Wendigo
In Algonquian folklore, the wendigo () or windigo is a mythical man-eating monster or evil spirit native to the northern forests of the Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes Region of the United States and Canada. The wendigo may appear as a monster with some characteristics of a human or as a spirit who has possessed a human being and made them become monstrous. It is historically associated with murder, insatiable greed, and the cultural taboos against such behaviours.
Windigo Lake
Windigo Lake is named after the Indian term "Windigo" (sometimes spelled Wendigo) which is a mythological cannibalistic creature in Ojibwa and Ottawa folklore. However, the lake has not always been referred to as "Windigo Lake." Henry Schoolcraft, in the report of his expedition through this area in 1831, called it "Lac des Isles," which means "Lake of the Isles" in French. Captain James Allen who accompanied Schoolcraft on an expedition in the following year (1832) to the source of the Mississippi River produced a detailed map of the northern Minnesota/Wisconsin area after that trip. On this map he labeled Windigo Lake in English as "Lake of the Isles." The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources lake map for Windigo Lake gives "Bass Lake" as an alternative name for the lake; and an article from the Sawyer County Historical Society also indicates that Windigo Lake was formerly known as "Bass Lake."