The Giants
& Other Strange Beings of Antiquity
Let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again… (Isaiah 26.14, Douay-Rheims Version)
Giantism
In Lampec-Rancho California, in 1833, soldiers discovered a skeleton 11’ 9’’ long which was covered with boulders with an unidentified writing. A similar writing was unearthed on the isle of Santa Maria off the cost of Los Angeles. In July of 1887 in Eureka Nevada, a human leg was found measuring 38.9 inches form the knee to the heel. The man was over 11 foot tall. In Crittenton Arizona in 1891 a sarcophagus was uncovered containing a human 3 meters high and had 12 toes. More recently skeletons ranging from 2.8 meters to 3.12 meters were found by soviets in the Caucasus Mountains. In China skeleton 10 feet tall have been found. In the Philippines a giant human skeleton was found at gargation, Measuring 17 feet long. In the Eagle three Cole mine at Bear Creek Montana in 1920 two human molars were found three times larger than normal. In Braton Tennessee human footprints were found in solid rock 33 inches log and one foot wide. These also have six toes each. Tools found in Morocco are so large their users must have been at least 12 foot tall. Other Giants found around the world are: the Java giant, the south China giant, and the South Africa giant - (See The Timeless Earth p. 26)
A Hobbit was a smart little human` say scientists:
The 18,000 year old human skeleton unearthed in Indonesia last year is in the spotlight once again. In the latest report published in the online edition of Science, researcher paleoneurologist Dean Falk said the skull has advanced features more like those of modern humans. Earlier he had expected to see a chimpanzee skull.
Falk who works at the Florida State University was persuaded by the National Geographic Society to take up research on the skeleton. The research was conducted with the cooperation of the Australian-led team that found the fossil.
The team had found the remains of seven tiny people, including one nearly complete skull of a 30-year-old woman. They dubbed the fossils homo floresiensis.
They had also found sophisticated stone points and barbs with the remains which have amazed anthropologists. They claimed that such tools were signs of a developed brain.
The fossil of the small hominid was designated LB1, a reference to Liang Bua caves where the skeleton was found.
The scientific community took to calling it the Hobbit after the diminutive characters in J.R.R. Tolkien's books. LB1, a female, measures at just 1 meter in height and has some surprisingly advanced features which negate an earlier theory that it was a diseased human being.
About the height, the scientists theorize that the species exemplified the "island rule" on a human scale. On isolated islands with limited resources and no natural predators to worry about, large animals tended to become smaller and vice versa. Flores, the place where the remains were found is known to have been populated by both miniature elephants and giant Komodo dragon lizards in prehistoric times.
A research associate of Falk said “Clearly, it does not belong to a modern human pygmy with a brain disease.” The team had carried out detailed examination of the creature’s braincase, which was mentioned in the ‘Science’ report.
They used computed tomographic (CT) scan data on the original skull to render a 3D virtual ‘endocast’ of the creature’s brain. A rubber ‘endocast’ was also created by applying several layers of rubber paint to the brain cavity in the skull. When dry this hollow rubber model or endocast can be removed.
The dimensions and features of her brain were then compared with endocasts from various other species: these included the chimpanzee, the modern pygmy, a normal modern human, homo erectus and an individual with true microcephaly. Microcephaly is a brain defect that can stunt growth. It is characterized by an abnormally small head and brain and is usually associated with mental difficulties. This variable was included in the comparison because Indonesian paleoanthropologist Teuku Jacob argued that the remains were really those of a modern human who had microcephaly. However, the subsequent findings have ruled out that possibility.
The Science report says the hominids showed signs of advanced intelligence such as the ability to hunt with sophisticated stone tools. The stone points found along with the remains were evidence of this mental development. According to them, the brain supports the idea that it is a dwarf species of human new to science.
The overall shape of the hominid’s brain is very similar to that of Homo erectus (an earlier ancestor of modern humans). It also has some very advanced features that compare well with the modern human’s brain. Particularly, the frontal lobe, the temporal lobes at the sides and at the back of the brain are very similar to a modern human brain’s features.
While the debate about its origins continues in the scientific community, some scientific bodies are wrangling over the custody of the fossil. The remains have been moved from Jakarta’s Center for Archaeology to Professor Jacob’s university so that the skeptical professor can study the bones for himself.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/1864.html
'Hobbit' Brain Supports Species Theory
Scientists working with powerful imaging computers say the spectacular "Hobbit" fossil recently discovered in Indonesia had distinctive brain features that could justify its classification as a separate — and tiny — human ancestor.
The new report, published Thursday in the online journal Science Express, seems to support the idea of a sophisticated human dwarf species marooned for eons while modern man proliferated.
The new research produced a computer-generated model that compared surface impressions on the inside of the fossil skull with brain casts of modern and ancient humans, as well as chimps and other primates.
The scientists said the model shows that the 3-foot specimen, nicknamed Hobbit, had a brain unlike anything they had seen before in the human lineage. The brain is chimplike in size, about 417 cubic centimeters.
Yet the Hobbit's brain shared wrinkled surface features with the much larger brains of both modern humans and Homo erectus, a tool-making ancestor that lived in southeast Asia more than 1 million years ago. Some of those brain features are consistent with higher cognitive traits.
These brain features coincide with physical evidence of advanced behaviors, such as hunting, firemaking and the use of stone tools, which were found alongside the bones in a cave on the remote equatorial island of Flores. To some, this suggests an organized society of tiny hunters flourished on the island for millennia at a time when modern humans dominated the planet.
"This is a unique creature," said Florida State University anthropologist Dean Falk, who led the study. "We found amazing, specialized features across the surface from front to back."
"These findings are consistent with the kinds of sophisticated behaviors that are hypothesized" for the Hobbit, Falk said, but she stopped short of saying the Hobbit was a tool-maker.
In October, scientists from Indonesia and Australia caused an international sensation with their report of a trove of tiny fossils. As many as eight individuals were represented in layers that were dated from 95,000 to 12,000 years ago. The Hobbit skeleton was the most complete specimen and contained the only skull.
In a project funded by the National Geographic (news - web sites) Society, Falk and researchers from Washington University in St. Louis created a three-dimensional computer model of the brain using CT scans of the interior of the Hobbit's skull. Known as virtual endocasts, these images show the wrinkles, vessels and other surface features that made faint impressions on the skull's lining.
They compared that model with the brains of chimps, a female Homo erectus, a contemporary woman, a pygmy and a European specimen of a person with a small-brain syndrome known as microcephaly.
Scientists say its brain shape is most closely associated with that of Homo erectus. However, it also reflects some features of modern humans, including:
A fissure near the back of the brain known as the lunate sulcus, similarly found in the modern human brain. "I almost fell over seeing this feature in something so small," Falk said.
A swollen temporal lobe, the mid-brain area between the ears where hearing, memory, image identification and emotions are processed.
A part of the frontal lobe near the eyes that is thought to be involved in planning and initiative-taking.
Such advanced brain features were especially surprising because the rest of the skeleton has more primitive traits like coarse teeth and an apelike pelvis similar to human ancestors that emerged in Africa some 4 million years ago.
"It's a really strange combination of traits," said Michael J. Morwood of the University of New England in Australia, one of the Hobbit's excavators. "It is a new, diminutive human species."
Whether the Hobbit evolved into a dwarfed form of Homo erectus or hails from another, older human cousin is unknown, he said. Other human evolution specialists were split over the new report.
Katerina Semendeferi of the University of California-San Diego described it as a "cutting edge study." While the Hobbit brain does not fit neatly into an evolutionary pattern, she said it is too much to expect that all species would have brain sizes that would neatly transition in size from ape to modern human.
But some experts dismissed the brain-scan study as "trivial." Primatologist Robert Martin, provost of the Field Museum in Chicago, said the Hobbit probably was a modern human that suffered from a form of microcephaly.
But Falk said the Hobbit brain was quite different from the brain of a modern human with abnormal brain growth, or a human pygmy.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050303/ap_on_sc/hobbit_brain_2
- by Joseph B. Verrengia, (Ap Science Writer)
Ancient Monuments Used for Ritual Sacrifices
One thing that does seem clear is that dead bodies and other indications of human sacrifice are found around these megalithic sites. The oldest myths and legends associated with them appear to confirm that people were thought to have been sacrificed in connection with these structures. Bodies of children, roughly 8-12 years old have been found, as well as adolescents and adults. Virgin sacrifice generally meant killing a child around 12 years old. In Peru, near Cuzco, high in the Incan mountains, a boy of 10-12 years of age was found dressed for sacrifice, lying in a cave, where he had been left to die by the priests when something put a halt to their "civilization" and its rituals.
Some 4000 skeletons are estimated to lie under Stonehenge after partial excavations at the site. The building of the stone circle is currently thought to have ceased prior to the time of the Exodus, some 3500 years ago. It appears to have been built in stages over several thousand years. It's only one of a number of stone circles and megaliths all over the British Isles, France and Spain, and on islands in the Mediterranean Sea and out into the nearby Atlantic. This is the area "beyond the Pillars of Hercules" (supposedly beyond the Straits of Gibraltar between Spain and North Africa that separate the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean) that Plato said was the location of the lost civilization of the island of Atlantis, from which the Atlantic Ocean may have derived its name.
