The strangest aspects of the human experience

The Patupaiarehe

03/28/2025

Most history books will tell you that the Maori were the firsts inhabitants of New Zealand, first settling the islands between 1280-1350 CE but Maori tradition tells of a different people nestled deep in New Zealand's foggy mountains where they could hide from sunlight which was deadly to them

Their skin was pale and unadorned, their hair blonde or red, and their eyes shades of blue, black or green. They were known to play the most beautiful flute music and prefer their food raw. They lived in large guarded communities, though their buildings and structures were said to be invisible to human eyes

These are known as the Patupaiarehe and that's what we're here to talk about

The Maori

Episode: File 0144: Tooth Fairies of Aotearoa

Release Date: Mar 28 2025

Researched and presented by Cayla


To talk about Patupaiarehe we must first talk about the Maori and New Zealand. New Zealand is one of the last large land masses to be settled by humans and is part of a pretty amazing feat of human ingenuity and determination.

The people that would become the Maori are thought to have originated in Taiwan, having set off into the Pacific Ocean some time around 3000 BC. It is a little over 9,000 km or 5,600 miles between Taiwan and New Zealand and the grand majority of that distance is open ocean

Today, it's easy to take for granted ocean travel. Anyone with the means and a passport can easily book a cruise around the world without a second thought to the millennia worth of technical advances that have made such a service so widely available for something as mundane as a vacation

The Polynesians didn't have GPS, or electric motors or massive vessels capable of carrying thousands and large enough to cut through waves potentially dozens of feet tall.

For a long time, people insisted that the Polynesians never intended to find the islands that they did, that they just got lost and got lucky, Europeans not being able to fathom how they navigated with nothing but the sky, the ocean and their double canoes, as it wouldn't be another 4000 years before Europeans really began to traverse the open ocean (the Vikings figured this out sooner, but the Europeans didn't like them either)

It certainly wasn't luck, but a well honed, time honoured skill called Wayfinding. Polynesian wayfinders would use the sun, stars, winds, currents, birds, fish and even bio-luminescence to navigate across impossible stretches of water without a hint of land in sight. This led them to settle most every island in the Pacific from Borneo, to Hawaii, to the Easter Islands

This method of travel and exploration was debated even up until recently, leading to the creation of the Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii in 1973 who sought to recover the ancient knowledge and demonstrate how these techniques actually worked. DNA analysis long supported the spread of the Polynesian people, but it was the PVS that proved it was possible, sailing the Polynesian islands using traditional methods and technology, even building their own ship, Hōkūleʻa, their inaugural voyage making the trip from Hawaii all the way to Tahiti, 4,200 Km or 2,500 miles apart.

In Maori legend the explorer, Kupe discovered New Zealand when pursuing a giant octopus, who was later followed by a great fleet that settled the islands. Archaeological and genetic evidence found since supports the arrival of the first Polynesian settlers between 1250-1300 CE, coming in waves over the decades as a planned and deliberate event with the intention of settling the islands

There was a time where the English pushed the narrative that the Moriori had settled New Zealand first, as a way to justify their own colonization of the islands, but it has since been proved that the Moriori of the nearby Chatham Islands had split off from the Maori of New Zealand sometime around 1500 and were not the remnants of a devastated society.

The Maori lived relatively peacefully in New Zealand, which they called Aotearora, meaning "land of the long white cloud"(though this name originally only applied to the northern island, it would only be after colonization that this name would apply to the entirety of what we call New Zealand).

New Zealand was a strange land, cooler than most of the Polynesian islands, so many of the crops that the Polynesians knew how to grow and were dependent on couldn't grow here, or could do so only small areas with great effort. They were used to relying natural plants like coconuts and bananas, but New Zealand did not have those and it wasn't just the flora that was different, but the fauna as well.

New Zealand had almost no native land mammalian life, instead it was ruled by birds, thought to have 196 native species when people first landed. Many species that were native to New Zealand could not be found anywhere else in the world, and many grew to staggering sizes with no or minimal threat of natural predators. Among these is a critter we've discussed before, the flightless nocturnal parrot the kakapo that Halli discussed all the way back in episode 15. But the kakapo is far from the only flightless bird of New Zealand, there's the kiwi of course, but when the Maori arrived there was the largest flightless bird that ever existed, the Moa

The largest species of moa had been 12 ft tall and weighed 500 lbs. A fully grown moa could easily feed large a family and it's said that with their size and having never encountered humans before the birds had little fear of them. Prior to humans, the moa's only natural predator was Haast's eagle. It's fitting that the largest flightless bird was hunted by the largest eagle to have ever existed. It's estimated that Haast's eagles weighed between 20-40 lb, with its wingspan being between 8.6 - 10ft, the largest living species of eagle is the golden eagle which weighs between 9-14 lbs and has a wingpsan of 5.11-7.8 ft. Biologists theorize that the haast's eagle's size is a direct correlation to the size of its prey

