Part 1 The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America.... How Big Were They ? ...

The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America

by Richard J Dewhurst

PREFACE 

ON BEING TALL AND MY FASCINATION WITH GIANTS 

I discovered that I was going to be tall one fateful year between the seventh and eighth grades when I grew eight inches. My unnatural growth spurt so alarmed my mother that she set up an appointment with our family physician to see if there was “something wrong with me.” Needless to say, I found all this extremely upsetting. The thought that there was something wrong with me had never occurred to me before, and the prospect of suddenly looming over my once “peer-friendly” classmates was also deeply unsettling. 

Before my growth spurt, my best friend was Phil Whitcomb, who was shorter than me, but no one ever commented on it. After my growth spurt, we were immediately dubbed Mutt and Jeff. Phil hated being called Mutt in my presence, and it eventually led to a cooling of our lifelong friendship. From this I learned that being tall has its consequences, and being called a freak was one of them. 

Another component of being tall was an immediate interest in giant stories. Thus the kernel for this book was born. Over the years, I took an immediate interest in various reports of giants, and when they were referenced in a newspaper account, I always gave them more credence. The only problem was that every time I tried to chase such articles down to their full-length, original newspaper nubs, I mostly came up with a shortened blurb or nothing at all. 

In order to finally get to the bottom of the mystery of the giants, I subscribed to several online newspaper archive services that covered over four hundred years of newspaper accounts from the United States. I then tried to search out the cross-referenced articles I had compiled over the years. When I was able to specifically search with date and publication, I got results, but on average I only found about 25 percent of the articles I was searching for. Lacking dates and publications, how was I going to crack this thing? 

Then one day, out of sheer frustration, I put on my old Miami Herald editor’s hat and began thinking about how a typical sensationalistic newspaper headline would read. My reasoning was that if dates couldn’t crack it, then word search could. My first headline search was for “Giant Skeletons Unearthed.” No dates, no publications, just pure sensationalism and the hope that the word search would come up with something. Almost immediately the search engine spit back more than thirty hits, and I was off to the races. More headlines were fed in: “Amazing Giants,” “Giant Skulls Found,” “Secret Cave Reveals Startling Discovery,” “Smithsonian Discovers Giant Skeletons,” and so on. Within a month I had archived several hundred articles on various giant finds across the entire country. What I found changed my thinking about myth and history forever. 

I sincerely hope that reading this book will change your thinking as much as it did mine. 

INTRODUCTION 

UNCOVERING THE REAL HISTORY OF AMERICA 

Writing this book has been the most exciting voyage of discovery I have ever taken. What started as a somewhat idle inquiry into clouded reports of giants—in and of itself not that groundbreaking—ended with my having to rethink everything I ever learned in school. After all, we’ve all heard of giants before. What we have not heard is that these people were as real as you and me. 

But the most important thing about this book for me was not discovering that giants were real, although in these pages we will most definitely see the historical evidence of that fact. What really surprised me was discovering something very much more shocking: the truth about the early history of America and the people who lived here. 

Long before the so-called “discovery of America,” this land was populated by very ancient peoples, some of whom were of enormous size, as attested to by the numerous reports of giant finds, a sampling of which is presented in the first two chapters. Those reports make it clear that in the nineteenth century such finds were common knowledge around the country. When carbon dating became available in the twentieth century, earlier estimates of the age of the remains were increased by many magnitudes: with ranges from five thousand to fourteen thousand years! I examine the reports of these extraordinary results in chapter 3, in addition to finds linking some of those early, magnificent humans with mastodons (which became extinct some twenty thousand years ago). Not surprisingly, many finds indicate that the giants were royal beings, as the reports of copper crowns and pearl robes in chapter 4 make clear. 

While certain monuments and parks in various parts of the country offer silent testimony to the creative efforts of these early peoples, few of us are aware of the true scope of the mounds and cities that once revealed advanced ancient civilizations. In chapter 5 we take a closer look at studies and reports about pyramids and pictorial mounds, while in chapter 6 we learn of discoveries of once-thriving cities most of us have never heard of. 

When we learn of the importance of the copper mines in upper Michigan at Isle Royale and the mica mines of North Carolina, reported on in chapter 7, we must necessarily take a deep breath and think, What are the mines telling us? They are telling us that as early as 10,000 BCE, Americans were mining mica for ornaments as well as mining and refining copper into weapons, jewelry, and exquisite grave goods. Along with the “buried treasures” spoken of in chapter 8 and later chapters, reports and studies of the mines make it clear that this land was home to very ancient, fully developed, sophisticated cultures capable of fine weaving, mummification, beautiful artworks, and even duck decoys so expertly crafted you’d think a New England decoy maker had made them in his workshop today. 

Discrepancies between the amount of copper estimated to have been mined and findings of copper in the country hint at worldwide trade in those very ancient times. In fact, a long history of pre-Columbian European and Asian contact is evidenced all over the continent, as seen in artifacts like the Roman coins and engraved tablets examined in reports in chapter 9 or the existence of red-haired, blue-eyed Mandans of North Dakota or the nine-thousand-year-old Caucasian mummies of Spirit Cave in Nevada, reported on in chapter 10. Some still argue that there was no European contact; even when confronted with the evidence of the Florida bog mummies—hundreds of red-haired corpses so perfectly preserved that their hair and brain tissue can be seen and tested—they still refuse to give up the old historical canards. The reports given in chapter 10 give rise to questions about whether these were the red-haired ancestors of the later Europeans and not the other way around. Added to this are the startling reports of finds of seven thousand-year-old skeletons of a race of blond-haired giants along with the remains of a megalithic “Stonehenge-era” temple on Catalina Island in California given in chapter 11. The suggestions about possible far-flung genetic and cultural connections shared in chapter 12 provide fascinating material for musing on, offering insights regarding very ancient travel and cultures, north and south, east and west. Only true historical inquiry, unclouded by prejudice, will eventually tell us the answer. 

But what we have instead is a perfect storm of wrong-headed thinking in order to protect current scientific theory. And central to the promotion of wrong-headed thinking has been the Smithsonian Institution, an institution originally intended to “increase the diffusion of knowledge among men.” Although scant official papers exist to attest to its purpose beyond that statement, its true mission to unearth the real history of America is evidenced by its first commissioned and published book, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, written in 1848 by Ephraim G. Squier and Edwin H. Davis. This lavishly illustrated work is an invaluable and open-minded study of the huge number of earthworks found along the Mississippi River. 

But something happened after that promising beginning. What my research has revealed is that the Smithsonian has been at the center of a vast cover-up of America’s true history since the 1880s. The Smithsonian was originally founded in 1829 with a $500,000 grant from the British mineralogist James Smithson, who never visited the United States, died without heirs, and was buried in Genoa, Italy. A sign of the Smithsonian’s utter disregard for history is that Smithson’s body was reburied at the Smithsonian Castle in the twentieth century in a sarcophagus that lists his age at death as seventy-five, when it is common knowledge that he was closer to sixty-five when he died. 

Fig. I.1. This Library of Congress image was used as the frontispiece for the 150th-anniversary reissue of Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley by Squier and Davis. 

After the Civil War the Smithsonian began to adopt a policy of excluding any evidence of direct foreign influence in the Americas prior to Columbus. Some have argued that it was an attempt by the fractured post–Civil War government to downplay any regional and ethnic conflicts in the still fragile national rebuilding after the war. Others have pointed to the expansionist policies incorporated in the doctrine of manifest destiny and the desire to obscure the origins of the tribes being displaced and annihilated by westward expansion. Still others have alleged that it was a direct religious policy adapted to counter the growing problem with the Mormon religion and its assertions that the lost tribes of Israel were to be found in America. 

