A race of subterranean dwarves

Hey folks,

I'm from South Africa and am in my early thirties.

I vividly recall many stories from my childhood of something known as a 'Tokoloshe' (pronounced Tok A Losh).

This thing is supposedly a short, hairy and absololutely scary entity, which can only be seen by children. It's roots are prevalent in the African culture who firmly believe in it, and say that witchdoctors are their creators.

The scary thing about it is that people claim that witchdoctors abduct infants and then cut off parts of the child's bodies whilst they're still alive. This then apparently 'makes a Tokoloshe' - which is claimed to be a living dead entity and which carries out the instructions given to it by it's master (the witchdoctor).

These entities, barely knee-high, are said to posses extraordinary strength and magical attributes.

Sooo scared are the African population of this, that to this day, many of them raise their beds on bricks so that these tokoloshe's may not reach them whilst they're asleep at night.

There are also many folks who visit these witchdoctors to 'cast spells' on other people in exchange for money - basically out of jealousy, hatred etc.

These 'spells' often involve the witchdoctor sending a Tokoloshe the way of the unfortunate victim. These Tokoloshe then wreak havoc in the lives of these unfortunate people by means of sheer terror in the form of what is frequently reported as 'poltergeist behaviour', making themselves visible to the kids, wrecking homes, cutting and hitting people etc.

I'd be glad to hear other fellow South Africans confirm the above-mentioned on my behalf.

Actually there is a lot of mentions of dwarves in the German mythology; Nordi. Worth a look at to be honest.
Here's a site I came across as well, detailing some background on the dwarf myth and some classical mythology.
www.worldlingo.com...(Mythologie)#Klassische_Mythologie

There is a mention of dwarves in the Hindu culture...Vishnu's 5th avatar, who appeared in the Tretayuga in order to destroy Bali (the King of the demons.)



It's funny that you put this in the Aliens and UFO forum...because, indeed, they could be brought into the AAT or even in modern days, in many UFO sightings.
This was just in the year of 1954: www.ufoinfo.com...
Look at number 277, 285, 43, 45, 145, 160, 171...this list goes on, just hit Ctrl+F and type in dwarf, and go through the various accounts. There are too many to quote!

Great thread

well say what you want about the OP but its in my opinion one of the more fascinating threads on ATS and actually the reason i came here. im sick to death of your going to die tomorrow threads. and this leads into a subject i actually enjoy discussing and researching into. my family has a history of shall we say "unusual" experiences when it comes to the supernatural. and its interesting to see all the opinions on it.

i'll say this for the non believers, im a bit envious of you. in the fact that you havent experienced something so mind jarring that you question the basic tenets of reality. there are far stranger things going on in the world than you could possibly comprehend. dont forget that science and logic are constructs of the human collective psyche. they are by no means the definitive last word on what is and what isnt. They are merely the tools with which we try to understand our reality. Infinity for one is a concept that neither maths nor science can explain or comprehend.

keep up the good work Sky. S&F

In Sri Lanka it is written that there was once (now extinct) a race of fierce dwarfs known as Nittawo. Humans had feared them, it is said, and also that these beings lived in caves.
Reading the original post I'm reminded of the fable of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' - werent these dwarfs miners ???

reply to post by spragology


this post'll do..=) firstly it looks like a 15th century woodcutting of a mine ( like you say.. the big wheel gives it away) dwarves? only heard of the dero and Tero.. dwarves (and Elves and Goblins ) can still be seen today.. if you know what to look for..

Originally posted by RSF77

Sorry I feel this isn't completely off topic and might even help your case.

Off-topic? No. I mention the "Hobbit" race of Asia in a link in the OP.

Originally posted by teck9ne
I have a dwarf story I heard. While visiting Mexico, a man walking through forest area noticed a lil guy. The lil guy turned around and ran, but would stop. Kind of waiting for the guy to follow him. Which he did. Until the dwarf went into a hole that went underground. The man followed him to the hole. And then he managed to squeeze himself into the hole. He said it was like a slide down, long slide down. He then saw a lot of dwarfs. It was a dwarf city. Not only that, he himself turned into a dwarf. Dont remember the rest he said, except that he cant locate the entrance anymore. Sounds a bit crazy. I know there was a lot more to this, but i dont remember.

This is good. Where in Mexico did you hear this?

Originally posted by queentut
In Sri Lanka it is written that there was once (now extinct) a race of fierce dwarfs known as Nittawo. Humans had feared them, it is said, and also that these beings lived in caves.
Reading the original post I'm reminded of the fable of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' - werent these dwarfs miners ???

strange i have never heard of this tale. Is this a Tamil or Singhalese mythology? im from that country so i would be very interested to hear of such a myth.