Unfortunately, the moa is thought to have went extinct within a century of the arrival of the Maori, and with it haast's eagle. On a brighter note, the moa is thought to be a good candidate for revival via cloning. With how recently it went extinct and with the substantial quantities of remains gives a lot of material to work with, including a mummified specimen of a foot found in the 90s. A Japanese geneticist Ankoh Yasuyuki Shirota has began DNA extraction efforts


Today it's estimated that the islands have 80,000 native species of flora and fauna, with all of the frogs and reptiles, 90% of insects, 80% of vascular plants and 25% of bird species being unique to New Zealand alone

The Maori weren't a singular people but made up of dozens of tribes, which they call iwi, which each occupied their own territories known as rohe. For much of the early years, New Zealand was a land of plenty and the iwi lived in relative peace, but around 1500 the area entered a cooler period referred to as a "little ice age", this alongside increasing populations led to greater competition for resources and increased inter-tribe warfare. But they didn't just try to deal with these challenges with violence, a handful of systems were developed including tapu and rāhui which used religious and supernatural threats to encourage conservation of resources


In 1642 the first European explorers found New Zealand. This expedition was led by Dutch, Abel Tasman but he didn't make landfall, encountering the Maori on the sea, it's thought that he attempted to approach them, but without understanding greeting customs of the Maori it triggered an aggressive response from the locals who chase Tasman and his crew off. It wouldn't be until over a century later in 1769 that Europeans attempted to make contact again with the arrival of Captain James Cook. It's said initially there was tensions leading to violence, but Cook had brought with him a navigator named Tupaia, who was Tahitian. Tupaia was able to communicate with the Maori and begin to build a relationship with the locals

Early relations are said to have been relatively peaceful, but once Cook showed up, more Europeans began to make the journey and with it all the hallmarks of colonization. The Europeans brought with them disease, invasive species and a shitty attitude. Of course, they wanted New Zealand for themselves, initially this was under the guise of wanting to trade and trading did occur, including the trade of firearms to some iwi which made inter-iwi warfare all the more deadly. The English began to try and take the land which led to even more bloodshed. By 1839 it was estimated that 2000 European had moved onto the islands and after repeated pleas from the Maori, the crown finally offered to intervene, drafting up the Treaty of Waitangi.

The agreement was drafted both in English and the native Maori language, and 500 Maori chieftans would sign the paper, not realizing until much later that the conditions in the Maori version was vastly different than the English. In the Maori version the Maori would maintain all rights and authority over their land but would have a vague governship with England, but in the English version in no unclear terms, the crown would all but own New Zealand. This treaty gave the crown the right to "buy" land from the Maori, but this could be done by simply making an agreement with one person in an iwi. A lot of underhanded bullshit occurred during this time all the way up to today, but the Maori have been fighting hard to earn back their rights and lands, one tribe even receiving an apology from Queen Elizabeth. Progress is being made, it's slow and is a non-stop battle

The Patupaiarehe

So with all that out of the way, let's talk about the Patupaiarehe

To start us off, here is a story by Hoani Nahe, a Ngāti Maru (Hauraki) elder of the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Now listen. When the migration arrived here they found people living in the land – Ngati Kura, Ngati Korakorako and Ngati Turehu, all hapu or sub-tribes of the people called Patupaiarehe. The chiefs of this people were named Tahurangi, Whanawhana, Nukupori, Tuku, Ripiroaitu, Tapu-te-uru and Te Rangipouri. The dwelling places of these people were on the sharp peaks of the high mountains – those in the district of Hauraki (Thames) are Moehau mountain (Cape Colville), Motutere (Castle Hill, Coromandel), Maumaupaki, Whakairi, Kaitarakihi, Te Koronga, Horehore, Whakaperu, Te Aroha-a-uta, Te Aroha-a-tai, and lastly Pirongia, at Waikato. The pa, villages, and houses of this people are not visible, nor actually to be seen by mortal (Tangata Maori) eyes – that is, their actual forms. But sometimes some forms are seen, though not actually known to be these people … Sometimes this people is met with by the Maori people in the forests, and they are heard conversing and calling out, as they pass along, but at the same time they never meet face to face, or so that they mutually see one another, but the voices are heard in conversation or shouting, but the people are never actually seen.
On some occasions also, during the night, they are heard paddling their canoes … At such times are heard these questions: 'What is it?' 'Who are the people who were heard urging forward their canoes on the sea during the night?' or, 'Who were heard conversing and shouting in the forest?' The answer would be as follows: 'They were not Tangata Maori, they were atua, Patupaiarehe, Turehu, or Korakorako.'
Hoani Nahe

