Monday, July 5, 2010
The Giant Indian Mound Builders of Erie
Sometimes while doing research you find a little tidbit that throws you off topic and down a path you never though you would find yourself wandering on. While investigating the topic of lost graveyards in Erie I stumbled upon this curiosity:
“…when the roadway of the Philadelphia & Erie road, where it passes through the Warfel farm, was being widened, another deposit of bones was dug up and summarily deposed of as before (Thrown in a neighboring ditch). Among the skeletons was one of a giant, side by side with a smaller one, probably that of his wife. The arm and leg bones of this native American Goliath were about one-half longer than those of the tallest man among the laborers; the skull was immensely large; the lower jawbone easily slipped over the face and whiskers of a full faced man, and the teeth were in a perfect state of preservation. Another skeleton was dug up in Conneaut Township a few years ago which was quite as remarkable in its dimensions. As in the other instance, a comparison was made with the largest man in the neighborhood , and the jawbone readily covered his face, while the lower bone of the leg was nearly a foot longer than the one with which it was measured, indicating that the man must have been eight to ten feet in height. The bones of a flathead were turned up in the same township some two years ago with a skull of unusual size. Relics of a former time have been gathered in that section by the pailful, and among other curiosities a brass watch was found that was as big as a common saucer.
An ancient graveyard was discovered in 1820, on the land now known as Dr. Carter and Dr. Dickinson places in Erie, which created quite a sensation at the time. Dr. Albert Thayer dug up some of the bones, and all indicated a race of beings of immense size.” (History of Erie County Volume 1; Warner, Beers and Co., 1884, pp. 166-169)
For more see the article see my new book "Eerie Erie:Tales of the Unexplained from Northwestern Pennsylvania" due in August 2011!
I doubt they would have been in Erie, but apparently the Susquehannock Indians were often quite tall - pretty darn tall by today's standards (6-7 feet oftentimes), and a veritable giant at the time.
ReplyDeleteWhen Panfilo de Narvaez encountered the Apalachee people in 1528, he wrote that they "loomed big and naked, and from a distance looked like giants. They were handsomely proportioned, lean, agile, and strong." My late grandmother told me that bones had been found in the area that showed that the Apalachee people had in fact been exceptionally tall by any modern standards.
ReplyDeleteFascinating!
ReplyDeleteGreat verification of the truth about Giants! Of course anyone remembering the book of Genesis and the book of Enoch know that fallen angels had offspring with earth women that were Giants. The Nephilim indeed.Thanks for this very interesting information Pastor Swope, and for more info on Giants all around the world read up here :http://www.mysteriousworld.com/Journal/2003/Summer/Giants
ReplyDeleteStrangely enough..I was JUST reading about giants on youtube last night! I don't know if you know this, but it's extremely hard to read light font on top of a black background (even tho it looks spookier!)
ReplyDeleteI love the paranormal as well...you should try the Charismatic churches! You'll see all kinds of amazing stuff!
Blessings,
FunFashionFairy