Lots of locations around the world have legends of hairy men in the wild, but not many people know that New Zealand has their own hairy man called Moehau.
There are stories in Coromandel Peninsula of red-haired men who lived in caves. In fact, the legend supposedly arises from a cave full of strange skeletons. These people were reported to have been small men with red hair in one cave and giant skeletons over 7 feet tall in another.
This is interesting, as there are legends of the giants and the little people sharing areas. In fact, in the book The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee by John Haywood has many descriptions of both being found in great amounts in Tennessee in the 1700s.
Legends of giant red-haired people are found around the world, as well. This red-haired description lends credence to my supposition that the giant race were the hybrids of Neanderthal-Denisovans mating, creating the coloring of Neanderthal and the size of Denisovans.
In fact, the Solomon islands have red and blond hair that show up in the population. Denisovan and Neanderthal DNA (both) are found in aborigines and Polynesians. The Peruvians spoke of red-haired giants coming to the shore, the Paiutes of Nevada spoke of the red-haired giants, and the Wisconsin Native People said the ones who started the ancient mines were tall red-haired people who came from the North.
Sometimes, legends need to be reexamined when they have repeated themes in very disparate parts of the globe.
So far as the Moehau are concerned, here are legends that they still hide in the Coromandel Range, a large hairy people who are aggressive. The reports include them attacking, killing and eating people. Yet, again, another legend from a remote area that reflects the same giant cannibals stories told around the world by indigenous people.
Want to know more? This is a great article about the hairy man and some stories of encounters.