Giant Skeleton in Harrison County

West Virginia's old newspapers are FULL of reports of giant skeletons being found throughout the state. In the November 27, 1916 edition of the Martinsburg WVa Evening Journal, a story can be found about workmen uncovering a giant skeleton while putting in a railway line in Harrison County. You can see this article at the Chronicling America website. 

SKELETON OF GIANT FOUND BY WORKMEN

While grading for the Fairmont and Wyatt Railroad on the farm of B.W. Shinn near Pine Bluff, W.Va, workmen unearthed the skeleton of a human giant, believed to be the remains of a prehistoric man. The skull and several of the large bones are in splendid state of preservation. The skull is near the size of a two-gallon bucket, with no forehead and a large under jaw. The ribs are about three times the size of the present-day average man. One thigh bone, well preserved, measures four and one-half feet in length. The skeleton was found in a mound and there had long been speculation as to what the mound contained, but all feared to open it. The skeleton will be shipped to the New York museum. 

Theresa's Note: In the December 13, 1916 edition of the Martinsburg, WVa Evening Journal a little addendum to this story appeared, claiming that the tale, which originated in the Shinnston News, was the work of practical jokers upon an otherwise honest newspaper editor. 

*Want more posts about giant skeletons in WV? Check out my post, Giant Skeleton in Central City!*

Mason County's Mysterious Skeletons

The idea that giants once roamed the Kanawha and Ohio Valleys is always a fascinating and popular topic within the mysterious history of West Virginia.  Time and time again, we hear stories of Adena burial mounds throughout the state and surrounding areas having once held the skeletal remains of a people who averaged over 7 feet in height. 

Source

Today, the area of West Virginia where I live is still dotted with some of the larger burial mounds, such as the Criel Mound in South Charleston and the Shawnee Mound in Dunbar.  The May Moore Mound, located on private property in Mason County, WV is another large mound, but it is believed to be largely intact---never properly excavated.  What many don't realize, though, is that at one time, there were many, many more (usually much smaller) mounds throughout this area!  I've always heard stories that farmers along the Ohio River in what is now Mason County, WV would constantly come across small burial mounds in their fields, and simply plow them over.  Supporting that claim is an old newspaper article I ran across from the Niles Register (Ohio paper), dated October 20, 1821.  I haven't been able to locate a copy of the original article, but the text can be found in West Virginia Heritage: Volume One, a collection of books compiled and edited in the late 1960's by the West Virginia Heritage Foundation.  The article is as follows:

Mason County's Mysterious Skeletons
From Niles Register
October 21, 1821

From the Kenhawa Spectator.  A gentleman from Mason County, Va. has very obligingly furnished the following singular facts:  On the 19th ult. four very large skeletons were found in a field which had for twenty-four years past been cultivated in corn. They were deposited in a mound apparently very ancient.  The first was discovered by the owner of the field, having ploughed it up, which induced him to make a further examination, when three others were found.  The bones are perfectly sound, and much larger than common, and more especially the skulls, which can be very easily slipped over the largest man's head.  The upper jaw bone has one row of double teeth all round, and the under jaw two teeth only on the left side, and no sockets whatever in the rest of the bone were provided by nature for more.  Considerable quantities of broken crockery ware, with buck horns and bones, bear's bones and muscle (mussel?) shells, etc. were found with the skeletons, and the whole buried in line two feet deep.

It is hoped that the curiosity of the intelligent public may excite them to examine the skeletons, and furnish us with some interesting speculations on the subject. 

May Moore Mound. Image from Todd Bledsoe

I've seen this particular case mentioned on a few websites, mostly in passing, but haven't been able to really find any more substantial information about who the farmer was, where the property is located, and just what the heck happened to these giant skeletons with their strange double row of teeth.  However, with stories such as these, it makes me wonder why the nearby May Moore Mound was never excavated...and if it ever is, just what will we find inside?

Craving MORE Giant Skeletons in Burial Mounds stories?  Check out my post about another small mound, complete with giant skeleton found in the Central City area of Huntington, WV.  People drive over the site every day, and very few realize that the road was once blocked off by an ancient burial mound!

The Giant Skeleton of Central City

Visitors and residents of Huntington's Central City neighborhood today might never realize that while driving down Thirteenth Street between Madison and Jackson Avenues, they are driving over the remains of one of the many lesser burial mounds that once dotted the landscape throughout the Ohio Valley.  What's even stranger is that the former burial mound held an interesting surprise---the skeleton of a giant!

The idea of a mound containing an extremely large skeleton came to my attention a few years back when a website devoted to the history of mounds and the mound builders posted a newspaper article from the Washington Post dated June 23, 1908. The article noted that a 7 foot tall skeleton was found, along with huge copper bracelets, in the Thirteenth Street mound. Curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to head on over to the Cabell County Public Library and see what the local papers had to say.  There were several articles from both the Huntington Advertiser and the Huntington Dispatch, all with pretty much the same information.  Here's the transcription from the June 23, 1908 edition of the Huntington Dispatch:

REMAINS OF ANCIENT MOUND BUILDER DISCOVERED

Yesterday afternoon a most interesting find was made by workingmen engaged in removing the mound in Thirteenth street, between Madison and Jackson avenues, Central City. Some time ago the authorities decided to remove this obstruction from Thirteenth street, and for several days the work of leveling the mound has gone forward.  Yesterday when at a point twelve feet above the base of the mound, a huge skeleton was discovered. While it was impossible to determine the exact height of the skeleton, it is believed to be near an accurate estimate to state that the owner of the bones stood near seven feet in his moccasins.

That the remains are those of a person of distinction in his tribe is evidenced by the wealth of trinkets which were found in close proximity.  There were about the ankles of the prehistoric chieftain massive copper bracelets, while similar ornaments but of lighter patterns were found in the vicinity of the wrists. When the mold was burnished from the trinkets it was found that they were of the finest type of beaten copper and were in a perfect state of preservation.  Quantities of beads, arrow heads and stone hatchets were also discovered.  The copper bracelets are in the possession of J.V. Fetty, of Central City.

News of the discovery attracted hundreds of persons to the spot, and scores of relics were carried away by the curious.

The excavators have yet twelve feet to go before the base of the mound is reached, and other interesting discoveries are expected.

A curious and significant fact noticeable in connection with the work of removing the mound is that the entire structure is made up of surface soil, showing that the mound was erected by the process of gathering small quantities of surface soil from the adjacent bottoms.  The diameter of the mound at the base in 63 feet.

13th Street from Jackson Avenue looking toward Madison