All this raises a question: Was human sacrifice carried out all over the world on these ancient megalithic sites? We cannot yet answer that question. Nevertheless, we do know one thing:
The widely-separated megalithic complexes on grid lines were situated in often very inconvenient places, out in the middle of the ocean, high atop mountains, in deserts, and it appears, in the case of Atlantis itself, on artificial, man-made islands where no suitable island fell on the gridlines. The strange locations of these complexes implies that the purpose of the megaliths was not to derive power from a grid for local use, but rather, to do something to the earth grid by coordinating local actions on a global basis. In other words, the megaliths appear to be used to put energy into a global grid, rather than to extract energy from it.
This would explain why we cannot find any use for a grid-produced energy in many of the megalithic sites. In some of the complexes, the only activity appears "religious" or, at least, sacrificial. Could blood sacrifice have been performed on the stones in some strange expectation that it might empower the grid?
Haunted Stones
One of the most common experiences people report around these stone structures is spiritual manifestation. It is sometimes nothing but a strong feeling. Other times beings are seen or speak to the witnesses. Strange glowing lights or eerie sounds are noted. Dowsers claim they can detect the presence of mysterious forces around some of the sites. The Great Pyramid is legendary for its bizarre occurrences. Even the "natural" monolith of Petra--a single giant stone in Jordan--had apparent human sacrifice on top and is known by the Bedouins as "the place of the Ghoul" and is haunted by a strange presence on its summit.
One of the creepy things about the human sacrifices that were conducted at some of these sites, at least in the more recent period, is that the victims were conscious when they had their hearts cut out of their chest atop stone pyramids and other megalithic altars. These people may have taken a psychedelic drug just before they were killed. While it is likely to have made them more pliable so that they might be able to endure the grisly ritual while semi-conscious, the psychedelic effects could also have increased the vividness of their final experience.
It is common knowledge that houses are often haunted if there has been a violent or traumatic death in them. There seems to be a relationship between the intensity of victim trauma and the intensity of the haunting. In other words, the psychic energy or spiritual power of the haunting is apparently proportionate to the number and severity of the traumatic deaths at the site. Not only are houses and mountains haunted, but battle-fields where thousands died are so haunted that the battle is sometimes "replayed" for centuries thereafter, a whole army of "spirits" haunting the site for generations. It follows that sacrificial pyramids and other megaliths should still be haunted by the ghosts of their past victims-and that is precisely what the witnesses report. It also follows that because the megaliths were drenched in the blood of thousands of innocent victims--at least one a year for thousands of years--there would have been a huge build-up of psychic energy in the stones.
In short, back when the sacrifices were underway around the world, the megaliths would have been super-charged with spiritual power. And that could have caused the whole grid to become haunted...that is, the whole earth. It surely must have been apparent to the megalith people that their sacrifices were energizing their temples with a massive amount of psychic power. And since they had sited these structures on a global grid, it seems unavoidable to conclude that they did so deliberately in order to infuse the grid with this spiritual energy.
Therefore, the ancient megalithic grid-builders appear to have set out to haunt the earth with the spirits of the children and others they sacrificed. They must have sought to energize their stone grid with the mass-murder of their own children. What could have prompted such slaughter?
Global Blood-Letting
The victims, we are told by the more modern sacrificers, considered it an honor to give their lives. The blood was poured out on the stones, it was drunk by the priests, and it was removed from the bodies along with the vital organs. The hearts would be eaten too. And all this was done for the "benefit" of the so-called "gods" they worshipped. Who were these "gods" in the pre-Deluge world? If one looks at the Greek myths, the pre-flood world was the time when the "gods" came down and intermarried with men. The Sumerians said the same thing. Even the Bible asserts that the "Nephilim" or "fallen ones" came to earth and interbred with human women, producing a race of giants or "mighty men of old, the men of renown" [Genesis 6].
While many myths actually mention sacrifices to the gods before the flood (which nearly all of them take as a given), the Biblical account merely says that "the earth was filled with violence through them" and that this had turned into a GLOBAL problem requiring a GLOBAL solution, namely a Flood. Genesis twice repeats the curious expression that these pre-Deluge people had "FILLED" the earth with violence. Is it possible these passages should be taken literally? That is, that the planet had literally been "filled" or infused with the violent psychic trauma of millions of sacrificial victims? Were the megalith-builders using their stones as a kind of violent-trauma storage-battery? That might help explain why the megaliths used all those giant stones in the first place. The big stones could be a way of concentrating the traumatic haunting energy; and the great effort to minimize the joints to less than the width of the EDGE of a razor-blade, and to fill even that slender sliver with a super-fine mortar, could be a way to glue the huge stones into one gigantic monolith, a megamass of stone that might be able to store fabulous quantities of trauma-the kind of horrendous haunting energy needed to empower a global grid system. And if they were charging the earth with violence, how did this serve the "gods" purposes? Did the "fallen ones" or "Annunaki," as the Sumerians called them, design the grid and the megaliths? For what reason?
http://members.tripod.com/~PetraGrail/news.html
Daniel And The Watchers
As human beings we tend to lump things we don’t completely understand into neat general categories. We lose a lot doing that. There are many more different kinds of beings which inhabit the universe than merely angels and demons. Even within the angel category there are different assignments and categories. However, at one time or another they were all called the children of God in their own right. There is a large difference between the angels and the Watchers mentioned in the Bible. The angels are disembodied entities, while the Watchers are corporal beings. The Greek historian Hesiod quantified the Watchers and suggested that there were at least ten thousand Watchers who had once lived on the earth. We tend to refer to all the Watchers as “Fallen Angels” when that is not true at all. Only a small number of Watchers fell into that category. The rest of them are most noble of beings that were reassigned by deity to do their bidding back here on the earth. In the book of Genesis 6: 1-4 a part of the story of the Watchers is told.
"When men began to increase on earth and daughters were born to them, the divine beings saw how beautiful the daughters of men were and took wives from among those that pleased them. The LORD said, 'My breath shall not abide in man forever, since he too is flesh; let the days allowed him be one hundred and twenty years.' It was then, and later too, that the Nephilim appeared on earth - when the divine beings cohabited with the daughters of men, who bore them offspring. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown."
In the sacred Midrash writings of the Jews the Watchers are revealed in a prayer from the prophet Hannah.
"Lord of the Universe! The celestials never die, and they do not reproduce their kind. Terrestrial beings die, but they are fruitful and multiply. Therefore I pray: Either make me immortal, or give me a son!" The Watchers were never intended to continue having families here on the earth and this is the reason that God was angry with a small group of them when they selected daughters of Eve as wives. Not all of the Watchers took wives and sinned against the will of God. However, Enoch said that there were Watcher Angels who lusted after the daughters of men and because they took wives of the daughters of Eve fell like Fallen Angels from the presence of God. Enoch called them angels because they came and went from the presence of God. But they were not classic disembodied angels that would lust after the daughters of Eve.
1 Enoch 6: 1-7 says: "In those days, when the children of man had multiplied, it happened that there were born unto them handsome and beautiful daughters. And the angels, the children of heaven, saw them and desired them; and they said to one another, 'Come, let us choose wives for ourselves from among the daughters of man and beget us children.' And Semyaz, being their leader, said unto them, 'I fear that perhaps you will not consent that this deed should be done, and I alone will become (responsible) for this great sin.' But they all responded to him, 'Let us all swear an oath and bind everyone among us by a curse not to abandon this suggestion but to do the deed.' Then they all swore together and bound one another by (the curse) And they were altogether two hundred;"
The angels descended on Mount Hermon during the days of Jared. There were 19 leaders mentioned in 1 Enoch, who were also called 'the chiefs of ten.' Once they returned to earth they still possessed the wisdom from the time they had lived here. 1 Enoch 7: 1-5 says:
"they took wives unto themselves, and everyone (respectively) chose one woman for himself, and they began to go unto them. And they taught them magical medicine, incantations, the cutting of roots, and taught them (about) plants. And the women became pregnant and gave birth to great giants whose heights were three hundred cubits. These (giants) consumed the produce of all the people until the people detested feeding them. So the giants turned against (the people) in order to eat them."
The Angels then taught women charms, enchantments, the cutting of roots, and the knowledge of plants. They taught men how to make various weapons and armor, and also arts and sciences. These acts led to an increase in lawlessness and warfare. The men of earth then cried out to heaven, and the four archangels (Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel) cried out to God. In response, God sent Uriel to warn Noah that there would soon be a flood that would destroy the wickedness on earth.
The angel Raphael was commanded to bind Azazel hand and foot, and to cast him into the hole in the desert that the Lord had made. Raphael threw sharp rocks and covered Azazel’s face so that he would not see light. The angel Michael was commanded to bound Semyaza and his associates in the valleys of the earth. They will remain there until the Day of Judgment when he will be cast into the fire.
The race of giants produced from this union a brood of evil spirits consisting of departed spirits of the giants. These spirits are not material or corporeal beings, but they torment mankind because they have proceeded from them. 1 Enoch 15 reads”
"But now the giants who are born from the (union of) the spirits and the flesh shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, because their dwelling shall be upon the earth and inside the earth. Evil spirits have come out of their bodies. Because from the day that they were created from the holy ones they became the Watchers; their first origin is the spiritual foundation. They will become evil upon the earth and shall be called evil spirits. The dwelling of the spiritual beings of heaven is heaven; but the dwelling of the spirits of the earth, which are born upon the earth, is in the earth. The spirits of the giants oppress each other, they will corrupt, fall, be excited, and fall upon the earth, and cause sorrow. They eat no food, nor become thirsty, nor find obstacles. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of the people and against the women, because they have proceeded forth (from them).
