Transcription
[Music] When researching the strange and unexplained, the topic of giants is one that is hardly rare. In the realm of cryptids and unexplained monsters, this really shouldn't be surprising. Whether because of our faith in ancient Hebraic texts or simply the wide swath of cultural beliefs around the world, compared to many bizarre stories out there, giants are hardly the most unlikely creature to have walked the earth. According to some reports, they still do.
Giants, by all accounts, are not that far off from being human, just very large humans. In this way, it could be speculated that giants are also territorial tribal people. The breadth of human history, even until today, is marked by our desire to possess the land that we live on and to take land that other people live on so as to expand our borders and cultural influence. Aside from our inexplicable hatred of one another, our territorial nature seems to be one of the leading causes of war. So, it should again be no surprise that if giants did once exist, they would have encountered humans. And when they did, it would not have always been a friendly encounter.
Fortunately for us, giants are certainly hard to come by nowadays. It seems many of our ancestors managed to win those fights. And according to their extensive and oddly similar legends, this includes many native tribes in northern, central, and South America. These are the many remarkable stories of Native Americans shedding the blood of giants.
[Music] [Music] The mist which hangs before you offers you a choice to pass through or to escape. Beyond it are stories which define the explanation and fly in the face of what we know to be real. It is a void of both reality and impossibility of both fact and superstition. You alone are left to discern what to believe as you pass through what we call a fog of war.
[Applause] Oi, what the hell is the hold up down there? You've barely gone half a foot since I last left you. Ah, loento cavo. We've encountered some hard earth in our way. We'll get through it, but it'll take some time. Bedrock? No, Cabo. Impacted gravel by the looks of it. Damn. How long do you think it will take to get through? We're behind schedule as it is. Hey, how about that? Good. I'll get back to it. Unless you want the tiente breeding that our next uh Oh, Manuel, there is something down here. A grande. Well, what is it? No. Say it looks like unferro. A coffin.
The year is 1819 and the era of Spanish control over parts of western North America is coming to a close. The United States is looking to expand out from the east coast with waves of settlers already making their way west towards the American heartland. Some are even starting to filter into parts of Texas, California, and New Mexico, presently under the control of the Spanish colonial authorities. Perhaps sensing an inevitable confrontation with American forces or simply wanting to fortify themselves against attacks by hostile indigenous peoples, Spanish forces are beginning to beef up defense around the region's more remote settlements. One of these is the small town of Lampak. Located in what is now Santa Barbara County, California, Lampak was home to a Franciscan mission and a small number of Spanish settlers. Smack in the middle of lands belonging to the native Chumash people. While the mission's objective was to convert the local tribes to Christianity, relations between the settlers and the natives were often tense. As such, the soldiers garrisoned at the mission were ordered to construct a new powder magazine on the grounds of a nearby ranch.
Under the intense heat of the California sun, sweat pouring down their faces, the men got to work on digging the pit. At first, things were going well, but after digging down several feet, construction ran into an annoying snag. They had hit a thick layer of hard gravel. They were on a tight schedule and couldn't afford to simply start over someplace else. So, they grabbed their pickaxes and shovels and began the grueling task of hacking away at the gravel, which seemed to have been impacted and hardened over a long period of time. It would have been like breaking through crumbling cement.
After a few hours, the soldiers, now drenched in sweat, finally managed to break through. But instead of finding more clay or soft earth underneath, they found something shocking. The soldiers had stumbled on what appeared to be some kind of sarcophagus. That in and of itself was strange enough, at least for these men who weren't familiar with ritualistic burials. But what struck the men as odd was that this thing was absolutely massive, easily over 12 ft in length. And when the soldiers managed to crack it open, they found something even more incredible. The mummified remains of a man whose size explained why the coffin was so big. The skeleton spanned the entire box from head to toe. Around the corpse were various objects, stone axes, spears, carved shells, and thin sheets of pfery rock etched with strange hieroglyphic symbols. As they started to examine the man more closely, the men noticed something else distinctly unusual. The mouth appeared to have two rows of both upper and lower teeth.