All of these policies can be directly traced to Major John Wesley Powell and his tenure at the Smithsonian from 1879 to 1902. Powell was a geologist and explorer who led expeditions and conducted surveys of the American West. In 1869 he set out by boat to explore the Colorado River from the Green River, Wyoming Territory to the foot of the Grand Canyon. 

When Congress created the Bureau of Ethnology in 1879 Powell was named its first director, a post he held until his death in 1902. Placed under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, the bureau, whose name was changed to the Bureau of American Ethnology, was to be the repository of the archives, records, and material relating to the Indians of North America. Because of his experience as a Western explorer, Powell was considered an expert on the geography of the American West, and he was asked to write a report on the history of the ancient tribes and their probable origins, which was to become the official policy of the Smithsonian for the next hundred-plus years. 

The title of Powell’s first report to the secretary of the Smithsonian in 1879, “On Limitations to the Use of Some Anthropological Data,” is revealing and shows the ulterior policy at work within the nascent institution. The following is taken from that report. 

Investigations in this department are of great interest, and have attracted to the field a host of workers; but a general review of the mass of published matter exhibits the fact that the uses to which the material has been put have not always been wise. 

In the monuments of antiquity found throughout North America, in camp and village sites, graves, mounds, ruins, and scattered works of art, the origin and development of art in savage and barbaric life may be satisfactorily studied. Incidentally, too, hints of customs may be discovered, but outside of this, the discoveries made have often been illegitimately used, especially for the purpose of connecting the tribes of North America with peoples of so-called races of antiquity in other portions of the world. A brief review of some conclusions that must be accepted in the present status of the science will exhibit the futility of these attempts. *1 

In the study of these antiquities, there has been much unnecessary speculation in respect to the relation existing between the people to whose existence they attest, and the tribes of Indians inhabiting the country during the historic period. It may be said that in the Pueblos discovered in the southwestern portion of the United States and farther south through Mexico and perhaps into Central America tribes are known having a culture quite as far advanced as any exhibited in the discovered ruins. In this respect, then, there is no need to search for extralimital origin through lost tribes for any art there exhibited. With regard to the mounds so widely scattered between the two oceans, it may also be said that mound-building tribes were known in the early history of discovery of this continent, and that the vestiges of art discovered do not excel in any respect the arts of the Indian tribes known to history. There is, therefore, no reason for us to search for an extra-limital origin through lost tribes for the arts discovered in the mounds of North America. 

Fig. I.2. This map of Serpent Mound is one of many in Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley that were surveyed and sketched by Squier and Davis. Fig. 

I.3. The Kincaid Site, a Mississippian settlement in southern Illinois (courtesy of Herb Roe) 

Foremost among the wrong-headed theories Powell championed is evolution. We are shown charts of man becoming bipedal and each “new” man being bigger and smarter than the last. This is in direct contradiction to the charts we use for every other animal we study. We have only to look at a bird and be told that it was once a dinosaur to know how false this paradigm of man’s growth is. Look at the evolution of most animals, and the record says they got smaller over time, not bigger. However, with all the modern edifices of education built on the theory of evolution and the growing stature of humanity, we can’t very well have the Smithsonian running around telling people that we have degenerated from an ancient race of giants who once ruled America, now can we? 

The second theory current at the time was called uniform gradual history, a benign theory that says Earth goes along for huge spans of time with no catastrophes. The opposite of this theory is the more modern school of thought called catastrophism, based on the provable fact that disasters happen frequently and often. The record here in America speaks clearly on the subject. It relates not only to the disappearance of the Western inland civilizations dating back before 5000 BCE, which were wiped out by volcanoes, but also to the sudden cessation of the copper trade around 1500 BCE. Why is this significant? Because Cretan culture was wiped out in a series of catastrophes brought on by the massive explosion of the Santorini volcano on one of the Cretan Empire’s islands. I do not think it a coincidence that in 1500 BCE the volcano wiped out the Cretan Empire (the Exodus in Egypt factors into this as well), and shut down the copper trade in America for almost two thousand years. 

The third major contributing factor to the extant historical myopia is the land bridge theory, which states that all the Indian tribes reached America from Asia across the Alaskan land bridge. The man who came up with this absurd and unprovable theory is none other than Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, the first curator (in 1903) of physical anthropology of the U.S. National Museum, now the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. No boats for him. They walked—even though we know they would have had to walk around or through the extensive glaciers still blocking Canada. Were they not capable of slowly sailing from one island to another, as we know the Polynesians and Australians did for forty thousand years? The theory is absurd, but the Smithsonian told us to believe it, and we did. When academics get caught in such a perfect storm of wrong theories, they have a very hard time wriggling out of it. Reputations and careers are at stake. Books have been written and published and promotions garnered on the weight of their verity, so the fix was in from the beginning, so to speak. 

Fig. I.4. The Nodena Site, possibly in the Province of Pacaha, encountered by Hernando de Soto (courtesy of Herbert Roe) 

Then there is the thorny question of racism and manifest destiny (which, decoded, reads like this: America is inhabited by inferior races of people whom “civilized man” has a God-given right to exterminate so that he can exploit the country he now considers his domain). One has only to read Powell’s 1879 theories about the aborigines and their inherent lack of intelligence to get an unpleasant whiff of what we are dealing with here. Powell finishes his “proof ” of no European or Asiatic influences by boldly asserting, without a shred of supporting evidence, that all pictographic writing found anywhere in the Americas is evidence of nothing more than the most rudimentary picture making, despite having no working knowledge of any of the ancient writing systems to which he alludes. He continues in his report to explain: 

Many of these pictographs are simply pictures, rude etchings, or paintings delineating natural objects, especially animals, and illustrate simply the beginning of pictorial art; others we know were intended to commemorate events or to represent other ideas entertained by their authors; but to a large extent these were simply mnemonic—not conveying ideas of themselves, but designed more thoroughly to retain in memory certain events or thoughts by persons who were already cognizant of the same through current hearsay or tradition. If once the memory of the thought to be preserved has passed from the minds of men, the record is powerless to restore its own subject-matter to the understanding. 

The great body of picture-writings is thus described; yet to some slight extent pictographs are found with characters more or less conventional, and the number of such is quite large in Mexico and Central America. Yet even these conventional characters are used with others less conventional in such a manner that perfect records were never made. Hence it will be seen that it is illegitimate to use any pictographic matter of a date anterior to the discovery of the continent by Columbus for historic purposes. 

When you step back for a moment from the pseudo-scientific double-talk, what he is saying is this: these are essentially dumb savages with the minds of children. Other pictures and trinkets that we have found that hint at intelligence, language, or higher knowledge are simply the scribbling of children trying to leave a garbled record of their childish view of history and religion. 

It is bad enough that these biased and unsupported claims were the policy of the Smithsonian in the nineteenth century, but to make matters worse, Charles Doolittle Walcott, secretary (chief executive officer) of the Smithsonian from 1907 to 1927, made the “Powell Doctrine” the official dogma of the museum for the entire twentieth century as well. In fact, the Powell Doctrine is still the official policy of the Smithsonian as of this writing, despite the fact that some scholars associated with the museum are finally starting to speak out in support of evidence of early European settlement of the Americas. 

Fig. I.5. Major Paleo-Indian sites in North America 

The great crime and tragedy of this policy is hard to compute. One glaring result has been the suppression of hundreds of “out-of-context” finds, all submitted to the museum in naive ignorance of the museum’s official policy of suppression of alternative perspectives. To compound the problem, all major universities in the United States also adopted this policy in conjunction with the official position of the Smithsonian, thus making it impossible to study alternative American history and receive any grants or funding for pursuits of this nature. A giant problem for the giants and a giant problem for history. 

