Author Denver Michaels

In 1885, the American Antiquarian ran an article discussing a mound which had been opened in Pennsylvania. The mound yielded several interesting finds, chief among them the large skeleton of a Pennsylvania giant who wore a copper crown: " A large Indian mound near the town of Gasterville, Pa., has recently been opened and examined by a committee of scientists sent out from the Smithsonian Institute. At some depth from the surface a kind of vault was found in which was discovered the skeleton of a giant measuring seven feet two inches. His hair was course and jet-black, and hung to the waist, the brow being ornamented with a copper crown. The skeleton was remarkably well preserved. Near it were also found the bodies of several children of various sizes, the remains being covered with beads made of bone of some kind. Upon removing these, the bodies were seen to be enclosed in a network of straw or reeds, and beneath this was a covering of the skin of some animal. On the stones whi...

On December 17, 1891, Nature ran an interesting piece about the discovery of an enormous skeleton clad in copper armor in a mound in Ohio. The following article describes the Ohio giant: "According to the “World's Fair Notes,” sent to us from Chicago, the party which, under the direction of Mr. Putnam, has been making excavations in the mounds of Ohio, made an important discovery on November 14. While at work on a mound 500 feet long, 200 feet wide, and 28 feet high, the excavators found near the centre of the mound, at a depth of 14 feet, the massive skeleton of a man incased in copper armour. The head was covered by an oval-shaped copper cap; the jaws had copper mouldings; the arms were dressed in copper, while copper plates covered the chest and stomach, and on each side of the head, on protruding sticks, were wooden antlers ornamented with copper. The mouth was stuffed with genuine pearls of immense size, but much decayed. Around the neck was a necklace of bears’ teeth, s...

Few who visit the vacation hub of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, realize that there is an old Indian mound alongside the busy highway. The mound , known as the McMahan Mound, gets lost among the sprawling strip malls and hotels. The McMahan Mound sits on the bank of the west fork of the Little Pigeon River in downtown Sevierville, Tennessee. In my travels to various mound sites throughout the country, one commonality is that mounds are always situated near a good water source. This was a necessity so that the builders could wet the earth and firmly pack it down. According to a Wikipedia entry, the McMahan Indian Mound: …consists of a 16 feet (5 m) high and 240 feet (73 m) wide platform mound, with a large associated village surrounded by a palisade. It was occupied by Dallas Phase peoples of the South Appalachian Mississippian culture between 1200 and 1500 CE. At the time when the ancient mound was first investigated scientifically in 1881 by a party associated with the Smithsonian Instit...

One of the most intriguing legends from ancient America is that of the "moon-eyed people." The legend takes us to West Virginia. Most of present-day West Virginia was void of permanent Native American settlements when European colonists began their westward push. Why? The area is rich in game and other resources; why not live there? Legend holds that in 1773, at the behest of Virginia Governor Lord Dunmore , Thomas Bullit travelled to present-day southwestern Ohio to seek permission from the Shawnee to establish settlements in the Can-tuc-kee lands (which included large portions of modern-day West Virginia). Shawnee chief Black Fish was unable to grant permission; he did not feel it was his to give, the land belonged to the ghosts of the Azgen, a tribe of moon-eyed people who were murdered by the ancestors of the Shawnee. Because of the ghosts, the Shawnee refused to settle on the land and only used it—respectfully—as hunting grounds. Who were these moon-eyed people? Accordin...

In today’s blog post, I thought I would share this account from 1880 of nine-foot giants in Ohio. Of equal interest to the giant discoveries is a sandstone tablet found among the burials with “two lines of hieroglyphs” inscribed upon it. I have written at length in the past of excavators finding strange tablets inside of mounds containing giant bones. The Marion Daily Star told the story of the tablet and enormous skeletal remains found in a mound in Ohio : MARION DAILY STAR , JULY 14, 1880 REMAINS OF NINE-FOOT GIANTS IN OHIO A correspondent of the Cincinnati Enquirer, writing about the remains of a giant race found in Muskingum County, Ohio, says: The mound in which these remarkable discoveries were made was about sixty-four feet long and thirty-five feet wide top measurement and gently sloped down to the hill where it was situated. A number of stumps of trees were found on the slope standing in two rows, and on the top of the mound were an oak and a hickory stump, all of...

