{"id":1444,"date":"2021-09-30T19:59:30","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T19:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.walkingtheshadowlands.com\/?p=1444"},"modified":"2024-11-16T14:16:30","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T01:16:30","slug":"episode-10-the-moehau-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.walkingtheshadowlands.com\/?p=1444","title":{"rendered":"Episode 10: The Moehau Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Episode 10: The Moehau Man<\/strong><\/p><\/h3><\/div>

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When I started researching NZ cryptids, my plan was to produce only one episode. I honestly was unaware of how many cryptids NZ had, apart from the Taniwha, that pretty much every single New Zealander has at least heard of, in one capacity or another. So I was really shocked to discover how many we have, and I realized that one episode would not do them justice in the least. I also learned that some of our cryptids have much in common with many others worldwide.<\/p>\n

Throughout the world there are stories and legends of huge, hairy, ape-like creatures that have persisted over the centuries, through retellings of cultural myths and legends, and of actual reported sightings of such creatures. These beings go by many different names. In North America, they are called Sasquatch, or the more common name of Bigfoot. Across the ditch in Aussie, they are called the Yowie. In parts of Asia and the Himalayans they are call the Yeti, or the Meh Teh\u2026. In Mongolia they are called the Almas. In Sumatra the Orang Pendek. In China, the Yeren. In the jungles of South America they are called the Mapingauri. On the podcast website www.walkingtheshadowlands.com<\/a> you can see a link<\/a> to a page that has a huge list of names for this creature.\u00a0 So you can see that this being goes by many, many names throughout the world.<\/p>\n

What I did not know in my research and what really shocked me, was that here in little ole, geographically isolated New Zealand we have our very own version of the Big foot. Here he goes by numerous names, dependent on where in the country he is located. Some of these names are The Moehau Man, Maero, Matau, Tuuhourangi, Taongina, Rapuwai, and sometimes in the 1800\u2019s by the Europeans, \u00a0the Maori gorilla .<\/p>\n

Yet this should really come as no surprise considering our beautiful country here was one of the last major landmasses to be settled by humans. So in addition to its beautiful soaring mountains, our pristine beaches and rivers, and our ecological diversity that has evolved in large part, due to our remoteness and long isolation from the rest of the world\u2026 that there are still unexplored and many untamed regions in our beautiful islands that absolutely hold mystery and undiscovered life. So why should it be any surprise that in hidden, and well isolated spots around New Zealand, we could find our Rapuwai communities?\u00a0 Considering they are found through out the world. Why should we be any different?<\/p>\n

I so I did delve deeper into this subject and in my research discovered a number of people in NZ who actually research this. I tried to approach them all to participate in this episode. \u00a0One flatly refused to have anything to do with my show and was very curt. One whose emails kept bouncing back, and another gentleman who I was delighted to find, returned my emails and questions about his personal experiences with this creature. He also agreed to share his experiences with us all. He will be coming up a little later in this episode. But first a little history on this creature in NZ and the areas where these can be found\u2026. Let\u2019s begin our journey into this part of New Zealand\u2019s shadowlands\u2026.<\/p>\n

Since the Maori arrived in NZ on their great canoes, they have been aware of the Rapuwai\u2026. And in fact, would avoid many different regions of NZ, because they knew that those areas were the homes of these beings, and that not all of these beings were benevolent. That in fact there were some who would capture and kill the unwary warrior.<\/p>\n

The Maori that lived in the regions where these creatures were to be found, lived in terror of them for the most part, and many of their legends have these Rapuwai, attacking and killing any poor, unfortunate soul who happened to cross path with them. Unprovoked attacks, displays of threatening behaviour \u2013 such as rock throwing, or the uprooting and throwing of logs, and extremely loud vocalisations. These are commonalities in historical reports from the local Maori of the behaviour of this being. And in fact, are commonalities in reported experiences even today. So the iwi or tribes local to these specific areas, learned very quickly to stay away from the areas where they lurked. But the Europeans who colonised this country also had dealings with this cryptid as well, and there are a number of historical newspaper accounts.<\/p>\n