It is the express intent of this book to bring to light the many discoveries about the ancient history of this land that have all but disappeared from public awareness over the last hundred years. 

Fig. I.6. Beanstalk giant, Jack and 

the Beanstalk by John D. Batten 

ONE 

Findings on Ancient American Giants 

1 

HOW BIG WERE THEY? 

What makes us call a person a giant? Here are some ways to place the term in context: 

# Typically, the height of Americans today ranges between five feet, four inches, and five feet, ten inches (National Health Statistics Report No. 10, October 22, 2008). 

# Only twenty players in National Basketball Association history have exceeded a listed height of seven feet, three inches, with only a few reaching as tall as seven feet, seven inches. Some, but not all, of the tallest players have the condition known as gigantism or giantism, a condition usually caused by a tumor on the pituitary gland of the brain. These terms are typically applied to those whose height is not just in the upper 1 percent of the population but also several standard deviations above the mean for people of the same sex, age, and ethnic ancestry. 

# The tallest person in recorded history was Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918–July 15, 1940). He was sometimes called the Alton Giant or the Giant of Illinois because that’s where he was born and raised. His height was eight feet, eleven inches, and he weighed 490 pounds at his time of death. 

Fig. 1.1. Robert Wadlow (right) pictured here with his father, Harold Wadlow (left), who was five feet, eleven inches tall (www.sciencekids.co.nz). 

With these facts in mind, let’s review a sampling of the many reports of finds of very-tall human remains on this continent. 

THE BONES TELL THE TALE 

Extremely ancient human remains have been found throughout New York State and New England that date back to at least 9000 BCE. A report from the  Syracuse Herald American in 1983 said that anthropologists from the Buffalo Museum of Science dug up 1,400 artifacts from a site called Phoenix Hilltop. The following county historical report published in 1824 reported that in 1811 “rude medals, a pipe and other articles” were uncovered at an Indian mound on Mount Morris in New York State, in association with the remains of a giant “of enormous size.” 

A History of Livingston County, New York, 1824 

When Jesse Stanley came to Mount Morris in 1811 an Indian Mound nearly 100 feet in diameter and from 8 to 10 feet high covered the site of the late General Mills’ residence. The mound had long been crowned by a great tree, which had recently fallen under the axe. Deacon Stanley was told that when freshly cut, it disclosed 130 concentric circles or yearly growths. 

About the year 1820, the mound was removed, and in its removal arrowheads, a brass kettle, and knives were thrown out. A number of skeletons were also disinterred. Among the bones was a human skeleton of enormous size, the jawbone of which was so large that Adam Holslander placed it, masklike, over his own chin and jaw. He was the largest man in the settlement, and his face was in proportion to the rest of his body. 

Metal in the form of rude medals, a pipe and other articles were picked out of the earth thrown from the excavation. 

A History of Western New York, 1804 

Human bones of gigantic proportion were discovered in such a state of preservation as to be accurately described and measured. The cavities of the skulls were large enough in their dimensions to receive the entire head of a man of modern times, and could be put on one’s head with as much ease as a hat or cap. The jawbones were sufficiently large to admit to being placed so as to match or fit outside of a modern man’s face. The other bones so far discovered appear to be of equal proportions with the skulls and jawbones, several of which have been preserved in the cabinets of antiquarians, where they still may be seen. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE GIANT NINE FEET TALL 

PORTSMOUTH HERALD, AUGUST 17, 1899 

Relics of a prehistoric age have been brought to light in Noble County. The find is in York Township where workmen excavating for a public highway found the skeleton of an inhabitant of early days. 

The bones indicate that the person was fully nine feet tall. 

The bones are unusually large and the position of the skeleton when found indicated that the person had been buried in a sitting position. The belief is advanced that the remains are those of a mound builder. 

History of the Town of Rockingham, Vermont, 1907 

When the earth was removed from the top of the ledges east of the falls a remarkable human skeleton, unmistakably that of an Indian, was found. Those who saw it tell the writer the jaw bone was of such size that a large man could easily slip it over his face and the teeth, which were all double, were perfect. . . . This skeleton was kept for many years deposited in the attic of a small building on the north side of the Square. This building was then occupied by Dr. John H. Wells’ office and drug store and stood where the Italian fruit store now does. When the building was rebuilt a decade ago or more the bones disappeared. 

BONES OF GIANT INDIANS FOUND IN MARYLAND 

PREHISTORIC MEN SEVEN FEET TALL WHO 

ONCE LIVED IN WHAT IS MARYLAND 

BALTIMORE AMERICAN, NOVEMBER 15, 1897 

There has just been received at the Maryland Academy of Sciences, the skeleton of an Indian seven feet tall. It was discovered near Antietam. There are now skeletons of three powerful Indians at the Academy who at one time in their wildness roamed over the state of Maryland armed with such instruments as nature gave them or that their limited skill taught them to make. 

Two of these skeletons belonged to individuals evidently of gigantic size. The vertebrae and bones of the legs are nearly as thick as those of a horse and the length of the long bones exceptional. 

The skulls are of fine proportions, ample and with walls of moderate thickness and of great strength and stiffened beyond with a powerful occipital ridge. The curves of the forehead are moderate and not retreating, suggesting intelligence and connected with jaws of moderate development. 

The locality from which these skeletons came is in Frederick County, near Antietam Creek. It was formerly supposed to have been the battleground of two tribes of Indians: the Catawbas and the Delawares. 

Before the coming of the white man, this site was occupied as a village by Indians of great stature, some of them six-and-a-half to seven feet in height. 

POTOMAC RIVER GIANT 

MORNING HERALD, MAY 14, 1956 

The skeleton of a giant Indian, maybe seven or more feet in height, who died and was buried about the time Christ was born, has been unearthed from prehistoric burial grounds along the Potomac River near Point of Rocks recently. 

Nicholas Yinger, who has been excavating at this and other sites of early Indian villages along the Potomac River in recent years, discovered the skeleton of the giant Indian, along with the other artifacts buried with the body, on Saturday, April 28, just a few weeks ago. Mr. Yinger said that apart from the huge size of the Algonquian Indian, the next most interesting thing about the remains is that the bow and quiver of five arrows were buried with the body. Two elk-antlers and three-and-one-half-inch arrow points in the center of the tibias are part of the quiver of arrows. Near the point of the antler-arrows is a perfect boiled-bone fishhook revealing his fishing line was also placed with the body. Three large white flint triangular arrow heads were found at the side of the left tibia. “

This aborigine must have been a hunter with great strength as is indicated by the broad-shank flint points used in a powerful bow,” explained Yinger. 

ANCIENT BURIAL GROUND AT BLACK CREEK 

CHARLEROI MAIL, MAY 7, 1953 

Along the Susquehanna River in Indiana County, Pennsylvania a major Indian burial site was uncovered. All together, forty-nine skeletons were exhumed, the tallest being eight feet tall. These skeletons were reportedly taken to the Harrisburg Museum for reassembly and then shipped to the Smithsonian for further study. However, the Smithsonian denies any knowledge of them. 

On the site of the William H. Rhea farm (circa 1871–1880) in Conemaugh Township just west of the mouth of Black Legs Creek, skeletons of men, probably Indians, were found. Noted local historian Clarence Stephenson says, “One of the skeletons is of a giant nearly eight feet tall. The giant’s skeleton measured 89 inches from the top of the skull to the phalanges of the feet. It was covered with small stones, lay on the back, and measured 26 inches across the chest.” 

The following report from 1916 is of the discovery of skeletons found in the area of Sayre, Pennsylvania.