1 Enoch 19 also gives a variation to the origin of demons.
"Here shall stand in many different appearances the spirits of the angels which have united themselves with women. They have defiled the people and will lead them into error so that they will offer sacrifices to the demons as unto gods, until the great Day of Judgment in which they shall be judged till they are finished." - 1 Enoch 19:1
1 Enoch 85-90 gives a similar account of the fall of the angels. In these passages, a star (either Semjaza or Azazel) fell from heaven and began to pasture among the oxen or mankind. A number of stars then fell and were transformed into bulls. They began to cover the cows (the angels married mortal women), who then gave birth to elephants, camels, and asses (the giants). The oxen then became restless and began to fight, but they became prey to the wild beasts. The archangels then appear in the disguise of men. One seizes the first of the fallen stars and casts it into the abyss. A second gives the elephants, camels, and asses a sword so that they will slay each other. A third archangel stones the other fallen stars and casts them into the gulf.
It seems that there is a threefold aspect to the sin of the Watchers in these accounts. First, it was a defilement of the essence of beings that live in the presence of God to marry and engage in sexual acts with human women. Second, these unions between the angels and mortal women were considered evil, themselves. Because of the Watchers and evil created by these unions, God caused the great Flood of Noah's time. Finally, the angels sinned because they revealed the secrets of the natural universe which God did not intend for man to know.
In the Book of Jubilees 4: 22 it gives another account of how the Watchers fell that is similar to 1 Enoch. It explains that the Watchers originally descended to the earth to teach mankind and do what was just, but they “sinned with the daughters of men because these had begun to mix with earthly women so that they became defiled.”
In Jubilees 4: 15 Malalael "named [his son] Jared, the sixth generation from Adam. During his lifetime the angels of the Lord who were called Watchers descended to earth to teach mankind and to do what is just and upright upon the earth".
In Jubilees 5: 6 it says that they were sent by God, Himself.
"Against his angels whom he had sent to the earth he was angry enough to uproot them from all their (positions of) authority"
Apparently the watchers had positions of great authority and responsibility in heaven. Their job was to come from the presence of God and mingle with men, because they were corporal.
Jubilees tells us that the union of the Watchers and mortal women were the Nephilim. This defines another of the categories of the beings who are not classic angels or devils. Jubilees 7: 21-22 reads:
"For it was on account of these three things [fornication, uncleanness, and injustice that the flood was on the earth, since (it was) due to fornication that the Watchers had illicit intercourse - apart from the mandate of their authority - with women. When they married of them whomever they chose they committed the first (acts) of uncleanness. They fathered (as their) sons the Nephilim.
In Jubilees we find the story of Mastema. As God commanded the angels to bind all the evil spirits, Mastema came and asked the Lord that some of the spirits might be allowed to remain with him to do his will. God granted his request and allowed one tenth of the spirits to remain. In Jubilees 10: 8-9 we read:
"When Mastema, the leader of the spirits, came, he said: 'Lord creator, leave some of them before me; let them listen to me and do everything that I tell them, because if none of them is left for me I shall not be able to exercise the authority of my will among mankind. For they are meant for (the purposes of) destroying and misleading before my punishment because the evil of mankind is great.' Then he said that a tenth of them should be left before him, while he would make nine parts descend to the place of judgment."
The Mosaic Book of Jubilees was originally called the Apocalypse of Moses and was supposedly written by Moses while he was on Mount Sinai and the book was dictated by a watcher or angel. This book was intended as a history of the days of old and reveals the purpose of the Watchers:
“For in his days the angels of the Lord [Elohim – shining ones] descended upon the earth [came down from their mountain stronghold] – those who are named Watchers – that they should instruct the children of men, that they should do judgment and uprightness upon the earth.”
These Watchers, according to the Book of Jubilees are the sons of god spoken of in Genesis sent from their heavenly abode to instruct men. What seems to have occurred is that they fell from grace by mating with the daughters of men and were outcast and became the fallen angels we are familiar with today. However, according to A Dictionary of Angels, not all these Watchers descended from the heavenly abode and were termed holy Watchers, residing in the fifth heaven. Enoch himself testified against these fallen Watchers, but he was protected by the ruling shining ones (Elohim) and transported to the Garden of Eden (Eden means plateau and is therefore a specific place).
In the book of 2 Enoch it mentions a group of angels called the Grigori, who are similar to the Watchers. Their prince is called Satanail. The difference in this account is that there were three Watchers who came to earth and married and had giant children. In Enoch 2 18 3-4 we read:
"These are the Grigori, who with their prince Satanail rejected the Lord of light, and after them are those who are held in great darkness on the second heaven, and three of them went down on earth to the place Ermon, and broke through their vows on the shoulder of the hill Ermon and saw the daughters of men how good they are, and took to themselves wives, and befouled the earth with their deeds.
The name Grigori means Watcher or “Those who watch” or “Those who are awake” or “The ones who never sleep”.
The mysterious eighth order of angels, the gentle Grigori were created by God to be Earthly shepherds of the first humans in an epoch prior to the coming of Adam and Eve. The Grigori were both physically and spiritually gigantic, at least by the standards of the people who later wrote about them. They served early humanity as vast reservoirs of information concerning the finer points of civilization, and their selflessness was beyond compare. They were also called the Watchers because their job was to observe humanity, lending a helping hand when necessary but not interfering in the course of human development.
In the second Book of Enoch, it describes that God had sent a legion of angels to earth in order to watch over and assist man during the beginning of civilization. These angels taught man sciences which were forbidden by God such as the magic in herbs, reading the stars, divination and sorcery. Enoch goes on to say "...but they chose husbands and wives from among the humans and led greatly debauched lives, neglecting their heavenly duties..." This angered God greatly and he banished the "fallen".
Among the Strega the Grigori/Watchers originally numbered only four royal stars or Lords. Each of these Lords ruled over one of the four directions on the compass ...North, South, East, West.
North - Formalhaut - who marked Winter Solstice
South - Regulus - who marked Summer Solstice
East - Aldebaran - who marked the Vernal Equinox
West - Antares - who marked Autumn Equinox
Among the Strega the Watchers were Gods who guarded the Heavens and Earth. Over time the Greeks made them Gods of the four winds, and the early Christians made them “Creatures of the Air”.
The Strega goes on to say that all acts of magic are watched and aided by the Grigori. This does not mean that the Grigori will stop a working, we are each responsible for our actions. Just that all workings are noted and we all need to think about what we do - before - we do it.
In 'A Dictionary of Angels' by Gustav Davidson, the Watchers are portrayed as a high order of Angels, also known as Grigori or Irin.
Not all the Watchers descended: those that remained are the holy Watchers, and they reside in the 5th Heaven. The evil Watchers dwell either in the 3rd Heaven or in what one might call Hell.
Gustav Davidson in his dictionary of the watchers says:
1. Armaros: Taught men the resolving of enchantments
2. Araquiel: Taught men the signs of the earth
3. Azazel: Taught men to make knives, swords, and shields, and to devise ornaments and cosmetics.
4. Baraqijal: Taught men astrology
5. Ezequeel: Taught men the knowledge of the clouds.
6. Gadreel: Introduced weapons of war
7. Kokabel: Taught the science of constellations
8. Penemue: Instructed mankind in writing and taught children the bitter and sweet, and the secrets of wisdom.
9. Sariel: Taught men the course of the moon.
10. Semjaza: Taught men enchantments, root-cutting etc.
11. Shamshiel: Taught men the signs of the sun.
Taken in part from
Zecharia Sitchin’s research of the Sumerian tablets said:
"... The Akkadians called their predecessors Sumerians, and spoke of the Land of Shumer…It was, in fact, the biblical Land of Shin'ar. It was the land whose name - Shumer - literally meant the Land of the Watchers. It was indeed the Egyptian Ta Neter - Land of the Watchers, the land from which the gods had come to Egypt."
The Egyptian Book of the Dead speaks of the Watchers:
"'Deliver thou the scribe Nebseni, whose word is truth, from the Watchers, who carry murderous knives, who possess cruel fingers, and who would slay those who are in the following of Osiris.'
May these Watchers never gain the mastery over me, and may I never fall under their knives!'
"'They are Anubis and Horus, [the latter being] in the form of Horus the sightless. Others, however, say that they are the Tchatcha (sovereign princes of Osiris), who bring to naught the operations of their knives; and others say that they are the chiefs of the Sheniu chamber.
'May their knives never gain the mastery over me. May I never fall under the knives wherewith they inflict cruel tortures. For I know their names, and I know the being, Matchet, who is among them in the House of Osiris. He shooteth forth rays of light from his eye, being himself invisible, and he goeth round about heaven robed in the flames which come from his mouth, commanding Hapi, but remaining invisible himself. May I be strong on earth before Ra, may I arrive safely in the presence of Osiris. O ye who preside over your altars, let not your offerings to me be wanting, for I am one of those who follow after Nebertcher, according to the writings of Khepera. Let me fly like a hawk, let me cackle like a goose, let me lay always like the serpent-goddess Neheb-ka.'"
