Freaky Friday Files: New Zealand Urban Legends
- Ash
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Disclaimer: Topics covered in this blog post may be distressing to some readers. Reader discretion advised.
Kia Ora friends! For this week's edition of Freaky Friday Files, I thought we could take a look at some of New Zealand (Aotearoa)'s Urban Legends. I've done a post on "Australia's Urban Legends", so why not do one for New Zealand too! We always love a shout-out to my homeland, of course, and there's a plethora of crazy legends. I really love some of the Māori folklore we have as well.
Hope you enjoy!! And if you ever get a chance to visit Aotearoa, it's the best place ever (totally not biased at all /s). Hehe!
Some related blogs:
Freaky Friday Files: Australia's Urban Legends Explored (7 min read)
Freaky Friday Files: The Bunny Man Urban Legend (4 min read)
Freaky Friday Files: Weird Facts about New Zealand (3 min read)
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New Zealand Urban Legends
Taniwha - Taniwha, which are part of Māori folklore, are supernatural creatures that tend to be compared to sea creatures/dragons/lizards. Taniwha are said to live in deep waters such as oceans, rivers, and lakes. Some taniwha are considered monsters, and others are considered protector guardians. One example of a protector taniwha is that of Tuhirangi, who is said to have accompanied Kupe (the first Polynesian Explorer to discover NZ) on his discovery of New Zealand. You can read more about Māori legends "here".
Patupaiarehe - Another part of Māori folklore is the patupaiarehe, which are supernatural fairy beings that are usually described as having pale to fair skin with either red or blonde hair. They are not any smaller than the average person, but direct sunlight can be fatal to them, so they are more active on foggy/misty days or at night. Patupaiarehe are said to be hostile towards humans, especially humans who intrude on their land, and they live in deep hilly forest or mountain areas. Buildings created by them are invisible to the human eye. They are more common in the North Island, and in the South Island, there is Maero, another race of supernatural persons.
Moehau Man (NZ's version of Bigfoot) - Some people say that this man may be a descendant of the Maoro people. The Moehau Man is basically New Zealand's version of Bigfoot IMO (like how so many countries have their own version). Anyway, the Moehou Man is a creature "said to dwell in the Coromandel Peninsula's Moehau of New Zealand's North Island". The Moehau Man is said to be a giant hairy man (for lack of a better explanation), but some people say that he may have just been an exaggerated report of an escaped gorilla. The Wikipedia page for this creature also says that the Moehau Man legend started as a joke that got out of hand. There's a guy who goes looking for the Moehau Man every year. You can read the article about him "here".
The Canterbury "Panther" - This is basically self-explanatory LOL. There's an urban legend that a black panther lives in the Canterbury region. I've also heard this one around Dunedin. The most likely explanation is that this "panther" is just sightings of large feral cats. However, the legend stems from the 1970s when a Kaiapoi resident, Frances Clark, claimed she saw a tiger outside her house. The resident did not plan on reporting the incident, but she got quite worried about attacks by a big cat. A search party, with the help of Orana Wildlife Park, went looking for what they thought may have been an escaped animal from the zoo. Spoiler alert, it was not - all their big cats were accounted for. Anyway, Frances Clark was ridiculed by the police and public until large paw prints appeared on Pines Beach, near her house. Nothing was ever found, but sightings of the large "panther" continue to this day. For every reported sighting, I recommend checking out "this article".
The Lyttleton Goat Man - I believe one of my friends back in NZ is working on a little project about this. When I have more information, I can share more! Anyway, the Lyttleton Goat Man is an urban legend about a half-man, half-goat creature that roams the streets of Lyttleton. It's New Zealand's very own cryptid.
Moose on the loose, specifically in Fiordland - This legend stems from the fact that 10 Canadian moose were actually released into the wild in 1910. They were considered extinct by 1952, but some people believe that maybe some of the moose survived. I believe Elk were released too, but I think people go h*nting for them now, so those are definitely still there (and maybe people mistake them for moose even though moose are SO much bigger?)
QII2 Exploding Swimmer - I've never heard of this one before now, but allegedly, there was a story about a swimmer at the QII2 (pronounced Q-E-2) who did a belly-flop from the highest diving platform and exploded from the impact. There are no records or any official injuries of this. All I can find is a few Reddit threads about it, and the Google AI overview says that it was an urban legend. Apparently, there were also rumours of razor blades in the hydroslides. Damn, wtf CHCH? These are some dark legends.
The White Lady of Auckland - I'm struggling to find resources for this one, but allegedly, there are reports of a mysterious ghost lady dressed in a white dress who haunts Auckland Domain. I did find out that there is a late-night food spot in Auckland called The White Lady that sells burgers.