REPORT OF SIXTY-EIGHT SKELETONS 

AVERAGING SEVEN-FEET TALL 

CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL, SEPTEMBER 20, 1916 

On July 13, Professor Skinner of the American Indian Museum, excavating the mound at Tioga Point, near Sayre, Pennsylvania, uncovered the bones of 68 men, which he estimates had been buried at least seven or eight hundred years. The average height indicated by the skeletons was seven feet, but many were taller. Evidence of the gigantic size of these men was seen in huge axes found beside the bones. 

GIANT EIGHT FEET, SEVEN INCHES TALL UNEARTHED 

OHIO SCIENCE ANNUAL, 1898 

A rare archaeological discovery has been made near Reinersville in Morgan County, Ohio. A small knoll, which had always been supposed to be the result of an uprooted tree, was opened recently and discovered to be the work of mound builders. 

Just below the surrounding surface, a layer of boulders and pebbles was found. Directly underneath this was found the skeleton of a giant 8 feet, 7 inches in height. Surrounding the skeleton were bone and stone implements, stone hatchets, and other characteristics of the mound builders. 

The discovery is considered by the scientists as one of the most important ever made in Ohio. The skeleton is now in the possession of a Reinersville collector.

THE BIG WHOPPER: EIGHTEEN FEET AND COUNTING? The following newspaper account from an 1870 edition of the Ohio Democrat postulates that the giant, whose skeleton was found with a nine-foot-long sword, must have stood eighteen feet tall “in his stockings.” It then alleges that the skeleton was shipped to New York. Since this account is highly speculative to say the least, let’s just say this was one big skeleton and leave it at that. 

CARDIFF GIANT UNDONE WITH 

AN ENORMOUS IRON HELMET 

OHIO DEMOCRAT, JANUARY 14, 1870 

On Tuesday morning last, while Mr. William Thompson, assisted by Mr. Robert R. Smith, was engaged in making an excavation near the house of the former, about half a mile north of West Hickory, preparatory to erecting a derrick, they exhumed an enormous helmet of iron, which was corroded with rust. 

Further digging brought to light a sword, which measured nine feet in length. Curiosity incited them to enlarge the hole, and after some little time they discovered the bones of two enormous feet. Following up the “lead” they had so unexpectedly struck, in a few hours’ time they had unearthed the well-preserved remains of an enormous giant, belonging to a species of the human family, which probably inhabited this and other parts of the world, at the time of which the Bible speaks when it says: “And there were giants in those days.” 

The helmet is said to be of the shape of those among the ruins of Nineveh. The bones of the skeleton are a remarkable white. The teeth are all in their places and all of extraordinary size. These relics have been taken to Tionesta where they are visited by large numbers of people daily. 

When his “giantship” was in the flesh he must have stood eighteen feet tall in his stockings. These remarkable relics will be shipped to New York early next week. The joints of the skeleton are now being glued together. These remains were found about twelve feet under the surface of a mound, which had been thrown up probably centuries ago, and which was not more than three feet above the level of the ground around it. 

SKELETONS SEVEN FEET LONG 

NEW YORK TIMES, MAY 5, 1885 

Centerburg, Ohio: Licking County has been for years a favorite field for students of Indian history. Last week a small mound near Homer was opened by some school boys. Today further search was made and several feet below the surface of the earth, in a large vault with stone floor and bark covering, were found four huge skeletons, three being over seven feet in length, and the other a full eight feet. 

The skeletons lay with their feet to the east on a bed of charcoal in which were numerous burned bones. About the neck of the largest skeleton were a lot of stone beads. The grave contained about 30 stone vessels and implements, the most striking being a curiously-wrought pipe. It is said to be the only engraved stone pipe ever found. A stone kettle, holding about a gallon in which was a residue of saline matter, bears evidence of much skill. Their bows, a number of arrows, stone hatchets, and a stone knife are among the implements that were found at the site. 

ANOTHER OHIO GIANT NOW SEEMS 

SMALL AT ONLY EIGHT FEET 

OHIO MORNING SUN NEWS HERALD, APRIL 14, 1904. 

A giant skeleton of a man has been unearthed at the Woolverton farm, a short distance from Tippecanoe City, Ohio. It measures eight feet from the top of the head to the ankles, the feet being missing, says this newspaper reporter. 

The skull is large enough to fit as a helmet over the average man’s head. This skeleton was one of seven, buried in a circle, the feet of all being towards the center. Rude implements were near. The skeletons are thought to be those of mound builders. 

GIANT BURIED WITH A PANTHER 

This is one of several accounts that I ran across in my research of a giant skeleton being buried with a panther. The ritual context of these animal burials has never been properly studied or understood. In this account, the contents of eleven mounds were said to have been shipped to the Smithsonian for study. 

GIGANTIC MAN BURIED NEXT 

TO FEROCIOUS PANTHER 

CINCINNATI COMMERCIAL 

GAZETTE, SEPTEMBER 26, 1889 

Soon after the 1st of March relics were collected to be placed on loan to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington D.C. During the last two months eleven mounds have been opened and their contents taken to the museum and placed on exhibition. These mounds vary in height from eight to thirty feet, are generally conical in shape, and contain all the way from 300 to 10,000 square yards of dirt. They were built by the aborigines of this country hundreds of years ago to serve as burial places for the distinguished dead. They are generally placed near some stream in a valley and not infrequently on high points of land, which command a good view of the country, but the larger ones are in the valleys. These mounds are usually composed of clay, sometimes of sand, and often have layers of charcoal or burnt clay in them. These layers are often as brightly colored as if they had been painted. . . . 

About five feet above this layer, or nine feet from the summit of the mound, was a skeleton of a very large individual who had buried by the side of it the bones of a panther. Whether the person had killed the panther and it was buried with him as an honor, or whether the panther had killed the individual, one cannot say. 

FORTY-THREE MOUNDS OPENED 

This much, however, can be said—That in 43 mounds opened no find of this nature has been made. It is therefore quite interesting and important. The skull of this panther was very large, teeth very long and sharp. It would take a mound builder of a great deal of nerve to attack a beast of this size if he had nothing but a stone hatchet and bow and arrows to defend himself with. 

REGULAR SKELETON FOUND NEXT TO GIANT 

Just below this skeleton and lying on the layer of buried bones was a medium-sized personage who had buried around his neck in the manner of a necklace, between his upper and lower jaw, 147 bone and shell beads. The shell beads were made from the thick part of Conch and Pyrula shells. These shells must have been carried from the Atlantic Ocean, as they are ocean shells, and not found inland, or the tribe to which the man belonged may have traded with tribes near the ocean and thereby got the beads. 

THE GIANTS OF CONNEAUT 

This is only one of many accounts of ancient burial fields containing multiple giant burials. In this case the burial site was said to have been three to four acres in size and to have contained several thousand burials, including a magnificent eight-foot-tall queen bedecked in elaborate copper jewelry. 

Ashtabula County Historical Record, 1878 

In 1798 the first permanent settlers from the east arrived in the Western Reserve of Ohio. They began to clear the forests along the southern shore of Lake Erie, and in the process found numerous ancient earthen structures and almost everywhere the finely made spear points and other artifacts of a long forgotten and once populous native society, a people obviously quite different from the Massasauga Indians then living in that country. A generation before the first immigrant explorers of western Pennsylvania and southern Ohio had made similar discoveries: the extensive earthworks of Circleville and Marietta, Ohio, were already well publicized by the time that settler Aaron Wright and his companions began to stake out their new homes along Conneaut Creek, in what would become Ashtabula County, Ohio. 

