JASON COLAVITO
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Legends of the Pyramids
    • The Mound Builder Myth
    • Jason and the Argonauts
    • Cult of Alien Gods >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Foundations of Atlantis
    • Knowing Fear >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Hideous Bit of Morbidity >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Cthulhu in World Mythology >
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
      • Necronomicon Fragments
      • Oral Histories
    • Fiction >
      • Short Stories
      • Free Fiction
    • JasonColavito.com Books >
      • Faking History
      • Unearthing the Truth
      • Critical Companion to Ancient Aliens
      • Studies in Ancient Astronautics (Series) >
        • Theosophy on Ancient Astronauts
        • Pyramidiots!
        • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • Fiction Anthologies >
        • Unseen Horror >
          • Contents
          • Excerpt
        • Moon Men! >
          • Contents
      • The Orphic Argonautica >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • The Faust Book >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • Classic Reprints
      • eBook Minis
    • Free eBooks >
      • Origin of the Space Gods
      • Ancient Atom Bombs
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Ancient America
      • Horror & Science
  • Articles
    • Skeptical Xenoarchaeologist Newsletter >
      • Volumes 1-10 Archive >
        • Volume 1 Archive
        • Volume 2 Archive
        • Volume 3 Archive
        • Volume 4 Archive
        • Volume 5 Archive
        • Volume 6 Archive
        • Volume 7 Archive
        • Volume 8 Archive
        • Volume 9 Archive
        • Volume 10 Archive
      • Volumes 11-20 Archive >
        • Volume 11 Archive
        • Volume 12 Archive
        • Volume 13 Archive
        • Volume 14 Archive
        • Volume 15 Archive
        • Volume 16 Archive
        • Volume 17 Archive
        • Volume 18 Archive
        • Volume 19 Archive
        • Volume 20 Archive
      • Volumes 21-30 Archive >
        • Volume 21 Archive
        • Volume 22 Archive
    • Television Reviews >
      • Ancient Aliens Reviews
      • In Search of Aliens Reviews
      • America Unearthed
      • Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar
      • Search for the Lost Giants
      • Forbidden History Reviews
      • Expedition Unknown Reviews
      • Legends of the Lost
      • Unexplained + Unexplored
      • Rob Riggle: Global Investigator
    • Book Reviews
    • Galleries >
      • Bad Archaeology
      • Ancient Civilizations >
        • Ancient Egypt
        • Ancient Greece
        • Ancient Near East
        • Ancient Americas
      • Supernatural History
      • Book Image Galleries
    • Videos
    • Collection: Ancient Alien Fraud >
      • Chariots of the Gods at 50
      • Secret History of Ancient Astronauts
      • Of Atlantis and Aliens
      • Aliens and Ancient Texts
      • Profiles in Ancient Astronautics >
        • Erich von Däniken
        • Robert Temple
        • Giorgio Tsoukalos
        • David Childress
      • Blunders in the Sky
      • The Case of the False Quotes
      • Alternative Authors' Quote Fraud
      • David Childress & the Aliens
      • Faking Ancient Art in Uzbekistan
      • Intimations of Persecution
      • Zecharia Sitchin's World
      • Jesus' Alien Ancestors?
      • Extraterrestrial Evolution?
    • Collection: Skeptic Magazine >
      • America Before Review
      • Native American Discovery of Europe
      • Interview: Scott Sigler
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Oh the Horror
      • Discovery of America
      • Supernatural Television
      • Review of Civilization One
      • Who Lost the Middle Ages
      • Charioteer of the Gods
    • Collection: Ancient History >
      • Prehistoric Nuclear War
      • The China Syndrome
      • Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya
      • Easter Island Exposed
      • Who Built the Sphinx?
      • Who Built the Great Pyramid?
      • Archaeological Cover Up?
    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
      • Lovecraft in Bergier
      • Lovecraft and Scientology
    • Collection: UFOs >
      • Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits
      • Aliens and Anal Probes
      • Ultra-Terrestrials and UFOs
      • Rebels, Queers, and Aliens
    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
          • Inventory Stela
          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
  • About Jason
    • Biography
    • Jason in the Media
    • Contact Jason
    • About JasonColavito.com
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Search

