Smithsonian Annual Report, 1874
Dekalb County, Indiana We next went to the farm of Henry Gonzer in Fairfield Township, there a mound once overlooked a small lake, which is gradually filling from the wash of the surrounding hills. The mound is now nearly obliterated by cultivation. We were informed by Mr. Gonzer that it was opened about twenty years ago, when the skeleton was found the thigh-bone of which was as long as his leg, and the skull as large as a half bushel measure. We dug a little below the surface, and found a few bones, among which was a broken thigh bone of ordinary size.
The Gonzer mound was obliterated by the plow, but this circular, Iroquois earthwork is still visible. From The Nephilim Chronicles, A Travel Guide to the Ancient Ruins in the Ohio Valley, 2010.
Histories of Lagrange and Noble Counties Indiana, 1882
Lagrange County A number of years ago, two mounds were opened in Section 13, Milford Township. A quantity of crumbling human bones was taken from one of them, among them being a skull quite well preserved. Some of the teeth were almost as sound as their ever were, and the under jaw, a massive one, was especially well preserved. In the other mound was found a layer of ashes and charcoal, extending over two or three square yards of ground. This was undoubtedly a mound where sacrifices were offered to the deity of the Mound Builders, and where burial rites with fire were performed.
History of the Counties of Whitley and Noble County Indiana, 1882
Noble County
This much has been given on the authority of Schoolcraft, Wilson, Pidgeon, Smucker, Foster and the American Encyclopedia, to prepare the way for the classification and detailed description of the ancient earth and stone works in this county. No effort has been made in past years to gather together the prehistoric history of Noble County. No importance or value has been attached to disclosures of skeletons, the majority of citizens through out the county regarding them as belonging to the Indians, and consequently, the mounds which have been opened in years past in different parts of the county were not carefully examined, and no doubt much interesting, and perhaps valuable information has been hopelessly lost...
On Section 2, Elkhart Township, on what is called Sanford’s Point, there are several mounds, one of which was opened some eight or ten years ago by the neighbors, who expected to unearth some valuable trinkets. Quite a number of bones were found, and these were scattered around on the surface of the ground, where they were left. No trinkets were found, an inferior maxillary bone found is said to have been remarkably large and sound.
Alvards History of Noble County, Indiana, 1902
"A Big Indian" Of the interesting collection on Dr. Egles possession the most prominent were the entire skull, dorsal and lumber vertebra, pelvic bones, dorsal and lumbar vertebra, pelvic bones, and left femur and forearm of a skeleton exhumed from one of the pre-historic mounds of Noble County, located on the farm of Jeremiah Noel, section 1, Elkhart township. Some measurements were taken, which are given below, with the common names of the measured parts: skull, from base to nose over the top of head to base of occiput, 11.5 inches: around the skull, from the middle of forehead, 15.75 inches; over the top, from ear to ear 11.5 inches; around the back of skull, from ear to ear 10.75 inches. Thighbone, 18 inches long, large and showing by the size of the muscular attachments great solidity and power of muscle. Forearm, 12 inches, large and strong. This skull, in size and proportions, was superior to those of many whites; and the pelvis, backbone and thighbone, all indicated that the form, when clothed in flesh and animated by the living spirit, must have been a noble specimen of manhood. The cranial developments showed capability of a high degree of intellectual culture...
The skeleton just described was found in a large mound on Noels farm, as above stated, with parts of twenty-seven others, by explorers in the interest of Balty & Co., publishers of a History of Lagrange and Noble Counties. In describing the excavation of this mound and others in the same vicinity, the principle writer of that history notes the posture of the skeletons as identical with known modes of Indian burials; and in alluding to the fact of a "remarkably large and sound maxillary bone", indicating comparatively recent burial, adds, "The reader must remember that these are the bones of the Mound Builders, not Indians
Indiana Department of Geology and Natural History, 1883
Grant County, Indiana The largest of mounds found in Grant County is that one found two miles south and one mile west of Upland, in Jefferson Township. About forty years ago the mound was five or six rods on diameter and about fifty feet high. At that time it was covered with all kinds of timber.
