Telefol history starts with the "Old Woman" (Afek) traveling through the land that is now the Eliptaman valley.
She, as told through their creation stories, founded the Telefolip, the most sacred of Yolam Houses or Haus Tambaran in the Star Mountains Region about 300 years ago.
Myth has it that there is a tunnel system between Mount Fubilan, the Yolam House at Bultem and the Telefolip exists, and that is how shell money and other valuable items came to the Telefol.
[3] They then went on to defeat the Untou people, ritualistically cannibalizing the adults and absorbing the children into their group.
[9] Magalim takes many forms: a snake, a dog, an overly generous European, a headless European, and a four glowing-eyed Ok Tedi worker who ran speedily over the landscape [10] The Telefol language's base-27 counting system is mapped onto the body by counting each of the following: the left pinky to the left thumb (1–5); the wrist, lower arm, elbow, upper arm, and shoulder (6–10); the side of the neck, ear, and left eye (11–13); the nose (14); and the right eye to the right pinky (15–27; as for 1-14 but mirrored and in reverse order).