Unveiling Indiana’s Enigmatic Past: Mysterious Mounds and Lost Civilizations

When we think of large ancient artificial structures, we can’t help but consider the pyramids in Egypt—a line to True North and celestial bodies. The near perfection of their construction is mind-boggling.

Thousands of years after they were built, scientists are still trying to uncover the mysteries of how and why they were built.

But what if I told you that an unknown person possessing the same advanced knowledge of the stars lived in North America? They built their version of pyramids, unusual structures, and large cities with walls up to 25 feet tall. And this was all thousands of years before the Egyptians built a single pyramid. This is the story of Indiana’s mysterious mounds and the people who built them.

When European conquistadors first arrived in North America in the late 1400s, they found curious people living among strange earthworks of different types. Some mounds were simply platforms. High places where the elders, chieftains, and religious leaders lived, such as Oak Mochi National Monument in Georgia. They were high above their subjects’ heads and closer to the heavens.

Some of these mounds, such as the Serpent Mound in Ohio, were built for religious and astronomical purposes. These mounds accurately predicted summer and winter solstices, aiding in planting and harvesting crops. The serpent mound was ingeniously constructed to look like the mouth swallows the sun during sunset on the summer solstice. The earthwork is so large that you can only see the entire thing from an aircraft, drone, or satellite high above the Earth. This has long led to rumors that the mound builders were either aliens or influenced by them. Strangely, it was built on top of where a large meteorite once impacted the Earth.

An ancient earthwork wall three and a half miles long in ancient Lebanon, Ohio, surrounds a prominent hilltop. The wall ranges from five feet up to 25 feet tall. Fort Ancient is the largest prehistoric hilltop enclosure in North America. It’s 270 feet above the Little Miami River, allowing for easy transportation and trade with places far away and providing a clear view of anyone coming or going on the river.

Other mounds were made for burials, such as the one at Miamisburg, Ohio, the most giant known mound in Ohio, standing 65 feet tall. Sometimes, many people were buried beneath the mound, and other times, only a few, signifying the importance of the deceased. These mounds were always positioned near significant waterways.

But there are more giant mounds in North America. In Collinsville, the Monk Mound of Cahokia stands at a staggering 100 feet tall, or ten stories. At 951 feet long and 836 feet wide, it is massive and the most prominent artificial mound north of Mexico. In its time, there were 80 mounds and a thriving city that covered three and a half square miles, more significant than London, England. It was near a major Mississippi River waterway, allowing for travel and commerce down to the Gulf of Mexico.

But by the time the conquistadors arrived in North America, the most common mounds being made were not gigantic like these at all. Instead, they were small burials for individuals, not huge ones that dotted the landscape like high-rise buildings. These were not the same people who had built the enormous original mounds; they had occupied the abandoned cities. In the late 1700s, Indians told Daniel Boone, “Our people did not build them. They belonged to a people whom our forefathers fought and drove from this territory. But once these people came and whether they have gone, we do not know.”

The large mounds have a much more ancient origin. Archaeologists had long suspected North American mounds were ancient, possibly thousands of years old. But after a 2022 study of mounds on the Louisiana State University campus, that estimate was blown off the charts. Radiocarbon dating determined that Mound B was built at least 11,000 years ago. To put this in perspective, it was built 6,500 years before the first Egyptian pyramid and older than Stonehenge in England, whose builders also had an advanced knowledge of astronomy and an equally mysterious past.

Over time, findings from educated research and outright vandalism suggested that these civilizations were much more advanced than earlier. In present-day St. Louis, Missouri, just across the Mississippi River from the Cahokia Mounds, 27 more mounds were discovered. The most prominent French, La Grange Doterra, the Earthen Burn, was positioned above an impressive aircraft, 150 feet wide and 30 feet high. However, all but one of these mounds were destroyed without considering their historical, religious, or cultural significance. The grand mound was entirely gone by 1869, and only one of the 27 survived until the present day. There was no law against anyone with a shovel digging up these mounds to look for souvenirs, and that’s precisely what happened.

What was done here was an offense to the dead and a loss to science. What was found here was very curious. There were items made of seashells from the Gulf of Mexico, 751 miles away, and earrings made of copper that resembled long-nosed gods. These items resembled statues and art from ancient Central and South America. At other sites across America, amateur archaeologists and trained scientists found that these ancient cultures were, in fact, very skilled in working with copper, much like the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas. Many other artifacts also resemble items from those cultures.

