The Moehau Monster
In the bush-covered hills at the tip of New Zealand's Coromandel Peninsula, people have reported a tall, hairy creature walking on two legs.
What was reported
Since the 19th century, gold miners, bushmen and hunters in the Moehau Range have told of a large, hairy, ape-like creature that walks upright, standing up to two metres tall. It's been blamed for strange footprints, and stories tell of it raiding camps.
It's sometimes linked with Māori traditions of wild, hairy people of the forest called maero or matau.
Explanations offered
New Zealand has no native land mammals apart from bats, which makes a large ape impossible to sustain there, and no evidence has been found. Sightings are usually put down to misidentified animals, such as wild pigs or goats, in poor light, and to the power of a good story told around the camp.
- When
- Reported since the 1880s
- Where
- Moehau Range, Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand
- Witnesses
- Bushmen, gold miners and hunters
- Status
- Unconfirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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