Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

Significant sightings: Two ambiguous sightings
in 1977 and 1979.
Sources: Edmonton (Alta.) Sun, June 4, 1979;
John Kirk, In the Domain of Lake Monsters
(Toronto, Canada: Key Porter Books, 1998),
p. 195.
Pukau
Unknown piglike HOOFED MAMMAL of Southeast
Asia.
Etymology: Dusun (Austronesian) word.
Physical description: Resembles a cross between
a deer and a pig. Sharp tongue.
Behavior: Runs swiftly if disturbed.
Distribution: Mount Madalong, in Sabah
State, Borneo, Malaysia.
Possible explanation: The Babirusa (Babyrousa
babyrussa), whose upturned tusks might be described
as a sharp tongue. Though it is found
only on Sulawesi, Buru, and neighboring islands,
this wild pig’s presence in Borneo could
account for the Pukau.
Sources: Owen Rutter, The Pagans of North
Borneo (London: Hutchinson, 1929), p. 256;
Karl Shuker, In Search of Prehistoric Survivors
(London: Blandford, 1995), p. 164.
Pukwudgee
LITTLE PEOPLE of eastern North America.
Etymology: Delaware and Wampanoag (Algonquian),
“little wild man of the forest.”
Variant names: Bagwajininiwag (Ojibwa/
Algonquian), Bgoji-nin-wag (Ojibwa/Algonquian),
Pa-i-sa-ke (Miami/Algonquian), Paweesuk,
Pia-sa-ki, Pikwatci’ni (“wild Indian”), Pukwadjiineesuk
(“little Indians”), Pukwatcininins
(“little man of the woods”), Puk-wud-jie.
Physical description: Height, 2 feet. White
skin. Light brown hair.
Behavior: Builds huts of grass and sticks.
Wears shirts made of grass or bark.
Habitat: Caves along rivers.
Distribution: Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Indiana;
the Lake Superior area of central Ontario,
Canada; northern Minnesota; northern Wisconsin;
northern Michigan.
Significant sighting: Paul Startzman saw a lit-
444 PUKAU
tle man wearing a blue gown along the White
River in Indiana in June 1927. He encountered
Pukwudgees several more times in the 1930s
and claims that the small, wooden hut- or tepeelike
structures he has found in the woods
were made by them for shelter.
Sources: Thomas Weston, History of the
Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts (Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1906), pp. 424–426;
Elizabeth Reynard, The Narrow Land: Folk
Chronicles of Old Cape Cod (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1934), pp. 31–33; Paul Startzman,
“The Puk-Wud-Jies,” Fate 48 (March 1995):
47–50; John E. Roth, American Elves
(Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1997), pp.
19–20; Paul Startzman, The Puk-Wud-Jies of
Indiana (Pittsburgh, Pa.: Dorrance, 1998);
Tim Swartz, “The Little People,” Strange
Magazine, no. 21 (Fall 2000), on line at
http://www.strangemag.com.
Pumina
Giant SNAKE of Central Africa.
Variant names: Moma (“python”), Mpumina.
Physical description: Length, 38–46 feet. Dark
above, white below. Large, triangular head, 30
inches wide.
Distribution: Kasai and western Katanga Regions,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially
Lake Upemba.
Significant sighting: In August 1959, a mechanic
named Kindt took a photo of a giant
python from a military helicopter in the
Katanga Region some 60 miles northwest of
Kamina, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It
appeared to be 38–46 feet long.
Possible explanation: The African rock python
(Python sebae) reaches 30–33 feet. Reports of
larger specimens are rare and often based only
on hearsay.
Sources: Mary H. Kingsley, Travels in West
Africa, Congo Français, Corisco and Cameroons
(New York: Macmillan, 1897), p. 546;
Bernard Heuvelmans, Les derniers dragons
d’Afrique (Paris: Plon, 1978), pp. 44–65.