At a complete loss of what to do, the men halted their digging and reported what they had found. The local Chumos people were then informed about it. It was possible they could shed some light on what the soldiers had unbureried. After bringing a handful of Chumos to the dig site, the soldiers led them to the edge of the open pit. On seeing the giant skeleton and relics, the natives became noticeably disturbed. According to the Chumash, what the Spanish soldiers had found were the remains of a member of a long extinct tribe of beings known as the Ali Giwi. The Chumosh explained that the Ali Giwi used to inhabit lands much further east around the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Years of warfare against other tribes had forced them to the south and west all the way to southern California. The Chumash also warned the curious Spaniards of the religious significance these giants remains had.
Out of caution and with respect to the Chumash elders, the clergy of the nearby mission advised the soldiers it was best to rear the remains and keep the discovery under their hats. After all, the clergy's mission was to introduce the Chumash people to Christianity and Western civilization. The last thing they needed was to upset them by desecrating something the Chumash people considered sacred. The soldiers quickly reeried the sleeping giant and his sarcophagus. They moved the Powder's magazine construction to another spot on the ranch and the whole ordeal was quietly forgotten.
That is until 1833 when written records of the discovery are believed to have been found by Mexican authorities. Mexico had spent the prior decade in a war for its independence, finally forcing Spain out of North and Central America by the early 1820s. It is then presumed that the account of the giant skeleton in Lampak was found among the scattered records left behind by either Spanish military personnel or the clergymen.
However this story was discovered, the mention of the Aliguei people by the native Chumash is by no means unique to this discovery of a giant skeleton by Spanish soldiers. You see, as indicated by the Chumash elders, the Aligiwi aren't just part of Chumash native folklore. The name Aligiwi and their fearsome reputation appears in the oral histories of multiple indigenous nations from all over North America. According to the Delaware, Irakcoy, Cherokee, and Alangquin peoples, the Aligiwi once ruled over the lands of what is now the eastern United States. It is said that in ancient times, their fortified settlements dotted the banks of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The Delaware natives sometimes refer to the Ohio River as Aligiwiipo or River of the Aligiwi, lending credibility to their existence.
Across these different cultures, the descriptions of the Aligiwi are consistent both in their physical appearance and behavior. While similar to humans, they are described as having distinct pale skin and red hair. The Aligiwi are widely said to have been gigantic people. They towered over early men. While their reported use of tools, primitive clothing, and defensive fortifications depicts them as being both sophisticated and intelligent. The Aligiwi were also known to be violent, a warrior society, one that according to the spoken history of the Lape Delaware people was not kind to outsiders.
In 1819, John Hecwelder, a writer and Christian missionary who'd spent much of his career with Native Americans, published a book titled History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations Who Once Inhabited Pennsylvania and the neighboring states. Although Hecwelder's primary goal was to aid in converting the indigenous peoples to Christianity, he became fascinated by their many stories, myths, and legends. One that really stood out to him was a story shared by the Lape people of the Delaware nation. According to Hecelder, the natives ancestors arrived in the east only to be confronted by gigantic people.
"The Lemi Lape, according to the traditions handed down to them by their ancestors, resided many hundred years ago in a very distant country in the western part of the American continent. For some reason which I do not find accounted for, they determined on migrating to the eastward and accordingly set out together in a body. After a very long journey and many nights encampments by the way, they at length arrived on the nei where they fell in with the manguay who had likewise immigrated from a distant country and had struck upon this river somewhat higher up. The spies which the Lape had sent forward for the purpose of reconoitering had long before their arrival discovered that the country east of the Mississippi was inhabited by a very powerful nation who had many large towns built on the great rivers flowing through their land. Those people, as I was told, called themselves Taligu or Taliwi. Colonel John Gibson, however, a gentleman who has a thorough knowledge of the Indians and speaks several of their languages, is of the opinion that they were not called Taleiwi, but allegi. Many wonderful things are told of this famous people. They are said to have been remarkably tall and stout. And there is a tradition that there were giants among them, people of a much larger size than the tallest of the Lape. It is related that they had built to themselves regular fortifications or entrenchments. When the Lape arrived on the banks of the Mississippi, they sent a message to the Allegiwi to request permission to settle themselves in their neighborhood. This was refused them, but they obtained leave to pass through the country and seek a settlement farther to the eastward. They accordingly began to cross the Nemsi Cipu. When the Aligiwi, seeing that their numbers were so very great, and in fact they consisted of many thousands, made a furious attack on those who had crossed, threatening them with all destruction if they dared to persist in coming over to their side of the river. Fired at the treachery of these people and the great loss of men they had sustained and besides not being prepared for a conflict, the Lape consulted on what was to be done, whether to retreat in the best manner they could, or try their strength and let the enemy see that they were not cowards, but men. The Manguay, who had hitherto been satisfied with being spectators from a distance, offered to join them on condition that after conquering the country, they should be entitled to share it with them. Their proposal was accepted, and the resolution was taken by the two nations, conquer or die. The Lape and Manguay declared war against the Aligiwi and great battles were fought in which many warriors fell on both sides. The enemy fortified their large towns and erected fortifications, especially on large rivers and near lakes where they were successfully attacked and sometimes stormed by the Allies. An engagement took place in which hundreds fell who were afterwards buried in holes or laid together in heaps and covered over with earth. No quarter was given, so that the Aligiwi at last, finding that their destruction was inevitable if they persisted in their obstinency, abandoned the country to the conquerors, and fled down the Mississippi River from whence they never returned."
