Encounter Atlas

Creature index / Fairies and little people

Nimerigar

Also called Little people of the Rocky Mountains

A little people in Shoshone tradition, said to shoot poisoned arrows from tiny bows.

The Nimerigar are a little people in the traditions of the Shoshone of the Rocky Mountains. In the stories they are fierce and warlike and shoot poisoned arrows from tiny bows. The name is often translated as 'people eaters'. Some tellings say they ended the life of any of their own who became too sick to take part in their society.

In the 1930s gold prospectors in Wyoming's Pedro Mountains found a tiny mummy, nicknamed 'Pedro', in a cave. Newspapers called it an adult 'pygmy', and it soon became linked to the Nimerigar. Later examination of it, and of a similar mummy in the 1990s, showed these were the remains of Native American infants born with anencephaly. Pedro itself has since been lost.

These are the traditions of a living people, and the mummy story says more about how outsiders used them than about the Nimerigar. Similar little-people traditions exist among many other nations of the region.

What witnesses report

  • Small arrows or tiny tracks
  • Being shot at from the rocks with no one seen
  • Small figures in mountain caves

Famous cases

    Seen the Nimerigar?

    Tell us what happened. Every report is read by a person before it goes on the map, and you can stay anonymous.

    Report a Nimerigar encounter Not sure what it was?

    Related

    Yunwi Tsunsdiaka Little People, Yûñwï Tsunsdi'The Little People of Cherokee tradition, knee-high helpers who love music and want to be left alone.Makiawisugaka Makiaweesug, MuhkeahweesugThe Little People of Mohegan tradition, led by Granny Squannit and honoured with baskets of food.Pukwudgieaka Puk-Wudjie, PukwudgeeA knee-high forest being from Native American tradition, now part of Bridgewater Triangle lore.Menehuneaka Manahune, Menehune of KauaʻiIn Hawaiian tradition, a people of master builders said to finish great stone works in a single night.Korpokkuraka Koropokkuru, Koro-pok-guruIn Ainu tradition, a little people who lived in the land before the Ainu and traded with them by night.