It's important to note that prior to European colonization, the Maori relied on an oral history, so the first written accounts about the patupaiarehe we have come from either stories told to colonizers or Maori that had learned to write and read. While it's easy today to think of the Maori as a people of a single identity, that's not the case at all. For centuries the Maori lived in their distinct iwis, each with their own stories, dialects and cultural differences. Many of the iwis had contact with each other, and all iwis came from the original Polynesian settlers so they have more in common than not, but it's important we recognize that these differences exist and unfortunately some of these iwis have been lost forever

The interesting thing about stories like those about the patupaiarehe is that despite there being these separate groups, they all seemed to have their own accounts of these mysterious entities. Some tribes reported that the patupaiarehe were short, others that they were the same height as Maori. Some reported they were aggressive and even hostile to the Maori, while others reported them as friendly, having struck up trade or friendships with them

There's a handful of things that seem consistent

  • They were supernatural beings
  • They had either very pale white or ochre colored skin
  • They were un-tattood
  • They had blond or red hair
  • They played impossibly beautiful music
  • Thought be nocturnal or to only come out on foggy days
  • And they seemed to be scared of fire or steam

Many people speculate that these stories may be based on or inspired by encounters with Europeans, there's even a less known name for the patupaiaerehe, pakehakeha, which has been suggested as a possible origin of the word pākehā, used to refer to Europeans, but legends seem to go back to before Europeans ever approached New Zealand. One theory suggests that the Maori who encountered the first Europeans led by Abel Tasmen in 1642 may have reacted the way they did, assuming Tasmen's crew were patupaiarehe.

Homes

"The fairies are very numerous people; merry, cheerful, and always singing, like the cricket" - Sir George Grey

It's thought that the patupaiarehe lived in deep forests and hilly or mountainous regions. Their communities were said to be quite large and well guarded, but that the structures themselves were invisible to the human eye

On the north island they were said to live in the mountains, such as Mount Pirongia, the Coromandel Range from Mount Moehau to Mount Te Aroha, the Urewera Ranges, and the Waitākere Ranges, with Mount Moehau thought to have been the most important

Some stories say the patupaiarehe live in kiekie or rata trees (as per the Rangitane of the Wairarapa region), using encircling vines as staircases. The rangitane thought their patupaiarehe had been banished from Wairarapa

Physical Appearance

The Rangitane of the Wairarapa region the patupaiarehe are short, have fair skin, eyes that glow, long tasselled hair

I could see them, tall people, with red hair, pale and half naked, dancing on the sand. I woke my other cousins and we sneaked closer hiding behind some driftwood.

[...] Cousin Rose spotted two of them working on one of the nets. She squealed and they turned to us, looked us straight in the eye. I was so frightened I couldn't move and Rose started to cry. They came closer as if they were stalking us, like they were floating and dancing at the same time with their red hair blowing around them. Their legs were mucky, covered in hair, and they had hooves like that of a goat. They looked so powerful, their skin so pale, almost transparent and their eyes were huge and pink. Pink staring eyes. It was like, they were telling us to come with them, hypnotising us, wanting to take us away. I could do nothing except grip my cousins as tightly as I could. Pita had a stick but we knew it'd be useless.
Then suddenly they stopped. Stopped and turned away from the beach and towards the hills. Pita later said he could hear a fine whistling sound, like a hollow bone when it's blown, flute sounds floating down through the valleys. They all turned, those strange people, seeming to glide effortlessly away, up over sand dunes and into the bush covered hills [...]

Wiremu Grace


As mentioned, the patupaiarehe were not tattooed. Traditionally many if not most high ranking Maori would undergo the process of tattooing known as tā moko. These tattoos are culturally sacred and were said to be unique person to person and often told the stories of their ancestors and their achievements. Men and women got these tattoos most frequently on their face but other parts of their bodies as well. Traditionally a chisel like tool was used to apply these tattoos, which not only deposits ink, but engraves the designs into the skin. Since the switch to needles the skin isn't engraved, but still of great cultural importance

Albinos are considered the offspring of Maori women with fairy lovers. The patupaiarehe may be seen in the early morning. They are full-sized, dress in white, are not tattooed, and nurse children in their arms