After people began settling near the mound they began clearing away the timber. The dirt was carried about a quarter of a mile. There is a basin near, rather deep, and at that time it was covered with trees, the same as the same as the mound. The supposition of the old settlers was that the dirt in the mound was carried from where the basin is now.
The owner of the mound gave many people permission to dig into it. One day two men were given permission to dig. They dug a trench north and south about four feet deep. After, digging they found a part of a skeleton of a man, the thighbone, ball and socket joint, and many small bones. When the small bones were exposed to the air they immediately crumbled. The ball and socket and thighbones were taken to a physician in Upland and he estimated the bones were of a man at least nine feet tall and weighing not less than three hundred pounds and the man was not fleshy.
Six mounds were once visible near the last mound described, but have all been leveled by a gravel company, save this last one located across the road. The Nephilim Chronicles, A Travel Guide to the Ancient Ruins in the Ohio Valley, 2010.
History of Randolph County, Indiana, 1885 In a gravel bank on the west side of the White river, west of Mt. Zion Church, near Nathan Butts, were found several skeletons; and with nearly every one, coals of fire seem to have been thrown in. They were three or four feet below the surface, lying horizontally, and mostly large. The teeth were solid, though some were worn.
History of Randolph County, Indiana, 1885
Jay County In a ditch dug by Joseph Stevens, in the northeast part of Green township, nearly south of Powers Station (Jay County), to drain a pond, great numbers of human bones were taken out, many being of unusual size. The jawbones were full of teeth.
There was found also what seemed to be a shriveled hand, like the hand of a little child.
Davenport Morning Tribune, February 5, 1889
Many Skeletons of an Extinct Indian Race Unearthed in Indiana Whitlock, Ind., Feb. 4.- A huge graves pit was opened here recently. Soon after the excavating began a skeleton was found, and as the pit widened other skeletons were until at last thirty graves had been opened and many skeletons brought to light, evidently the remains of an Indian tribe-the Shawnees, probably, who had the villages in this region. One skeleton was found beneath a large stump, and yesterday another was found twelve feet under ground. The graves appear in regular order, and the occupants were buried in a sitting posture. In one grave three skeletons, supposed to be those of a woman and two children, were found. Yesterday the largest specimen was unearthed, the body of a person who in life must have been a giant. A peculiarity of the skeletons is that of the teeth are nearly all in a perfect state of preservation. In one grave beside the human skeletons was that of a dog, a copper spear-head, and earthen pot, and numerous beads, proving that some important personage had been put to rest there. The city of the dead is undoubtedly 150 years old.
Ohio Democrat, November 24, 1892
BURIAL PLACE OF GIANTS
Skeletons of an Ancient Race Unearthed in Indiana
Many Traditions Brought Out by the Discovery-Evidence of an Extinct Tribe of Very Large Americans
A rich archaeological find was recently unearthed two miles west of Crawfordsville in a gravel pit along the high bluffs of Sugar creek. Thus far twenty-five skeletons of Brodingnagian stature have been exhumed, and the unburying of these mammoth bones is still going on. This
necropolis of long ago is filled with exited hunters of curios and scientific students from Wabash college almost continually, and as soon as removed from the gravel their rattling bones carried away to become parts of departments of archaeology, which are being established all over the city.
The last skeleton taken from the burial ground was a gigantic one,measuring seven feet in length. The femur alone would prove that the skeleton was that of a giant, and the pelvic bones twice as large as those of an ordinary man. The grinning skull of the giant had a perfect set of teeth, not one cracked or decayed, and with an enamel as beautiful as polished marble. The bones were perfect in every detail, notwithstanding the fact that they must have interred here for centuries. The entire absence of vegetable matter in the soil and the perfect drainage would account for the preservation of the bony structure.
