Patupaiarehe (sometimes rendered Turehu) are the fair-skinned, red-haired supernatural forest beings of Māori tradition, inhabiting the mist-wrapped forests and ridge-lines of Aotearoa since long before the Polynesian arrival in the thirteenth century. Patupaiarehe are described as human-sized or slightly smaller, beautiful in an uncanny way, with skin described as 'the colour of raw hinau wood' and hair ranging from red to reddish-blond. They are said to be skilled flute-players and weavers, avoiding daylight and iron, and are associated with specific sacred ranges — the Waitākere Ranges west of Auckland, Mount Pirongia in the Waikato, the Kaimanawa Ranges, the Ureweras, and the Moehau Range (where they share territory with the Maero).
Māori traditions hold that Patupaiarehe occasionally intermarry with mortals, producing the pale-skinned urukehu lineages that persist in certain iwi genealogies. They sing to travelers lost in the forest at dusk, luring the unwary into their kāinga from which return is uncertain, and are responsible for the sound of distant flute-music (nguru, kōauau) heard from high ridges in mist. Unlike the Maero, Patupaiarehe are not generally malevolent; encounters with them are ambivalent, and proper conduct — offering food, speaking respectfully, making no promises — can result in the visitor's safe return with gifts of supernatural knowledge.
Modern Patupaiarehe sightings persist. In 1970, a tramper in the Kaimanawa Ranges reported being followed through the bush for several hours by what he described as 'a red-haired, pale man, watching from behind trees' who vanished when approached. In 1983, a Department of Conservation worker in the Waitākeres heard sustained flute-music from a ridge well above the track; no one else was present. Māori cultural researchers including Rangi Mātāmua have documented extensive oral tradition from living kaumātua placing the Patupaiarehe in active memory rather than 'ancient' folklore. Some iwi regard them as spirits of the forest; others as a surviving pre-Māori population; Patupaiarehe remain one of the most anthropologically significant cryptic traditions of the Pacific.