Forbidden Archaeology: Lost Giants of America | Documentary Part 1

In 1819, a group of soldiers was  digging a pit in Lompock Rancho, California to search for a powder magazine.  Working their way through layers of hard, compact gravel, the soldiers found something  out of place: a 12-foot sarcophagus. While this in itself was already a strange on its own,  something even more shocking was hidden inside it: a skeleton of a giant human, measuring around  12 foot tall as well, or about 5 meters. In the same area, the soldiers found artifacts  that may have been b

uried along with the giant skeleton. Weaponry, semi-precious minerals, and  shells, on which strange symbols were engraved. To top it off, they found that the skull  has two rows of upper and lower teeth. Not knowing what to do, the soldiers approached  a local Native American tribe for assistance. Declaring it to be a remnant of a deity, the  wary tribe asked them to bury the remains again and never to disturb it once more. True enough,  once the authorities caught wind of the situation, they i

ndeed re-interred the bones secretly.  Nothing was heard of about it ever since. This story was told by a woman in 1862.  Her husband was one of the soldiers who unearthed the strange sarcophagus with a giant  skeleton. The area has since then been turned into a military facility. Nowadays, it  hosts the Vandenberg Space Force Base. The 1819 story was just one of the  many accounts of the supposed giant skeleton discoveries all across United States. Giant stories are abound in many  mythologies

and cultures around the world. Wherever you go, there’s almost  always a tale about a giant or giants: larger or taller than normal humanoids with  immense strength and power. In these stories, they usually play antagonistic roles,  hostile and even openly violent to the humans they encounter. From Goliath  of the Bible, to Ymir of the Norse, and to the Gigantes of the Greece, there’s no  shortage of these larger than life stories. The Americas is also no stranger to stories of  gigantic humans.

From Paul Bunyan to the Paiute legends of red-haired giants, there is no shortage  of giant stories, each as bizarre as the other. Nowadays, we look back at these stories as  nothing more than myths and legends. After all, it’s hard to imagine that such  creatures of colossal size once roamed the Earth. There is also no solid  and verifiable proof that they did. Or was there? Archaeological Findings of Gigantic Proportions:  The Mystery of America’s Giant Skeletons Since the early 1800s, sighti

ngs of giant  skeletons have popped up every now and then all over the country, with some, even  earning a space in newspapers. Dozens of articles regarding giant skeletons were  in newspaper archives, town history records, and journals of important people. Some  of them, you can even find online. In just a span of 200 years, over a thousand  reports of skeletons with a height measuring at least seven foot or 2 meters up to 18  feet or 5.4 meters tall have been found. As you can see in this map,

some states  in the country have higher concentrations of giant skeleton accounts than  others, with Ohio, in the lead. An anonymous internet user also collected  newspaper clippings and reports of supposed giant skeletons in a publicly available  spreadsheet. Based on their collected data, here’s a chart that shows the states and some  countries with the most giant skeleton sightings: You can check out the links to the spreadsheet  and the map in the video’s description. While most of these ha

ve  been chalked up to hoaxes, exaggerations, or misidentifications,  others can’t be so easily dismissed. Among these, are the few accounts  that stood above the rest. Some, for its believability, while  others for its eerie similarity to old Native American legends. Then  there are those that combine both. A 1947 newspaper also reported a strange  account of a retired Ohio physician by the name of Dr. F. Bruce Russel. According to the  article, Dr. Russel, alongside his colleague Dr. Daniel S.

Bovee, was prospecting an area  in Death Valley, California to look for mining opportunities in 1931, when he fell into an  underground cave when the ground beneath him gave away. What he stumbled upon in that place was  something he never would have imagined finding. Because underneath that seemingly ordinary area  was a complex network of catacombs and tunnels. Bovee joined Russel in exploring the caverns,  only to find even more mysterious artifacts, bones of extinct animals, and mummified 

remains of giants measuring 8 to 9 feet tall. Naturally, when Russel and Bovee told this  story to others, nobody believed them. Russel, however, was persistent at first and even formed  a corporation with the goal of exploring the said cavern network even further and profitting off  from it. Unfortunately, they never found it again. But the story didn’t end there. Only a short  while after that, Russel disappeared. His car and suitcase was found abandoned in a  far flung area in Death Valley. M

eanwhile, his companion Bovee wasn’t heard of since the  incident, as if he vanished into thin air. Russel and Bovee weren’t even the only  ones to tell such tale. In the 1920s, there was also another prospector, only known  as White, who fell into a cavern and discovered evidence of civilization in the place.  Later on, a Paiute native named Tom Wilson, was fascinated by White’s tale as it’s similar  to his grandfather’s story. Wilson accompanied White to find the mysterious caverns but  they w

eren’t able to locate it anymore. A book published in 1932 titled Death Valley  Men by a prospector named Bourke Lee also recounted the same story. Like the others, the  men who visited the underground city vanished. Interestingly, 577 miles away from Death  valley, a similar story happened in 1904 to a British prospector only known as J.C. Brown. Like  Russel, Bovee, White, and Wilson’s grandfather, J.C. Brown accidentally discovered a cave where  he found not only treasures and artifacts, but