Later, archaeologists classified these people by their artifacts and the type of earthworks they made. They were known as the Archaic, Calusa, Edina, Hopewell, and Mississippi cultures. But even after 100 years of modern archaeology, we know very little about these mysterious people, and that’s especially true in the state of Indiana.

In the late 1800s, new roads were built throughout Indiana to promote travel and commerce. Now and then, ancient burial and ceremonial mounds were found in front of the road being built and destroyed in the name of progress. Sometimes, curious artifacts such as arrowheads, ax heads, and even jewelry were discovered, and without any laws against them, workers took these items home as souvenirs. Any bones that were found were crushed and made part of the road. Workers were indiscriminate; when a well-preserved mastodon was found in a bog, they cracked open the bones and whacked their boots with a mallet.

But at some point, it was realized that these ancient items should be investigated scientifically and historically. Indiana State geologist Edward Travers Cox, who went by E.T. Cox, was sent to these places to document and collect unusual specimens. At the time, there was no archaeology department. On many of these investigations, he brought a worthy assistant, Professor William Borden, an expert in geology, fossils, and other antiquities. Mr. Borden would later build his museum, which was revered and visited by scientists worldwide.

In 1878, Edward Cox was sent to study the m

Rounds at Anderson, Indiana, now part of Mounds State Park. He found numerous ancient, unusual earthworks. Some were small mounds of Earth, while others were complex enclosures, either rectangular or circular. But the focal point was a gigantic circular enclosure, now known as the Great Mound. It’s 384 feet wide, around 9 feet tall, and has an entrance about 30 feet wide. It had many secrets that even he didn’t realize.

Later, researchers discovered bevels on the mound. These were aligned to True North, the sunsets on summer and winter solstices, and also showed the spring and fall equinox. The three other mounds also aligned astronomically. Mound B aligned with the rising of the star Fomolo in the fall with mathematical precision. This star is 25 light years from Earth, and although it appears small in the sky, it’s twice the size of our Sun. How these ancient people calculated these celestial events and why they found them significant is a true mystery.

The Adena people built this mound and later occupied it by the Hopewell culture. It’s nearly 2,200 years old. The interior platform is 60 feet across, and we can only imagine the ceremonies that were conducted. While dramatic looking today, it was even more impressive in antiquity before erosion.

To the west of the mound, caverns are found in the bluff above White River. They were rumored to both extend beneath the mounds and hold prehistoric artifacts.

Here’s your text with some proofreading and corrections:

However, in the 1920s, a little girl wandered into the caverns and was lost for hours before she was rescued. The cave openings were filled in to prevent future tragedies. It’s uncertain what happened to the artifacts in the caves or what mysteries are still hidden down there.

This closely resembles how Central American temples were built on top of caverns called cenotes, which were thought to lead to the Underworld, the City of the Dead.

When settlers arrived in the area in the 1800s, Native Americans told them that this was the domain of evil spirits called pukwudgies. These mean-spirited, malevolent beings were somehow connected to the magic of the mounds, similar to trolls in appearance. They had magical powers, could disappear at will, and shot poison arrows from their bows. They were not to be trifled with.

Amazingly, people in recent times claim to have seen these beings in the woods behind the mounds. Supernatural considerations aside, the resemblance to ancient Central American cultures cannot be overlooked. It would be one of many strange things E.T. Cox and William Borden would find in Indiana.

In 1879, the discoveries of E.T. Cox were published in the Geological Survey of Indiana. He provided a detailed description of the Anderson mounds, including one flattened for a county road. But he also provided something even more fascinating: maps of lost ancient cities inside Indiana.

At Winchester, Indiana, between the White River and Sugar Creek, the walls of an ancient fort were 1,000 feet wide and 1,320 feet long. Inside its boundaries were 31 acres and a prominent mound in the center, 100 feet wide and 9 feet tall.

He described numerous mounds and strange earthworks in Harrisburg, northwest of Lawrenceburg. Upon a hill 200 feet high, there was a large circle, much like the one at Anderson, and an enclosure with walls made of stone averaging 4 feet tall. It enclosed an area of 12 acres.

Out of all these findings, the most mysterious was a place now known as Rose Island, located in Charlestown, Indiana. E.T. Cox and William Borden followed up on what pioneers called a castle. It had walls up to 75 feet tall. There were even stories of ancient skeletons found with copper breastplates. They found artificial artificial walls at Rose Island to the south and north of the peninsula.

Typical with most mound builders, the fortification was placed at a high location between two bodies of water, 14 Mile Creek and the Ohio River, known as The Devil’s Backbone, with a rocky outcrop above. However, nearly all the fortification stones were used to build houses and businesses, and the rest of the earthworks were leveled to build an amusement park in the early 1920s. But after the great flood of 1937, even the amusement park was turned into a ghost town, and whatever trace was left of an ancient people completely vanished.