The following article appeared in an 1828 edition of the Western Souvenir . It tells the story of a Shawnee chief and a domesticated mastodon. The chief who took in an orphaned mastodon and had a friend for life: “The young calf, deprived of his maternal sustenance and care, wandered up the valley of the Ohio, into the neighbourhood of a village of the ancient Shawanese. He was discovered by the chief of the tribe, wandering about the forest, and uttering, from time to time, the most plaintive cries. He was observed occasionally to seize upon the trunks of small trees and saplings, and after some unsuccessful efforts at mastication with his toothless gums, he would quit his hold and continue his wailings. “The Shawanoe understood his condition, and gave him some green corn and other vegetables, which he devoured with a voracious appetite. He manifested a strong feeling of attachment to the chief who had relieved his hunger—followed him to his village, and was fed and sustained by him...

I wanted to write a quick post to make an announcement. My mastodon and mammoth book is now available in audio book format. If you are unfamiliar with the title, this a description: Maybe we have it wrong. What if the fantastic stories are true? Could a remnant of mammoths and mastodons have survived into recent times? Were these enormous creatures still roaming the remote regions of North America when European settlers arrived? Do indigenous legends hint at the recent existence of the mammoth and mastodon? Join author Denver Michaels as he delves into folklore and eyewitness accounts to learn the truth about these extinction escapees. My buddy Uncle Perry narrated the book and did an excellent job. I hope you'll check it out. As always with these audio book releases, I have some promo codes for a free book. Hit me up if you want one.

The tales of the Conneaut Giants have fascinated me for years. So, when I spent three weeks in Ashtabula County, Ohio, in October 2021, I visited their old stomping grounds. One place I visited was Indian Mound Metropark in Conneaut, Ohio. The park is heavily-wooded. A trail cuts through the forest as it follows parts of Conneaut Creek. Being a pet-friendly park, and I took my dogs along with me to explore. We had the place to ourselves and it was a great visit on a beautiful 73-degree autumn day. Nothing to See! I have to say, the park was a little disappointing. Given the name of the park, Indian Mound Metropark, one might expect to see a mound or perhaps several mounds on the grounds. This was not the case. Though site is an archaeological treasure trove and an enormous earth work once stood here—you will not find mounds and earthworks here. Although it was disappointing to not be able to see any mounds or earthworks during my visit (except for maybe a remnant of an old embankment...

In her book To the American Indian, Lucy Thompson (1856–1932), a member of the Yurok tribe whose Yurok name was Che-na-wah Weitch-ah-wah, recorded many of the tales of her people. One of the most interesting stories in the book is that of the Wa-gas. According to Thompson, the Wa-gas were an ancient race of white people that lived in North America many thousands of years ago. However, these folks were much different than Europeans who colonized the Americas in recent times. The following excerpt comes from Thompson’s book in a section titled “ Traditions of the Ancient White People” :

Jain belief states the universe is eternal and so is time; there is no beginning or end. The Jains believe in a cosmic time wheel that never stops rotating.  There are two half rotations—an ascending time cycle and a descending cycle. Within the half cycles, there are further divisions of time. The ascending cycle ushers in prosperity and happiness and increasing time scales. The opposite is true for the descending time cycle. Sorrow, misery, and immorality are hallmarks of this cycle of time. As the wheel descends, the time cycles decrease in their duration. People and animals were much larger in the first four divisions of the descending cycle and the last four divisions of the ascending cycle. As sorrow and misery increased, living things became smaller; their lifespans also markedly decreased. Jain giants correspond to the Cosmic Wheel of time. During the time of utmost happiness and prosperity—a time which lasts for an inconceivable duration—people live three palyopamas. One...