The Giant Who Wasn't: The Case of the Mistaken Mastodon of Tennessee

12/19/2014

15 Comments

 
If you’ve been following archaeologist Andy White’s blog, you’ll have read some very important pieces this week on giants and their relationship to hoaxes and misidentified mastodon and mammoth bones. I’d like to expand on White’s terrific research by pointing out the way it undercuts a foundational claim made by the gigantologists. In order to do so, we need to make a distinction that gigantologists aren’t often willing to do: We need to establish what we mean by a “giant.” According to gigantologists, this can be anyone six feet tall and up. However, to classify claims for skeletons of six, nine, twelve, and eighteen feet as all part of the same continuum is to close the door to seeking alternative explanations for each group. 
For our purposes, I would like to propose that there is no one explanation for every giant report and therefore we can and should consider “giants” as catch-all term for a variety of phenomena, much the way that the category “UFO” contains a plethora of phenomena, not least hoaxes.

Anyway, in our taxonomy of giants, we can dispense with six foot tall people since they have nothing special or even remarkable about them, falling as they do under normal human height. As Andy White has shown, the seven and eight foot skeletons are often the result of incorrect height estimates derived from outdated formulae for calculating height from femur length. This does not exclude the occasional seven to eight foot person, since such heights are known from historical and contemporary individuals, but it does cut down significantly on the number of such cases, casting doubt on the “race” of giants.

OK, so much for them. What we have left to deal with are the really big giants, the ones who are more than nine feet high. On Search for the Lost Giants, Jim Vieira states more than once that skeptics have attempted to unfairly undermine his claims about giants by suggesting that such bones belonged to paleomegafauna like mastodons and mammoths, as has been documented from Old World “giants” like the 19-foot-high giant of Lucerne, later shown to be a fossil elephant, and the famous 25-foot-high Teutobacchus Rex, the bones of a great barbarian king later shown to also be a fossil elephant.

Greg Little has frequently attacked me for my investigations into giants, and he sums up the most important objection to this identification of extra-large skeletons with megafauna bones in an article published this summer: “In addition, there is not a single case where one of the old newspaper reports about the so-called giant skeletons was found to be a misidentified mastodon or mammoth bone, which has been a feeble attempt by a blogger to avoid the facts.”

In many cases we can infer that the bones described are those of megafauna, but it is true that there is rarely enough evidence to prove it. Oh, how delicious it is that Andy White and Kevin Smith have both identified just such a case where newspaper reports of a “giant” were investigated and admitted to be a mastodon. The initial reports, from the fall of 1845, are indistinguishable from other so-called giant reports. Here’s some representative reportage from the Cleveland Herald on September 10:
We are informed on the most reliable authority that a person in Franklin county, Tennessee, while digging a well, a few weeks since, found a human skeleton, at the depth of fifty feet, which measures eighteen feet in length. […] The finder had been offered eight thousand dollars for it, but had determined not to sell it any price until first exhibiting it for twelve months.  He is now having the different parts wired together for this purpose.
(Note: I’ve added the full text of all of the articles discussed in this post to my page on giants in newspapers.)

In 1845, $8,000 was worth around $250,000 in today’s money. The initial news reports, however, erred in mistaking the site of the discovery—near the town of Franklin in Williamson County—for Franklin County, in another part of the state entirely. A local physician examined the bones and declared them those of a human being. They were “restored” by that esteemed anatomist to take the form of a giant human skeleton (a new skull and pelvis were supplied) and put on display, despite an offer of $50,000 for the bones. The Tennessee House of Representatives passed special legislation to exempt exhibitions of bones like these from the $50 public exhibition tax, and the skeleton itself was frequently mentioned in legislative debate—though one indication that all was not well could be found in the wording of the law, which granted an exemption for “the skeleton or fossil remains of animals.”