Nebuchadnezzar
There were many cultures of people that played a political role in the Middle East. One of the principal characters was Nebuchadnezzar who conquered Jerusalem around the turn of the century, six hundred years before Jesus. Nebuchadnezzar was a descendant of Solomon and Sheba, among his other ancestors. Therefore he was partially a Jew from the house of David, like Jesus himself. Part of the fascination Nebuchadnezzar had with Jerusalem was more than a pure power play, or land grab. We can put together the pieces of his motivations by his actions. We learn his motivations by what he carried with him back into Babylon. Many Jews are still under the impression that Nebuchadnezzar carried all the Jews into captivity. That just isn’t true. The only people that were interesting to Nebuchadnezzar were the builders, craftsmen, the sacred singers and intellectuals. The vast majority of these people were men. Nebuchadnezzar left the women, the children and the aged alone. We know this because as he entered Babylon with his captives, whom he had stripped naked, it was the women of Babylon who gathered around and were fascinated with the beauty of his captives. By stripping his captives naked Nebuchadnezzar not only humiliated them in front of each other and their god, but separated them from their potentially powerful priestly robes. Nebuchadnezzar was terrified of his captives and it is recorded that he didn’t let them rest until he had reached the border of Babylonian territory. Josephus and the Talmud go on to say that the reason he was frightened was because he thought that if his captives were allowed to pray they may convince God that they repented and that God might turn on him.
Nebuchadnezzar obviously had a profound respect for the Jews, their mystical powers and their temple. He eventually destroyed the Temple of Solomon as if it was bad luck and turned his wrath on Egypt, the land of the temple at Amarna, which was identical to the Temple of Solomon.
What appears to be obvious is that Nebuchadnezzar had a construction project in mind. That construction project wasn’t just some beautification project or an attempt to carve his image on a building that would last forever, like his neighbors the Egyptians had done. The construction project he had in mind included building that would be the portal into heaven.
Nebuchadnezzar’s ancestors were famous for building some of the most important monuments and temples in Egypt. Perhaps the most important of the buildings they built in Egypt was the temple of Ahkenaten at Tel Amarna that was exactly like the later Temple of Solomon. Nebuchadnezzar knew the secrets of the Temple of Solomon, his illustrious ancestor, and about the original temple at Amarna, where the Arc of the Covenant once stood. As you may recall from earlier classes, Ahkenaten, the builder of the temple in Amarna, was the grandson of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. His father Jacob, or Israel, dreamed the visions of the future on a rock that later became known as “Jacob’s Pillar” and was part of the Temple at Tel Amarna. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to be able to tell the future as well, which was the basis behind his proposed construction project. The temple was the site of the communication with the heavens and the prophet Daniel and his three companions proved to be the most skilled in interpreting visions that were common in the temple.
With the discovery of the Priestly medallions from the time of the Exodus found in modern Greece we know that the Arc of the Covenant once stood in the Temple of Tel Amarna before Moses removed it and took it with him in the Exodus into the deserts of Sinai. Nebuchadnezzar held the Arc in his own residence for some time as well. The Arc served the same purpose in Egypt at Tel Armana as it did in the tent temples of Moses and later in the Temple of Solomon. The ancient temples were not just places of worship. They housed the schools of the priests and became the portal between God and men. To own the temple with its Arc was to own the door into heaven.
The Persians who conquered Babylon after the death of Nebuchadnezzar suspiciously called this territory “The Kingdom of Heaven”. That is exactly what Nebuchadnezzar planned. One of the first things the conquering Persians did, who vanquished the rule of Nebuchadnezzar, was to return the temple artifacts to the Jews and send them home to Jerusalem. They even financed the rebuilding of the original Temple of Solomon under Persian King Cyrus. The Persians were both frightened by the artifacts of the temple and respectful at the same time. The Jews, true to form, refused to let the other tribes of Israel participate in the rebuilding of the temple under Zerubbabel. They only considered themselves worthy of rebuilding the temple, though it was because of their rebellion that they had spent time as captives in Babylon. It was said that Shadrach Meshach and Abednego, who survived the fiery furnaces of Nebuchadnezzar, helped rebuild the temple under Zerubbabel. The Jews objected to getting help from the other tribes of Israel in the rebuilding of the temple and petitioned the successor of Cyrus, the great King Darius, for redress in preventing the other tribes from lending support. Darius granted their petition. Darius had been plagued by the ten lost tribes in the form of the Scythians, but that wasn’t the whole story. Darius just didn’t want any more trouble from a God who could inflict plagues and send the powerful Watchers. The Persians fought and won wars with mortals who could be killed. However, how do you fight against immortals? Cyrus lived during the time of Daniel who interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s visions from the watchers. The watchers appeared to have sided with Daniel and his Jewish people. In the book of Daniel it shows that Nebuchadnezzar knew who the watchers were and so did Daniel.
The Rest of the Story of the Captivity of the Jews
After Nebuchadnezzar had already taken the first wave of captives he sent a message to the Sanhedrin to meet with him in Antioch. He told them that it was not his intention to destroy the temple or enslave the people. However, when Joachim, the existing king of the Jews at the time, learned of his treachery, he rebelled and was killed by the Babylonian king. Paradoxically it was Nebuchadnezzar who then put Zedekiah on the throne of the Jews. Zedekiah was the uncle of Joachim. Nebuchadnezzar tried to force Zedekiah into homosexuality, but was prevented by a miracle from doing so (Shab. 149b; see also Jerome on Hab. ii. 16). Later Nebuchadnezzar also killed Zedekiah and his sons, leaving only the daughter, Tea Tephi, of Zedekiah to be the great ancestor of Jesus. She was taken for her safety by Jeremiah into Great Britain, the Land of the people of the “Brit”, or covenant.
Among the artifacts that most interested Nebuchadnezzar was the Arc of the Covenant. When he brought the Arc back to Babylon he placed it in his personal residence. Again it is apparent that Nebuchadnezzar had a building project in mind. However, once he put the Arc in his own palace Josephus records that a voice from heaven spoke out of the darkness for eighteen years saying, “O wicked servant, go and destroy the house of your master, since his children no longer obey him.” Nebuchadnezzar was terrified, to say the least. He sought advice from neighboring oracles who told him that God had punished Israel for not listening to their prophets Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel. (Sanh. 96b). The words of the oracle gave Nebuchadnezzar confidence knowing that God had abandoned Israel and there was no one left to turn away God’s wrath from the Jews. Nebuchadnezzar was shown a famous vision of Michael the Arc Angel. In this vision Michael’s hands were bound. This encouraged Nebuchadnezzar to return to Jerusalem to finish the job of destroying the temple and subjugating the people. However, he didn’t lead the expedition himself out of fear (Midr. Ekah Zuṭa, p. 70).
Nebuchadnezzar was so greatly feared that as long as he was alive no one dared laugh; and the inmates in prison trembled, thinking he would rule them in hell (Shab. l.c.). We see the real intentions of the king when he considered himself to be a god, and spoke of making a cloud in order to enthrone himself like God (Mek., Beshallaḥ, Shirah, 6 [ed. Weiss, p. 47a, b]); but a heavenly voice cried to him: "O thou miscreant, son of a miscreant, and grandson of the miscreant Nimrod! Man lives seventy years, or at most eighty (Ps. xc. 10). The distance from the earth to heaven measures 500 years; the thickness of heaven measures as much; and not less the distance from one heaven to the other" (Pes. 94a, below; Ḥag. 13a et passim). A building of a temple in his own honor would have given him power over the portal to heaven.
After the death of Nebuchadnezzar the world sighed in relief and Palestine was conquered by the Persians. The Persians treated the Jews very differently. Cyrus returned the Jew-craftsmen to Jerusalem and released all their temple artifacts.
Daniel
It was during the time of Nebuchadnezzar that the prophet Daniel appeared. We will review the book of Daniel from the bible in order to understand what was really happening. You can read along in your bible for maximum impact.
Chapter 1
In the 3rd year of reign of Joachim king of the Jews, (605 BC), Daniel who was 15 and others were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar along with some of the vessels of the temple.
Nebuchadnezzar was looking for the wisest to be taught the language and literature of the Chaldeans. Daniel and his four compatriots were tested and found to be the smartest of the captives and were appointed for the king’s service in the palace.
Daniel refused to partake of the King’s “delicacies and wine.” The chief eunuch conducted tests for ten days, allowing Daniel and others to eat the food of their choice, to see if they would be healthier than the other classes of mystics who ate the food furnished by Nebuchadnezzar. After the ten days the chief saw that Daniel and the others were ten times healthier, and also clear-minded, than those partaking of the King’s delicacies, including the magicians and astrologers. It isn’t possible to tell the difference between those who are vegetarians and those who aren’t in ten days. Therefore, something was in the diet of Nebuchadnezzar that was causing the difference. Remember this was the diet for the magicians and astrologers. Most historians would conclude that the main difference was in the alcohol consumption. However, that wasn’t true either because whatever they were doing kept Nebuchadnezzar up for days on end. It was probably a hallucinogen of some sorts used to create an altered state of consciousness for himself and his mystics. Daniel is given the ability to understand visions and dreams without consuming this additional substance. It is interesting to note that Daniel continued in his post until the first year of Cyrus (539BC), which would have made him around the age of eighty.