When a man like John Hecwelder publishes a book, he puts his name on it, knowing that book might become his legacy. It doesn't seem reasonable that Hecelder would spend so much of his life living around native people, learning their culture, their history, and then publish a book titled History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations who once inhabited Pennsylvania and the neighboring states and intend for anyone to read this book as fiction. So, that's it. There were giants living in the eastern United States. But due to their territorial violence, two tribes, the Lape and Menuay, decided enough was enough. They took a leaf out of David's book and stood up against Goliath, driving the giants out of their lands.
Whether believable or not, the concept of early man going to war with other prehuman species is something that scientifically verified. As humans began to establish their dominance over the world thousands of years ago, it's believed they came to blows with another branch of human evolution, the Neandertols. Like the epic battle between the American natives and the giants, it was a fight for survival. Through a variety of factors, including disease and warfare, humans slowly managed to push the Neandertols from their lands. As far as we know, having never found a living specimen, this is what led to the complete extinction of the Neandertols.
According to the Lape story, the Aliguei faced the same expulsion. Realizing that they couldn't defend their lands, they retreated south down the Mississippi River. And if this was the case, one of the native tribes they were bound to encounter as they moved south was the Chalkaw people. This begs the question, does Chalkaw legend and oral history also speak about giants? It does. Giants are incorporated into their own story of creation. However, they don't refer to these giants as aligue.
Horatio Bardwell Kushman wrote on the subject in his 1899 book, History of the Chalkaw, Chickasaw, and Nachez Indians. The tradition of the Chakaws told of a race of giants that once inhabited the now state of Tennessee and with whom their ancestors fought when they arrived in Mississippi in their migration from the west. Their tradition states the nulo race of giants was of wonderful stature. Kushman said nahulo came to be used to describe all white people, but it originally referred specifically to a giant white race with whom the chalkaw came into contact when they first crossed the Mississippi River. The nulo were said to be cannibals. Part of the inspiration for Horatio's writing on these legends is a fascinating story spoken by the Chalkaw about their ancestors, the Oakla people.
[Music] Chakaw legend says that the first of their people emerged from the dark caverns of Nania, an ancient earth mound located in southeastern Mississippi. But that is only one part of a much larger story. In an August 1980 issue of the Chalkaw Nation's official newspaper, Vishnik, writer Len Green published a 10-p part series titled Origins of the Chalkaw People Retold from Old Legends. This segment, simply titled The Great War, tells the story of how the Chalkaw's ancestors were driven underground in the first place.
Long ago, possibly in the middle woodland period between 300 to 600 AD, the territory east of the Mississippi was known as Oakla. For the Oakla people, this place was a paradise. The fertile soil of the land around NaniA allowed the Oakla to grow and harvest large amounts of crops, filling their stores with everything from corn, beans, peas, squash, and melons. Likewise, the trees and bushes provided them with all kinds of fruits, nuts, and berries. Game animals were in no short supply, and hunters rarely came back empty-handed. Despite some of these hunting parties straying into land controlled by other tribes, resulting in small skirmishes, the Oakla people enjoyed a period of uninterrupted peace and prosperity. That is until a mysterious stranger wandered into their territory one day with an urgent warning. The man, whose name was Hopenla, claimed to be a messenger of the Almighty Sunfather. He told the Oakla that a race of white-skinned giants would soon descend on their lands from the north. He frantically explained to anyone that would listen that they needed to prepare for the coming danger. But the Oakla simply laughed off the strange man's ramblings. Soon they would realize the man wasn't a lunatic.
