Nimerigar: Mythological Race Of Little People Living In Wyoming

A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - Native Americans of the Sioux, Cheyenne, Crow, and Arapaho have a rich oral tradition of a race of tiny people, commonly known as "little people."

The tradition of “little people” was widely known among the Native people, long before the European settlers came to North America. Image source

Also, Comanche stories of the so-called Nunnupis, Hawaii, have the Menehune and stories of Cherokee people mention the Yumwi.

According to stories, these "little people" are tiny creatures about 20 inches to three feet tall.

Some Native tribes called them "tiny people eaters," while others believed they were healers or probably spirits or mythological creatures similar to fairies and leprechauns.

The "little people" tradition was widely known among the Native people long before the European settlers came to North America.

According to the Shoshone Indians of Wyoming that share boundaries with such states as Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho, these little people, known as the Nimerigar, were said to have lived in the Wind River and Pedro ranges of Wyoming.

Not human-friendly but rather aggressive, the Nimerigar used to shoot poisoned arrows from tiny bows.

Stories about the "little people" have been long regarded as human fantasies until certain discoveries began to suggest the contrary.

In 1932, a curious tiny mummy – about 6 ½ inches tall in its seated position, and estimated at 14 inches tall in a standing position – was found when Cecil Main and Frank Carr were digging for gold in the San Pedro Mountains about 60 miles southwest of Casper, Wyoming.

The ancient body's small size and features, later dubbed the Pedro Mountains Mummy, indicated it could once have been a member of the hidden race of the "little people" living in America.

Interestingly, in the book of William J. Bahmer, "Centennial History of Coshocton County," we learn that missionary David Zeisberger suggested in 1778 the possible existence of Nimerigar or other little peoples in North America. Near Cochocton, Ohio. Zeisberger believed that a particular burial ground contained several remains of a pygmy race, about 3 ft in height.

"The long rows of graves of the pygmy race at Coshocton were regularly arranged with heads to the west, a circumstance which has given rise to the theory that these people were sun-worshippers, facing the daily approach of the sun god over the eastern hills. Acceptance of the sun-worship surmise does not necessarily imply a deduction that this pygmy race may have descended from the river people of Hindostan or Egypt. Prehistoric man, wherever found, seems to have been a sun-worshipper".

Archaeological evidence of the Nimerigar creatures needs to be included. As long as we cannot find and examine the skeletons of this tiny race of beings, these creatures remain a mystery.

Written by – A. Sutherland  - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer

Updated on January 6, 2024

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