Chapter 2
Nebuchadnezzar called on the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to not only interpret his famous “dream” of the statue, but to also tell him what it was in the first place. They told the king that no one was able to tell him what his vision was, but if the king would describe the dream they would interpret it. It is important to note that the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, rather than in the Babylonian tongue. This identifies them with another group other than Babylonians or Persians. Within a few short years these Chaldeans found their way to Britain and became the Culdeans, who were the first ones to build above ground Christian Churches after the death of Jesus. It is also interesting that the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans were all mentioned as separate groups. None of them could tell the king about his dream so Nebuchadnezzar sent out the order to kill all these wise men of Babylon. They began killing the wise men and sought out Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. Daniel asked of the king for a little time to seek out the vision and it was granted. Daniel consulted the other three and that night had a vision telling him the king’s dream and its interpretation. Daniel was obviously familiar with Watchers because it had been the watchers who delivered the vision of Nebuchadnezzar in the first place.
Daniel is taken before the king and tells him “there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.” Of course Daniel was able to both describe the dream and interpret it, which stopped the killing of the Wisemen of Babylon, which were all placed under the direction of Daniel and his three friends. Nebuchadnezzar started to have very vivid dreams which started to scare him enough that he stopped sleeping altogether for a time. We can presume that he was able to stop sleeping with the use of one of the powerful hallucinogens.
Chapter 3
Nebuchadnezzar next makes an image of gold that everyone must worship. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego refuse to bow and are thrown in the furnace of fire. The Chaldeans are the ones who told the king that they would not bow, though the Chaldeans were likely members of the house of Israel. The king turned the furnace up and the guards who threw the three prophets into the furnace were consumed. Nebuchadnezzar said: “did we not put three men in the fire? I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” They then came out completely well.
After this the king made a decree that if anyone even speaks badly about the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego then they will be put to death. He also promoted them further at this point.
Chapter 4
Nebuchadnezzar’s second vision…
“I was looking, and behold, a tree grew and became strong. Its height reached to the heavens and it could be seen to the ends of all the earth. Its leaves were lovely, its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all the beasts of the field found shade under it. The birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it. I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, and there was a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven. He cried aloud and said thus: ‘Chop down the tree and cut off its branches. Strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts get out from under it, and the birds from its branches. Nevertheless leave the stump and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field. Let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let him graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from that of a man. Let him be given the heart of a beast, and let seven times pass over him. This decision is by the decree of the watchers, and the sentence by the word of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men.”’
Daniel’s response to the King’s dream: “It is you, O king, who have grown and become strong; for your greatness has grown and reaches to the heavens, and your dominion to the end of the earth. And inasmuch as the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field; let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let him graze with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him.’
They shall drive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen. They shall wet you with the dew of heaven and seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses. And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you, after you come to know that Heaven rules.”
12 months later Nebuchadnezzar was walking about the royal palace and said, “Is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” While he was still speaking a voice fell from heaven; “King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! They shall drive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen. They shall wet you with the dew of heaven and seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.”
That very moment his vision was fulfilled: he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.
“And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever… At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me, I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me.”
Chapter 5
Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar’s son, brought out the vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem to drink wine out of, at a feast of a thousand, for his lords. “In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lamp stand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.” The king called for someone to read the writing but none of the wise men could so the Queen brought in Daniel. Daniel was offered gifts but refused them and said he would read the writing without reward.
Daniel told Belshazzar that, even though he knew what happened to his father, he had not humbled his heart to the Most High God. The inscription read MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and UPHARSIN. The interpretation of this was: MENE-God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL- You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; PERES- Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
Despite the bad news Belshazzar appointed Daniel the third ruler in the kingdom. “That very night Belshazzar was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.
Chapter 6
“ It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to be over the whole kingdom; and over these, three governors, of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king would suffer no loss. Then Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm.”
The governors and straps sought to find some charge against Daniel but couldn’t. They set up a scheme to trap Daniel by persuading the king to decree that no one should worship any god for thirty days. They saw Daniel the next day praying in his room and took the matter to the king. The king didn’t want to punish Daniel because of his great respect for him but eventually had to give in, because of the law, and throw Daniel into the lion’s den. Then the king says to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.”
The den was sealed. The king couldn’t sleep all night. When he returned in the morning he opened the den and found Daniel alive. Daniel said, “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king I have done no wrong before you.”
Then the king put those who accused Daniel, and all their families, into the den and they were killed. Belshazzar then said, “I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.”
Chapter 7
In the first year, of the reign of Belshazzar, Daniel had another vision. It was of four beasts: a lion, bear, leopard, and the fourth was different from the previous and had ten horns. He saw another horn coming up among the first ten and three of the first ones were plucked out by the roots. “And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words. I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated; his garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; then thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.” Then the beast was slain. The other three beasts had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. “I was watching in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.”
There are many who have offered interpretations of this dream. For the purposes of this class we are concerned with the idea that the Watchers were involved in transporting the vision.
Chapter 8
In the third year of Belshazzar Daniel has another vision…
His vision was of a ram with two horns being overtaken by a goat.
Gabriel interprets the vision: “Then it happened, when I, Daniel had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, ‘Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.’ So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, ‘Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end.’ Now, as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep with my face to the ground; but he touched me, and stood me upright. Then Gabriel tells him about the different kingdoms that will arise and then tells him to “seal up the vision, for it refers to many days in the future.”
“And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days…”
Again the person who appeared like a man was one of the watchers.
Chapter 9
“In the first year of Darius…I Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.”
Daniel made a request to God by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. In this praying Daniel admits that all of the people of Israel have been sinning and requests of God not to punish the people too severely.
In Don Juan Matus’ teachings he says that a man must have faith and intent in order to receive knowledge. This is exactly what Daniel is doing here.
While Daniel was praying Gabriel appeared again to teach him. At this point Daniel sees the coming of the Messiah and the destruction of Jerusalem.
Chapter 10
In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel. “In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all… on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, that is, the Tigris, I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz (I think this is a reference to the land of Ophir)! His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone when I was this great vision, and no strength remained in me, for my vigor was turned to frailty in me, and I retained no strength. Yet I heard the sound of his voice, and when I heard the words I was in a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.” He made Daniel stand up and told him that Michael came to help this being to help with the affairs of the kings of Persia. Then, “And suddenly, one having the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke, saying to him who stood before me, ‘My lord, because of the vision my sorrows have overwhelmed me, and I have retained no strength. For how can this servant of my lord talk with you my lord? As for me, no strength remains in me now, nor is any breath left in me. Then he said,’ Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia, and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come...”
The vision of Daniel came once again from one of the watchers. The being in this vision came to help Michael the Arc Angel to physically intervene in the affairs of men. That is the purpose of the Watchers.
Chapter 11 and 12
Also in the 3rd year of Cyprus…
These chapters are basically the conflict between the kings of the north and of the south and is a continuation of what was being told to him in his vision in chapter ten.
Conclusion
Throughout the visions of Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar the Watchers play a significant role. They continue to be the ones sent from the presence of God to intervene in the lives of men at the direction of Deity and the Arc Angels. Only a small number of this group fell from grace by succumbing to carnal desires. After all they are corporal. There continue to be tens of thousands of examples of corporal people who come and disappear at the end of a rescue of one sort or another. These beings come and go from the presence of deity to us as helpers. The walk among us unnoticed because they are like us. Perhaps this is exactly what happened to John the Beloved and Melchizedek who were also promised that they would have power over death and would continue until the Second Coming of the Messiah. Moses, Elijah and Elias could easily be part of this group, especially since it was Moses who received the book of Jubilees from a Watcher. Don Juan Matus suggested that it was the goal of every man of knowledge to step out of mortality without experiencing traditional death. Thank you for listening.
- by Glenn Kimball (www.ancientmanuscripts.com)
Ohio Valley Bones: Reality or Imagination?
(Written Reports of Giant Races in the Ohio Valley Area)
The History of Marion County, Ohio (1883)
(The skull at left is from 1996, taken by J.C. Chatters of Kennewick Man, Washington State) As we see, evidence for the occupation of this region before the appearance of the red man and the white race is to be found in almost every part of the country, as well as through the Northwest generally. In removing the gravel bluffs, which are numerous and deep, for the construction and repairs of roads, and in excavating cellars, hundreds of human skeletons, some of them giant form have been found. A citizen of Marion County estimates that there were about as many human skeletons in the knolls of Marion County as there are white inhabitants at present.
The History of Brown County, Ohio (1883)
Mastodonic remains are occasionally unearthed and from time to time, discoveries of the remains of Indian settlements are indicated by the appearance of gigantic skeletons with high cheek bones, powerful jaws and massive frames peculiar to that of the Red man who left these as the only record with which to form a clue to the history of past ages.
Now and Long Ago: A History of the Marion County Area
She said also that three skeletons were found at the mouth of the Paw Paw Creek many years later, while Nim (Nimrod) Satterfield was justice of the peace. Jim Dean and some men were digging for a bridge foundation and found these at the lower end of the old buffalo wallow. She thought it was Dr. Kidwell, of Fairmont, who examined them and said they were very old, perhaps thousands of years old. She said that when the skeletons were exposed to the weather for a few days, their bones turned black and began to crumble, that Squire Satterfield had them buried in the Joliffe graveyard (Rivesville). All these skeletons, she said, were measured and found to be about eight feet long.