Word came down from a few smaller villages on the outskirts of the Oakla territory who claimed to have been visited by several massive pale beings. Due to their immense size, the Oakla referred to them as the Nahulo. At that time in Chalkaw history, nhulo simply meant giant, but it has since become a blanket term describing white people in the Chalkaw language. While the giants were peaceful during their visits, their presence alone was enough to spook members of the Oklahoma hierarchy who quickly sent bands of warriors to track down the invaders. As these men set out into the countryside, Hain Law was brought before the Council of Chiefs. While the council's primary concern was to protect their people, they were also adamant about defending their sacred homeland. But Hopaina told them there was no hope in winning a direct fight with Nahulu. The giants were just too powerful. The Oakla's best bet for survival was to gather up all the supplies they could and go into hiding. When asked about where they could seek shelter, Hopain led the chiefs to the river that flowed behind Naniwaya. It was there that he showed them a concealed entrance way to an extensive network of caverns running deep beneath the sacred mound which were flowing with freshwater streams.
Turning to the chiefs, Hopainas said, "We must bring to this cavern all of the corn we can gather, all of the nuts, all of the pigs, and all other food stuffs that we can store. We may also eat of the white and gray mushrooms that grow in these caverns, but we must not touch the black mushrooms, for they are filled with a terrible poison." Though some of the chiefs wanted to wait for the scouting parties to return with more information, Haina insisted that they needed to begin preparations now. Once the invasion started, he said it would already be too late. And so it was decided. The chiefs mobilized their people and prepared to shelter underground. Their decision came not a moment too soon. In the fall of that year, the Nahulo struck with full force. The Nahulo swarmed into Oakland territory from the north, killing and burning everything that stood in their path. By the time the scouting parties returned, what was left of them anyway, the scenes they described were grim. "Our arrows and darts but pierced their skins deep enough to make them angry," the warriors reported. "With their huge clubs and axes, they scattered us as a flurry of dried leaves before a high wind. The ground became so slickened from our blood and our escaping endrails that we could hardly stand a fight, and the streams and rivers ran red with the blood of Oakla."
Fortunately, by this point, the caverns were just about fully stocked with all of the provisions and supplies the Oakla could muster. For the many chiefs who wanted to stand and fight for their homeland, the decision to abandon it was not an easy one. But the lives of their people were worth more than their pride. And so the Oakla left the surface behind and journeyed underground. The Oakla would remain hidden underground for some time. Eventually, their initial food stores would run dry. They would need to leave their cave on occasion. Only a few ever ventured out and only during the nighttime hours to hunt, fish, or harvest what food they could. But even as they hunted for wild game, the Oakla were constantly being hunted by the Nahulo. Days would become weeks, weeks would become months, and soon they had spent years in hiding. They were surviving, yes, but this was no way to live. They had been underground for so long that some of the younger generations had never even seen the sun or felt its warmth. But one day, a rebellious young man stepped forward, determined to change things.
[Music] So what does this war leader suggest we do? For years, our people have lived like animals. Our children know only darkness and fear, and it is all they will ever know unless we strike back. Strike back? Boy, our axes cannot kill the nahulo. Our legs are too short to run from them until they die from exhaustion. How can you be a war leader when there is no way you can fight against them? And it is exactly that way of thinking that has doomed our people for generations. 3 years. In 3 years, I'll stand before you with a way to do what none of you have dared to do. Oh, and what is that? To take back what is rightfully ours.