Edit to add

i am however familiar with the multitude of ancient giant folklore in relation to some of the mega structures built in sri lanka.

reply to post by Skyfloating


Sounds like a fun area of research. I do think that buried within all such legends and traditions are discoveries of segments of earth history which are not known. It is these, regardless of the final forms of the people involved, that I find of great interest.


Carry on... Where do we go next?

reply to post by Skyfloating


How can you tell they're not midgets, and not dwarfs?

reply to post by Dock9


Soundsd more like an epileptic seizure or a stroke to me...
2nd

reply to post by Skyfloating


hm...very interesting. It's always fun and incredibly thought provoking to look at the legends and myths which seem to pop up over and over again across the globe. The great flood, visitors from beneath the sea, gods exerting influence over the earth's natural processes, men traveling the stars and returning with great information. It makes you wonder if we aren't as old as Pangea after all. Perhaps the legends of Atlantis and other lost continents simply refer to a time when humanity was united in one geographical location in the middle of one big supercontinent. This would also provide inspiration for legends like the garden of eden and man's fallen state, lost in confusion and disarray after the breaking up of the landmass.
On the dwarves, however. These legends all come from cultures who either mined, or used the mountains for shelter storage and protection (like the SW Amerindians). It wouldn't surprise me if creepy critters in the tunnels coupled with one or two loose hermits living in the dark gave life to these types of legends. Then again, I also wouldn't be surprised to learn that a subgroup of humans have lived and evolved in isolation for centuries. Either way, delicious food for thought!

I guess it can be spelt either way: Dwarves or Dwarfs. But midgets remains midgets. There are other differences, I assume.

reply to post by Dock9


Interesting... keeping an open mind to all of your ideas such as shape shifting etc, I have a question for you. Do you think they have some sort of power of the shadows too or not? The reason I ask is because when I was a small child, I had a few paranormal experiences of my own, but always just attributed them to a "ghost" or a "demon", mainly because of that fact that the first time I saw one, it was completely black, had bright red eyes, stared at me then hissed at me... at the time, I was scared of the dark and slept with my closet light on.. and my cat would often run in there.. so at first I just thought this thing was my cat and I started yelling at it to leave me alone. But after I yelled at it several times this thing jumped out of the closet, flew through the air over my head, then hit the wall like a shadow and slid down it under my bed. I got up screaming and crying, and of course woke my parents up who then got PO'd and told me I was having nightmares. A few weeks later my sister and I both had an experience with a "poltergeist" in her bedroom - door opening and closing by itself, and curtains "blowing" around when all of the windows were closed... as far as I'm concerned the 2nd experience could not have been a dream because the both of us experienced exactly the same thing at the same time.

The movie "cat's eyes" also comes to mind.. where a cat actually attacks and kills several small "trolls"


On another note, I have come across several articles talking about the "hidden people" of iceland over the years, concerning actual government testing to determine if there were any of these "hidden people" living at the location where they where they were planning on doing construction for a large company - can't remember the name of the company now, but that should be enough info to find some articles online that I'm referring to.

Short people have a better chance of surviving Armageddon than do giants. Short people and insects might rule the future world. And some time travelers, too.

reply to post by fredvcall


lol the time traveling dwarves totally reminds me of this old 80's movie...

Time Bandits

Weird.

Originally posted by cripmeister
My grandparents believed in "Vittra". "Vittra" are supposedly a tiny race of people that are invisible to us. They have equally tiny farm animals

You should always warn the "Vittra" before taking a wee in the woods so they have a chance to get out of the way - it's bad luck to upset them.

Lmao, hilarious.

"Hey Vittra, I'm about to pee on your land, your homes, and your tiny farm animals, so please vacate your residences before the downpour."

Another great thread OP please don't be put off by the newcomers that mock you, there are many (as you can see from flags) that enjoy your posts. I have flagged it and will read when I have a little time to digest the content. Initial first impressions fantastic!

Peace

Sweet, Gimli lives!

Actually, I have no real issue with middle earth (under-earth) dwelling little "people". sounds like adaptation to me...would be great to find absolute proof though verses just folklore and carvings...

See, us geeky dungeons and dragons players weren't wasting our youth learning nonsense...we were in history class..now to find the tome of mages so I can start my wizard schooling. heh


(yes, the keyword dwarves or elves immediately brings me into nerd mode)

reply to post by Time2Think


They say that 'Wormholes' have limited baggage size restrictions per each flight. Makes sense to me. If you can only take one carry on bag from here to Los Angeles, then it stands to reason that the same would apply from here to, say, the twenty-sxith century? Short people have an advantage. They can get more clothing into one carry on bag.