\"\"The area around New Zealand\u2019s Porter\u2019s Creek, in the Mt Richmond forest park\u00a0 \u2013 in the South Island of NZ became the scene for a bizarre series of sightings \u00a0in the latter part of 1870. In these reported sightings the creature was described as some sort of gorilla-like creature. It was described as being around 5 feet tall, with sparse, scraggly hair covering its body, a tuft of hair on the top of the head, and with a pair of visible \u201ctusks\u201d sprouting from each side of the head or from the mouth depending on the report. This creature became know as the \u201cMaori Gorilla\u201d<\/p>\n

It was reported as being seen both on the shores of the creek and also on occasion wading through the water. According to reports published starting in September, 1870 in the Thames Advisor<\/em>, the creature was apparently well-known by the native Maori people, who referred to it as a tupuna<\/em>, or \u201cancestor.\u201d The Maori Gorilla was said to eat a wide variety of foods, including potatoes, pie crust, and nuts. The newspapers at the time speculated that it could be \u201cthe missing link\u201d or some sort of primitive form of human ancestor, and there was a great amount of interest expressed in tracking it down and capturing whatever it was.<\/p>\n

These sighting became frequently reported on in various newspapers at the time, including the\u00a0New Zealand Herald<\/em>, the\u00a0West Coast Times<\/em>, the\u00a0Auckland Star<\/em>, and the\u00a0Thames Advisor<\/em>. \u00a0In late September of 1870, the\u00a0Thames Advisor<\/em> ran an article which was subsequently picked up by several other publications claiming that the creature had been caught in a swamp near Porter\u2019s Creek with the use of hunting dogs. The article claimed that the creature had been captured and then its hands and legs tied up. The paper\u2019s description of this being, is very racially insensitive, and to me extremely offensive, so I am not going to read it out.<\/p>\n

After this report, the trail sort of goes cold and in fact the Thames Advisor<\/em> backtracks on its initial reporting of the story. So we are left wondering if it was all in fact a hoax?<\/p>\n

So what does the Moehau man look like? There are many different descriptions of this creature, and with some of the different names come slightly different descriptions.<\/p>\n

The Moehau<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Has been described as \u201cTerrible creatures, half man, half animal\u201d, with a very aggressive temperament, they apparently were only too happy to massacre and eat anyone that strayed into their domain. As tall as a man, completely hair covered, with marginally ape-like facial features. The primary difference from human appearance being the extremely long fingers, tipped with sharp talons, capable of tearing apart the toughest prey.<\/p>\n

The Toangina<\/strong><\/h4>\n

These were greatly feared by the population of the lower Wanganui River as they were said to viciously attack any fishermen who strayed into their territory. This vicious behaviour however seems to have abated in more modern encounters as the beasts in most instances flee on sight of humans. However, they have been seen as lately as merely 25 years past, recounted in the witnesses own words later on in this episode. She described him as being very tall, with black fur.<\/p>\n

The Rapuai<\/strong><\/h4>\n

These are believed, from legend, to be able to crush any strong Maori warrior with ease employing their large powerful hands.\u00a0They are said to be tool-producing beasts using wood and stone, the articles crafted are said to resemble those produced by Homo erectus hominids. These are gigantic, but slow clumsy beings with a really strong muscular stature.<\/p>\n

The Matau<\/strong><\/h4>\n

These are described as being ape like but 3m tall.<\/p>\n

So basically these different beings can be put into two catagories, those that are the stature of an ordinary human such as the Moehau, the Maero. That those that are extremely tall or of a giant stature, being the Matau, the Tuuhourangi, the Rapuwai, and the Toangina<\/p>\n

Where are they found in NZ?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So where precisely in NZ are these cryptids reportedly found? They are found all over NZ in fact,\u00a0 from the Coromandel region on the East Coast of the North Island of NZ\u2026 predominately in the Moehau Mountain range, from whence one of it\u2019s name derives, but in fact all of the Coromandel Ranges. They are also thought to inhabit both Mounts Tongariro and Ruapehu, the Karangahake Gorge. The Martha Mine Region, in Waihi, again on the East Coast of the North Island. The Waikaremoana region in the Urewera Ranges. In the Heapy River of the Northwest, Nelson State Forest Park. The Kaikoura Mountains, Fiordland National Park. They are said to be very common in the Haasts Pass area of the South Island, particularly around the Haast River. Also Lake Wakatipu in Central Otago, of the South Island, in the Marlborough District of the South Island. And in the North Island again, in the lower Waikato river region, and along the banks of the Whanganui river, as evidenced by this experience witnessed by a member of my Walking the Shadowlands Facebook group.<\/p>\n