The Discoveries of Aaron Wright in 1800 

Perhaps it was because he was a single young man with plenty of energy, or perhaps it was because his choice for a homestead included a large “mound builder” burial ground. Whatever the reasons may have been, Aaron Wright has gone down in the history books as the discoverer of the “Conneaut Giants,” the unusually large-boned ancient inhabitants of Ashtabula County, Ohio. In an 1844 account, Harvey Nettleton reported that this “ancient burying grounds of about four acres” was situated in what soon became the village of New Salem (later renamed Conneaut), “extending northward from the bank of the creek . . . to Main Street, in an oblong square” tract that “appeared to have been accurately surveyed into lots, running from the north to the south.” Nettleton also said that the ancient graves “were distinguished by slight depressions in the surface of the earth disposed in straight rows, with the intervening spaces, or alleys, cover[ing] the whole area . . . estimated to contain from two to three thousand graves. These depressions, on a thorough examination made by Esq. Aaron Wright, as early as 1800, were found invariably to contain human bones, blackened with time, which on exposure to the air soon crumbled to dust.” 

The prehistoric cemetery on Aaron Wright’s land was remarkable enough, just in its size and the configuration of the graves; but it was what was in those graves and in the adjacent burial mounds that captured Nettleton’s attention. 

The mounds that were situated in the eastern part of what is now the village of Conneaut and the extensive burying ground near the Presbyterian Church appear to have had no connection with the burying places of the Indians. They doubtless refer to a more remote period and are the relics of an extinct race, of whom the Indians had no knowledge. These mounds were of comparatively small size, and of the same general character of those that are widely scattered over the country. What is most remarkable concerning them is that among the quantity of human bones they contain, there are found specimens belonging to men of large stature, and who must have been nearly allied to a race of giants. Skulls were taken from these mounds, the cavities of which were of sufficient capacity to admit the head of an ordinary man, and jaw-bones that might be fitted on over the face with equal facility. The bones of the arms and lower limbs were of the same proportions, exhibiting ocular proof of the degeneracy of the human race since the period in which these men occupied the soil which we now inhabit. 

Circleville, Ohio, antiquarian Caleb Atwater was the known first person to comment upon the earthworks at Conneaut (then New Salem) in a published text. In his 1820 report, “Description of the Antiquities Discovered in the State of Ohio” Atwater describes the “work at Salem . . . on a hill near Coneaught river . . . having two parallel circular walls and a ditch between them.” Atwater says practically nothing about the burial mounds in the vicinity of this pre-Columbian fort “on a hill,” but he does provide the following information of his  report: “My informant says, within this work are sometimes found skeletons of a people of small stature, which, if true, sufficiently identifies it to have belonged to that race of men who erected our tumuli.” Thus, it was Caleb Atwater’s opinion that the builders of the ancient mounds were a “people of small stature,” and that reports of larger skeletons uncovered among their ruins were the exception, not the rule. To the above summary of Atwater’s investigations it might also be added that many of the earthworks he described he never saw himself, relying upon information supplied by untrained observers living in the vicinity of these ancient remains. 

What Nehemiah King Found in 1829 

Nettleton’s account was widely circulated when it was summarized in Henry Howe’s Historical Collections of Ohio, 1847. Howe writes of Thomas Montgomery and Aaron Wright coming to Ohio in the spring of 1798, and of the subsequent discovery of the “extensive burying ground” and of “the human bones found in the mounds” nearby. Howe repeats the report that among these uncovered bones, “were some belonging to men of gigantic structure.” He also tells how, in 1829, a tree was cut down next to the ancient “Fort Hill in Conneaut” and that the local land owner, “The Hon. Nehemiah King, with a magnifying glass, counted 350 annular rings” beyond some cut marks near the tree’s center. Howe concludes: “Deducting 350 from 1829 leaves 1479, which must have been the year when these cuts were made. This was thirteen years before the discovery of America by Columbus. It perhaps was done by the race of the mounds, with an axe of copper, as that people had the art of hardening that metal so as to cut like steel.” 

The same year that Henry Howe’s history of Ohio appeared another interesting book was published by the Smithsonian Institution, entitled, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. On that seminal report by E. G. Squier and E. H. Davis appears the first known published description of “Fort Hill,” that strange pre-Columbian landmark situated on the property of Aaron Wright’s neighbor, Nehemiah King. 

Ancient Work near Conneaut, Ashtabula County, Ohio 

This work is at present very slight, but distinctly traceable. The sketch is a mere coup d’oeil, without measurements. The elevation on the bluff upon which it stands is about seventy feet; and the banks of the aluminous state are, upon the north, very precipitous. . . . Upon the south side . . . the wall, which skirts the brow of the hill, is accompanied by an outer ditch, while upon the north there is a simple embankment. The ascent (marked C-C in the cut), is gradual and easy. Within the enclosure the earth is very black and rich; outside of the wall it is stiff clay. The adjacent bottoms are very fertile, and the creek is everywhere fordable. There can be no doubt that this was a fortified position. Near the village of Conneaut are a number of mounds, and other traces of an ancient population, among which is an aboriginal cemetery regularly laid out, and of great extent.

Fig. 1.2. An 1847 sketch of Fort Hill 

by Chas. Whittlesey, surveyor 

OHIO ACCOUNT OF NINE-FOOT GIANTS 

STEVENS POINT DAILY JOURNAL, MAY 1, 1886 

It is very evident that at an early day in the history of this country, this section of Ohio was an important camping ground for the American Indian. And, indeed, discoveries are frequently made, which lead people interested in the matter of prehistoric America to believe that a race of mankind, superior in size, strength, and intelligence to the common red man of the forest, flourished not only along the coasts East and South, but right here in southern Ohio. There are in this county several burying grounds, and two of them are located five miles west of this city, near Jasper, one on the farm of Mr. William Bush and one on Mr. Matthew Mark’s farm. In a conversation with a gentleman who has seen [skeletons] unearthed at the Mark bank, we were told that many dozens of human skeletons have been exhumed since the bank was first opened. 

Some of these skeletons have been measured, and the largest have been found to be nine feet long and over. 

At one time ten skeletons were exhumed. They had been buried in a circle, standing in an erect position, and were in a comparatively well-preserved condition. One remarkable fact about all the skeletons unearthed at these places is the perfect state of preservation in which their teeth are found to be. Not a decayed tooth has been discovered, and this would seem to indicate that these people naturally had excellent teeth or some extraordinary manner of preserving them. 

GIANTS FOUND IN GEORGIA 

The find of a giant race averaging six and a half to seven feet tall electrified the nation, as attested to by the following Sunday photo feature, which appeared in prominent newspapers across the country on August 2, 1936. This article appeared complete with comparative photos of giant skulls and photos of an entire skeleton laid out on its back at the site. Beneath one of the photos of the main archaeologist pointing to a giant skull was this caption: “Dr. Preston Holder (above photo), who is directing archaeological study and excavation on Sea Island, Georgia, points out the unusual characteristics of one of his amazing finds. The skeletons of these hitherto unknown American aborigines showed they all ranged in height from six-and-one half to seven feet in height.” 

GEORGIA’S SAND DUNES YIELD STARTLING 

PROOF OF A PREHISTORIC RACE OF GIANTS 

ARCHAEOLOGISTS MYSTIFIED AT FINDING SKELETONS OF MEN WHO WERE SEVEN FEET TALL 

SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, AUGUST 2, 1936 

Perhaps the discovery of the first dinosaur bones on the North American continent created no more sensation in scientific circles than the recent revelations of prehistoric man lately developed off the coast of Georgia. Excavating in the sand dunes of the sun-sprayed Golden Isles, Georgia, archaeologists have gouged out the strange record of an amazing prehistoric race of giants. 

With pick ax and spade, these searchers into the past have burrowed their way beneath the surface of the palm-clad dunes of Georgia’s semi-tropical coastal islands, to delve into the mysteries of a previously unsuspected race of mankind. The question uppermost in their mind today is: What manner of men were these, the members of whose tribe all averaged between six and one half and seven feet tall? 

