Wendigo Psychosis

Wendigo Psychosis

Wendigo psychosis is a psychological disorder involving an insatiable craving for human flesh when other food is readily available.  In many cases, this condition develops after an individual experiences famine cannibalism.  The afflicted person would be “subject to fits of depression and hallucination, viewing other people as sources of food . . . Once a victim tasted human flesh, they gained an insatiable appetite for it” (Podruchny, 2004, p. 683).  Most cases were reported around the Great Lakes in Canada and the United States.   In Algonquin mythology, the Wendigo is a cannibalistic spirit that has the ability to possess humans.  These people believed that a person could become a wendigo and undergo a visible physical change that caused him or her to eat other people, similar to the werewolf myth.  This disorder is neurological, spiritual and physical.  It is neurological because of the delusions involved, spiritual because of the folklore and beliefs of the native people, and physical because of the typical starvation occurring in sufferers.

Origin and Symptoms

Native American legend includes a centuries-old story of an “individual who was allegedly driven insane by a curse that had transformed him into a wendigo” in Trout Lake of Alberta (Carlson, 2009, p. 356). “Wendigo” meant flesh-eating monster, essentially an insane cannibal.  The man was eventually killed with an ax to stop him from hurting more people, and he was buried under a woodpile so that he would not be able to resurrect and escape his grave (Carlson, 2009).  This tale has been passed down for generations in the area, and it is likely to have its basis in truth.  While it is not likely that the man was cursed or magically transformed in any way, it is probable that he developed what is now known as wendigo psychosis. 

Storytellers educated people in Cree and Ojibwa belief, including the wendigo, which to them was “the spirit of winter that transforms a human into an asocial being whose heart turns to ice and who becomes consumed by cannibal desires” (Smallman, 2010, p.572).  These tales are passed down by oral tradition as a warning to scare children into behaving, but the stories had to originate somewhere.  One documented case is that of a trapper from Alberta.  “During the winter of 1878, Swift Runner and his family were starving . . . within just 25 miles of emergency food supplies at a Hudson’s Bay Company post, he butchered and ate his wife and five remaining children” (Frater, 2009).  It was eventually decided that Swift Runner must have succumbed to Wendigo Psychosis based on the fact that he was close enough to other food and he was clearly not in his right mind.  Perhaps he originally ate human flesh as a result of starvation, but he did not have to keep eating it.  He certainly had no excuse for killing and eating his entire family, especially with food supplies only miles away.

 This story indicates that he was hallucinating and seeing his family members as food objects.  Clearly, hallucinations are a symptom of Wendigo Psychosis.  Swift Runner was starving when he first decided to try human flesh, so this shows a particular physical state.  The fact that he continued to kill and eat his family after he was aware of other food options indicates that he had gone insane, or demonstrated psychotic tendencies. 

Biological Aspect

Wendigo Psychosis could be a “mental disorder that is linked to depression, especially during times when the hunt was bad or when animals were being trapped out during the fur trade . . . or the result of a physiologic disorder and that fatty meat could be a cure” (Podruchny, 2004, p. 683).  Nutrition may indeed be a factor in people becoming wendigos.  Since all documented cases come from the same geographical area, perhaps there is some enzyme or vitamin these people are missing.  There exists a Cree tale of a woman who ate her husband and children and was eventually cured by drinking melted bear’s grease; in fact, the practice of feeding suspected wendigo sufferers melted fat was common (Rohrl, 1970). The native people must have come up with this practice over a long period of time by trial and error, so that could be an indicator that it works.  The combination of some missing nutrient and the extreme famine conditions of wintry Canada resulting in cannibalism and hallucinations could cause Wendigo Psychosis.

