Pugwis
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 20th, 2006
Artist, Kwagiulth style: Allan Blyth Pugwis Sea Monster Wood / Cedar bark Mask: 15 " w x 24" h Sooke Harbour House Gallery
John Kirk’s recent blog was about the Thetis Lake Gillman, and I’ll take a moment to expand on a comment I made there.
During my investigations at the time, I discovered a nearby bit of folklore that appeared to overlap with the Thetis Lake Monster’s description. I found that a similar creature has been reported in nearby Puget Sound in Washington State, as well as folkore from Vancouver Island. It appeared to me that the real sightings of this creatures had drifted, via the traditions of the Kwakwaka’wakw, into the area’s totem and mask art.
The Kwakwaka’wakw/ Kwakiutl / Kwagiulth are situated on the northern part of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It is from here that the lore and artifacts of the Pugwis is found.
The Merman named Pugwis appeared obviously to me to be related to the Thetis Creature’s appearance. While the Pugwis seem to be a cross between Sasquatch and the Creature from the Black Lagoon, they actually have their own body of rich Merbeing lore.
The Pugwis fish-like face and paired incisors make this undersea spirit a prominent figure in First Nations’ legend. It is easily recognized in wood-carved art. Here you will find two examples of Native mask art (above and below) for sale (the artists’ names are clickable). Interestingly, these two examples show spikes on the heads, although interpreted differently by two artists.
Kwak waka’ wakw Artist: Bill Henderson Pugwis Yellow Cedar Mask: 11" w x 17" h Black Tusk Gallery Art
Speaking of different interpretations of these creatures, the original newspaper artist’s drawing (at the bottom) of the Thetis Creature can be compared to Harry Trumbore’s sketch. Harry made his sketch under my direction, within the context of the original description and the broader Merman-Pugwis lore, for The Field Guide of Bigfoot and Other Mystery Primates.
You can see from the close-up of the Pugwis head in the Native art, it has some similarities with Trumbore’s imagined Thetis Creature.
- Similar Phenomena:
Is the Pugwis described as having buck-teeth? I would almost think those masks represent beaver, though I could be wrong (definitely no surprise there). Also– in a somewhat unrelated note, if you check out the book SPIRIT FACES you can see more Native American art from the Pacific Northwest cultures. Truly amazing works.
Beaver are small freshwater four-legged mammals. Pugwis have traditionaly been human-sized, bipedal, Merbeings of the ocean, the “Men of the Sea.” They also are said to have gills. “Beaver-like” is the way the Pugwis teeth are described, but probably not because they are beaver (which are not marine animals).
That’s interesting Mr.Coleman, I learn something new everyday on this site. I bet those creatures are still around somewhere. They are probably hiding from humans because we are too violent.
I was just thinking along these lines today. I was wondering just how straight these creatures were suppose to stand. people say these things stand up straight, but could that be meaning that they stand up pretty straight for a non-human animal? Best example I could come up with would be some of the known dinos that walked on 2 legs, except take away their tails. If something like that is seen, they would be walking errect, at least to the people scared out of their wits. I’m thinking at least a slight hunched back.
Years ago I went to a first salmon ceremony where the tribe was honoring the salmon and the teachings of the salmon people. Although the Salmon People were tall and human in appearance the pugwis story reminded me of them. I have heard native women tell their kids not to play near the water or the salmon people will take them. If some one drowns and their body is not recovered it is said they were taken by the salmon people. It would be interesting to know if there is a relationship between the pugwis and the salmon people.
This is the first time i heard of this creature, obviously to think that kind of creature may walk among us is a shocking thought, that animal is truly hideous. It would be truly amazing if someome could either capture one or video tape one. Loren, once again you found another great topic here. Merbeings i never really read much about these creatures, they are really human like. Like i say oceans and lakes have many mysteries and the thetis lake creature is no different.
A sea creature that likes to stand up straight and has big teeth. Has anyone considered a pacific sea otter. they do stand straight when curious, and they hang out in seaweed areas which might explain the spike like appearence of the head. I think this is a more likely model for these masks than a beaver.
I agree with oldbutnotstupid. There could be a logical explanation.
Also, could someone point the similarities out for me? I do not see many. The mask, I agree, does resemble a beaver most strikingly. Neither of the drawings have ‘bucked teeth’. The drawings are similar, but, to me, the mask looks like an entirely different ’species’.
That creature looks like combination of beaver and porcupine. That face is truly hideous someone try to get a videotape of it to see if it really exists.
I think the spiked ball on the paquis’s head is supposed to be a sea urchin
Correct, Darrent…it is…and the ‘hair’ often being described as seaweed.
Regarding the Otter suggestion by oldbutnotstupid: I lived on the “Central Coast” of California for over twenty years, and have observed the subspecies of Pacific Sea Otter, also known as the California Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris nereis), countless times along the ocean between San Luis Obispo, CA and Santa Cruz, CA during that period. I can’t imagine mistaking the size of one of these creatures to be similar to that of a human. Also, I have never seen one of these guys stand upright. Do the more Northerly occuring individuals do this? My understanding is that there was a time in the past when E. lutris nereis did routinely “haul out” of the water in large groups (prior to being nearly killed off in the 18th century), but the remnant population of this subspecies, likely all descended from the few individuals discovered in near Bixby Creek in Big Sur in the late 1930s does not do this, to my knowledge.
I think that a Sea Otter is no more promising as the origin of the Pugwis legend than the beaver would be, despite the sea urchin/seaweed features attributed to the head of the Pugwis.
#9 Dark Obsesser
I think the similarities are supposed to be in the bipedal stance and the “spikes” on the head (imagine, if you will, porcupine quills or even popular images of the chupacabras, with the spikes extending from the crown down the back of the head) The masks, though, are highly stylized (as art often is) and so that is why we see the differences in the spikes between the two masks and why they are more subdued in an attempt at a more ‘realistic’ treatment, wuch as we see in the drawings.