Near the Arizona border, the lands of Sonora, Mexico provide plenty of ancient giant mysteries from history to chew on. In 1930, The New York Times reports:
Tuscon, Ariz., Dec. 1 (AP)- Discovery of apparent remains of a race of Giants has been made at Sayopa, Sonara, a mining town 300 miles south of the Mexican border. J.E. Coker, a mining engineer, reports that laborers clearing ranch land near the Yaqui River dug into an old cemetery where bodies of men, averaging eight feet in height, were buried tier on tier. The heads of the skeletons, Coker said, were especially large. Carved native stone bracelets were found on the bones. Beside the bodies, the crudest kind of stone weapons and implements were buried. After the first skeleton was unearthed owners of the ranch redoubled efforts to excavate in the cemetery.
No follow ups exist for either of the above stories, as it would be curious to learn what happened to the giant 15 feet tall bones that we assume ended up at the National Museum of Mexico. Once again the verifiable mind blowing physical evidence alludes us. Evidence like the ancient giant robes and blonde haired skulls discovered by the explorer Paxson Hayes in northern Mexico’s Copper Canyon. This amazing story is almost too good to be true, but it does fit into the proper locations (caves) and overall strangeness associated with the lost race of giants. The odd thing in Paxson’s case is the fact that the hair discovered on the giant skulls were blonde instead of red. From the San Jose News in 1935:
There were blond giants yesterday in this land of Mahanna. Paxson C. Hayes, an explorer, has dug up a prehistoric civilization in the Northern Mexico area of Barranca de Cobre, which appears to prove ancient legends of huge blond Mexican Giants. “The ancient buildings in the cave,” Hayes said, “were constructed of a cement-like masonry mixed with bamboo the huts looked much like mosques.” Explorer Hayes’ guide, Rafel Garcia, led the way, some 90 miles into the mountains from Alamos, Senora. About his startling discovery Hayes said: “Every basket we found contained a body wrapped like a silkworm. There were 34, of which two were women. Nine were mummified and the remainder were skeletons.” When the bones of the mummies were laid out properly the various bodies measured from 7 feet six inches in most cases up to the largest skeleton which a full eight feet! Herpetology – the study of snakes – lead Explorer Hayes to the Yaqui region in Barranen de Cobre. He had been engaged in snake research when he first heard the Indian tale about the Lost City of Blonde Giants in Senora.
Having great faith in the Yaqui Indians and in their strange and little known tribal history. Hayes decided to run down the tale of the centuries-buried giants. “We dug down to volcanic ash.” Hayes said. “Below that were the burial baskets, made of mats woven from fiber and bound with twisted yucca rope.” Hayes said he found his huge mummy at the 7000-foot height. The question is, how did these huge Mongoloid people get into Mexico? The greatest mystery of Hayes’ find, and perhaps the key that one day may solve this riddle of the Mongoloid past, were the saffron colored burial robes found on the giants. There may be a great historical tale behind the powder-blue designs of latch hooks and pyramids that embellish the robes. Hayes thinks that the tiny series of white dots that recur throughout the robes are symbols of the ancient Indian time cycle, and, working on that theory points out that if this be true . . . The white dots add up to 25,000 years. He took the burial robes to the chiefs of the Seri Indians on Tiburon Island off the Mexican west coast. They were as puzzled as Hayes. This possible lost world in northern Mexico may prove to be one of the most provocative pages in the history of our North American Continent, if Hayes theories are correct.
How incredible was that story? Paxson Hayes even brought his finds to the Seri Indians who we’ve shown to be related in some way to the ancient giants and they didn’t even know what they hell they were looking at! More follow ups were made into the Hayes discovery and even a few photos were published of the giant skull and the robe:
Paxson Hayes, explorer, studies the head of a giant mummy discovered by him in a deep cave hitherto unexplored regions of Sonora, Mexico. The mummified remains were of a race 7 1/2 feet tall and preserved in excellent condition. Corn found with the mummies has been given to scientists.
A year later Hayes took his discoveries on the road with him where he impressed folks all the across the USA up until his arrival at the Smithsonian institution. Which is the last place Hayes should have went with his ancient giant memorabilia. The July 22, 1937 edition of the Washington Post reports that:
A year later Hayes took his discoveries on the road with him where he impressed folks all the across the USA up until his arrival at the Smithsonian institution. Which is the last place Hayes should have went with his ancient giant memorabilia. The July 22, 1937 edition of the Washington Post reports that:
With several dozen snakes (all alive), and the burial robe of a prehistoric giant (quite dead), packed in their trailer, they stopped in Washington yesterday to promote interest in their unique fields of activity. Herpetologically speaking, their purpose in coming here from California was to present President Roosevelt with 15 Smoki snakes, 10 California and Mexican rattlers and an 8-foot baby Mexican boa constrictor, which was shedding. Marvin C. McIntyre received them at the White House, expressed gratitude and suggested the reptile house at the zoo as perhaps the best place for the snakes. Dr. Ernest P. Walker, assistant director of the Zoo, officially welcomed the snakes to their new home. That over, the visitors then dropped in at the Smithsonian Institution with the prehistoric burial robe and a four-legged stool, both of which they unearthed in a burial cave in northern Sonora, Mexico. The Californians explained that the cave, one of 18 they had discovered, contains well preserved mummies of a race which averaged over 6 1/2 feet in height (up to 8 feet tall). The caves are scattered over an area of 450 square miles. Hayes who has just returned from his fifth expedition to the caves heard about their existence from the Yaqui Indians of Mexico.
The Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution confirms that Hayes met with Smithsonian officials and gave them the burial robe from a lost race of giants. Which as usual became another thing associated with giants that also ended up lost after a visit to Washington. Hayes also claimed to have found more giant skeletons in New Mexico, although these giants were much different looking and considered by Hayes to be mongoloids with slanted eyes. However, unlike the Copper Canyon discoveries Hayes chose not to provide evidence of his findings, perhaps bitter by the fact that the Smithsonian hadn’t been returning his calls. So here we have a rediscovered fabled lost city, a giant mummified head, and a burial robe of a giant, all three with accompanying photographs published in the most prestigious newspapers of the time, yet nearly twenty years after his initial discovery Hayes still couldn’t get a proper scientific investigation to validate his claims. More than sixty years later, Hayes, his findings and his mysterious legacy have all but vanished without a trace.
Back in central Mexico 8 foot giant Indian skeletons were still being unearthed and reported on by the New York Times like in this article from 1925:
Cave in Mexico Gives Up the Bones of an Ancient Race.
BOSTON, May 3 – Charles C. Clapp, who has recently returned from Mexico, where he has been in charge of Thomas W. Lawson’s mining interests, has called the attention of professor Agasaiz to a remarkable discovery made by him. He found in Mexico a cave containing some 200 skeletons of men each above eight feet in height. The cave was evidently a burial place of a race of giants who antedated the Aztecs. Mr. Clapp arranged the bones of one of the skeletons and found the total length to be 8 feet 11 inches. The femur reached up to his thigh, and molars were big enough to crack a cocoanut. The head measured eighteen inches from front to back.