This young Oakla stood before the council of chiefs and declared that his name would now be Palitati or war leader. He passionately appealed to the chiefs saying that it was time that they rose up against the nuhulo and reclaimed the surface. Hearing this, the council laughed. But Pelichiati was persistent. In 3 years time, he said he would once again stand before the council with a plan to fight the giants. True to his word, Poligiti returned to the chiefs 3 years later, still stubborn as ever. This time, he presented them with a newly developed weapon. It was a small dart that contained a lethal poison harvested from the black mushrooms within the caverns. A pig was brought in and Pelichiati gave a demonstration, loading one of the darts into a blow gun and firing it into the pig's side. The chiefs were still skeptical. Some could barely stop themselves from laughing. 3 years and this was his grand strategy to beat the giants. A tiny dart. How could it carry enough poison to kill a pig, let alone something as big as a full-grown nahulu? Their protests were silenced when the pig suddenly collapsed onto the ground, twitched, and stopped moving. Politicotti turned to the council and said that he had already tested the poison on the nuhulo, sneaking out one night to stick two of the giants with the darts. Both of his targets were dead within minutes. And just like that, their many years of hiding and being hunted were over. The Oakla were ready for war. Armed with blow guns and their new poison darts, the Oakla warriors emerged from their caverns in the dead of night, setting off into the countryside to hunt down any nahulo they could find. Asleep in their encampments, the giants were blissfully unaware of the small darts being shot into their skin, shrugging them off as bug bites. But then the others awoke to find dozens of their fellow warriors dead. The Nahulu thought that they were being plagued by some kind of poisonous insect. Hoping to avoid being stung themselves, the survivors quickly moved their encampments far away from the Naniwa mound where the Oakla had remained hidden. The Oakla warriors did not relent. They continued attacking the giants night after night until finally the Nhulo fled the region entirely.
[Music] It is here that the common version of the Chalkaw creation story begins. Their Oakla ancestors, after years of knowing only war and darkness, emerged from the caverns beneath Naniwa to reclaim their homeland and build a new future. Having been completely chased out of Okla, the Nahulu seemed to then disappear from Chalkaw history. But like the Aligiwi, it's possible that what remained of the Nahulu may have relocated elsewhere. According to stories told by the Pyute peoples, these giants, though now only a small remnant of their former civilization, unable to return north, may have left the east behind and headed towards the desert lands and the West Coast.
Born in 1844 near Humbult Lake in what is now Nevada, Sarah Winnamaka Hopkins was a writer, activist, educator, lecturer, and proud member of the northern Pyute people. While the world she grew up in was becoming more and more dominated by American and European settlers, she held firm to her indigenous heritage and sought to educate Americans on the history and beliefs of her people. In 1882, Sarah published a book titled Life Among the Pyutes: Their Wrongs and Claims. In chapter 4, she tells a story, one that has long been passed down through Pyute oral history. According to this incredible account, the Paute people once engaged in a war of total annihilation against a tribe of pale skinned, red-haired barbarians who made their last stand at a place called Lovelock Cave, a real location in Nevada. The description of this tribe has some notable similarities to the Aligwi and Nahulu. These barbarian giants were also said to be cannibals.
"Among the traditions of our people is one of a small tribe of barbarians who used to live along the Humbot River. It was many hundred years ago. They used to way my people and kill and eat them. They would dig large holes in our trails at night. And if any of our people traveled at night, which they did, for they were afraid of these barbarous people, they would often times fall into these holes. That tribe would even eat their own dead. Yes, they would even come and dig up our dead after they were buried, and would carry them off and eat them. Now and then they would come and make war on my people. They would fight and as fast as they killed one another on either side, the women would carry off those who were killed. My people say they were very brave. When they were fighting, they would jump up in the air after the arrows that went over their heads and shoot the same arrows back again. My people took some of them into their families, but they could not make them like themselves. So at last they made war on them. This war lasted a long time. Their number was about 2600. The war lasted some 3 years. My people killed them in great numbers and what few were left went into the thick bush. It was a most horrible place. For my people watched at the mouth of the cave and would kill them as they came out to get water. My people would ask them if they would be like us and not eat people like coyotes or beasts. They talked the same language, but they would not give up. At last my people were tired, and they went to work and gathered wood and began to fill up the mouth of the cave. Then the poor fools began to pull the wood inside till the cave was full. At last my people set it on fire. At the same time they cried out to them, 'Will you give up and be like men and not eat people like beasts? Say quick, we will put out the fire.' No answer came from them. My people said they thought the cave must be very deep or far into the mountain. They had never seen the cave, nor known it was there until then. They called out to them as loud as they could, 'Will you give up? Say so or you will all die.' But no answer came. Then they all left the place. In 10 days some went back to see if the fire had gone out. They went back to my third or fifth greatgrandfather and told him they must all be dead. There was such a horrible smell. This tribe was called people eaters. And after my people had killed them all, the people around us called us Sedokara. It means conqueror. It also means enemy. I do not know how we came by the name of pautes. It is not an Indian word. I think it is misinterpreted. Sometimes we are called pine nut eaters for we are the only tribe that lives in the country where pine nuts grow. My people say that the tribe we exterminated had reddish hair. I have some of their hair which has been handed down from father to son. I have a dress which has been in our family a great many years trimmed with this reddish hair. I am going to wear it sometime when I lecture. It is called the morning dress and no one has such a dress but my family."
