The Nephilim Chronicles: Fallen Angels in the Ohio Valley

by Fritz Zimmerman

From the New York Journal

  A remarkable prehistoric skeleton was unearthed the other day by Mr. R. A. Tomlinson on the bank of Owl Creek, a little stream near Londonderry, Ohio. Mr. Tomlinson was engaged digging into a gravel bed, and had penetrated about four feet below the surface when he discovered the bones.

  The skeleton, which was excellently preserved, was lying at full length on the left side, with its left hand under it. When lifted up the hand was found to hold a dozen darts of the finest workmanship. But it was the size of the skeleton, which amazed those who saw it. When measured it was found to be only about an inch short of eight feet in length, and there can be no doubt that in life the man was fully eight feet in height and probably an inch more than that.

  The bones were massive, showing that the man was a giant in strength as well as stature. The skull was a third larger than the human skull, and the lower jaw was abnormal in size and thickness. Hundreds of people have viewed the skeleton, and it will doubtless be preserved as a curiosity.

  The Washington Post , December 25, 1898

  Monster Skeleton Discovered in the Miami Valley

  Believed To Be Mound-Builder

  Ponderous Jaws, Strongly-marked Orbital Plates, and Queer-Facial Angles Form a Study for the Scientist-Mysterious Stone Implements Found with the Bones Proves that They Belonged to a Man and Not to an Enormous Monkey.

  Special Correspondence of The Post.

  Miamisburg, Ohio. Dec. 25-A discovery of the greatest scientific interest was made when the pickaxes of Edward W. Gebhart and Edward Kauffman, of this place, disturbed the long repose of a skeleton that had been buried for no one can tell how many thousands of years. The body that once proudly strode the earth possessed of the living strength of a giant, with the bones just found for its framework, was surely not of a race of which history has given us any record.

  The skeleton is that of a human being, who in life must have been of immense size. The face is almost gorilla-like in its angularity; the jawbones are tremendous and the teeth have been pronounced by a local dentist, Dr. Harlan, to be as strong and perfect as any he has ever seen.

  A number of local practitioners, among them Dr. A. H. Blossom, Dr. Weaver, Dr. Bookwalter, and Dr. Shuler, have examined the bones and they unanimously agree that the “find” is no less important a one than the skeleton of a prehistoric man, who undoubtedly was on of the Mound-builders, the relics of whose sojourn in the Miami Valley have been so eagerly sought after by archaeologist all over the country.

  The splendid condition of the teeth has caused the doctors to conclude that the prehistoric man was a root-eater, for no masticator of meats could have retained to an estimated age of the man the perfect molars with which the jaws are fitted. The skull itself is like no skull that any living man carries around on his shoulders, in that it is of extraordinary size and contour. With the massive jaw-bones strongly-marked orbital plates and odd facial angles, the face would present a striking appearance could it be restored by an artist in wax.

  Found in a Gravel Pit

  The discoveries of the skeleton were digging gravel in a pit about a half-mile from the town when the pick of Edward Gebhart struck the skull. A careful investigation by the two men, from previous discoveries of Mound-builder relics, knew enough of the importance of the find, to at once set about unearthing the skeleton, revealed the rest of the bones, forming an almost complete skeleton.

  The body had evidently been buried in a sitting posture, for the knees were drawn up and the head had fallen between them. Beside the skeleton was a flat stone, about three inches long and two inches wide, with a hole drilled through one end apparently for the fitting of a handle. The use of this stone is not apparent to the local scientist. Some think it was a charm buried with the body, while others believe it to be the weapon of the dead man, although why such a giant as this prehistoric individual evidently was could carry so unimposing a club in question. It is important that this stone, so clearly fashioned by hand was found in close proximity to the skeleton, for it settles at once all doubts as to whether the great skull originally adorned the body of a man or of a mammoth monkey.

  At present the bones are on exhibition here. They are serving as a star attraction, for the people are very proud of the fact that once in this neighborhood there lived a race of prehistoric giants who erected the largest mound in the country, and then disappeared, leaving behind them fragments of stone, pieces of pottery, and woven cloth made of bark to show that they once were the owners of the valley.

  How long this was ago, where the Mound-builders originally came from, what they looked like, whether or not they will be proven some day to have been the long-looked for link between man and the lower animals, are questions that the residents of this locality would like above all things to have some scientist decide. The discovery of the skeleton with its peculiar-shaped skull, will prove of great service in the investigation so far as it concerns the appearance of the Mound-builders.

  Newark Daily Advocate, (Newark, Ohio) July 22, 1895

  Workman at Wooster O., unearthed the skeleton of a giant in an old graveyard

  Fort Wayne News, (Fort Wayne, Indiana,) April 20, 1898 Toledo Ohio, April 30-Workman in the company of the Fergusan Construction Company excavating for the new Toledo and Ottawa Beach railroad, a little beyond the city limits unearthed three skeletons, evidently relics of some great race, as they were about seven feet in length. Just where the ears should be on the head are singular bony protuberances which curl forward. The finds were made in solid yellow clay about eight feet below the surface.