The Albert Park Tunnels - There were tunnels built under Auckland's Albert Park that were constructed as air raid shelters during WWII. Post-war, the tunnels were sealed up to avoid any vandalism or misuse and as a protection against carbon dioxide build-up. The urban legend behind the tunnels says that the Navy left behind decaying, volatile ammunition in the sealed parts of the tunnels. Rumours circulated that if anyone dug too deep, there was danger of explosions.
The Waitomo Caves Hotel - I've written about this haunted location in my blog post "Haunted Places in New Zealand". Here is what I said (with grammar corrections): "This hotel is located directly above Waitomo Caves and is said to be haunted. I hate caves; they freak me out so much. I think I've explained why in previous blog posts, but anyway, this is one cave where you can see the cool glow worms in NZ (also, they look really ugly during the day, haha). There have been reports of a princess running around the corridors, bathtubs that drip blood out of their taps, and orbs floating around the building. Other people have reported feelings of cold air brushing through them, unknown laughter, the feeling that something or someone has gone through them, and the noise of a maid's trolley going through the hotel. Although I think you could debunk that one because shouldn't housekeeping be taking trolleys around anyway?" Interestingly, in 2011, a paranormal investigator for The Quantum Foundation claimed to have a time slip experience when visiting here, a paranormal experience where someone accidentally travels to a different time period without any clear explanation. Another fun fact about this place is that, allegedly, film director Guillermo del Toro saw a ghost when staying here, and it was some of the inspiration behind the movie Crimson Peak (2015).
The Vulcan Hotel - This is another one I've written about in my Haunted Places in New Zealand blog. I said, "Allegedly, this hotel is host to the spirit of Rosie, who was a s*x worker who used one of the rooms for her work back in the 1860s when the gold rush was prominent. Unfortunately, Rosie was k*lled by someone in her room after some of her gold - how she got paid - this gold which was never found, and her k*ller was also never found. Rosie is said to be very active in Room 1, where people feel a presence on their bed, and others feel someone on their feet, as well as reports of the room being extra cold when she's there. Rosie is a ghost that can only be felt, never seen, and she tends to target male guests over female guests."
The Mount Victoria Tunnel, Wellington - This tunnel is 623 metres long and 5 metres in height. There is a m*rder that surrounds this tunnel. During the construction, a young girl called Phyllis Avis Symons, who was only 17 at the time, was m*rdered and the perpetrator, George Errol Coats (who was 29), buried her alive in the fill of the tunnel in 1931. I think the two lived together, but it's not entirely clear, and she may have become pregnant. Anyway, the legend surrounding this m*rder is that drivers will toot their horn when going through the tunnel as a tribute to Phyllis. There have been many witness reports of people seeing the ghost of Phyllis, and maybe the horn honking is trying to scare her away?
Minnie Dean Myth (basically replacing Bloody Mary with Minnie Dean) - If you don't know the story of Minnie Dean, it's pretty f*cked up. Minnie Dean was found guilty of infanticide in 1895. I won't go into any more detail about that. Anyway, there is an urban legend that says if you say "Minnie Dean" three times into a mirror, she appears (I think this is just a NZ version of Bloody Mary).
Some Other Miscellaneous Legends I found from people on Reddit/Some Funny Ones
User CaddyShank says, "When I was a lad at high school the legend was of the naked pie man (palmy). Legend was he would sell you smokes/party pills/synthetics in school uniform, potentially sold weed if you befriended him, and when asked why he is called the naked pie man would drop his pants and yeah... Anyway we were junior as, but once we hit that age where your basically at a house party every weekend the coming of age ritual was to make the pilgrimage to the naked pie man and get your pie spin a yarn and get a killer myspace/bebo profile pic. Spoilers the legends were all true, and weirdly the dude actually ran a campaign for mayor a time or two".
Designer-Outcome9444 says, "I met a guy at a party in Grafton a few years back who told me the Navy had an anti-gravity device/machine hidden in tunnels behind the Devenport Naval base".
BlueMonkeysDaddy says, "If you work hard and stop eating smashed avo on toast every morning, then you, too, could afford a house."
goatjugsoup says, "There was this guy who was haunted by his mate trying to offer him chips even though he knew he wouldn't be able to eat his ghost chips..." Obviously, referencing the drink driving ad about ghost chips. A great ad to encourage people NOT to drink and drive.
Even though this isn't really an urban legend, more of a conspiracy theory/true thing, for a long time, New Zealand was omitted from global maps. I think that's crazy. Poor lil ol' NZ.
That's it! Let me know if I've missed any NZ urban legends in the comments below.
Stay safe,
Ka kite anō
Ash xx
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