The pukwudgie is a human-like creature of Wampanoag folklore, its name rendered as the “little wild man of the woods that vanishes.” It stands roughly two to three feet tall and can appear and disappear at will, shapeshift, lure people to their deaths, work magic, loose poison arrows and create fire.
By legend the pukwudgie was once friendly to humans but turned against them, and is best left alone. It kidnaps people, pushes them from cliffs and strikes with short knives. An indifferent woodland force that appears and vanishes while luring people quietly toward ruin sits alongside our world’s dread — the thing that approaches with its reason sealed.