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In the Fort Caspar Museum, in Casper, Wyoming, there is a display with an old photograph and stories about the Pedro Mountain Mummy, which was found by some prospectors in 1932. Perhaps, this was one of the “Little People,” of which stories are told by many Native American Tribes in North America.
Named Ninnimbe by the Shoshone people, Stick People by the Nez Perce, Awwakkulé by the Crow, there are many legends about them.
This is one from the Arapahoe that appeared in The Wyoming Student, Laramie, June 1, 1909 – Both the Arapahoe and Shoshone Indians have traditions concerning a race of dwarfs which inhabited the North American continent in centuries past. These dwarfs were cannibals, inhabiting caves among the rocks and cliffs. They were expert hunters and a great terror to the Indians. In height they were about three feet, but very powerfully built and were physically perfect. An offset to this, however, was their mental deficiency, which alone gave their enemies, the Indians, a chance against them.
The Arapahoes, to emphasize the lack of intelligence on the part of these dwarfs, say that once, on a very bright night, one of these little cannibals was chasing an Arapahoe and was about to overtake him when they came to a small stream. This the tall Arapahoe easily jumped, but it was too wide for the dwarf and he stopped. Seeing the moon and stars reflected in the water, he took counsel and said, “Ah, that creek’s too deep for me,” and then turned back.
The following is the Arapahoe tradition of a council held by the dwarfs.
The cannibals were in a high canyon, hemmed in by Arapahoes. Retreat was cut off both at the head and mouth of the canyon. The walls were too steep to scale. A creek ran through the canyon, with brush and trees growing on the banks. The Arapahoes had set fire to the trees down stream and a strong wind was carrying it along toward the dwarfs in council.
“Who knows most?” cried the herald of the dwarfs. “Who knows most ? Who will tell us how to save our children?” A little cannibal arose. “I’ll tell you how to save our children. We’ll bury them in the sand, then the fire won’t hurt them.”
“How do we roast meat?” asked another little fellow, springing up. “We dig a hole in the sand and build a fire in the hole. Then we take the fire out and put the meat in and cover it up with sand. After a while our meat is roasted. This fire will make the sand hot. Do we want to roast our children?”
Everyone agreed that the plan would not do. “Who knows most?” cried the herald, “Who knows most?” A third dwarf got up. “Well,” said the herald, “how are we to save our children?”
“We’ll put the children in the water in the middle of the river,” said he, and sat down. “How do we boil meat?” asks a fourth, jumping up. “We take a rawhide and hang it on four sticks so it will hold water. We put in cold water and drop the meat into it. Then we drop hot rocks into the water till the meat is cooked. Won’t the fire make the rocks in the river hot? Do we want to boil our children?” we shall save our children. All said this plan would not do. “Who knows most?”
Again a dwarf got up. “I’ll tell you how We’ll take green boughs and leaves and make nests in the tops of the tallest trees and put our children into them.” “That’s the only thing to do,” said all. So they made nests in the tree tops and put their children into them, and put their wives into them, and then got in themselves. The fire came along and burned up the trees and the people in them, and that is why there are no dwarfed cannibals today.
(Mr. Roberts is the son of Reverend Roberts, who as been for so many years the missionary at Fort Washakie, where he heard the story.)
Donovin Sprague, historian and author, said that his people, the Sioux, have several stories about the Little People, saying they hide in the trees, and you are not supposed to make eye contact with them, but you should leave an offering for them. He said that they are reputed to be around Pompey’s Pillar east of Billings. If you want to find them you can go there at night, when its late, Sprague said.
In the Crow tribe’s tradition, the Little People helped the Crow.
Emaurice Flat Lip, at a presentation at Fort Phil Kearny, shared the Crow story about a boy who got lost from his family in the Pryor Mountains in what is now Montana. The Little People found him and raised him.
And that is how the Crow people were given the arrows and the medicine of the Little People.
The Native Peoples are not the only ones to have traditions of small humans that either help people or are more like tiny demons. Most people have heard of leprechauns in Ireland, and other counties have their own ‘Little People,” as well.
This from the Cheyenne, Daily Sun, January 27, 1891- The Curiosity Shop. Legends and Traditions of Many Nations Concerning Dwarfs. Everywhere we find legends and traditions of these wee people. How these legends were first set a float no one now can tell. What basis of fact is in them is just as great a mystery. Say that small races of men have been found —we know something about them now, both historically and ethnologically— they are not close enough to fable to explain and justify.
The small Lapps— the small earth men— the low statured tribes of India, do not account for the traditions of wise-and potent dwarfs who can do more than mortal men, though they look so feeble and are so misshapen. Somehow these wee people have grown out of men’s minds in all nations, from east to west, and the differences between them are to be traced to climate rather than origin.
The African Yumbos, white in color and but two–feet high in stature, are but the Icelandic duergar in another dress. The brownie of England and the Nis of the farther north are but the Irish leprechaun and the German kobold, like Himzelmann of Hildemublen, for example, and the same story is found in various disguises.
Although many of the stories are dismissed as legends, there is evidence that the Little People are not all myths. Like the Pedro Mountain Mummy, other remains of small humans have been found.
Thermopolis Independent, October 3, 1919 –Prospector Finds Bones of Dwarf Race – Squaw Creek Mesa Near Grand Canyon Burial Place of Ancient tribe. Prescott, Ariz.— That the Squaw Creek Mesa, 15 miles east of Grand Canyon, was the burial ground of an ancient tribe of dwarfs, is the opinion of H.L. Loomis, prospector, who says he recently uncovered portions of 19 skeletons there.
In the old graves the prospector found a cupful of turquoise and small piece of ancient pottery, some of which have been sent to the University of Arizona and the reminder to the Smithsonian Institution. All the bones found were those of a diminutive race, Loomis said.
Perhaps these graves were from people similar to the Little People in the following story.
The Wyoming Blade, July 29, 1915 –Don’t Like the Telephone– The Indians living near the celebrated Mesa Verde in southwestern Colorado are interested in the outcome of their predictions about the telephone line which the Government has just completed into the Mesa Verde National Park.
They declare that the poles won’t stand and that the wires won’t talk. When asked why, they solemnly reply that the “little people” will permit no such uncanny things to come so near their ancient homes, Nor can they be persuaded to the contrary. The white men will see for themselves, pretty soon.
The Indians live in great awe of the prehistoric dwellings of the Mancos Valley, which are, by far, the finest and best preserved of any in the American southwest. They will not believe that it was the Pueblo Indians, or any Indians in fact, who, so long ago that the oldest traditions describe them as they now are, carved these wonderful cities out of the cliffs. They believe that spirits built the cliff dwellings, and that spirits still inhabit them. They reverently call these spirits the “little people.”
For this reason it is difficult to induce Indians to approach the cliff dwellings. Whether or not the continued success of the Government telephone line will shake their superstitious faith remains to be seen.
So, whether or not there really were, and possibly still are, Little People in hidden clefs and caves of the mountains, like the Pryors; or around Lake DeSmet as it is said; or living near the Medicine Wheel, we may never know. But there seems to be some proof that there may have, at one time, been a race of dwarfs that inhabited our world, and were seen by the Native Peoples.
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Last modified: August 10, 2026