Sure enough, when an expert, the natural scientist Dr. William Carpenter, came to town the next year to look at the skeleton, he quickly revealed it to be that of a mastodon. “At a glance it was apparent that it was nothing more than the skeleton of a young mastodon, (one of Godman’s Tetracaulodons, with sockets for four tusks.)” As White and Smith report, Carpenter described the exhibition of the rebuilt “giant” in the American Journal of Science:
The artificial construction was principally in the pelvis and head; and take it as thus built up, with its half human, half beast-like look, and its great hooked incisive teeth, it certainly must have conveyed to the ignorant spectator a most horrible idea of a hideous, diabolical giant, of which he no doubt dreamed for months.  To one informed in such matters it really presented a most ludicrous figure.

The person who had it for exhibition was honest, I believe, in his convictions as to its being the remains of a man, having been confirmed in them by numerous physicians, whose certificates he had in his possession; and having asked and received my opinion, he determined to box it up, never to be exhibited again as the remains of a human being.
This incident tells us a number of things: First, that Greg Little is wrong. Second, that the physicians of the nineteenth century weren’t familiar enough with fossils to identify them. And third, that we can’t take at face value what we read in nineteenth century newspapers. If physicians could mistake a mastodon for a human, what credence can we put in similar stories from other newspapers? In short, this incident provides a good case study in the ways that a biblical worldview, scientific illiteracy, and sensationalism distort data and help create a phenomenon of giants out of misunderstood and often unrelated data points.

In this, there is a close parallel to modern UFO reports. As I discussed in the journal Paranthropology last year, the various aspects of the modern UFO myth, from lights in the sky to visitations by strange creatures, all became folded into one overarching myth even though they once had nothing to do with one another. Here, too, the giant myth takes in a wide range of skeletal anomalies of various stripes, along with Mound Builder myths, diffusionism, and Biblical literalism and marries these unrelated parts into one overarching story.

So powerful is this myth that the very idea of giants becomes a lens for interpreting the past, even against the evidence, in effect replacing evidence. As an example, let’s take Lord Pakal (or Pacal) of Palenque, whose body (or what is believed to be it, anyway) was excavated from his tomb in 1952. The skeleton measured about 162 cm, around 5 foot 4. So how do we explain David Hatcher Childress’s assertion that Pakal was “said to have been nine feet tall” in Lost Cities of North & Central America (1992)? Even Jacques Vallée, writing in Passport to Magonia (1969), exaggerated Pacal’s height, saying that the king was six feet tall and therefore a giant who towered over the five-foot Maya—citing evidence from the racist fabricator Pierre Honoré that the king was white and the god Kukulkan.

There is a persistent idea that greatness manifests physically, not just intangibly, and therefore great men were very tall and the great peoples who did great things must also have been giants. Such a belief goes back to Greece, at least, and the idea that the heroes of old were giants. What’s so odd is that this belief in what one website calls “greater ancestors” seemingly contradicts the Biblical notion that the giants were evil, or at least outside of God’s grace. That such a conflation long existed is well known: The Targum Jonathan (at Numbers 21:33-35) reported, for example, that Moses was himself a towering giant of ten cubits (15 feet)! So popular was this belief that the medieval Cluniac monk Peter the Venerable wrote an argument against the idea (Against the Inveterate Obduracy of the Jews 5).

Somehow, though, a large number of people are still looking to find proof that the ancestors were great, and if they cannot find that in their words and deeds—suffused as they are with ignorance, prejudice, and cruelty—then they will find greatness physically.
15 Comments
EP
12/19/2014 05:27:55 am

"Somehow, though, a large number of people are still looking to find proof that the ancestors were great, and if they cannot find that in their words and deeds... then they will find greatness physically."

While this is certainly true of many mythologies around the world, this doesn't really apply to the search for ancient giants in America. The descendents of the early European settlers, not to mention those of later immigrants, can't coherently view the purported giants as their ancestors. Even if their theories are explicitly racially tinged.

Of course, there is a case to be made that some of them wish to see the ancient giants as their metaphorical ancestors (and themselves as their inheritors), but that is a somewhat different matter from the standard legends of ancestral greatness.