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Lake County
Edited by Newton Bateman, L.L.D. and Paul Selby, A.M. (1902)
Of the very early history of the region which now embraces Lake County but little can be written. The Mound Builders had occupied it and now passed away, leaving no written language and but little even as tradition. These mounds were quite numerous. Excavations, have revealed the crumbling bones of a mighty race. Samuel Miller, who has resided in the county 1835, is authority for the statement that one skeleton which he assisted in unearthing was a trifle more than eight feet in length, the skull being correspondingly large, while many other skeletons measured at least seven feet.
Historical Collections of Ohio in Two Volumes
Editor: Henry Howe, L.L.D. (1888)
There were mounds situated in the eastern part of the village of Conneaut and an extensive burying-ground near the Presbyterian Church, which appear to have had no connection with the burying places of the Indians. Among the human bones found in the mounds were some belonging to men of gigantic structure. Some of the skulls were of sufficient capacity to admit the head of an ordinary man, and jaw bones that might have been fitted on over the face with equal facility. The other bones were proportionately large. The burying-ground referred to, contained about four acres, and with the exception of a slight angle in the conformity with the natural contour of the ground, was in the form of an oblong square. It appeared to have been accurately surveyed into lots running from north to south, and exhibited all the order and propriety of arrangement deemed necessary to constitute Christian Burial.
The Firelands Pioneer (1858)
In this connection I would say that Mr. Jonathan Brooks, now living in town, stated to me that his father, Benjamin Brooks, who lived with the Indians fourteen years, and was well acquainted with their language and traditions, told him and others that it was a tradition of the Indians that the first tribe occupying this whole country, was a black-bearded race, very large in size and subsequently a red-bearded race or tribe came and killed or drove off all the black-beards, as they called them.
The Adair County (Kentucky) News: (January 5, 1897)
An old Indian mound has been opened on the farm of Harrison Robinson, four miles east of Jackson, Ohio and two skeletons of extraordinary size and great quantities of trinkets have been removed. some years ago a party of relic hunters, supposed to have been sent out in the interests of the Archeological Society visited the Robinson farm and after a few days search removed a great collection of stone hatchets, beads and bracelets, which were packed and shipped to an Eastern Institute and until this accidental discovery it was supposed that everything had been removed by the relic hunters. It is thought by many that more relics are to be found and preparations are being made for a thorough investigation.
American Indian Myths and Mysteries
Vincent H. Gaddis (1977)
He further told me of the killing of a big Indian at Buckchitawa, about the time of the settlement at Marietta. The Indians had a white prisoner whom they forced to decoy boats to the shore. A small boat was descending the river containing white people, when this prisoner was placed under the bank to tell those in the boat that he had escaped captivity, and to come to the shore and take him in. The Indians were concealed , but the big Indian stuck his head out from behind a large tree, when it was pierced by a bullet from the gun of the steersman of the boat. The Indians cried out Wetzel, Wetzel, and fled. This was the last ever seen of the prisoner. The Indians returned next day and buried the big Indian, who, he said, was twenty inches taller than he was, and he was a tall man.
Concealing evidence that conflicts with the accepted theory is common scientific skullduggery. For years the Smithsonian Institution has been accused of hiding in storage vaults things it doesn't like. In 1968 two Neanderthal-like skulls with low foreheads and large brows were found in Minnesota. As for dating, University of Minnesota scientists said they were reluctant to destroy any of the material, although carbon-14 testing only requires the burning of one gram of bone. They were sent to the Smithsonian. Later Dr. Lawrence Angel, curator of physical anthropology at the institution, said he had no record of the skulls there, although he was sure they were not lost. We have a right to wonder whether some professional scientists mightn't find a really early date for the bones distressing.
Hardesty's History of Monroe County, Ohio
When Chester Bishop was digging a cellar for Asahel Booth, at Clarington, many years ago, he came across a skeleton, the bones of which were removed carefully by Dr. Richard Kirkpatrick, and from his measurements the height of the man when living would have been 8 feet and 5 inches. It is probable that these were the bones of the big Indian of whom the Indian at Jackson's told me.
Ironton Register, Proctorville, (May 5, 1892)
Where Proctorville now stands was one day part of a well paved city, but I think the greater part of it is now in the Ohio River. Only a few mounds, there; one of which was near the C. Wilgus mansion and contained a skeleton of a very large person, all double teeth, and sound, in a jaw bone that would go over the jaw with the flesh on, of a large man; the common burying ground was well filled with skeletons at a depth of about 6 feet. Par of the pavement was of boulder stone and part of well preserved brick.
Sketches and Stories of the Lake Erie Islands
Theresa Thorndale, Sandusky, Ohio (1898)
A large quantity of human bones was discovered in a fissure in the limestone near the United States Coast Guard lighthouse. A crude tomb of black stone slabs , of a formation not known on the island was found many years ago beneath the roots of a huge stump. Eight skeletons were found, one measuring over seven feet in height.
Historical Collections of Ohio in Two Volumes, p.p.350-351 Noble County, Ohio
In Seneca township was opened, in 1872, one of the numerous Indian mounds that abound in the neighborhood. This particular one was locally known as the "Bates" mound. Upon being dug into it was found to contain a few broken pieces of earthenware, a lot fo flint-heads and one or two stone implements and the remains of three skeletons, whose size would indicate they measured in life at least eight feet in height. The remarkable feature of these remains was they had double teeth in front as well as in back of the mouth and in both upper and lower jaws. Upon exposure to the atmosphere the skeletons crumbled back to Mother Earth.
The Mound Builders: Robert Silverberg
This band of people of great size forced its way into the Ohio Valley about 1000 B.C., it seems. Perhaps there was a small elite of round-headed giants dominating and ruling an existing long-headed...
A History of Ashtabula County, Ohio (1878)
In cultivating the soil in the vicinity, implements have been found, and in excavating the ground for graves it is said that bones have been exhumed which seemed to have belonged to a race of giants. This land at one time belonged to a Mr. Pegleg Sweet, who was a man of large size and full features; and it is narrated at one time he, in digging, came upon a skull and jaw which were of such size that the skull would cover his head and the jaw could be easily slipped over his face, as though the head of a giant were enveloping his...The graves were distinguished by slight depressions in the surface of the earth, disposed in straight rows, which, with intervening spaces or valleys, covered the entire area. The number of these graves has been estimated at being between two and three thousand.
Aaron Wright, Esq., in 1800, made a careful examination of these depressions, and found them invariably to contain human bones blackened with time, which upon exposure to the air soon crumbled to dust. Some of these bones were of unusual size, and evidently belonged to a race allied to 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-bone that might be fitted over the face with equal facility. Thye bones of the upper and lower extremities were of corresponding size.
History of Logan County, Illinois (1886)
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the places of sepulture raised by the Mound Builders from the more modern graves of the Indians. The graves of the former were in general larger than those of the latter, and were used as receptacles for greater numbers of bodies, and contained relics of art, evincing a higher degree of civilization than that attained by the Indians. The ancient earthworks of the Mound Builders have occasionally been appropriated as burial places by the Indians, but the skeletons of the latter may be distinguished from the osteological remains of the former by their greater stature.
Firelands Pioneer (1858)
There are quite a number of mounds, in the township, where the bones, and sometimes the whole skeleton of the human race have been found. The bones and skeletons found are very large and some of the inhabitants think they must have belonged to a race of beings much larger in size than the Indians found here by the first settlers.
History of Morrow County and Ohio (1880)
In 1829, When the hotel was built in Chesterville, a mound nearby was made to furnish the material for the brick. In digging it away, a large human skeleton was ofund, but no measurements were made. It is rlated that the jaw-bone was found to fit easily over that of a citizen of the village, who was remarkable for his large jaw. The local physicians examined the cranium and found it proportionately large, with more teeth than the white race of today. The skeleton was taken to Mansfield, and has been lost sight of entirely.
The History of Medina County, Ohio (1881)
In digging the cellar of the house, nine human skeletons were found and like such specimens from other ancient mounds of the country, they showed that the Mound Builders were men of large stature. The skeletons were not found lying in such a manner as would indicate any arrangement of the bodies on the part of the entombers. In describing the tomb, Mr. Albert Harris said:"It looked as if the bodies had been dumped into a ditch. Some of them were buried deeper than others, the lower one being about seven feet below the surface". When the skeletons were found, Mr. Harris was about twenty years of age, yet he states that he could put one of the skulls over his head, and let it rest upon his shoulders, while wearing a cap at the same time. The large size of all the bones was remarked and the teeth were described as "double all the way around".
Historical Collections of Virginia (1845)
On the Wappatomaka have been found numerous Indian relics, among which was a highly finished pipe, representing a snake coiled around the bowl. There was also discovered the under jaw-bone of a human being (says Kercheval) of great size, which contained eight jaw-teeth in each side of enormous size; and, what is more remarkable the teeth stood transversely in the jaw-bone. It would pass over any man's face with entire ease.