Preston Holder, archaeologist, is directing the excavation work, which has been sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution. Slowly, painstakingly, Holder is endeavoring to piece together the slender threads that will lead him into the past. He has expressed the opinion that the Smithsonian enterprise will throw important light upon a thus far unrecorded tribe, and perhaps establish a new link in the history of mankind in North America. 

The Golden Isles extend in a chain from Savannah as far south as Fernandina. They are today inhabited mostly by wealthy Americans whose luxurious summer homes dot the landscape. The Golden Isles are romantic in the extreme. The known history of these islands fairly reeks with pirate lore, tales of mystery and violence, and lost treasures. 

NEW AIRPORT, OLD GIANTS 

But today only one of all the islands still remains open to the public. It is called Saint Simons and Sea Island. And had it not been for the never-ceasing strides of modern civilization, it might well be that the new proof of America’s prehistoric giants might never have been found. For it was the ground-breaking for Georgia’s new Glynn County airport—which will be constructed on Sea Island—that revealed the first evidences of the find that has since brought archaeologists fairly tumbling over one another. 

Workers on the proposed new airport hadn’t set off more than two or three charges of dynamite when they were amazed to find a number of shattered skulls and skeletons scattered about. One of the nation’s leading archaeologists, Dr. F. M. Setzler, of the United States National Museum, was dispatched to the scene. One look, and Dr. Setzler was convinced that the earth beneath the sand dunes would bear importantly upon the history and habits of southern coast aborigines. 

SMITHSONIAN FIRST TO TEST GIANT SKELETON 

So the systematic work began. Some of the first skulls to be disinterred by Preston Holder have already been examined at the Smithsonian Institution by Dr. Ales Hrdlicka (to appear at another site as well), foremost authority on North American types. 

One mound located at the airport site was composed by at least three layers of shell, each six inches to a foot thick. Very little midden, or garbage, was found in the shell. The mound was fifty feet in diameter, with a six foot rise. Burials were found to have been made immediately beneath the layers of shell. 

It was in this mound that archaeologists made the important discovery of a complete skeleton of a young man, believed to have been in his teens at the time of his death. From tip to tip it exactly measured six and one half feet. Every detail of the burial of this skeleton indicated that he had been an important member of the tribe—probably a chieftain—or at least the son of a chieftain. 

His bones were arranged with exceeding care. And between his right arm and his side were found three small bone awls, three large deer bone awls, and three split and worked bones in the process of being made into implements or weapons. Over his left shoulder were four mussel-shell pendants and a chipped stone spear point, while fastened about his left knee was a string of sea snail shell beads, numbering about 80 beads in all. 

AN APRON WOVEN OF SHELLS 

Of the first four interments made in this mound, all were of the full-flexed type or curled up with knees close to the chins. Two of these were children, buried close together in “spoon fashion.” They were heavily covered with hematite paint, a red pigment used by these Indians. One of the skeletons still wore an apron woven of 225 olivella shell beads. Other burials yielded by the mound were all prone or fully extended. Skulls were missing from these. 

THOUSANDS OF ARTIFACTS 

DISCOVERED BY THE SMITHSONIAN 

At the village under the airport site, Holder and his workers recovered approximately 4,000 shards, or pieces of tribal pottery and cooking utensils. While a great deal of the pottery was plain ware and quite crude, there were a few pieces that were somewhat decorative. Colors ranged from black, through gray and red, to buff. The decorated ware showed at least five types of stamped design, including the “check” stamp, the “delta” stamp, and a “herringbone” stamp. In addition there was discovered three distinct types of cord-marked ware, three types of thong-marked ware, and examples of rare incised and punctual sherds (connection to Stonehenge cord-marked pottery). 

Aside from pottery, numerous examples of implements and burial offerings have been found, both in the village and the burial mound. They include a conch hoe, a conch abrader, a conch bowl, and an unidentified piece of polished conch. Pendants carved from turtle shells and the teeth of bears are among the invaluable archaeological finds which have been made. 

SACRED POOLS, SECRET CAVES, AND 

THE HALLS OF THE MOUNTAIN KINGS 

In all my extensive research into the hidden history of giants in America, the most detailed, wide-ranging, and colorful account I came across was The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee: Up to the First Settlements Therein by the White People, in the Year 1768 by John Haywood. Haywood combines an exhaustive first-person account of his many astonishing discoveries with an excellent overview of the previous historical finds in the area. Among his many amazing discoveries are accounts of giants found in a walled spring; caves with stones that rolled away, containing more giants; and four upright standing stones that formed a square box, inside of which was the body of another giant. 

ON THE TENNESSEE GIANTS 

The Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, 1823 

BY JOHN HAYWOOD 

The length and dimensions of the skeletons . . . found in East and West Tennessee . . . prove demonstratively, that the ancient inhabitants of this country, either the primitive or secondary settlers, were of gigantic stature compared with the present races of Lydians. 

On the farm of Mr. John Miller of White county are a number of small graves and also many large ones, the bones in which show that the bodies to which they belonged, when alive, must have been, seven feet high and upwards. 

THE HIDDEN ROOMS FILLED WITH GIANTS 

I am always particularly fascinated with reports of hidden caves and giant burials. In this account, the cave in question is located near Sparta, Kentucky. In 1814, giant bones were found in this cave, as well as in a grave burial in the same area. Later in the report, more giant bones are found along the Tennessee River below Kingston and at another site two miles from Nashville. John Haywood continues: 

About the year 1814, Mr. Lawrence found in Scarborough’s cave, which is on the Calf-killer River, a branch of the Cany Fork, about 12 or 15 miles from Sparta, in a little room in the cave, many human bones of a monstrous size. He took a jaw bone and applied it to his own face, and when his chin touched the concave of the chin bone, the hinder ends of the jaw bone did not touch the skin of his face on either side. He took a thigh bone, and applied the upper end of it to his own hip joint, and the lower end reached four inches below the knee joint. 

Mr. Andrew Bryan saw a grave opened about 4 miles north wardly from Sparta, on the Calf- killer Fork. He took a thigh bone and raising up his knee, he applied the knee joint of the bone to the extreme length of his own knee, and the upper end of the bone passed out behind his as far as the full width of his body. Mr. Lawrence is about 5 feet, 10 inches high, and Mr. Bryan about 5 feet, 9. Mr. Sharp Whitley was in a cave near the place where Mr. Bryan saw the graves opened. In it were many of these bones. The skulls lie plentifully in it, and all the other bones of the human body; all in proportion, and of monstrous size. 

Human bones were taken out of a mound on the Tennessee River below Kingston, which Mr. Brown saw measured by Mr. Simms. The thigh bones of those skeletons, when applied to Mr. Simms’s thigh, were an inch and a half longer than his, from the point of his hip to his knee: supposing the whole frame to have been in the same proportion, the body it belonged to must have been seven feet high or upwards. Many bones in the mounds there are of equal size. Suppose a man seven or eight feet high, that is from 10 inches to 2 feet taller than men of the common size; suppose the body broader in the same proportion, also his arms and legs; would he not be entitled to the name of giant? 

Col. William Sheppard, late of North-Carolina, in the year 1807, dug up, on the plantation of Col. Joel Lewis, 2 miles from Nashville, the jaw bones of a man, which easily covered the whole chin and jaw of Col. Lewis, a man of large size. Some years afterwards, Mr. Cassady dug up a skeleton from under a small mound near the large one at Bledsoe’s lick, in Sumner County, which measured little short of seven feet in length. 

SQUARE WALLS ENCLOSE SPRING, MORE GIANTS 

While a cellar was being dug at a plantation four miles outside Nashville, giant burials were found in association with a walled and enclosed sacred spring. 