One of the members of my Walking the Shadowlands FB group had an experience twenty-five years ago, when she, her Mum and her Uncle all saw a Moehau man on the banks of the Whanganui river. She has requested to remain anonymous, so I will not identify her, but this was her experience, in her own words.<\/p>\n

Whanganui Experience<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I remember when I was about six\u2026. Must have been about six or five, we went for a school trip. We went\u2026. I used to go to a little school near the Whanganui River. And we went for a school trip on the riverboat, to go and see the bridge to nowhere, cause it\u2019s a pretty long walk inland, and it\u2019s only half an hour from the river. And at the time my uncle, he was running a business with the river boats, so he took our school up there. School was only about ten kids, and so it wasn\u2019t like\u2026. You know? Thousands of kids trying to take them up a river.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Well anyways, we went up there and I dunno\u2026. I just had this weird, eerie feeling, like someone was watching me. And I kept on saying to Mum, cause Mum came, and I kept on saying to Mum: \u201cMum there\u2019s someone in the trees watching! I can feel them! I can\u2019t see them, but I can feel them watching.\u201d And Mum\u2019s like don\u2019t be silly \u2013 \u2018cause, you don\u2019t want to scare your kids \u2013 you know? She totally believed me though. I could see that she believed me. I\u2019m pretty sure that she could feel it too. And, I kept on saying to my Uncle, there\u2019s somebody in the trees watching, and he goes yeah, nah, don\u2019t worry about it. It\u2019s fine. It\u2019s just in the trees.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Well anyways, we went up to the bridge to nowhere and it was fine when we got off the boat and went up and had a look at the bridge to nowhere. It\u2019s really beautiful up there, I totally recommend going to have a look. Well anyways, we were on our way up [stream], we were back on the river boat. I could feel this thing watching, I could see it sort of like running in the trees, following the boat. Following the boat down, \u2018cause, we were going really slowly cause it was in the middle of the summer time and it\u2026. And so the river was quite low and the bottom of the boat was scraping along the rapids. So we were going really slowly, so as not to punch a hole in the bottom of the boat.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Well any ways, I could see this hairy, gorilla looking thing running along\u2026. And, it was black. And I dunno, I just felt really uncomfortable about it, like I just didn\u2019t want to stop. We just\u2026. We couldn\u2019t stop, and I kept on telling Uncle, and I was holding onto him and squeezing him for dear life! I said to him, you can\u2019t stop this boat, and we got a bit stuck on a rapid, and I said: \u201cDon\u2019t stop! Don\u2019t stop!\u201d I was freaking out. And this thing was standing there, just looking at us, and we got the boat going\u2026. And it was just absolutely, truly terrifying and my Uncle saw it. My Mother saw it. I don\u2019t know about anybody else, I don\u2019t think they saw it, but it\u2026. Yeah it was only because I could see it, and I noticed it\u2026. And it was\u2026. I dunno, it just felt so freaky, it was\u2026.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t like it. I didn\u2019t like its energy. I didn\u2019t like how, they way it was running after us\u2026. Yeah it just felt like that it was defending something and it just really didn\u2019t want us to be there. Yeah. It was really tall\u2026. Like the tallest person whom I know, he was 6 foot taller. It was taller than them, from what I could see, from what I remember\u2026. And, I dunno\u2026. I just remember him \u2013 It had like, black fur\u2026. And, I don\u2019t really remember much more. I don\u2019t really remember its face. I was just a little kid. I just remember being\u2026. Just the feelings I had about it, being I was actually really terrified and I didn\u2019t want it to come anywhere close to me.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some other reported sightings over the years\u2026<\/p>\n

Evidence<\/strong><\/h4>\n