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Menehune is a race of pygmy people from Hawaiian mythology. It is said they live in the deep forests and hidden

Menehunemodel

"Pygmy Savages" from Reaper Miniatures

valleys of the Hawaiian Islands. Their favorite food is said to be bananas and fish.

Menehune stands more than 2 to 3 feet tall.

In legends, it is said that the Menehune built temples (heiau), fishponds, roads, canoes, and houses. Some of these structures still exist, and the craftsmanship is evident. They are said to have lived in Hawaii before settlers arrived from Polynesia many centuries ago.

Menehune-_Real_Hobbit_Sightings_-_Hawaii's_Little_Foot_Cryptid

Menehune- Real Hobbit Sightings - Hawaii's Little Foot Cryptid

Menehune: Real Hobbit Sightings

Some early scholars theorized that there was a first settlement of Hawaii, by settlers from the Marquesas Islands, and a second, from Tahiti. The Tahitian settlers oppressed the "commoners", the manahune in the Tahitian language, who fled to the mountains and were called Menehune. Proponents of this theory point to an 1820 census of Kauaʻi by Kaumualiʻi, the ruling Aliʻi Aimoku of the island, which listed 65 people as menehune.


Alekoko fishpond

Alekoko fishpond, one of few structures attributed to Menehune

Menehune Bank from 1946

A menehune bank

Folklorist Katharine Luomala believes that the legends of the Menehune are a post-European contact mythology created by adaptation of the term manahune (which by the time of the settling of the Hawaiian Islands had acquired a meaning of "lowly people" or "low social status" and not diminutive in stature) to European legends of brownies. Menehune are not mentioned in pre-contact mythology; the legendary "overnight" creation of the Alekoko fishpond, for example, finds its equivalent in the legend about the creation of a corresponding structure on Oʻahu, which was supposedly indeed completed in a single day — not by menehune but, as a show of power, by a local aliʻi who demanded every one of his subjects to appear at the construction site and assist in building.

In Popular Culture[]

  • They have most likely been the inspiration for the Tiki Demons in "Aloha Scooby-Doo" movie.
  • The Menehune were sighted according to the documentary series Finding Bigfoot episode "Hawaii's Little Foot".
  • Mehehune are featured in popular trading card game MetaZoo: Cryptid Nation.

Gallery[]

Menehune
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Menehune-like demons in "Aloha Scooby-Doo"

MENEHUNE


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