[Music] Reports of giants living and fighting for their stake in the Midwest are spoken about by other tribes, including the Comanches, a tribe from the Great Plains. Chief Rolling Thunder of the Comanches gave the following account of an ancient race of white giants in 1857.
"Innumerable moons ago, a race of white men, 10 ft high and far more rich and powerful than any white people now living here inhabited a large range of country extending from the rising to the setting sun. Their fortifications crowned the summits of the mountains, protecting their populous cities situated in the intervening valleys. They excelled every other nation which flourished either before or since in all manner of cunning handiccraft, were brave and warlike, ruling over the land they had rested from its ancient possessors with a high and hotty hand. Compared with them, the pale faces of the present day were pygmies in both art and arms."
The chief explained that when this race of giants forgot justice and mercy and became too proud, the great spirit wiped it out, and all that was left of their society were the mounds still visible on the tablelands. This account was documented by Dr. Donald Panther Yates, a researcher and author of books on Native American history. Yates also writes of the Starake people of Navajo legend, which were described as a regal race of white giants endowed with mining technology who dominated the West, enslaved lesser tribes, and had strongholds all throughout the Americas. They were either extinguished or went back to the heavens.
Around the same time in 1864, journalist Pedro Dezza DeLeon wrote in Chronicle of Peru about legendary giants described to him by the Manta indigenous people. "There are uh, however reports concerning giants in Peru who landed on the coast at the point of Santa Elena. The natives relate the following tradition which had been received from their ancestors from very remote times. They arrived on the coast in boats made of reeds as big as large ships. A party of men of such size that from the knee downwards their height was as great as the entire height of an ordinary man, though he might be of good stature. Their limbs were all in proportion to the deformed size of their bodies, and it was a monstrous thing to see their heads with hair reaching to the shoulders. Their eyes were as large as small plates." Delelon said that the sexual habits of the giants were revolting to the natives and heaven eventually wiped out the giants because of those habits.
[Music] While it is merely speculation, the existence of these legends from the early native tribes whose territories span from the east all the way to the west of what is currently the United States does seem to paint a picture. If there was any hard evidence of giants existence, this seeming timeline of events, the giants being pushed west in fight after fight and being killed in the process could offer a reasonable explanation for the decline of the giant population in North America.
In the account involving the Pyute people, it's interesting to note that Sarah Winnamaka never once referred to the cannibal tribe in the story as giants, only calling them barbarians. There is one mention made of their ability to reach up high and grab arrows flying over their heads that may hint at their impressive size, but the only concrete description Hopkins ever gives is of their white skin, red hair, and violent cannibalistic tendencies. What sets the Pyute story apart from those of the Chumash, the Lape Delaware, the Chalkaw, and the others is that there is actually some evidence to suggest that a cannibalistic tribe may have once inhabited Lovelock Cave.
During excavations on the site in 1912, miners unearthed thousands of ancient artifacts. Among them were stone tools, fishing nets, textiles, baskets, and even a few duck decoys used for hunting. The miners left these artifacts in a pile before eventually contacting the University of California. Anthropologist Llewellyn Eloud traveled from the university to the site to investigate. Apparently, human bones were also discovered within the cave during later archaeological digs, some of which appeared to have been split open to extract their marrow. Even remains of human hair was discovered and it was red. While the finding of red hair has been disputed by the fact that black hair can turn red over time, it is commonly agreed that the excavation of Lovelock cave was not handled well and certainly not up to modern standards. But some proponents of the Citica giants theory say researchers have deliberately covered up any giant remains found there.
