Case file · Folklore / legend
Pukwudgies of Assawompset
Pukwudgies are small, mischievous and sometimes dangerous forest people of Wampanoag and other Algonquian traditions. A 1906 history of Middleborough set a legend of them at Assawompset Pond.
1906 CE · 41.84, -70.93 · status: legend
The account
The earliest published tale is Ojibwe ('Puck Wudj Ininee', Schoolcraft, 1839), and Longfellow spread the word in 'Hiawatha' (1855). Wampanoag tradition makes them enemies of the giant Maushop. Modern ghost-hunting lore ties them to the Freetown State Forest in the Bridgewater Triangle.
The sceptical view
The Freetown sightings are recent internet-era folklore with no link to recorded tradition.