State Cryptids: Pukwudgies & The Mhuwe
In the forest, you go for a hike and lose your way. Weird things have been happening, you don’t know where you are and you feel like you’re being watched and followed. Either you’re being pranked by a Pukwudgie,a small humanoid forest spirit, or you’re being hunted by a Mhuwe, a monster that may have once been a human cannibal. Welcome to Delaware
Pukwudgie
The Pukwudgie is part of Indigenous American folklore, specifically the Lenape and Wampanoag tribes. They roam the forests of Delaware standing about three feet high with hunched backs and grey skin. Some stories even say they have quills on their backs like a porcupine.
The stories vary as to what these little creatures are like. Some say they are relatively harmless but enjoy pranking people by causing them to lose their way in the woods or causing memory loss. Other stories say they are more malevolent with their trickery by leading hikers off cliffs.
There are even variations that say they can shape-shift into other animals for protection or mischief. Whatever the situation calls for.
According to A-Z Animals, their name Pukwudgie translates into “little man of the woods that vanishes.”