Reply
Clint Knapp
12/19/2014 05:57:10 am

I would argue that this is where the hyperdiffusionists come into play. Between the frequent need for giants to have red hair and the obvious correlation that has with the insistence that Vikings made it further inland than the archaeologically provable sites on the Canadian coast and say... the Vieira's insistence "giants" can be as small as six feet tall, it's very easy to make the case that American giants of all stripes must therefore be European in origin. At least, if one is an unscrupulous huckster looking to make a buck off the ill-informed.

Reply
EP
12/19/2014 06:04:15 am

But that is only one (very specific) kind of gigantological view (which I am not sure who holds).

Jason Colavito link
12/19/2014 06:18:54 am

I would agree that the emphasis on the "giants" being a separate race from the Native Americans is designed (symbolically at least) to make them plausible relatives of Euro-Americans, much the same as the re-creation of the Solutreans as "white" by fringe believers in a lost Solutrean utopia in America.

Clint Knapp
12/19/2014 06:22:43 am

True. I'm mostly considering Lovelock Cave adherents like David Childress who have strongly implied in the past (though not always, as Childress is wont to change his tune for the right amount of jingle) that those "giants" were Vikings by virtue of the red hair farce.

I can't actually point to anyone who holds the specific view that if those giants are Vikings then all giants are and therefore come from European stock, though. I'm just saying I wouldn't discount the possibility of such views being held or coming to light in the future. Fringe chicanery knows no bounds.

EP
12/19/2014 07:01:17 am

Relatives aren't quite the same as ancestors. While myths of the former may certainly prop up various claims of entitlement and superiority, they aren't myths of one's tribe's "mighty warriors of old", exactly.

That's all I'm saying.

Micah Ewers link
12/21/2014 02:41:34 pm

Hey Jason, this is some great stuff! I had been perusing Andy White's blog and wow..., this one is a game changer-- Thanks to Kevin E Smith. I think it shows pretty good proof now that some of these reports of the really big giants, "uber class" , 12, 15 -20 footers were been based in part on Mastodon & megafaunal remains. We knew for quite some time that was the case in Europe (Adrienne Mayor et al) and Cotton Mather's early account in N. America in the early 18th century. But a mid 19th century Newspaper giant turning into an Elephant man is a rather telling case!

That being said, it looks like most of the news reports & old township reports of giants from the burial mounds in N. America generally reported skeletons 6+, 7, 8, sometimes 9 ft tall and often with associated burial goods like stone axes, copper items etc. Probably 75% or more of the reports deal with that height range. Andy White has illustrated in his blog how height was often over-estimated by many inches based on a femur length. "4 x length of the femur = stature", being the standard rule of thumb by many country Doctors and medical gentlemen in the days before the 1890's...before Rollet, Pearson, Trotter & Glesser 1952, Dupertuis & Hadden 1951 etc. and so fourth.

At the same time, I think one should use some caution when relying solely on modern regression formulas to estimate the stature of an extremely tall person when all that is available is the femur or tibia to judge height.

Karl Pearson, 1899 Lists 12 pathological "giants" whose skeletons were housed in Anatomical museum in Europe & America:

https://books.google.com/books?id=UmdGAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA226

The mean average of these 12 listed was about 7 ft 2" tall, with 23 inch long femurs. Using Trotter & Gleser, and most of the standard regression formulas available today, all of these 12 "giants" would have been underestimated by some 4 to 9 inches in stature. Most Regression formulas work very well in estimating stature of normal sized individuals i.e. 5 to 6 feet or so, taking into account age, gender, ethnicity etc. Pearson's table however, shows that most of these "giants", in the 7 foot up club, did not share the positive allometric assumptions regressions assume (AKA, the taller you are, the shorter your torso, and longer your limb/ height ratio). For instance, the mean stature/ femur ratio of the 12 giants was 1 to 3.73, that is to say, 3.73 femurs = stature. This tends to fit better with Feldesman's 1990-1996 study on constant relationship between femur and stature, based on his global studies that the human femur on average represents 26.64% of stature in Europeans, 27.25% in Africans, 26.31% in Asians.