(Taylor, Ika a Mam ed. 2 (1870) 153-154). [Note: the full reference, on p. 154, should be read; there are several details of importance which are not in the transcript. Ed.] They are a very numerous

people, merry, cheerful, singing like crickets [cicadas]. They work at night and cease working when the sun rises. Their skin is light like that of a European. They do not bend down the reeds when they walk* Their canoe is a stem of flax [ ? a mokihi]. From them Kahukura learns to make netting for fish nets (Grey, Polynesian Mythology ed. 2 (1885) 178-183). They are a peaceful folk and have guardian ship of the sacred places (wahi tapu). They use wooden and bone flutes called putorino and koauau. Their path is in the drifting clouds and the low-lying banks of cloud (Cowan, J.P.S., 30 (1921) 96-102, 142-151). Of the double rainbow, male and female, the upper, which is male, is called Turehu (Smith, J.P.S., 28 (1919) 29). As regards the colour of their hair, the comparison in Lore of the Whare-wananga, vol. 1 (1913) 183, is good: 'their hair was like the flowers of the plant toetoe, ie 'flaxen-haired'] - 

HAWAIIAN MYTHOLOGY Martha Warren Beckwith Review by: J.C.A.

Interactions with People

The rangitine found the patupaiarehe to be mischievous and even malevolent towards men, known to carry off animals, preserved food, children and sometimes wives

Many stories say it was the patupaiarehe that taught the Maori how to make fishing nets, and some stories tell of the patupaiarehe coming in the night to repair torn nets.

Music

They were said to play their music on kōauau which is a small hand flute commonly made from moa or albatross bone  or pūtōrino (bugle flutes), sometimes accompanied by song and sometimes this was the only way you knew they were approaching on foggy days

In many stories tribes heard the music but never saw the patupaiarehe, so assumed there had to be people making the music

Language

Most stories report that the patupaiarehe could converse with the Maori

Patupaiarehe Tribes

In the same way we can't consider the Maori a monolith, there are stories that talk about different patupaiarehe tribes, and not all were friendly with each other. In particular the patupaiarehe of the Waitākere Mountain Range were known as Tahurangi and said to have warred with the Patupaiarehe of the Hunua Mountain Ranges. In the Maori language, the Waitākere Mountain Range is called Te Wao Nui a Tiriwa, with Tiriwa being the name of the chief of the Tūrehu.

One story tells of a female patupaiarehe of Hunua named Hinemairangi eloping with Tamaireia of the Waitākere patupaiarehe, war parties were sent from both sides to retrieve the couple, their priests chanting to bring down super heat sun rays that clashed in a fiery explosion. This story is often used to explain the volcanic activity of the Tamaki Isthmus (some stories use different names, Hui of Waitakere and Wairere of Hunua)

Shaping the Land

One legend talks about a nameless hill who was a servant to the chiefly mountain Oẗnewainuku, but this hill was desperately in love with another hill called Puwhenua, but Puwhenua loved the chief. Hopeless and distraught the nameless hill decided he had nothing to live for and called upon his friends the patupaiarehe to drag him down to the ocean so that he may drown. They agreed using ropes they plaited with their magic to begin to haul him to the ocean, singing a magic chant as they go

Hauling the hill carved out a valley where the river Waimapu now flows and they pulled him all the way to edge of the ocean, but the sun began to rose, which would melt the patupaiarehe so they fled to the depths of the forest. The patupaiarehe gave a name to the hill, Mauao which means "caught by the dawn" and in time this hill grew greater than even his rival Oẗnewainuku, and today is known as Maunganui

Beyond New Zealand

It's not surprising at all that different iwi in New Zealand share similar legends and stories, but what is surprising is that some of these stories aren't just found in New Zealand. Many Polynesian societies share legends about their core pantheon, though names and context can vary, characters like Maui, the trickster demigod can be found in most of the pacific island nations' folklore.

In the same way there are a handful of legends that appear to feature patupaiarehe like figures that also appear outside of New Zealand. Some folklorists who study these stories believe this indicates that the story goes back much further to a common ancestor. In case of the patupaiarehe this could mean, if they were a real people, that they were wider spread or maybe even sharing similar origins as the Polynesian people

One such story tells of a man and a woman who meet serendipitously almost as if by fate and fall in love. The man is forced to leave, causing the woman much despair, driving her to end her life. Upon discovering this, the man descends into the underworld to rescue her soul and brings her back to life after which they marry.