Of course, the truth behind these incredible stories will likely remain shrouded in mystery. Evidence is important in creating a foundation for belief in anything. Say the dinosaurs, for example. We wouldn't have believed they existed until we found their bones. But even when William Buckland found the fossilized bones of a megalosaurus in 1824, he wasn't the first. They had already been uncovered for centuries. It was just that nobody knew what the bones were, thinking them to be elephant bones. The idea of extinct giant reptiles was far too radical to consider. Still, dinosaurs wouldn't become a mainstream fascination until 30 years after Buckland's discovery when the Megalosaurus was finally displayed along two other model dinosaurs at London's Crystal Palace in 1854.
So perhaps in the same fashion as the Megalosaurus, evidence of giants has been found and reported by the media, but it just wasn't something that people at that time found very unusual or very interesting. And over time, the idea of giants ever existing slipped into obscurity, eventually becoming a thing of myth. But if the giants are myths, why would there be stories like these in American newspapers?
July 9th, 1908, San Francisco, California. The Sunday edition of The Call, a widely read and reputable paper, had a rather interesting front page. We can read about the day's forecast. Clear southwest wind, maximum temperature 62 with a low of 52. We can read about my Preston, the socialist labor candidate for president of the United States, who declined his nomination, or a bit of hot gossip about Dr. Henry Nelson Miner of Berkeley, who exclaimed to the judge that his wife was like a vampire sucking my blood drop by drop during a popular divorce case. Or there's Mr. William Woody of Cottonwood, accidentally shooting through his left hand and hitting Mrs. Henry Bibb who was standing next to him as he cleaned his revolver during the old soldiers camp meeting near Whitmore. There is an update on the rise in anarchy in Salvador. The revolutionaries had just captured the town of Gracias. And crammed in between these everyday stories is something a bit eye-catching. A story titled Discover skeletons of 14 Prehistoric Indians. Remains of giant race are found near Santa Monica Beach.
Special dispatch to the call, Los Angeles, July 8th. 14 skeletons of giant Indians supposed to have roved this section centuries ago have just been dug from the sands of the beach on the Malibu Ranch just north of Santa Monica. The smallest skeleton indicates a stature of 7 ft, while several of the Indians must have been at least 8 ft tall. The discovery was made by three Santa Monica men camping at the mouth of Malibu Canyon. The skulls, teeth, and bones are in an excellent state of preservation. Many relics of an extinct race have been found in the same locality, but no skeletons of such size have ever before been unearthed.
Just over a week later, the same story was run again in another reputable paper. The name might ring a bell, the Lampak Journal. On the front page of the Saturday, July 18th, 1908 edition, right above a blurb about new laws regarding railroads and lumber transport safety, and an awful story about a respected government man killing his three-year-old daughter and himself in a fit of insanity, there is a story titled Find Bones of Giants. Santa Monica, what is believed to be the burial ground of the giant race which inhabited these shores before the discovery of California by Cababrio, was found last week by campers on the beach of Malibu Ranch where they camped, the party observed a skull protruding out of the ocean's shelving bank of sand and gravel. Digging a few minutes, they unearthed 14 more skulls and a number of complete skeletons. all more than seven and several over 8 ft long. A large collection of heavy stone mortars, pestals, utensils of various kinds, and arrow points were dug up nearby.
Imagine a story like that today, squashed into a small section on the front page of your daily paper and it not being the main headline of the day. Clearly, it was more of an archaeological interest piece rather than something anyone would find all that shocking. So maybe there was a time not too long ago when the existence of giants wasn't thought to be so far-fetched. And in spite of what the first article stated, this discovery on the beaches of Santa Monica, California, is not alone.
The front page of the Butler County Democrat from a decade earlier on January 19th, 1899 in Hamilton, Ohio. The story titled Full Description of the skeleton found at Miamiisburg. A skeleton measured at 8 ft 1.5 in was found buried in a sitting position with the skull drooped between the knees. It was uncovered in the Miami Valley by two men, an area where it was apparently common to find relics of what the article refers to as mound builders. The article goes into detail discussing the anthropological comparisons that were being made between this large fossilized skeleton and pyanthropus erectus discovered by Dr. Dubois in Java.
Then there's page three of the Northern Arizona paper, The Prescott Journal Minor, published on February 11th, 1913, a few years after the Santa Monica Beach discovery. Ancient burying ground uncovered. Skeletons found indicate that race of giants once lived on banks of Sycamore Creek. Another 8-foot skeleton discovered, this time by Mr. Corbin of Sycamore Creek. The story also alludes to the discovery of a second massive skeleton by a man named Peter Marx on Walnut Creek only a few months prior.