Human bones have been dug up in the cellar at the plantation where Judge Overton now lives, in Havidbon County, four miles southwest wardly from Nashville. These bones were of extraordinary size. The under jaw bone of one skeleton very easily slipped over the jaw of Mr. Childress, a stout man, full fleshed, very robust, and considerably over the common size. 

These bones were dug up within the traces of ancient walls, in the form of a square of two or three hundred yards in length, situated near an excellent, never failing spring of pure and well-tasted water. The spring was enclosed within the walls. A great number of skeletons were found within the enclosure, a few feet below the surface of the earth. On the outer side were the traces of an old ditch and rampart, thrown up on the inside. Some small mounds were also within the enclosure. 

ROLL AWAY THE STONE—MORE SECRET CAVE ROOMS This part of Haywood’s report is of the discovery of a cave with several secret rooms, located seven and a half miles north of Pulaski, Kentucky. The entrances to the cave and to an interior secret passageway were both covered by flat stones that could be rolled away. Inside, the bones of giants were found laid out over a paved floor. 

At the plantation of Col. William Sheppard, in the county of Giles, seven and a half miles north of Pulaski, on the east side of the creek, is a cave with several rooms. The first is 45 feet wide, and 27 long; 4 feet deep; the upper part is formed of solid and even rock. Into this cave was a passage, which had been so artfully covered, that it escaped detection until lately. A flat stone, three feet wide and four feet long, rested upon the ground, and inclining against the cave, closing part of the mouth. At the end of this, and on the side of the mouth that is left open is another stone rolled, which filling this also, closed the whole mouth. 

When these rocks were removed, and the cave opened, on the inside of the cave were found several bones—the jawbone of a child, the arm bone of a man, the skulls and thigh-bones of men. The whole bottom of the cave was covered with flat stones of a bluish hue, being closely joined together, and of different forms and sizes. They formed the floor of the cave. Upon the floor the bones were laid. The hat of Mr. Egbert Sheppard, seven inches wide and eight inches long, just covered and slipped over one of the skulls. 

At the mouth of Obed’s river, on the point between it and the Cumberland river, which is high ground, certain persons, in digging, struck a little below the surface, four stones standing upright, and so placed in relation to each other, as to form a square or box, which enclosed a skeleton, placed on its feet in an erect posture. The skull was large enough to go over the head of a man of common size. The thigh bones applied to those of a man of ordinary stature, reached from the joint of his hip to the calf of his leg. 

The article below is one of the first articles to lament the destruction of the mounds, with these florid words, which bring an ironic Victorian smile to my face when I read them. 

PLOWED UP AN INDIAN 

KEWANNA HERALD, AUGUST 18, 1898 

For two centuries, at least, the body has lain crumbling away to mother earth. Who can speak the weal and woe, the heart ache and joy thus represented? It is like a breeze from another world, and life seems fleeting faster still as one gazes on the remains of a once glorious union, now silent evermore. 

SKELETON INDIAN BRAVE 

FOUND NEAR SHADY DELL 

The finding of arrowheads and stone axes that were used by the roaming Indians of other days is a common enough occurrence, but this week there was disinterred the bones of one of these ancient inhabitants, which has made it the talk of the community. Charley Dukes, on the old family farm near Shady Dell School House, while plowing near a large, old oak stump, the tree of which was cut down over forty years ago, turned up the skeleton of a giant of the Indian occupation of this country. 

For years, two large rocks in the field, which had the appearance of being perfectly placed, have been the wonder of the Dukes family, but now they find that the mound in which the bones were found is directly on the line between these stones, designating, therefore, the place of burial like our tombstones of today. 

The bones are those of a large person, although the two centuries of summer and winter have dealt severely with them. The remains show parts of the femur, tibia, innominate, phalanges, and several face bones including some very well-preserved teeth. 

MANY SKELETON OF AN EXTINCT INDIAN 

RACE UNEARTHED IN THE HOOSIER STATE 

A huge gravel pit has been opened at Whitlock, Indiana. Soon after the excavating began a skeleton was found and as the pit widened other skeletons were unearthed until at least thirty graves had been opened and many skeletons brought to light, evidently the remains of an Indian tribe. 

One skeleton was found beneath a large stump, and another was found twelve feet underground. The graves appear in regular order, and the occupants were buried in a sitting posture. In one grave three skeletons, supposed to be those of a woman and two children, were found. 

The other day the largest specimen was unearthed, the body of a person who in life must have been a giant. 

A peculiarity of the skeletons is that the teeth are nearly all in a perfect state of preservation. In one grave beside the human skeletons was that of a dog, a copper spearhead, an earthen pot, and numerous beads proving that some important personage had been put to rest there. 

A NINE-FOOT GIANT BURIED NEXT 

TO A FAIR-SKINNED INFANT GIRL 

Here is a case of the burial of a white-haired child and a nine-foot-tall giant with a chain of mica around his neck. Other finds in Indiana include giants clad in copper armor. 

A History of Jennings County, Indiana, 1885 

Years ago, when Mr. Robinson’s father began digging a cellar out of the hillside, he found there the skeleton of a little child. The hair was white and there were many indications that the child was not an Indian, but belonged to a fair-complexioned race of people. 

Again in 1881, the skeleton of a human of unusual size was found in the mound. From comparative measurements of bones of this skeleton, it was thought to have been about nine feet in length. Cedar sticks were found around his waist, probably a symbol of some religious rite. A chain of mica was around his neck. 

DOUBLE DENTITIONS 

LOGANSPORT PHAROS TRIBUNE, JUNE 19, 1912 

Charles Milton found a skeleton that is thought to be that of an Indian while digging sand near Lake Cleott yesterday. The bones are well preserved and very large. The jaw bone is almost twice as large as that of the ordinary person. 

One peculiarity about the jaw is the fact that the teeth are double both front and back. The sandpit where the bones were found is supposed to be an old Indian mound. Several arrow heads were excavated and other like utensils were found. Among these was a peculiarly shaped flint supposed to have been a fish scaler. About two or three bushels of charcoal was found along the side of the skeleton. 

A History of Clay County, Missouri, 1888 

In his researches among the forests of western Missouri, Judge E. P. West has discovered a number of conical-shaped mounds similar in construction to those found in Ohio and Kentucky. 

As yet only one of these mounds has been opened. Judge West discovered a skeleton about two weeks ago and made a report to other members of the society. They accompanied him to the mound, and not far from the surface excavated and took out the remains of two skeletons. 

The bones were very large—so large, in fact, that when compared with an ordinary skeleton of modern date, they appear to have formed part of a giant. 

The head bones, such as have not rotted away, are monstrous in size. The lower jaw of one skeleton is in a state of preservation, and is double the size of the jaw of a civilized person. The thigh bone, when compared to that of an ordinary modern skeleton, looks like that of a horse. The length, thickness, and muscular development are remarkable. 

The bodies were discovered in a sitting posture in the mounds, and among the bones were found stone weapons different in shape from the tools and weapons known to be in use by the aboriginal Indians of this land. 

SCIENTISTS FIND GIANT SKELETON: 

IN LIFE THEY AVERAGED TWELVE FEET HIGH 

MONROE COUNTY MAIL, JUNE 18, 1914 

Skeletons of a race of giants who averaged twelve feet in height were found by workmen engaged on a drainage project in Crowville, near here. 

There are several score at least of the skeletons, and they lie in various positions. It is believed they were killed in a prehistoric fight and that the bodies lay where they fell until covered with alluvial deposits due to the flooding of the Mississippi River. No weapons of any sort were found at the site, and it is believed the Titans must have struggled with wooden clubs. The skulls are in a perfect state of preservation, and some of the jawbones are large enough to surround a baby’s body. 