Of the whole number of skeletons thus far found only two indicate immature development, the remainder representing the framework of a race of men evidently extinct for centuries. This is certainly the first discovery of skeletons in which the characteristic development of giants has been observed. It is thought by local scientist that these bones belong to a tribe of aborigines, but this theory cannot be fully established by the material structure of the skeleton.
Although no implements or ornaments were found buried with the bones, yet in close proximity many instruments of warfare and domestic utensils were found. They are mostly composed of stone, though some are composed of copper and a few of shell and bone. The stone implements are flint spears and arrow heads, and appear to be wrought with exceeding great skill. Pottery is found in great abundance. For many years specimens of these pots have been unearthed in this region, especially along the banks of the creek.
None of these skeletons was found in a separate grave, they being for the most part piled together in one conglomerate mass. Ten were found in one place in close contact, facing the setting sun, and arranged in a sitting posture. Many of the bones found farther down the bank, and in a soil in which there was more vegetable matter, crumbled to a dust as soon as exposed to the atmosphere, and the symmetry of a single bone could not be distinguished.
Many traditions have been brought out since the discovery. One old settler has called to mind the fact that fifty years ago a tree was uprooted on this same spot, exposing three skeletons of gigantic dimensions, and as they were beneath the trees, it must have sprung up long after the bodies were buried.
Gen. Lew Wallace says he remembers the sections of a stranger, who several years ago spent many months digging along the banks of Sugar creek in search of a gold spoon supposed to have been buried long ago when this part of the country was inhabited by savage tribes, and the owner of the land on which these remains were found calls to mind a tradition often related by his grandfather that a Spanish treasure had been buried here in the long, long ago, when the country was a wilderness and Chicago a barren waste of impenetrable swamps.
The excavations are being continued, and it is thought that rich developments are in prospect, for there is not a foot of the soil removed that does not contain some relic or grinning skull.
History of Park and Vermillion Counties, Indiana, 1913
Vermillion County In March, 1880 while a company of gravel road workers were excavating gravel from the bank on the ridge at the southwest corner of the Newport Fairgrounds, five human skeletons were found... In the gravel bank along the railroad, at the southeast corner of the Fairground, another skeleton was found. No implements of war were found with the bones but ashes were perceivable. A collection of a dozen skeletons shows by measurements of the thigh bones found that the warriors, including a few women, averaged over six feet and two inches in height...the trochanters forming the attachment of muscles show that they were not only a race of giant stature, but also of more than giant strength.
Artisans and Artifacts of Vanished Races, Theophilus Dickerson, 1915
PECULIAR GRAVEL MOUND IN HENRY COUNTY, INDIANA
This Isolated Monument of Nature at an Early Period Surrounded by Water-Two Roadways. HUMAN SKELETON EIGHT FEET IN HEIGHT UNEARTHED TWELVE FEET BENEATH SURFACE-EIGHTY FOUR IVORY BEADS FOUND IN IVORY SAUCER ON THE BREAST OF GIANT.
A few miles north of Kennerd, in Henry county, Indiana, is a remarkable mound that covers an area of five acres.
Unlike other mounds found in Indiana and other states, it is composed primarily of sand and gravel and covered by a forest of native trees of a century’s growth.
There is not another deposit of sand or gravel in six or eight miles. The surrounding country is plain.
This p[ile of sand and gravel, as stated in above, covers an area of five acres and is of cone shape. When first known by white men it had a well defined ditch around it, and two made roadways, wide enough for a wagon, one from the north and the other from the south.
Farmers and road builders that needed gravel and sand found these glacial screenings to come handy in the building of public highways and for a small price per cubic yard paid to the owner of land found it more convenient than going to Springport or Mount Summit, a distance of eight miles.
After opening this deposit to a depth of 12 feet from the top of mound they unearthed a human skeleton whose framework measured nearly eight feet in height.
His skull would fit over the head of a large man; his jaws being massive and teeth in a perfect state of preservation.
On the breast of this big chief was a saucer-shaped vessel of ivory, about six inches in diameter, containing 84 ivory beads, that must have been made from the tusk of a mastodon.