While the femur length X 4 is bunk, I think any accounts in early newspaper reports where femurs of 21, 22, or even 25 inches or more in length are being described (such as this report of a 25 inch femur: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19250214&id=V-pPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vlQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3083,2080989 ) is certainly very interesting and might suggest persons in the mid 6 to mid 7 foot range--taking into account regressions, and absolute ratio estimates.

But alas, still, we are left with potential evidence of some 6 to 8 or so ft tall people. Not 12 to 25 footers.

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/bones-of-gigantomachy.html

I also wonder if the finding of giant ground sloths could have inspired some giant reports in the Americas? The various species of ground sloth could reach 8, 10, even over 12-17 feet tall when standing on two legs. Some evidence from S. America suggests they were even semi-bipedal, as 2 stepped tracks covering a distance of 120 ft have been reported by Aramayo. I think giant Ground sloths are the closest "semi bipeds" to have ever lived which matched the size of the Williamson county Mega Man, and other uber class alleged giants of antiquity.

Reply
Only Me
12/21/2014 04:28:36 pm

I would also think one should use some caution when relying solely on newspaper accounts and township reports. Without the actual remains to examine, what we're left with is speculation.

Unfortunately, it appears such speculation (a la the Vieiras) is being pushed as fact on cable television.

Reply
EP
12/21/2014 04:42:56 pm

What about (semi-)bipedal dinosaurs?

Reply
Micah Ewers
12/21/2014 05:07:18 pm

EP: Good point! Dinosaurs certainly make some sense.

Only Me: Exactly, it's all speculation. Even archaeological field notes by amateur archaeologists, such as Glidden 1919-28 who writes about an over 8 ft skeleton in his journal, and another with a 28 inch femur etc., or professionals such as Dr. Dragoo, Webb & Snow 1951-58 etc who write about some 7 ft+ skeletons -- these offer some circumstantial evidence to such remains, but without an actual complete skeleton & skeletons, there is no hard proof.

Micah Ewers
12/21/2014 06:54:10 pm

But if anything, a complete skeleton measured in situ, solves the question of stature, and is usually a much better proxy for estimating full stature than from a single femur or tibia etc. For instance, You have some wildly different proportions among individuals. Take Michael Phelps, at 6 ft 4 with the legs of a 5-11 man and the back of a 6 ft 8 man, or Shaq O'Neal who at 7'1" has the legs and feet of an 8 ft 1 man. (45 inseam, size 23 shoe). A single femur from anyone of these guys would throw off estimates by 5 inches to a 1 foot.

Reply
Engineer
11/22/2015 02:15:32 am

Hey look a Michael Heiser POS loser get a life dude and quit posting pseudo-archaeology. You do know that both Chris White and Michael Heiser are religious dumbshits.... For example: Eloh, Elohim is not the Trinity since its usage goes back into polytheistic Hebrews aka EL, Yahweh, Ashtoreth. All these loser debunkers out there making money off of good hard working folks ripping them off and shunning others. Ivory Tower dogma even though alternative theorists do use SCIENCE CORRECTLY ASSHOLE.

Reply
Engineer
11/22/2015 02:25:07 am

Lots of mainstreamers that rely on pop-culture, doomsdayers, and skeptics to use against others. Like the bullshit about Bill and Jim Veira they use real methods and they are not out to fool anyone so fat fuck Jason Colavito get another job that doesnt involve sucking another person off ie Heiser with his Paleo-Babbling, terrible translations, and crappy PDF files to explain his side with has lots of holes. Have a good one little dork!

