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Historian Nathan Carlson has studied dozens of Windigo cases in northern Alberta.
While the Swift Runner incident is by far the most infamous, several others also ended in horrifying deaths.
Here are some:
SLAVE LAKE, 1887
Marie Courtereille, 40, died after being struck four times with an axe -- twice by her husband Michel Courtereille and twice by her son Cecil.
Testimony at their trial indicated that Marie had begged to be killed because she believed she was possessed by a Windigo, telling them, "I am bound to eat you."
Over a period of several weeks, she became increasingly aggressive, "roaring like an animal" and attacking her husband.
Eventually, she was tied down and guarded around the clock until it was decided that there was no choice but to kill her.
The community supported the killing.
Both men were sentenced to six years for manslaughter.
FORT VERMILION, 1887
A half-starved, half-mad woman staggered into the community. She had walked more than 50 km through deep snow from Little Red River after her community threatened to kill her for being a Windigo.
Media reports said she killed and ate as many as 12 people, although it's more likely she had only one victim, her own sister.
It's believed that several of her relatives died of starvation in their remote winter camp, and in a fit of famine-induced psychosis, she shot and ate her sister. It's unclear what the killer's final fate was.
TROUT LAKE, 1896
A man named Napanin arrived at Trout Lake, an outpost near Wabasca, claiming the devil had come into him.
He had been travelling with his wife and child when he saw his child as a young moose.
"He wanted to eat him," a witness said in a letter.
The wife and son ran away, and Napanin went looking for help for his affliction.
He complained of freezing, even when he was wrapped in six blankets.
"The sound of him was terrible. He was calling like a wild bull," the witness wrote. "He does not look like a human being. He seems terribly swollen in the body and face."
Fearing that he would eventually kill, men of the village decided that they had to kill him first.
No one wanted to do the deed, but eventually a local medicine man was talked into hitting him with an axe.
The body was buried, and a huge pile of logs placed over the grave to prevent him from rising from the dead. His severed head was buried separately.
SMOKY RIVER, 1899
A man named Moostoos was beaten, bludgeoned with a hatchet and stabbed after members of the party he was with said he warned them he was "going to go Windigo. I don't want to do anything to my children. It is better that they should kill me."
He added, "How would it do if I should eat my little ones, and especially their noses?"
Moostoos became violent -- trying so hard to bite one person that he tore their clothes -- and had to be restrained.
One witness said he levitated.
"He floated up right off the ground and when I caught hold of him, it was hard to reach up and seize him. He was very strong and we had hard work to get him down and hold him down," said the witness.
"He was a small man."
After they killed Moostoos, they travelled to the nearest police post and reported the incident.
Two of the party were charged with manslaughter. One was acquitted and the other -- who wielded the hatchet -- was sentenced to two months.
This case, Carlson said, was the last documented Windigo execution in Alberta.
The judge in the case said while the unusual circumstances led to a lenient sentence, he warned that any further killings would be dealt with more harshly.
He urged them to bring people behaving this way to medical doctors, who could either treat them or commit them to psychiatric care.