I thihnk, if one *must* place mewlips into Middle-Earth, that they work best as folk-processed, distorted Barrow-Wights. Treasure, underground rooms, clinking coins, devoured victims, dampness (moors can be damp) and 'mountains' (hills-- how often do hobbits of the Shire get to see real mountains?) seem to me to be the stuff of old-wives-tales; based in a little reality, but distorted.
Or it could just be a old fashioned made-up bogey tale, told by Fredegar Bolger's nurse.
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...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.
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