Reply
Chris L Lesley link
6/26/2018 06:32:55 am

I do believe this to be the most flagrant dismissal one could dream up, "The seven and eight foot skeletons are often the result of incorrect height estimates derived from outdated formulae for calculating height from femur length." Apart from not wanting to look through possibly 10,000 such journalistic articles, county reports, Smithsonian research reports, and peer review articles, you could have just locked yourself in a closet. . . Next, . . . Let's now get to the Strawman, ad hominem attack against the concept of "Greater Ancestry" which you liken to ancestor worship, . . . far from it. Greater Ancestry started with the animal kingdom and an observable biological trend of declining maturity opposite of Cope's Law/Rule. If you have ever seen a Cave Lion skull or ever visited a museum you can observe "Greater Ancestry". It has nothing to do with equating the deeds of that lion with greatness. . . heh. To dismiss greater ancestry you simply take about 98% of the fossil record and trash it by mislabeling extinct, then claim validity with a Fallacy-of-Authority. The tallest people in the world are around 8 foot and some are of unnatural height. 3 people, 3 people on our planet is all that exist in the eight foot range. Over a thousand people have been documented historically to be over 9 foot tall. We live in modern times and the evidence points to all all life degenerating, and increasing in genetic load. (not evolving) It would very easy for people who live now to arrogantly believe that "we" are superior, that we are a more capable witness than the people of the past. I would say that some have too much faith in "weaker-descendants". There is a psychological reward if the group you praise (modern people) includes yourself. Greater Ancesry does NOT involve ancestor worship, just a well connected observable reality.

Reply
STAN MATHIS
9/23/2022 10:39:30 pm

I think the evidence is clear that there was either a race or social class of elite humans, especially in the case the case of the mound and pyramid builders in the Americas. Never mind the newspaper articles and the Smithsonian field journals, there are eye witness accounts from the first American explorers that describe the heights of some of these giants, given, Europeans were much shorter back then, however, they describe some of the tribesmen being nearly twice in height as themselves. Hernando De Soto similarly described encountering the Chief of the Mobile Indians, Tuscaloosa, who was so massive that their horses could carry his weight. Only their pack mules could carry him, however, the chiefs legs were so long that his toes touched and dragged on the ground as he was being escorted. In a later event, they describe fleeing oncoming warriors how came rushing out through the trees. One of the warriors was so frighteningly tall they said he must’ve been like a Pharisee from the Bible. Also, the establishment height given for lord Pacal is stated to be 5’4”, despite his megalithic sarcophagus measuring 12’ tall by 7’ wide with an enclosure large enough to fit a man surpassing 7’ tall. It makes one wonder why the initial reports of all of these different giant findings are later dismissed as average. You say that the femurs of elephants and dinosaurs were often misclassified as human giants, but I wonder what your thoughts are on the intact remains of giant human skulls. There are legitimate reports of these skulls with massive craniums large enough that they fit over a person’s head. Of course, many of these skulls go missing from the very “prominent” museums and institutions that originally housed them, saying that there was a mix up and they got misplaced. The cover up is real,

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Blog
    Picture

    Author

    I am an author and researcher focusing on pop culture, science, and history. Bylines: New Republic, Esquire, Slate, etc. There's more about me in the About Jason tab.

    Become a Patron!
    Tweets by JasonColavito
    Picture

    Newsletters

    Enter your email below to subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my latest projects, blog posts, and activities, and subscribe to Culture & Curiosities, my Substack newsletter.

    powered by TinyLetter

    Blog Roll

    Ancient Aliens Debunked
    Picture
    A Hot Cup of Joe
    ArchyFantasies
    Bad UFOs
    Mammoth Tales
    Matthew R. X. Dentith
    PaleoBabble
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Alternative Archaeology
    Alternative Archaeology
    Alternative History
    Alternative History
    America Unearthed
    Ancient Aliens
    Ancient Astronauts
    Ancient History
    Ancient Texts
    Ancient Texts
    Archaeology
    Atlantis
    Conspiracies
    Giants
    Habsburgs
    Horror
    King Arthur
    Knights Templar
    Lovecraft
    Mythology
    Occult
    Popular Culture
    Popular Culture
    Projects
    Pyramids
    Racism
    Science
    Skepticism
    Ufos
    Weird Old Art
    Weird Things
    White Nationalism

    Terms & Conditions

    Please read all applicable terms and conditions before posting a comment on this blog. Posting a comment constitutes your agreement to abide by the terms and conditions linked herein.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    RSS Feed

Picture
Home  |  Blog  |  Books  | Contact  |  About Jason | Terms & Conditions
© 2010-2023 Jason Colavito. All rights reserved.

