Imagine a people so powerful they can disappear at will, transform into animals, or even lure people to their demise. Do you envision a large, daunting, ominous, giant that swings at you with a club? If you did you are wrongly mistaken…
Pukwudgies (PukWudjie) are a human like inhabitant of Mounds State Park in Anderson, Indiana. Stories of these mysterious creatures have been told for hundreds of years, and the natives that inhabited Mounds (which is where the park gets its name) before the town was established warned people not to mess with them. They, Pukwudijes, are a local legend that many have seen. The stories that are told about the encounters with these small creatures vary, with the Native American tribe Lenape (Delaware) being the ones who have the most to tell.
The name for these creatures means, “little wild men of the forest”, and they are just that. The Lenape grew to fear Pukwudgies claiming they were once friendly to humans but then turned on them. According to legend, if you mess with a Pukwudgie, they would trick you or even follow you and cause harm. They are known to kidnap people, cause harm, push people, attack people with miniature weapons, and even manifest into animals to scare you away. From eyewitness descriptions of their encounters, Pukwudgies are Indiana’s own fae or goblin.
Eye witnesses describe these creatures as small, standing about 2-3 feet and dressed in a blue robe/shirt to fit their small stature. They almost always have a blond helmet hair style to shape their little round faces. Unfortunately a photo of one has never been captured. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote an epic titled, The Song of Hiawatha, that retells the origin story of these creatures, and can give the imagination an idea of what they might look like if they have never seen one.
There is a famous house on site at Mounds State Park that is called the Bronnenberg House which was built in the 1800’s, and inhabited by the Bronnenberg family. A girl named Eloise, who once lived in the house, retold her encounter that she had with the Pukwudgies as a child. She was interviewed by author Paul Startzman for his book The Puk-Wud-Jies of Indiana. Eloise said that the Pukwudgies approached her while she was playing alone in the park, and seemed curious and interested in what she was doing. They spoke with high pitched voices, in a language that she had never heard. She also claimed she had encountered them again at an older age.
In pop culture today however, Harry Potter fans might know the name Pukwudgie because of the house named after this creature at the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If you’re not familiar with the Harry Potter world, that’s okay. This is the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise and it is based in North America. The Pukwudgie house (like that of Gryffindor or Slytherin) is a house students are sorted into based on attributes of their personality. The Pukwudgie house sometimes represents the heart of witches and wizards, and also favors healers. Each house in this series is named after an American folklore character.
Still today stories of these creatures pop up from time to time. Some go looking for them, some go for a nice stroll in the park and happen upon them, but a constant in this story is that they are still mysterious and intriguing. If you happen to be near Anderson, Indiana I highly recommend a day trip to Mounds State Park. Even if you don’t encounter Pukwudgies, you will still see a beautiful park with a very long and interesting history.
Hoosier Horrors 