also mummies of giants measuring up to  10 feet or 3 meters tall. Strangely, Brown also vanished on the day he and an exploration  team was about to set out to return to the area. Stories of underground cities and giants actually  have their roots in Native American legends. The Paiute people even have a legend about a chief  who, grieving for the death of his beloved wife, wandered to the Death Valley and stumbled  upon an underground city called Shin-Au-Av. While this tale from the Paiute peop

le  don’t have giants on the surface, another one has a more direct mention of  beings who are larger than normal humans. According to a story told to mining engineer  John T. Reid in 1886, the Paiute people once fought a war against a tribe they called  the Si-Teh-Cah. The Si-Teh-Cah, or the S’ai, are a tribe of red-haired cannibalistic giants who  terrorized the area. The Paiute people eventually emerged victorious and drove them away to a cave,  burying its entrance to prevent the giants esca

pe. That place is now known as the Lovelock Cave. A link to a detailed video about the Giants of  the Lovelock Cave can be found in the description. Unlike our previous stories, though, there might be some veracity to  the story of the Si-Teh-Cah people. You see, in 1911, two bat guano miners,  David Pugh and James Hart stumbled upon the remains of the tribe. Beneath the  layer of bat guano measuring 3 to 6 feet were thousands of artifacts and  remains that was clearly left there by a sizeable s

ettlement. One sandal was  even estimated to be 10,000 years old, which was even older than the recognized  most ancient civilizations in the world. And while there is unfortunately scant  evidence that the tribe who used to live there were actual giants, one of the  remains discovered in 1911 was that of a 6 foot 6 inches tall human. Not exactly  a giant, but a little taller than average. However, there was a catch. Not all artifacts and  remains of that cave were preserved. The problem started

when during the first exploration of the  miners, only the objects they deemed interesting were saved. So, as misfortune would have it, long  before any systematized digging was done, there may have been many valuable artifacts that were  irreversibly damaged and forever lost to time. It turns out that cases similar to  this isn’t exactly uncommon. A lot of reported discoveries of giant skeletons  all across the country mysteriously ran into an issue and were declared to be hoaxes.  Granted tha

t many might have been a hoax, there are others that makes you question  whether there’s a deliberate cover up. Mounds and Giants Mounds are a sizeable pile of earth artificially  constructed as either a burial or ceremonial site. A mysterious earthwork that confounded  the ordinary folks and archeologists alike, mounds have existed in North America for thousands  of years. According to estimates, there were 1 million mounds all over the United States, but  only a hundred thousand of them remain

nowadays. Even in the 1800s, there were many people  who believed that a race of giants have actually built these mounts. Among these  was Abraham Lincoln, who famously wrote: But still there is more. It calls up the  indefinite past. When Columbus first sought this continent – when Christ suffered on the cross  – when Moses led Israel through the Red-Sea – nay, even, when Adam first came from the hand  of his Maker – then as now, Niagara was roaring here. The eyes of that species of extinct  g

iants, whose bones fill the mounds of America, have gazed on Niagara, as ours do now.  Co[n]temporary with the whole race of men, and older than the first man, Niagara is strong,  and fresh to-day as ten thousand years ago. The Mammoth and Mastodon – now so long dead,  that fragments of their monstrous bones, alone testify, that they ever lived, have  gazed on Niagara. In that long – long time, never still for a single moment. Never dried,  never froze, never slept, never rested. Interestingly,

it was also during this time that accounts of giant skeleton discoveries  were reported in various newspapers. More intriguingly, two of  them came from New York Times. According to these two articles dating back  1886 and 1897, skeletons attributed to a giant human-like creature were found in Cartersville,  Georgia and Wisconsin, respectively. The Georgia skeleton measured 14 feet or 4.3 meters, while  the Wisconsin one was around 9 feet or 2.7 meters. While you can still read these newspaper 

articles in the New York Times website, strangely, there were no updates since of what  happened to the two reported giant skeletons. It was as if the newspaper mentioned it once  then decided not to talk about it anymore. One of the most fascinating mound sites in the  country, the Great Serpent Mound, also has its share of giant skeleton story. In the 1890s,  Professor Frederic Ward Putnam found 6 feet tall skeletons near the area. While that’s not gigantic  by any means, another researcher na

med Jeffrey Wilson rediscovered and photographed a 7 foot  skeleton. Weirdly enough, the said skeleton had its lower leg and feet missing, which led some to  speculate that it may have been taller than that. More and more giant skeletons were found in  various mound sites all over the United States. One, in West Virginia, a 7  feet 2 inches tall skeleton. Another, in Miamisburg, Ohio, which was a  skeleton of 8 feet and 1.5 inches in height. Then, one in Iowa, measuring 7 feet and 6 inches. The

last one had reportedly crumbled  to dust after exposure to air. Don't miss the second part of this video  where we'll go From the mysterious finds in Missouri to the skeletons purchased by  the Smithsonian Institution and explore the mysteries behind these huge remains. Are they  proof of the existence of ancient giant races, or are they simply the product of myths  and hoaxes? You'll find out more about the controversies and theories that divide  scientists and enthusiasts. Get ready for a jou

rney into the past that promises to  reveal secrets long kept in the silence of history. The next episode will  present new views and revelations that may change the way we see our distant past. Deepen your adventure by watching our playlists! And if you want more? Just play the next episode  that comes up as a suggestion on your left. Keep the adventure going, Navigate  to our playlist! Curious for more? Explore the following episode! Don't stop  now! Watch the next video in the series.