  The cut is through a large mound not half of which has yet been torn up. Several stone tomahawks of larger size have been picked up in the locality. Newark Daily Advocate, (Newark, Ohio) August 14, 1902

  Giant Skeleton

  Found in Bed of Sand in Northwestern Ohio-Man was Eight Feet High

  Bowling Green, O., Aug. 14-While excavating for sand for building on the Charles Whirmer farm, Wm. Jones unearthed the skeleton of a gigantic man. It is in a fair state of preservation and will be preserved, as it is thought that it may have some scientific value.

  The skeleton was found in a sitting posture, and when the bones were placed in a horizontal position they indicated that the height of the man in life must have been over eight feet. The head is of enormous size, being 12 inches in diameter.

  It is believed that it is the skeleton of a member of a prehistoric race of giants. Further excavations will be made to see if other graves cannot be found.

  History of Sandusky Ohio, 1909 Underneath the roots, and seven or eight feet from the surface of the ground were several large flat stones covering the skeletons of a number of Indians of varying stature, surrounded by wood, ashes, and charcoal. The adult skeletons indicated very large beings.

  History of Sandusky Ohio, 1909 Near the residence of Mr. Williams and not far form it, was found a mound about fifty feet in diameter, which much have been a very ancient construction. Mr. Williams said that about the year 1820 he assisted in cutting down a white oak tree which stood on the very summit of the mound, for the purpose of capturing a swarm of bees which had long been in the tree, and that this tree was then near three feet in diameter, and the elevation of the mound was eight feet above the general level of the surrounding land-the mound was afterward opened by Mr. John Shannon, of this county, and his brother, about the year 1840. The mound he said attracted considerable observation and much speculation among the observers as to what it was raised for, and what might be in it. The stump of the oak had then so far decayed that it was removed without much difficulty. On removing the earth from a considerable space and a little below the general level of the surface around the mound, they found the teeth of a human being in good preservation. Upon further carefully removing the earth they found, marked in a different colored earth from that surrounding it, the figure of a man of giant size, plainly to be seen.

  Firelands Pioneers, Vermillion Township, Erie County, Ohio 1858
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br />   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 much of belonged to a race of beings much larger in size than the Indians

  found here by the settlers.

  History of the Villages and Townships of Erie County, Ohio, Berlin Township This creek has a branch called the West Branch. The two branches have had at different times over two dozen saw mills built along their course through the township. The Chapelle empties into the lake in the township of Vermilion. There is a mound on the farm of Henry Hoak, in the eastern part of the township, which covers one-eighth of an acre, with large trees growing on it; and in digging a cellar, some time ago, for a new house, near one which was built in the first settlement of the township, a large human skeleton was found, in a sitting posture. Others have been found at the same place, also many arrowheads, stone axes, and other relics, evincing that the spot built upon must have been a mound.

  History of the County of Williams, Ohio, 1905

  On fractioned section 12, about 2 miles north of Montpelier, two large mounds which were six on

  seven feet in height and fifty or sixty feet in diameter… taking there from two skeletons, one very large

  and the other of ordinary size.

  History of the Maumee River Basin, 1905

  Defiance County, Ohio, A mound was found on the high south bank of the Maumee River, a few rods west of the middle north and south line of section twenty and seven of Defiance Township… This mound was about four feet above the surrounding land, about thirty feet in diameter. Brice, who gave the writer this information, opened this mound in the year 1824. A small quantity of bony fragments were found which readily crumbled between the fingers on being handled. Human teeth were found, some of which were of large size.

  History of Fulton County, Ohio, 1905

  Of the works examined in this county, those most worthy of mention are situated on the farm of the

  late Hon. D. W. H. Howard, in section 9, Pike Township. These mounds were explored during the

  summer of 1892.

  These mounds are in a group of twelve in number, of which eleven are located and clearly identical

  and the site of the twelfth is plainly indicated… The mound mentioned as being located in the public

  road is, as stated above, entirely obliterated, but in an early day Col. Howard found in its center a circle

  of stones about four feet diameter, containing within the circle about a bushel of charcoal and ashes. Nearly all of these mounds were opened and examined by judge Handy, and the report of two of them

  we will give in the judge’s own language. Of one he calls Mound No. 7 he writes, “Sandy soil, light

  yellow sand: about eighteen inches from surface found longest thigh bones yet discovered. No trace of

  fire-no disturbance of soil here to fore-bones crumbled on exposure-highest of the mounds-found near

  center skeleton with his head to the north, lying on his back and limbs extended-near hem found

  skeleton No. 2, with head to the east and lying on his face. Both being large men.

  About another mound in this group it was written: “The part of the skull above the nasal bones was

  well preserved, and compared with the skull of an Indian found intrusively buried in neighboring

  mound, was a distinctly different type of man.

