’m most familiar with. The spelling which is used most often by Native American scholars is “Windigo,” which translates to either “owl,” or “cannibal,” depending upon the context.

Stories of the Wendigo exist within the folklore of several Algonquian tribes, such as the Ojibwe and the Cree. Because there is not one specific tale or description of this creature, accounts vary widely among different tribal legends, but there are key elements which create a cohesive basis for what the Wendigo is and how it behaves.

While details differ in the stories from separate regions of North America, all of the legends present this creature as a malevolent spirit or monster closely tied to the harsh and unforgiving winter climates (Eflin, 2014). The Wendigo is born of famine, starvation, bitter cold, and fear. Some versions of the Wendigo legend state that humans become a…