Scientific American (1883)
Two miles from Mandan, on the bluffs near the junction of the Hart and Missouri Rivers, says the local newspaper, the Pioneer, is an old cemetery of fully 100 acres in extent filled with bones of a giant race. This vast city of the dead lies just east of the Fort Lincoln road. The ground has the appearance of having been filled with trenches piled full of dead bodies of both man and beast and covered with several feet of earth. In many places mounds from 8 to 10 feet high, and some of them 100 feet or more in length, have been thrown up and are filled with bones, broken pottery, vases of various bright colored flint, and agates. The pottery, is of a dark material, beautifully decorated, delicate in finish, and as light as wood, showing the work of a people skilled in the arts and possessed of a high state of civilization. This has evidently been a grand battlefield, where thousands of men have fallen. Nothing like a systematic or intelligent exploration has been made, as only little holes two to three feet in depth have been dug in some of the mounds, but many parts of the anatomy of man and beast and beautiful specimens of broken pottery and other curiosities, have been found in these feeble efforts at excavation. Five miles above Mandan, on the opposite side of the Missouri, is another vast cemetery as yet unexplored. We asked an aged Indian what his people knew of these ancient graveyards. He answered: "Me know nothing about them. They were here before the red man."
History of Huron and Erie Counties, Ohio (1879)
Excerpt recorded by W.W. Williams
In the township of Milan there were three clearly-defined [sic] fortifications when the first settlers came into the country, and they are still not entirely leveled by the plowshare. All three were upon the high banks of the Huron ...
F. W. Fowler, one of the pioneers of Milan, describes these earth-works [sic], as first seen by him, to have been from two to four feet above the surface of the ground. Large trees were growing upon some of these embankments. Near these forts were mounds or hillocks, which were found to contain human bones, promiscuously thrown together, as if a large number of bodies had been buried at one time. The skull bones, when found entire, were shown by measurement to be larger, upon the average, than those of the present race, and all exhibited marks that would indicate that life had been taken in deadly combat. Scattered among the skulls and vertebrae, and arm and leg bones, were stone pipes and fragments of burnt clay.
In Muskingum County's Brush Creek Township, in a document dated March 3, 1880, a mound located on the farm of J.M. Baughman was measured 64 feet in width, 90 feet in length, and 11 feet, 3 inches in height. It was flat on top, an unusual condition for a mound. The mound achieved its odd shape possibly because of the stone altar, owning similar dimensions, found within. The structure was located on the summit of a hill, 152 feet above the Brush Creek In it were discovered the bones of men and women, buried in couples—the length of their skeletons exceeding eight and even nine feet. The excavation was started in early December, 1870. There was another "dig" included as well. This reflected an attitude toward the then-existing archaeologists, whom these people apparently held in low regard.
BONES of CONTENTION: All Over the Place
1792 New York, Buffalo: Turner’s History of the Holland Purchase reports that 7 and 8 foot skeletons were found at an earthen fort in Orleans county with broad flat topped skulls.
1800 Ohio, Conneaut: Among the normal size skeletons found in the remains of mounds were found gigantic bones. Some of the skulls and jaws were large enough to fit over the head and face of a normal man.
1821 Tennessee, White County: An ancient fortification contained skeletons of gigantic stature averaging at least 7 feet in length.
1825 Ohio Valley: David Cusick, a Tuscorora by birth, wrote that among the legends of the ancient people of the stock, there was a powerful tribe called Ronnongwetowanca. They were giants, and had a "considerable habitation." When the Great Spirit made the people, some of them became giants. After a time, and having endured the outrages of these giants, it is said that the people banded together, and through the final force of about 800 warriors, successfully annihilated the abhorrent Ronnongwetowanca. After that, it was said that there were no giants anywhere. This was supposed to have happened around 2,500 winters before Columbus discovered America, around 1000 BC.
1829 Ohio, Chesterville: In digging away a mound where a hotel was to be built, a large human skeleton was found, but no measurements were made. It is related that the jawbone was found to fit easily over that of a citizen of the village. The local physicians examined the cranium and found it proportionately large, with more teeth than the white race of today. The skeleton was taken to Mansfield, and has been lost sight of entirely.
1833 California, Lompock Rancho: Soldiers digging at Giant Lompock Rancho, California, discovered a male skeleton 12 feet tall. Carved shells, stone axes, and other artifacts surrounded the skeleton. The skeleton had double rows of upper and lower teeth. Unfortunately, this body was secretly buried when local Indians became upset about the remains.
1835 Illinois, Lake County: In the numerous mounds in the county, skeletons ranging between 7 and 8 feet are discovered.
1845 Virginia: A human jaw bone of great size was uncovered in a burial mound on which the teeth stood transversely in the jawbone.
1849 New York: From "Illustrations of the Ancient Monuments of Western New York" comes the report that an elliptical mound above near the Conewango Valley held eight big skeletons. A thigh bone was found to be 28” long. Exquisite stone points, enamelwork, and jewelry were found. Also discovered in the area were a number of other large skeletons one almost 9 feet in height.
1850 New York: From the History of Allegany County in 1879 a report that very large human bones were uncovered during excavation for the railroad
1851 New York: A skull rib bone, and shinbone were found that indicated the height to be over 8 feet tall.
1856 West Virginia, Wheeling: A human skeleton was discovered by labourers while ploughing a vineyard measuring almost 11 feet tall.
1858 Ohio, Vermillion Township: Skeletons of a race of beings much larger than the local inhabitants were discovered.
1870 Ohio: In Brush Creek Township a large mound contained skeltal remains of several humans up to nine feet tall. A large stone tablet with unknown insriptions similiar to Greek writing was also found.
1872 Ohio, Seneca Township: When the "Bates" mound was opened the remains of three skeletons, whose size would indicate they measured in life, at least, eight feet in height, were found. A remarkable feature of these remains was they had double teeth in front as well as in back of mouth and in both upper and lower jaws.
1873 Ohio, Seville: An Ohio Bicentennial Commission historical marker serves as a reminder that the Giants of Seville, Captain Martin Van Buren Bates and his wife, Anna Swan Bates, lived in the village of Seville in Medina County. Anna stood 7 feet 11 1/2 inches tall and weighed 413 pounds. Martin was 7 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 480 pounds.
1873 Washington DC: "The objects here collected which have not been given, or acquired by exchange, have been purchased for the use of the museum by order of the surgeon-general... There is a skeleton of a giant, who, in life, measured seven feet, prepared by Auzoux and mounted by Blanchêne's method, which, if I may use that term, is really a beauty. It is as white and clean as new fallen snow, and the brass joints and screws which keep it together are bright, and of the latest style and finish." From the article "The Army Medical Museum in Washington" by Louis Bagger, Appletons' Journal: A Magazine Of General LiteratureVolume 9, Issue 206
1875 West Virginia, Rivesville: Workmen constructing a bridge near the mouth of Paw Paw Creek uncovered three giant skeletons with strands of reddish hair clinging to the skulls. The skeletons had supported people approximately 8 feet tall.
1876 Wisconsin: Mounds were excavated containing a giant skull and vertebrae.
1877 Missouri, Kansas City: A giant skull was unearthed when mounds wore opened and giant man tracks belonging to humans 25 to 30 feet tall were discovered.
1877 Nevada, Eureka: Prospectors found a human leg bone and kneecap sticking out of solid rock. Doctors examined the remains and determined they were from a human being, and one that stood over 12 feet tall. The rock in which the bones were found was dated geologically to the Jurassic Period, over 185 million years old.
1878 Ohio, Ashtabula County: While excavating the ground for graves, bones were exhumed, which seemed to have belonged to a race of giants. A skull and jaw were found, which were of such size that the skull would fit easily over a large man’s head like a loose fitting helmet, even with the jaw in place. The number of these graves has been estimated to be between two and three thousand.
1879 Indiana, Brewersville: A skeleton almost ten feet tall was excavated from a mound.
1880 Ohio, Zanesville: A skeleton was reported to have been of enormous dimensions found in a clay coffin, with a sandstone slab containing hieroglyphics.
1880 Minnesota, Clearwater: Several giant skeletons were found with double rows of teeth.
1881 Ohio, Medina County: A jawbone of great size belonging to a human being was discovered, which contained eight jaw-teeth in each side, of enormous size; and the teeth stood transversely in the jawbone. It would pass over any man’s face with entire ease.
1882 West Virginia, Brewersville: The remains of a giant human in a sitting position with artifacts of stone and flint were discovered near White Day Creek.
1883 Minnesota, Warren: Ten skeletons of both sexes and of gigantic size were taken from a mound.
1883 North Dakota, Mandan: A cemetery of over 100 acres filled with bones of a giant race was discovered.
1883 Ohio, Marion County: During general construction projects in the area giant human skeletons were unearthed.
1883 Ohio, Brown County: In ancient settlement sites remains of giant humans among the fromer residents of normal stature.
1884 West Virginia, Kanawha County: A skeleton 7 feet 6 inches long was found in a massive stone structure that was likened to a temple chamber within a mound.
1885 Pennsylvania, Gasterville: A large mound contained a vault in which was found a skeleton measuring 7 feet 2 inches. Inscriptions were carved on the vault.
1886 Pennsylvania, Ellisburg: An 8 foot skeleton was discovered.
1886 New York: Dozens of human skeletons were discovered with oddly shaped skulls avearging 7 feet in height
1886 Illinois: A number of large skeletons were found in Logan County and artifacts showing a degree of advancement much higher that the native population had attained.