  Historical Collections of Ohio, Howe V. I., Pt, 1.,

  Ashtabula County 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 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 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. On the first examination of the ground by the settlers they found it covered with the ordinary forest trees, with an opening near the center containing a single butternut. The graves were distinguished by slight depressions disposed in straight rows and were estimated to number from two to three thousand. On examination in 1800, they were found to contain human bones, invariably blackened by time, which on exposure to the air soon crumbled to dust. Traces of ancient cultivation observed by the first settlers on the lands of the vicinity, although covered with forest, exhibited signs of having once been thrown up into squares and terraces, and laid out into gardens.

  A Study of the Glacial Kame Culture,in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, 1948

  Wilbur M. Cunningham

  Zimmerman Site

  On the farm of Arthur Zimmerman, in McDonald Township, about three miles north of Belle Center near the Logan County line in Hardin County, Ohio, is a huge gravel kame. It is the highest [point in the neighborhood, and from the top of it one can see for a distance of twelve to fifteen miles.

  In the summer of 1931 when gravel was being hauled from this pit, 148 human skeletons were discovered from six feet to twenty-two feet below the surface; badly decayed human bones were uncovered about three and one-half feet from the surface, but no complete skeletons were buried at depths less than six feet. Mr. Zimmerman stated that in addition to the 148 skeletons counted, an unknown number was removed in his absence.

  Some of the skeletons were buried face down. Others appear to have been buried “standing up,” and still others were in a sitting position. With the skeleton in the deepest grave were 148 shell disk beads. In the deeper burials, in which copper was present, the skeletal remains were not well preserved.

  According to the story, two skeletons of giant size, one male and one female, were found. Notwithstanding the reportedly large skeleton, the skull of the female was no larger than that of a child.

  Indiana

  Indiana Geological Survey, 1862

  Henry County, Indiana About seven or eight miles west of New Castle, a number of Indian skeletons were disinterred in the constructing a turnpike, and about the same distance south of town some remarkable humans bones and skeletons of giant size were dug out, with other relics, during the making of the road.

  Indiana Geological Survey 1881

  Delaware County, Indiana

  The Indians used many of the hills as burial places; bones have been discovered which from their size would indicate that they belonged to a race of giants.

  Ft. Wayne, Daily Gazette, July 26, 1872

  An Account of Fossil Remains Recently Discovered by the Opening of Mounds Near Laporte. Those who feel an interest in the Neanderthal skull which was illustrated and described in Harper's Weekly a short time since, as well as those who have given the subject of races a more extensive research, may be interested to know that a race formerly inhabited Indiana and the adjacent country whose crania exhibit much the same peculiarity of structure, and a full knowledge of whose advancement in the arts of civilization might cause our phrenologist to modify, to some extent, their theories.

  At Union Mills, in Laporte county, is a remarkable group of mounds, fifteen in number, or rather six double mounds, with three standing alone, all within a circle of about one-fourth of a mile in diameter, built mostly on the brow of a high tableland, overlooking the valley. This was probably the site of their village, a delightful spot, and with Mill Creek running through it, and the Kankakee Marsh on one side, and Lake Michigan not far distant to the other, well calculated to support a large population, who probably subsisted mainly by fish
ing, hunting and to some extent, by agricultural pursuits.

  On Tuesday last, I exhumed from one of these mounds fragments of two skeletons, one a man and the other in probability, a woman.

  They had been placed in a sitting posture on the original surface of the ground, and a mound of earth raised over them, which, after the lapse of many centuries, perhaps was yet eight feet high, with a base about fifty or sixty feet. That they were buried in a sitting posture is evident from the fact that all the bones and the skulls had fallen in one heap, except the leg bones, which extended from the heap in opposite directions. The skulls and bones were crushed by the superincumbent earth, and much decayed, so that a large portion of them was as soft and crumbled as easily as the surrounding earth.

  Enough was preserved, however to prove that they belonged to a race entirely different from the modern Indians, and approaching nearly to the connecting link between mankind and his less favored brother-the ape.

  The late Col. Foster says: “the Neanderthal skull affords the nearest approach hitherto observed to the confines of that gulf which separates man from the anthropoid types.” But the LaPorte skulls if we can judge correctly between the actual and the pictured skulls, will help to bridge the gulf, for while the supercilliary ridge is less prominent in one, than in the Neanderthal skull, and is almost wanting in the other, their eyes looked out from beneath a frontal plate little more elevated than the skull of a turtle, and bearing some resemblance to it.

  No tools or weapons were found in this mound, but a few flakes of flint lay with the bones.

  In another of the mounds, which was cut through in constructing the Peninsular railway, besides the skeleton it contained, were an earthenware jar and a bowl, both of which have been broken and lost. Near these, which probably contained food and drink for the departed on his unknown journey, were placed his pipe, which is a beautifully carved stone, two copper needles, one pointed on both ends, and a number of flint spear and arrow heads, so that he should not lack means to defend himself, procure food on his way to the “happy hunting grounds. “