"Ishigaq" - this is exactly what the Inuit call "small people" who inhabit the entire Arctic region of Canada and the USA - mountains, caves and underground. The word itself means "one who is hiding."

From time to time, Eskimos report to the police the presence of these people with pointed ears, black eyes and dark skin. They are very strong, fast and bright creatures, extremely agile when hunting with a bow and arrow, wear clothing from the skins of caught animals and live their isolated lives.

The Ishigaqs consider themselves good people. They help take lost hunters out of the woods, children home, or even pull cars out of impassable mud. But there are also those, much angrier and more dangerous, whom they blame for the disappearance of children and adults.

One such incident took place in 2008, when a hunter found a little boy in the middle of a swamp, three hours' drive from Marshall, a town in southwest Alaska. He asked him where his parents were and how he got here. But the boy was so scared and embarrassed that he just said, "I don't know."

It seemed very strange to the hunter, because there were no tracks in the snow where the boy stood. So he took him home and after interrogation it became clear that he lived with the ishigaqami. Here he met a woman who had been abducted more than forty years ago who wanted to help him. He "lagged behind" the trunk of small people just minutes before the hunter arrived.

Another incident occurred in 2005 in the town of Palmer in southern Alaska. A local said she saw a cute child walking through a forest near her house. Subsequently, her daughter disappeared. Despite extensive research, they did not find the girl.

The Ishigaqs are known to live in the Pilcher Mountains and on Nelson Island, where small sledges and small toy-sized tools have been found many times.

Long before the arrival of the whaling company, the Ishigaqs lived side by side with the Inuit tribes at Point Hope. Everything changed when one fine day the little boy was not fatally attacked by the dog of his human neighbors. Eyewitnesses claim that the owner beat him to death with bare hands. But after this event, the Ishigaqs soon left the Inuit village and settled in caves.

It is said that if you catch one of these little people, they will bring you happiness. The smallest ishigaqs, winged beings with pointed heads resembling fairies, call sinsigati. They are thought to appear only at night and their speech is similar to the chirping of birds. If people approach them, they can safely hide even in a crack on the wall of the house.

Another story is about a man who, together with his son, decided to catch such a small man with a lamp. As soon as they saw him, they lit up, and it turned out that in the light the little creature was losing almost all its strength.

One began to irritate the sinsigata, holding him close by the fire. But his son begged his father not to do so. Though a man then released the unborn, his hunting fortune forsaken him forever. But his son became the best hunter in the village.

Another avid hunter waited in hiding for three days to catch the sinsigata. The creature jerked with all its might and begged the hunter to release it, but man had other plans. At that time, this little creature offered him the only thing he had - a belt. He advised a man never to pass him. The hunter never took him down until the end of his life and became the greatest hunter far and wide.

The strangest ishigaqas are the igasujaks, the height of the average person. They wear clothes with sleeves on the floor. They steal supplies from the inhabitants, especially fish from nets. Unlike enchanting sinsigats, who bring good luck, meeting an igasujak brings misfortune.

Half-meter Inukins live in Alaska's Point Hope area. These folks are unusually friendly. They help those who get lost in the forest or tundra and can give them without any reason. The gifts they give must be accepted, otherwise the inukins will be very offended.

If you give them a basket, then one will certainly find many fruits to be able to fill it. If the knife, the hunt will be successful. However, they also commit theft, especially at night.

The Palrajaks, who live in mountainous areas, who build underground tunnels, most closely resemble the general description of the ishigaqs — in terms of height, skin color, and pointed ears. If they see a lonely man in the mountains, they can throw stones at him. One of the hunters on the way home heard a strange noise. He headed in that direction and found a crack at the foot of the mountain.

When he looked into it, he saw two dancing people in the cave. He seemed to spend only a moment at the opening. But when he returned to his sleigh, he saw how his clothes had faded and the catch that remained on the sleigh almost rotten. When he returned home, he learned that the whole year had passed.

Experienced hunters sometimes talk about cases where the caught animals disappeared without a trace. They know they are the works of the Ishigaqs. Even if it is a very large animal that picking up is a job for two big men - an ishigaq with him can easily run away. It happens that he even disguises himself as an animal to deceive people.

These stories may seem like fairy tales to you, and yet they are real facts about Inuit life. They pass them on from generation to generation so that they can get along with these little people. Because, as they say, some even eat people.

Fossil evidence confirming the existence of "little people" was discovered in 2003 on the island of Flores in Indonesia. The Flores man is known as the "hobbit" and corresponds in height to the Alaskan Ishigaq.