#Windigo According to most Algonquian oral traditions, a w…

Legends of a human becomes a windigo after his or her spirit is corrupted by greed or weakened by extreme conditions, such as hunger and cold. In other legends, humans become windigos when possessed by a prowling spirit during a moment of weakness.

The windigo is depicted as a monstrous malevolent spirit, with some characteristics of a werewolf. Its influence is said to invoke acts of murder, insatiable greed, cannibalism and the cultural taboos against such behaviours.

It stands more than six metres tall in its bare feet, looks like a walking corpse and smells like rotting meat. It has long, stringy hair and a heart of ice. Sometimes a Windigo breathes fire. It can talk, but mostly it hisses and howls.

Windigos can fly on the winds of a blizzard or walk across water without sinking. They are stronger than a grizzly bear and run faster than any human being, which is bad news because human flesh happens to be a Windigo’s favourite food.

According to some legends, windigos can be killed with a conventional weapon, such as a club or firearm. Other legends claim that the windigo has to be somehow subdued, its icy heart cut out and then melted in a roaring fire.

Still other legends claim that only a knowledgeable First Nations spiritual leader, a shaman, can dispatch a windigo with a specific spell and ceremony.

The creature has also come to serve as a metaphor for the injustices that Indigenous peoples have faced in Canada, including residential schools, the restriction of rights in the Indian Act, the Sixties Scoop and similarly assimilative policies.