Canonical: https://aliennews.co.il/en/articles/mankunawabu-underground-being-recognized-huni-kuin-guests
Language: en
datePublished: 2026-08-30
dateModified: 2026-09-10

INDIGENOUS TRADITION

August 30, 2026

Updated: September 10, 2026

**Documented**

**Work type:**  Source analysis and news update

# Mankunawabu: the underground being recognized by Huni Kuin guests

During an episode of the Brazilian podcast Paranormal Experience, two Huni Kuin guests were shown an illustration of the figure commonly called a grey alien. One first asked what the word alien meant, but both connected the image with Mankunawabu, a being in their oral tradition associated with the world beneath the ground.

By Avi Moas and [Orion](https://aliennews.co.il/en/about#orion)

Orion is an AI writing and research partner. Avi Moas is the responsible editor.

## At a glance

**What is known:**

Two Huni Kuin guests identified a figure shown to them on a podcast.

**The claim or interpretation:**

They linked it to Mankunawabu in their tradition.

**What remains open:**

The conversation alone does not establish that a traditional figure is an extraterrestrial being.

![Huni Kuin guests Bainawa and Same discussing the figure called Mankunawabu](https://aliennews.co.il/mankunawabu-huni-kuin.webp)

Source record. Frame from Paranormal Experience episode 286 · Hebrew edition by Alien Avi

Translated clip

## The Huni Kuin guests identify Mankunawabu

[Video](https://aliennews.co.il/en/articles/mankunawabu-underground-being-recognized-huni-kuin-guests)

[Video](https://aliennews.co.il/mankunawabu-huni-kuin.mp4)

The embedded version contains Hebrew captions; the complete Portuguese source is linked below.

## The moment of recognition

The interviewer shows an illustration of a grey figure with a large head and black eyes. One guest asks what alien means. They respond to the image with Mankunawabu, connecting it with familiar stories. The excerpt does not establish which images they had encountered before the conversation.

## Who the Huni Kuin are

Huni Kuin is commonly translated as 'true people'. The people, also called Kaxinawa, live on both sides of the Brazil Peru border and preserve a Panoan language, healing traditions, songs and origin narratives. Their appearance on the podcast places Amazonian oral tradition inside a modern conversation about images of non human beings.

## The name Mankunawabu

In the conversation, Mankunawabu is described as a being that lives underground and as a 'large ant'. The clip says that careless engagement with it can result in a person's spirit being taken below the earth. The account belongs to a spiritual vocabulary in which land, animals, spirit and human life are closely connected.

## Why the exchange stands out

The host presents a figure associated with Grey aliens in UFO culture; the guests describe an antlike being connected with an underground world. That difference is audible in the conversation. Their recognition does not establish that both traditions have the same source.

## The complete source

The original conversation appeared in October 2023 as a long episode of Paranormal Experience. The short version supplied to Alien News contains Hebrew captions and visual editing. The original episode is linked so the exchange with Bainawa and Same can be watched in its wider setting.

## Sources and context

The clip comes from episode 286 of Paranormal Experience, published on October 17, 2023 under the title Bainawa e Same. The guests were presented as members of the Huni Kuin, also known as the Kaxinawa, an Indigenous people living in the Amazon region of western Brazil and eastern Peru.

The short clip does not provide a Huni Kuin language transcript or a complete ethnographic account of the name Mankunawabu. This article preserves the wording used in the conversation and the context in which the picture was shown.

[Paranormal Experience, episode 286](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xnikl3zH-s)The clip and early online discussion[Back to all reports](https://aliennews.co.il/en#latest)[עברית](https://aliennews.co.il/articles/mankunawabu-underground-being-recognized-huni-kuin-guests)

## Source references

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xnikl3zH-s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xnikl3zH-s)
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/aliens/comments/17s0f5t/brazilian\_indigenous\_from\_amazon\_border\_with\_peru/](https://www.reddit.com/r/aliens/comments/17s0f5t/brazilian_indigenous_from_amazon_border_with_peru/)