Andrew D. Gable
First Post
Remember Ithaqua's title, The Thing That Walks On The Wind? Check this out. In the Boneless thread, I mentioned Karl Shuker's Mysteries of Planet Earth. Here's an interesting tidbit pulled from the same discussion.
Shuker discusses how certain dry winds are associated with localized outbreaks of mental ailments, some of them violent (severe depression and suicide, to name just two). Essentially, this is another variant on the traditional "rainy day blues" - but given a scientific basis. Now, here's where things enter into the realm of fancy.
There's a mental disorder (prevalent in Canada and other northern latitudes) known as the "wendigo psychosis". A person afflicted with the psychosis believes himself to be a wendigo, and will do all the wendigo-ish things. Now, Ithaqua is The Thing That Walks On The Wind - but what if he's actually the wind itself? What if Ithaqua was the personification of one of these winds, bearing the wendigo psychosis, and not a bona fide entity?
Shuker discusses how certain dry winds are associated with localized outbreaks of mental ailments, some of them violent (severe depression and suicide, to name just two). Essentially, this is another variant on the traditional "rainy day blues" - but given a scientific basis. Now, here's where things enter into the realm of fancy.
There's a mental disorder (prevalent in Canada and other northern latitudes) known as the "wendigo psychosis". A person afflicted with the psychosis believes himself to be a wendigo, and will do all the wendigo-ish things. Now, Ithaqua is The Thing That Walks On The Wind - but what if he's actually the wind itself? What if Ithaqua was the personification of one of these winds, bearing the wendigo psychosis, and not a bona fide entity?