“GIANT ON THE BEACH” IN TEXAS 

In Texas, where everything is big, it would be to the state’s everlasting horror if it turned out that its giants were smaller than the other giants who once ruled over the rest of America in ancient times. In 1931, the San Antonio Express announced that a federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) archaeological team digging in association with the University of Texas discovered what at that time was called “the largest human skull found in the world in Victoria County Texas,” and its owner was dubbed the “giant on the beach.” Photographs reveal that this skull was “twice the size of the skull of a normal man.” This find was held at the University of Texas, where Dr. Ales Hrdlicka of the Smithsonian examined it and related discoveries, and in a joint press release it was said that “these finds in Texas are beginning to give weight to the theory that man lived in Texas 40,000 to 45,000 years ago.” 

A close-up photo shows three skulls in comparison with the Giant Skull. The caption under the giant skull reads: “Believed to be possibly the largest found in the world, the human skull shown on the right was recently unearthed in Victoria County by the University of Texas anthropologists. The other two skulls are of normal size.”

THE SMITHSONIAN AND THE 

DR. HRDLICKA CONNECTION 

Earlier we learned about Hrdlicka in connection with the finds of giants off Georgia’s coast (see here). Now we find that Hrdlicka was also involved with the Texas beach giant, in a special consultation for the Smithsonian. 

SMITHSONIAN SAYS THE SKULL SIZE OF ARIZONA 

GIANT IS “BEYOND COMPREHENSION” 

For anyone doubting the immediate and immense reach of the Smithsonian, here is an amusing article about a rancher who refused to sell his giant to the Smithsonian representatives, who had traveled from Washington D.C., reaching Arizona within an incredible two weeks of the discovery. 

RANCHER REFUSES TO SELL SKELETON OF GIANT ARIZONA JOURNAL-MINER, OCTOBER 13, 1911 

Peter Marx of Walnut Creek, discoverer of a prehistoric human giant on his farm several weeks ago, while in the city yesterday, stated that the curiosity is attracting such deep interest in scientific circles that he is almost delayed with his letters and during the past two weeks he has been visited by Mr. and Mrs. Shoup, the former an attaché of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, who made the long journey for the express purpose of viewing the frame of the giant of other days. Mr. Shoup was provided with photographic instruments and took several pictures. 

Mr. Shoup, of the Smithsonian, also desired to take it (the giant skeleton) back to Washington, but this request was held up by Mr. Marx stating that as the subject was found in the territory it should be kept there. 

Mr. Shoup was very much interested in those portions of the human frame that were unusually large, particularly the skull, which indicated that the giant was of such abnormal size as to be beyond comprehension as that of a human being. Mr. Marx has uncovered another burying ground near the point where the skeleton was found. 

IRRIGATION DITCHES ARE A SIGN OF 

ANCIENT HIGH INTELLIGENCE 

An old irrigating ditch has also been partly recovered, and it is Mr. Shoup’s (of the Smithsonian) belief that the place was intelligently cultivated in some past age by an industrious people. Mr. Marx has uncovered many implements, some of which are unique in construction and for what purposes they were utilized is problematical. 

FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 

When looked at in its entirety, it seems fitting that our trip west across the United States in search of the ancient giants who once ruled this land should end at the Pacific Ocean. In 1911, it was reported that William Altmann, assistant curator of the Golden Gate Park Memorial Museum, found skeletons, pottery, and artifacts in Port Costa, California, including the skeleton of a giant more than seven feet tall. Later the same year, Altmann reported finding more giants on an island in the Santa Barbara Channel, including one skeleton that measured in at seven feet, four inches tall. 

BONES OF SEVEN FOOT CALIFORNIAN GIANT FOUND IN SOUTH OAKLAND TRIBUNE, JULY 25, 1911 

Ethnologists will be interested in a discovery made by Assistant Curator William Altmann of Golden Gate Park Memorial Museum—namely, the fact hitherto denied that the Digger Indians of California were acquainted with at least the rudiments of pottery making. “Until now, no pottery of Digger Indian manufacture has ever been found,” says Altmann, and therefore he highly values the find he made in an Indian Burial Mound at Concord, in Contra Costa County. 

From an excavation made by workmen in the employ of the Port Costa Water Company has been found a large number of Indian relics of great age, including the specimens of crude pottery already mentioned and the skeleton of an Indian giant more than seven feet tall. The skeleton is in the possession of Dr. Neff of Concord, who is mounting it for exhibition. The pottery specimens consist of charm stones of baked clay of spindle shape and pierced so that they may be suspended from the neck by cords. 

In addition, there are a large number of knives and arrowheads of obsidian or volcanic glass, which is extremely rare in this part of the state, and leads to the belief they were brought down by the Shasta or Modoc Indians and traded for other things with the Diggers of Contra Costa. 

A striking peculiarity about these arrowheads is their shape and pattern. They are notched in a very painstaking way with jagged division and resemble very much some of the weapons Filipino warriors use. A stone mortar and several phallic pestles carved with considerable skill and precision, stone sinkers for fishing, and artistic pipes made of soapstone, together with a quantity of wampum, are among the souvenirs secured by Assistant Curator Altmann, the donor being Joseph Hittman of Concord. 

The mound from which these relics were taken is close to the railroad depot at Concord. The work of excavation is still going on and more interesting finds are looked for. 

Fig. 1.3. Indian cemetery, Santa Rosa Island, containing abalone shells carbon dated at seven thousand years old. The tops of the skulls were painted red; several skeletons measured over seven feet tall (photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 1959).

Fig. 1.4. Bone whistles from Santa Rosa Island, 

early to mid-1900s 

BEST-PRESERVED SKELETON OF EXTINCT 

TRIBE HAULED FROM CHANNEL

OAKLAND TRIBUNE, JUNE 10, 1912 

Up to about three hundred years ago, a giant race inhabited the coastal regions of California. Remains of these people have been discovered in the islands of the Santa Barbara Channel. To William Altmann, assistant curator of the Golden Gate Park Memorial Museum, belongs the honor of discovering one of the tallest and best preserved skeletons of this extinct tribe. Altmann utilized his vacation a week ago in excavating an old Indian burial mound in the nursery of Thomas S. Duane, two miles from Concord, in Contra Costa County. 

The giant skeleton found was ten feet from the surface and around it were a large number of mortars and pestles, charm stones, and obsidian arrow heads. The giant skeleton has been laid and reconstructed in the Curator’s office and placed on private exhibition yesterday. The bones are in a good state of preservation, being hard and firm, although brown with age. Two or three of the vertebrae are missing and the skull is broken into three parts. 

The skeleton is seven feet four inches. The skull is in great contrast to that of the Indian today. The under-jaw is square and massive, being remarkably thick and strong. 

PHALLIC CARVINGS 

The artifacts are ornamented with phallic carvings, whereas the marks made by the former and present day Diggers are not carved or ornamented in any way. The charm stones are of baked clay, a beginning of the more advanced works of pottery, which are not found with Digger remains. This interesting find was made on the Salvadore Pacheen Ranch, part of which is occupied by Duane’s nursery. It is Altmann’s intention to make a further exploration of the mound at an early [date] for other relics of this by-gone era. 

A SUPERIOR RACE OF GIANTS 

ADMITTED IN CALIFORNIA 

The find is of the greatest importance to anthropologists the world over, confirming as it does, the theory originally advanced when the giants were unearthed in the Santa Barbara Islands, that a superior race of Indians, both physically and mentally, preceded the Digger and other native races of the present day. This is evidenced also in the burial posture and the charm stones found near the body.

Fig. 1.5. Bones of a giant found in 

Southern California (The World, 1895)

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NORTH AMERICA Land of the Giants

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