We tried the persuasion of money on the old farmer in order to secure the ivory specimens, but he was invincible. We had no desire to become the possessor of human bones.
Indianapolis News, November 5, 1921 Portland, Ind., November 5 - with the passing of Twin hills, the object of many sight-seeing trips in Jay County, and which are now being levels for the valuable gravel that they contain many interesting discoveries are being made.
The bones of these skeletons were found recently and those who know something about the human race say that the skulls look as though they might be from an early race of Indians or more remote races that was known to the early settlers.
Indiana Burial Place
It is the opinion of some who have given the subject some study that the Twin Hills, situated just northwest of this city, was the burial place of Chief Godfrey and his Indian followers in this vicinity. In the last few weeks more than twenty-five skeletons have been unearthed. Many of the skeletons have been found buried in sitting postures facing each other, and there is evidence of fire, which many believe indicates this race gave burned offerings to their gods. Charred bones have been found between the graves. It is believed these bones are of animals.
Some are of the opinion that the skeletons are those of the mound builders. The skeletons taken from the hills seem to differ from most of the skeletons that are being found in this part of the country. No ornaments are buried with them, much as been found buried with other skeletons believed to be those of the Indians. In m any other graves have been found stone pipes and tomahawks. Exhibits Skull
O.O. Clayton, city engineer, has been exhibiting a skull in the streets of the city which is of queer shape. The skull was large but not as large as many that have been found in the hills lately, he said. The front part of the head sloped back almost straight. The teeth were in good condition, considering the time they have been buried. Many of the skeletons and bones found now are on display in the office of the county surveyor.
Indianapolis News, July 27, 1922
Edinburg, Johnson County, Indiana "During the flood of 1913, "said Mr. Porter, "the river shot across our farm a distance back into the fields. When the waters subsided, an Indian camping ground was revealed. About twenty old fire beds were found, the potstones, of which were scarcely disturbed. Charcoal between the potstones loaded as if venison might have been served the night before. The fire beds were placed in a semi-ci
rcle about fifty feet from the river bank which gradually sloped toward the water affording a convenient landing for canoes. Each end of the semi-circle or crescent lay almost on the riverbank and in the center of the half circle was the largest of the fire pits--no doubt the tepee of the chief stood there. Back of each wing of the crescent and perhaps fifty feet to the rear were two other fire pits, where evidently the sentinels were posted. A small pit was found some distance away from all the others and close to this small pit were several skeletons. We picked up bits of pottery, arrow heads, an axe or two and a pair of mill stones after the water had gone down."
Previously to the flood of 1913, Mr. Porter constructed a levee along the western edge of the supposed site of the village. In the digging and grading for this levee, ten skeletons were found. A skull of extraordinary dimensions also was found. A small bone about the size of a mans finger protruded from the base of the temporal bone arch about one-half inch from the skull, passed upward and attached itself to the base of the parietal bone. This peculiarly formed skull was sold to R.L. Stewart of Newport, Indiana.
History of Delaware County, Indiana, 1924
Monroe Township In Section 35, Township 19 North, Range 10 East, there are five of these earthen mounds, four of which are on the farm of Isaac Lenox, and lying within an eighty acre tract, The first is situated at the northern extremity of the tract and is divided about equally by the line between his farm and that of Valentine Carmichael. It is about twenty feet above the level of the ground surrounding it, and is quite steep on the sides facing north and northwest.
At a distance of twenty rods from this, and in a direct southwest line, rises another mound, identical in construction with the first, excepting that it presents its steeped declivity on the west side. This mound is fully twenty feet high. Southwest of this, in a direct line, rises another of equal height with the last mentioned and this, also is steepest on the west side. Near the southeast corner of his farm, there is another, and in a direct line with this on the farm belonging to Mrs. Mary J. Clark, is another, all closely resembling each other in construction.
The Nephilim Chronicles: Fallen Angels in the Ohio Valley Page 13