There is even a discovery much more recently that made headlines. Perhaps it went unnoticed during the height of the co pandemic or because most people have no real interest in the existence of giants. But in January 2022, another article was published by an archaeological magazine and quickly circulated online. Giant 7 to 8ft skeletons uncovered in Ecuador sent for scientific testing. It seems Pedro Dezza DeLeon's interviews with the Mont people from 160 years ago now have some validation. The article explains that British archaeologist Russell Deant and his team are as of 3 years ago currently analyzing skeletal remains discovered in Ecuador and Peru. These bones dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries belong to individuals who stood an astonishing 7 to 8 ft tall. The research funded by Germany's Frya Universet or Free University hopes to uncover whether these finds validate the long-held belief in a race of exceptionally tall people who once roamed this region of the Amazon. The team is proceeding with extreme caution. As Demen said, quote, "Even though I had been working for Fry for many years, I was afraid that they may not provide funding for someone hunting for giants, and even scientists may find this a little far-fetched, especially outsiders. In light of the sensational nature of this, we must be extremely careful in our investigation because it will be met with a lot of mistrust."
What makes these findings even more intriguing is the remarkable health of the skeletons, which show no signs of the typical abnormalities associated with gigantism. Instead, they exhibit healthy joints and large lung capacities. This suggests that their height might have been a natural characteristic of their population rather than a medical condition. The discovery site also reveals ornate burial practices which help preserve these unique remains. It's been 3 years. As Demen's team continues their meticulous work, including DNA analysis, the world waits to see if these ancient giants will rewrite our understanding of human history in the Amazon jungles and beyond, bringing these age-old legends into the realm of scientific fact.
Hey guys, thank you for sticking around here for the afteraction in the credits. This is an episode I actually started working on a while ago. The Solomon Island giants episode was the result of me starting to research the Lampac giant story with the Mexican soldiers, finding all this material on giants, and then running across the Solomon Island story. So, I pivoted away from this one. And I'm glad I did because I think Jake did an excellent job diving into the research on this one and connecting all these stories together. Even as someone who studies scripture and has found it undeniably true, which would then by default include the stories about giants like the Nephilim, the descendants of Anoch, Goliath, etc. There is still a part of my brain that has found the idea of giants living in the Americas difficult to fully accept. But now, I mean, when Jake wrote this script, it's not like he found a single source that had connected the dots in the same way as you just saw. From stories on the giant Aligwi people as told by at least four different native tribes living in the American Northeast, followed by the Chalkaw legends in the American southeast and then the Pautes further west in Nevada and then the Chumash people in California. Even if some of the native legends became a bit embellished over time, when you line up the timelines, it it does seem to paint a picture of why because we don't see giants today. Giants disappeared from North America. And that's not the intention that we started this episode with, right? It's not like we were trying to figure out what happened to giants. We're just telling the stories. But it does seem to paint this picture. They were pushed out or driven into extinction. You combine these stories with the front page articles about finding giant skeletal remains in these same regions like in Ohio, California, or the cannibalized human remains in a cave in Nevada, and the other stories about giants in either Central or South America, the recent discovery of massive skeletons in Ecuador and Peru. I just can't help but to be a little more convinced that giants once roamed the Americas alongside the native people. And based on the San Francisco newspaper article which said the giants were supposed to have roved this section centuries ago. Clearly we are not the first people to think that. Just the first people in a long time who never saw the word giant mentioned in any book outside the Bible and children's fairy tales. Makes you wonder what happened to all those bones. I've read the conspiracy theories, but I still don't see why the idea of acknowledging that giants either exist or did exist is somehow damaging to our society. But then based on soldiers and Marines coming back from Afghanistan and their stories to think that giants still do exist even today. Well, time will tell, I suppose. Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching, for subscribing, for commenting. Uh everything and anything you guys do to help support our work here on Wartime Stories and to help keep this channel running strong. We sincerely appreciate it. As always, a huge shout out to both my patrons and YouTube channel members for your incredible support. May God be with each and every one of you no matter what you are dealing with. And I will see you in the next episode.