By 2004 the “discovery” was being blogged and emailed all over the world-“Giant Skeleton Unearthed!”-and it’s been enjoying a revival in 2007. The photo fakery might be obvious to most people. But the tall tale refuses to lie down even five years later, if a continuing flow of emails to National Geographic News are any indication. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)
The meѕѕageѕ сome from аround the globe—Portugal, Indіa, El Sаlvаdor, Mаlаysiа, Afrіca, the Domіnіcan Reрublic, Greeсe, Egyрt, South Afrіca, Kenyа. But they аll аsk the ѕame queѕtion: Iѕ іt true?Helрing to fuel the ѕtory’ѕ reсent reѕurgence аre а ѕmattering of medіа outletѕ thаt hаve reрorted the fіnd аs fаct.An often сited Mаrch 2007 аrticle іn Indіa’s Hіndu Voіce monthly, for exаmple, сɩаіmed thаt а Nаtionаl Geogrаphic Soсiety teаm, іn сollaboration wіth the Indіan агmу, hаd dug uр а gіant humаn ѕkeleton іn India.“Recent exрloration аctivity іn the northern regіon of Indіa unсovered а ѕkeɩetаɩ remаins of а humаn of рhenomenal ѕize,” the reрort reаd.
The story went on to say the discovery was made by a “National Geographic Team (India Division) with support from the Indian army since the area comes under jurisdiction of the army.” The account added that the team also found tablets with inscriptions that suggest the giant belonged to a race of superhumans that are mentioned in the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic poem from about 200 B.C. “They were very tall, big and very powerful, such that they could put their arms around a tree trunk and uproot it,” the report said, repeating claims that initially appeared in 2004. Voice editor P. Deivamuthu admitted to National Geographic News that his publication was taken in by the fake reports. The monthly, which is based in Mumbai (Bombay), published a retraction after readers alerted Deivamuthu to the hoay he said
“We are against spreading lies and canards,” Deivamuthu added. “Moreover, our readers are a highly intellectual class and will not brook any nonsense.” Other blog entries such as a May 2007 posting on a site called Srini’s Weblog-cite a report supposedly published in the Times of India on April 22, 2004. But a search of that newspaper’s archive revealed no such article. Variations of the giant photo hoax include aueged discovery of a 60-to 80-foot long (18-to 24-meter) human skeleton in Saudi Arabia.
In one popular take, which likewise first surfaced in 2004, an oil-exploration team is said to have made the find. Here the skeleton is held up as evidence of giants mentioned in Islamic, rather than Hindu, scriptures. Web sites dedicated to debunking urban legends and “netlore” picked up on the various giant hoaxes soon after they first appeared.California-based Snopes.com, for example, noted that the skeleton image had been lifted from Worth1000, which hosts photo-manipulation competitions.
