"Wihtiko"
The word windigo (Cree Wihtiko, Ojibwa wintiko) refers to a spiritually powerful anthropomorphic monster that overcomes and feeds upon human beings. Although some windigos are seen as members of an autochthonous nonhuman race, it is believed that many windigos were once human beings who were transformed into their monstrous condition by committing famine cannibalism, by dream predestination or spirit possession, or by death from freezing or starvation. It is thought that a person who "goes windigo" initially retains a conventional appearance, but ultimately loses human identity and cultural knowledge. (The Orders of the Dreamed: George Nelson on Cree and Northern Ojibwa Religion and Myth, 1823, edited by .Jennifer S. H. Brown and Robert Brightman, commentaries by Stan Cuthland and Emma LaRocque [Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1988], p.159.)