1887 Wisconsin, Le Crescent: Bones of giant humans were discovered in burial mounds.
1888 Ohio, Toledo: 20 skeletons were discovered with jaws and teeth twice as large as those of normal humans
1888 Minnesota, St. Paul: The remains of seven skeletons 7 to 8 feet tall were discovered.
1890 Tennessee, Roane County: A giant skeleton was discovered measuring over 7 feet tall.
1891 Illinois, Dunleith: Members of the Bureau of Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution discovered a large skeleton between 7 and 8 feet tall.
1891 Arizona, Crittenden: A giant was unearthed and a huge stone coffin that had evidently once held the body of a man 12 feet tall. A carving on the granite case indicated that he had six toes.
1892 Ohio Proctorville: From the Ironton Register, “Where Proctorville now stands was one day part of a well paved city, but I think the greater part of it is now in the Ohio river [sic]. Only a few mounds, there; one of which was near the C. Wilgus mansion and contained a skeleton of a very large person, all double teeth, and sound, in a jaw bone that would go over the jaw with the flesh on.”
1894 Illinois, Pike County: In a conical shaped mound a skeleton over 7 feet tal was found.
1895 Ohio, Toledo: A mound held 20 skeletons, seated and facing east "twice as large as those of present day people."
1896 Minnesota, Lake Koronis: The skeleton of a huge man was uncovered. At Moose Island and Pine City, bones of other giants were found.
1897 Ohio, Jackson: A mound on a farm contained a giant skeleton.
1898 Ohio, Lake Erie Islands: Eight skeletons were found near the United States Coast Guard lighthouse, one measuring over seven feet in height.
1911 California, Lovelock Cave: An 8-foot tall, red-haired mummy discovered. This mummy eventually went to a fraternal lodge where it was used for "initiation purposes.
1918 Alton, Illinois: Robert Pershing Wadlow was born, educated and buried in Alton, Illinois. His height of 8' 11.1" qualifies him as the tallest person in history, as recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. At the time of his death he weighed 490 pounds. Robert was born on February 22, 1918, and weighed a normal eight pounds, six ounces. He drew attention to himself when at six months old, he weighed 30 pounds. A year later at 18 months, he weighed 62 pounds. He continued to grow at an astounding rate, reaching six feet, two inches and 195 pounds by the time he was eight years old.
1923 Arizona, Grand Canyon: The bodies of two petrified human beings 15 and 18 feet in height were discovered.
1931 Nevada, Lovelock: Large skeletons were found in the Humboldt lakebed. One measured 8 1/2 feet tall and appeared to have been wrapped in a gum-covered fabric similar to Egyptian mummies. Another skeleton was almost 10 feet long.
1932 New Mexico, White Sands: Supervisor of the Lincoln National Park, Ellis Wright, found human tracks in the gypsum rock 22 inches long and from 8 to 10 inches wide. The prints were human in origin due to the outline of the perfect prints coupled with a readily apparent instep.
1939 Nevada, Lovelock: A 7-foot 7-inch skeleton was found.
1947 California, Death Valley: The skeletons of nine foot tall humans were found.
1965 Kentucky, Holly Creek: Kenneth White dug a "perfectly preserved skeleton" from under a large rock ledge along Holly Creek which measured 8 feet, 9 inches in length when reassembled. He states, "the arms were extremely long and the hands were large. The skull was "30 inches in circumference. The eye and nose sockets were slits rather than cavities, and the area where the jawbone hinges to the skull was solid bone.
· Buffalo Bill Cody spoke of Sioux Indians who told about giants that ran down the buffalo.
· Some time in the late 19th century, giants with double rows of teeth, red hair, and skulls 3 to 6 times the size of normal humans were discovered on Catalina Island in California.
· The Algonquin have stories of giant, bearded men who first occupied their native lands.
· The Cherokee speak of giants who were twice as tall as the Cherokee and also about a great hunter of giant stature named Tsul´ kalu.
Accounts and Articles
by Mike Frizzell of the Enigma Project
In 1981, several members of the Enigma Project took an interest in the ancient Grave Creek burial mound (Moundsville, WV). Our curiosity was aroused by the book, Weird America (Jim Brandon, 1978), which mentioned that 19th century mound excavations yielded some interesting artifacts. Among them was a silver-dollar sized stone tablet scribed with undecipherable glyphs and a skeleton with very "unusual" dentition. In the course of our research, we discovered that a modern museum had been built on property adjacent to the mound. Reasoning that the museum would be a showcase for the mound, its builders, and recovered artifacts, we journeyed to Moundsville, WV to see the Grave Creek Mound and museum firsthand. We found the mound to be an awesome structure (see attached), but to our amazement the museum was largely empty. Part of the building did have dioramas, drawings, and a few burial artifacts of the Adena people (one ancient eastern culture credited as mound builders). However, more of the museum had been devoted to the display of an enormous ballpoint pen collection than anything related to the burial mound! Later that year, two Enigma investigators traveled to Morgantown, WV to visit the State archeologist, as we had heard that he was very knowledgeable about the Grave Creek Mound and its artifacts. What the investigators discovered was that the archeologist had multiple crates of mound artifacts from Crave Creek and other WV mounds that were being "mothballed" in a storage room adjacent to his office. When questioned about the artifacts, and asked why they weren't on display, he said that they needed to be cleaned and properly cataloged before being displayed. Curiously, many of these artifacts had been excavated decades earlier.
In 2001, we again returned to the Mound and museum and were delighted to discovered that the museum was practically filled with Adena culture and burial mound artifacts and exhibits. Mention was made of skeletons found in the Grave Creek structure. However, if there was anything unusual regarding the bones, it was not found in the museum. To out delight, they did have a small exhibit dedicated to the Grave Creek tablet. Though the original has long since been lost, when it was first found someone had the presence of mind to make rubbings and copies of it. A number of attempts have been made to translate the strange glyphs. Unfortunately, no consensus has been reached on what it says, as a number of different translations have surfaced.
I am not aware of any "giant" skeleton remains on display anywhere in the US (I've always suspected that too many finds of this nature would rock the archeological boat by contradicting some feature of mainstream scientific dogma). Who knows what happens to items that threaten the scientific status quo??
Giant Amerindians
Most archaeologists who specialize in North American studies give little credence to reports of an extinct race of giant Amerindians. It is true that most reports of giant skeletons have been shown to be hoaxes or have lead to dead-ends when an investigator attempts to track down the bones. Circumstantial evidence abounds in the form of snippets of reports in various semi-Fortean publications. These can lead to the false impression that there is ample evidence available to determine if such a people existed.The question of giant prehistoric Amerindians has intrigued some scientists, however. Iscan and Kessel (1997) reported on an osteologic analysis of prehistoric southeastern U.S. Indians. Their study was based on the skeletal material of over 100 subjects, reporting a maximum average height of 169.8 cm for males, 164.0 cm for females. These figures could be considered "tall", but not extraordinarily so. The authors suggest a few reasons why so many of the early explorers claimed to see "giants" among the tribes they met.
Most Fortean stories about giant skeletons unearthed in North America lack any real details. Most are being passed along second-hand (or third-, or fourth-,...). There is, however, one intriguing tale from a Kentucky folklore book written by Michael Paul Henson (1984). Henson relates how he actually examined a body dug out from under a large rock ledge along Holly Creek in east-central Kentucky. In 1965, a landowner, Kenneth White, was building cattle stalls under the ledge when he found a "perfectly preserved skeleton" which measured 8 feet, 9 inches in length when reassembled. He states "the arms were extremely long and the hands were large. By comparison, the feet were very small." The skull was "30 inches in circumference. The eye and nose sockets were slits rather than cavities, and the area where the jaw bone hinges to the skull was solid bone. It would seem that the person could not have opened his mouth." A powdery white substance covered the skeleton, but no tools, weapons, or other human implements were found with the bones. The body was buried approximately five feet underground. Henson and the farmer assumed the skeleton to be a large, deformed Indian.
Unfortunately, White reburied the bones rather than taking them to a university for examination. Henson died in 1995, and any further notes he may have had on this fascinating story are unavailable (Henson 1996). I would suggest that further investigation of this tale could produce interesting results. We do not have exact locality for this report, but Holly Creek appears to be run through both Wolfe and Breathitt Counties in Kentucky.
Certainly, the evidence for a true race of giant Amerindians is lacking, but there are certainly other possible explanations for a large bipedal human-like skeleton being found in North America.
Henson, M.P. 1984. Tragedy at Devil's Hollow and other Haunting Tales from Kentucky. Bowling Green, KY: Cockerel Corp.
Henson, M.P. 1996. More Kentucky Ghost Stories. Johnson City, TN: The Overmoutain Press.
Iscan, M.Y., and M.H. Kessel. 1997. Giant Amerindians: Fact or Fantasy? Southeastern Archaeology 16(1): 73-78.
(Source: North American BioFortean Review #1, www.herper.com/NABR.html)
- From: http://www.geocities.com/saqatchr/page46.html
Relevant Websites
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=26047
http://www.barr-family.com/godsword/giants.htm
http://www.geocities.com/saqatchr/page46.html
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