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Legends of the Pyramids
    • The Mound Builder Myth
    • Jason and the Argonauts
    • Cult of Alien Gods >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Foundations of Atlantis
    • Knowing Fear >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Hideous Bit of Morbidity >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Cthulhu in World Mythology >
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
      • Necronomicon Fragments
      • Oral Histories
    • Fiction >
      • Short Stories
      • Free Fiction
    • JasonColavito.com Books >
      • Faking History
      • Unearthing the Truth
      • Critical Companion to Ancient Aliens
      • Studies in Ancient Astronautics (Series) >
        • Theosophy on Ancient Astronauts
        • Pyramidiots!
        • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • Fiction Anthologies >
        • Unseen Horror >
          • Contents
          • Excerpt
        • Moon Men! >
          • Contents
      • The Orphic Argonautica >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • The Faust Book >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • Classic Reprints
      • eBook Minis
    • Free eBooks >
      • Origin of the Space Gods
      • Ancient Atom Bombs
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Ancient America
      • Horror & Science
  • Articles
    • Skeptical Xenoarchaeologist Newsletter >
      • Volumes 1-10 Archive >
        • Volume 1 Archive
        • Volume 2 Archive
        • Volume 3 Archive
        • Volume 4 Archive
        • Volume 5 Archive
        • Volume 6 Archive
        • Volume 7 Archive
        • Volume 8 Archive
        • Volume 9 Archive
        • Volume 10 Archive
      • Volumes 11-20 Archive >
        • Volume 11 Archive
        • Volume 12 Archive
        • Volume 13 Archive
        • Volume 14 Archive
        • Volume 15 Archive
        • Volume 16 Archive
        • Volume 17 Archive
        • Volume 18 Archive
        • Volume 19 Archive
        • Volume 20 Archive
      • Volumes 21-30 Archive >
        • Volume 21 Archive
        • Volume 22 Archive
    • Television Reviews >
      • Ancient Aliens Reviews
      • In Search of Aliens Reviews
      • America Unearthed
      • Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar
      • Search for the Lost Giants
      • Forbidden History Reviews
      • Expedition Unknown Reviews
      • Legends of the Lost
      • Unexplained + Unexplored
      • Rob Riggle: Global Investigator
    • Book Reviews
    • Galleries >
      • Bad Archaeology
      • Ancient Civilizations >
        • Ancient Egypt
        • Ancient Greece
        • Ancient Near East
        • Ancient Americas
      • Supernatural History
      • Book Image Galleries
    • Videos
    • Collection: Ancient Alien Fraud >
      • Chariots of the Gods at 50
      • Secret History of Ancient Astronauts
      • Of Atlantis and Aliens
      • Aliens and Ancient Texts
      • Profiles in Ancient Astronautics >
        • Erich von Däniken
        • Robert Temple
        • Giorgio Tsoukalos
        • David Childress
      • Blunders in the Sky
      • The Case of the False Quotes
      • Alternative Authors' Quote Fraud
      • David Childress & the Aliens
      • Faking Ancient Art in Uzbekistan
      • Intimations of Persecution
      • Zecharia Sitchin's World
      • Jesus' Alien Ancestors?
      • Extraterrestrial Evolution?
    • Collection: Skeptic Magazine >
      • America Before Review
      • Native American Discovery of Europe
      • Interview: Scott Sigler
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Oh the Horror
      • Discovery of America
      • Supernatural Television
      • Review of Civilization One
      • Who Lost the Middle Ages
      • Charioteer of the Gods
    • Collection: Ancient History >
      • Prehistoric Nuclear War
      • The China Syndrome
      • Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya
      • Easter Island Exposed
      • Who Built the Sphinx?
      • Who Built the Great Pyramid?
      • Archaeological Cover Up?
    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
      • Lovecraft in Bergier
      • Lovecraft and Scientology
    • Collection: UFOs >
      • Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits
      • Aliens and Anal Probes
      • Ultra-Terrestrials and UFOs
      • Rebels, Queers, and Aliens
    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
          • Inventory Stela
          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
  • About Jason
    • Biography
    • Jason in the Media
    • Contact Jason
    • About JasonColavito.com
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Search