Bear fat contains polyunsaturated fatty acids, omega 3, vitamin E, monounsaturated acids, and probably vitamin C due to the bear’s diet of berries and such.  In Russia, bear’s fat is recommended in cases of depression, failure in learning, attention focusing, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, insomnia disorder, hyper excitability and hyperirritability, and has been proven to assist in wound healing and stimulating the immune system (Fitosila).  It seems not unreasonable that consuming bear’s fat would ease some of the symptoms of Wendigo Psychosis, if indeed the state is caused by a nutritional deficiency.  It is known that a drop in blood sugar level can lead to psychosis, and that a diet of fat and protein is the cure (Rohrl, 1970). Perhaps sufferers of Wendigo Psychosis are simply starving beyond all capability for rational reasoning, and their body’s needs take over.  They are so hungry that they resort to the act of cannibalism in order to survive, and they cannot stop once they have taken that drastic step.

Most Likely to Have Wendigo Psychosis

                Considering the fact that I cannot find any recent cases of Wendigo Psychosis, I would conclude that no one is very likely to develop it these days.  However, I can conjecture a certain set of circumstances that may encourage it in modern day.  Cannibalism, in today’s society, is considered morally and ethically taboo no matter the situation. People cringe when thinking about eating another human being, and regard sensationalized figures such as Jeffrey Dahmer as evil.  Even so, a person may still consider cooking and eating another person in order to survive.  Therefore, a person who has tasted human flesh before would express less concern over cannibalism because he or she would have already crossed that psychological boundary.  Wendigo psychosis could also be a part of schizophrenia.  For example, a person may have hallucinations that people are food.  A man may look at his wife and see fried chicken or look at his children and see potatoes.  These are delusions that may be symptoms of schizophrenia.  Perhaps if I take away the “culture-bound” aspect of Wendigo Psychosis, I am simply left with cannibalism.  A man killing and eating his family in modern-day America would be labeled insane, psychotic, or a sociopath.  The term “Wendigo Psychosis” would not likely come up in the diagnosing of his condition.

                                                                                                Treatment

                Treatment for wendigo psychosis would be similar to that of treatment for schizophrenia.  I would recommend a prescription of antipsychotics in addition to isolation from society for a period of time.  The drugs would help control any hallucinations the patient may be experiencing.  Isolation would help protect other people from the dangerous, cannibalistic person.  The patient should also be given proper nutrition, including plenty of vitamins, fats, and proteins.  This would be to ensure the patient had no biological cause to crave human flesh.  The patient would receive regular psychiatric evaluations to monitor his or her progress and possible danger to society.  Since there are no recent recorded cases of wendigo psychosis, such a patient would be under intense observation possibly for life.  There is no determined successful treatment.  All that is available are old stories from the 1800s that indicate bear fat is the cure.  Most of the old tales end with the “wendigo” being killed by his or her townspeople.  Based on that alone, it would seem that there is no easy cure for this disease.

References

Carlson, N. D. (2009). Reviving Witiko (Windigo): An Ethnohistory of "Cannibal Monsters”

                in the Athabasca District of Northern Alberta, 1878-1910. Ethnohistory, 56(3), 355-394.

                Retrieved September 10, 2012 from Ebscohost.

Fitosila. (n. d.).  Bear’s fat. Retrieved from http://eng.fitosila.ru/bearfat/.

Frater, J. (2009). Wendigo Psychosis: Montstrous Men. Retrieved from

                http://cogitz.com/2009/09/13/wendigo-psychosis-monstrous-men/

Podruchny, C. (2004). Werewolves and Windigos: Narratives of Cannibal Monsters in French-

                Canadian Voyageur Oral Tradition. Ethnohistory, 51(4), 677-700.  Retrieved September

                15, 2012 from Project MUSE.

Rohrl, V. (1970). A nutritional factor in windigo psychosis. American Anthropologist, 72(1),

                97-101.  Retrieved September 12, 2012 from JSTOR.

Smallman, S/ (2010). Spirit Beings, Mental Illness, and Murder: Fur Traders and the Windigo in

                Canada’s Boreal Forest, 1774 to 1935. Ethnohistory, 57(4), 571-576. Retrieved from

                http://ethnohistory.dukejournals.org/content/57/4/571.full.pdf+html.