Agathe Thornton, an academic in New Zealand noticed that the story existed both in Maori and Hawaiian legend and went on to write a journal article comparing the five versions she had found, two from Maori and three from Hawaii, all recorded between 1866 and 1918. While each version had slight variations, it was clear to her that they had the same origins, likely indicating that the original story was over 1000 years old

In one of the Maori versions of the story the man is named Miru. Miru is a Maori folkhero of legend who was said to be a patupaiarehe who took a mortal wife and invited her father to live with them in the secret world of the patupaiarehe. Miru is said to have taught his father in law all manner of things, including magic and bids his father in law to share this with his people

History

The people of Rangiawhiao talk about the turehu, which as another term commonly accepted to be synonymous with patupaiarehe. Their legends talk of Maui the trickster demigod, a common Maui story is how he took his mother's fishing hook and pulled the islands up from the ocean so that the people may live there. The Rangiawhiao tell that after Maui did this with the north island of New Zealand, he gave the land to the descendants of Kui people. Legend says there were a short people who moved into New Zealand after Maui left

Then came the Tutu-mai-ao from across the ocean. It is said that they began to kill the Kui, but also intermarry with them until the Kui people disappeared entirely. Then came another race from across the see the Turehu, who in the same way attacked and married the Tutu-mai-ao until they too were gone. Then came the Maori who are considered descendants of Maui, who also did the same until the Turehu went extinct and all that remained was the Patupaiarehe

Now Tutu-mai-ao has become an indistinct being, which, when looked at for some time, disappears. And Turehu is now represented by the Patu-pai-a-rehe (wild men), who go on the mountain, where their language, when heard, is taken for that of man, but which is only the voice of the Turehu spirits, who are now no more, but have been exterminated, and what they knew and their history have been lost. - Rangi-papa Creation Myth

Are/Were They "Real"?

The patupaiarehe are thought to be gone now, died out for a variety of reasons. Mount Pureora was considered to be the last refuge of the patupaiarehe, a house was built there to help maintain contact with the mysterious people

Thus far there has been no scientific evidence that has been found to support another people having inhabited New Zealand prior to the Maori. This had once been a common theory, but as science and archaeology have advanced the idea has fell out of favour for most academics, it doesn't stop it from being an intriguing theory though.

There are a handful of different cultures that some believe may have beaten the Maori to the punch: Melanesians, Celts, Greeks, Egyptians or the Chinese. Some point out similarities between Celtic and Maori beliefs and legends around death, but there has yet to be any hard evidence connecting the two

kaimanawa wall
kaimanawa wall

Theories of a pre-Maori civilization are considered little more than conspiracy theories. Some believe these theories to be coming from racist roots trying to undermine the achievements of early Polynesian settlers

There's a few pieces of "evidence" that such theorists often point to. One is the kaimanawa wall which appears like a chunk of wall constructed with masonry, which the Maori do not do, but both archaeologists and geologists agree that this is a natural formation and not one that is manmade

Some have found boulders they believe to be of Celtic origin, arguing that the putpaiarehe had in fact been Celts and not supernatural beings. These suggest these boulders that are found on the tops of hills to be advanced astronomical measuring devices similar to Stonehenge, claiming there's no other way the stones could've found their way up there, a claim that geologists argue against.

One theory came from the alleged discovery of skulls on the north island that were excavated and sent to the University of Edinburgh for analysis who confirmed they were of Welsh origin, but when Vice investigated these claims the university denied any such analysis occurring and led to much outrage at the thought that this amateur archaeologist may have disturbed a Maori burial site which is not only illegal but horribly offensive, but no evidence was ever found of this outside of the man's claims to have made such a discovery

It should be noted that near all modern proponents of these theories are amateur academics at best

So does this mean the patupaiarehe only existed in legend?

Depends on what you believe

The fact of the matter is we have no hard scientific evidence that they existed, but that doesn't mean they didn't, it just means no evidence has been found, no physical remains, artifacts or signs of structures. New Zealand isn't super big so to have not found anything by this point does not make it likely anything will be found in the future, but stranger things have happened and science is always moving forward

Then there's the supernatural element. Patupaiarehe were said to melt in sunlight, which could suggest a state of death where there would be no physical remains. If we are to believe that the patupaiarehe were supernatural entities, it's possible they did exist in a way that wouldn't leave behind physical evidence or evidence that we would typically look for when confirming the existence of a people

Then there is the spiritual aspect. Many legends are not intended to be taken literally, they're meant to teach lessons, entertain or find explanations for things we don't yet know.

There are Maori that still live today that believe in the patupaiarehe, and will swear up and down to their existence, some claiming to have even seen them themselves, just like the fairyfolk of Ireland. And sometimes belief is the most powerful force there is, whether that be a genuine desire to want things to be true, or as a method to hold on to a past and culture that has stood face to face with extinction time and time again. It's important to hold on to the things the matter to us, all the more so for the intangible and unexplainable as those tend to disappear first

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