Canada 1860/05/03 (MB) - Report of Cannibalism Raises Windigo Fears

[Trogluddite]

Published in the Lynchburg (VA) Daily Virginian on May 3, 1860; it is the earliest mention of a Windigo (or Wendigo or Windago) found on Newspapers.com apart from three stories in 1789 that named a Chief Windigo as one of the signers of a treaty with the young United States.  A short summary of the Red River colony and Selkirk can be found at https://www.britannica.com/place/Red-River-Settlement. 

 

UPDATE 13 Sept. 2026: This post previously contained a second news article thought to be related to this incident. That article has been given its own entry. 

 

Edited September 13 by Trogluddite
To fix formatting and chronology.