But it was not the end of the mound builder story. It would take a bizarre turn. Along the Ohio River in Clarksville, 50 skeletons were found. They were buried in stone tombs, sitting upright and facing the rising Sun to the east. Each was no less than six and a half feet tall, with some rumored to be clear giants of immense size. However, when exposed to air, these ancient skeletons disintegrated into dust.

Just across the river in Louisville, Kentucky, there was a complex of mounds. On top of one, the Grayson House was built. When the foundation was dug, a skeleton of immense size was found, rumored to be at least nine feet tall, but it also disintegrated when exposed to air. The speculation that some, if not all, of the mound builders were a race of giants was backed up by other skeletons that did not disintegrate.

State geologist John Collette was a fascinating figure in early Indiana archaeology and undoubtedly furthered the idea that the mound builders were giants. In 1870, he was called to a farm in Lawrence County to investigate the remains of a large mound known as the Dodd Mound. It was high above the White River in the deserted town of Old Palestine. In 1825, pioneers had deserted the town, believing it was cursed, as a large number of people had died after digging up ancient bones on the hilltop. Before that, it was once considered the capital city of Indiana.

Like the other prominent mounds, it had a commanding view of the waterway and easy access to travel. Professor Collette found a mound covered in stone, 20 feet in diameter, with stone axes and pottery found near the surface. Below that, he found a vaulted burial chamber of three levels separated by large, flat stones. On the top level were skeletons of women and children, on the next level were men, and on the third level were two skeletons, both over six and a half feet tall. The enormous skeleton, possibly the leader, possessed copper earrings and a war whistle. These skeletons did not disintegrate.

Here’s your text with some proofreading and corrections:

And they, along with the other artifacts, were sent to the State Museum, which was housed in the Indiana State Capitol building at the time.

In 1875, Professor Colette visited Elkinsville, Indiana, to investigate a prehistoric site called Browning Mountain. Pioneers in the early 1800s had described a stone wall about four feet high that ran a long distance along the hilltop as if it were an ancient city. By the time Professor Colette surveyed the site, the rock wall had been dismantled for building homes, but he did find what resembled ruins from an ancient culture. In his report, he described the site as “grand cubes three by 4 feet” and “pillars three by four by 20 feet long, ready squared and dressed as from a giant’s workshop,” scattered along the crest of the hill. Whether he intended to suggest that giants had built a fortification or used the term poetically was still being determined. Whatever the case, it promoted the idea that the ancient people building mounds and stone structures in Indiana were giants, and the supporting evidence kept coming.

Newcastle, Indiana, 1863, Henry County: A gigantic mound covering five acres was destroyed while a road was constructed eight miles southwest of town. A giant skeleton nearly eight feet tall was found twelve feet below the surface. It had a six-inch breastplate made of Mastodon ivory and 84 ivory beads. The skull was said to have horns one and a half inches tall and protruding upward just behind the ear area.

Kaneki, Indiana, 1872, on the farm of William Flanagan, where the Little Kaneki and Kaneki rivers meet, was a mound between the two. Three skeletons were found facing the northeast, including a female and two men. One skeleton was described as much more significant than modern men, but no specific size was given.

Brownsville, Indiana, 1879, on the Robinson Farm: Indiana State geologists excavated a large mound, 71 feet in diameter and 5 feet tall. It had once been 30 feet tall before the stone was removed for building purposes. Beneath the mound was a skeleton nine feet eight inches tall, wearing a mica necklace. Unlike the other finds, the state geologist did not take this skeleton; instead, it was kept at Keller Gristmill as a curiosity. When people came by the mill, they could view the bones of a giant, which was a unique novelty for the small town. However, in 1937, the mill was destroyed when Sand Creek flooded with water, and the giant ancient bones in a basket vanished into the floodwaters. All that’s left are the ruins of a mill and local memories of a gigantic skeleton. One that either dissolved in the raging waters a long time ago or floated somewhere far away, never to be found again, perhaps at the bottom of a river.

But that’s not the only story about the Brewersville giant skeleton. George Robinson, just a boy in 1879, said that the bones were kept at the family home, and as visitors dropped by, they would take large bones as souvenirs until only a few were left.

Muncie, Indiana, 1881: A man was uncovered, and many artifacts and skeletons were discovered. The largest, considered the leader, had a thigh bone about three inches longer than a modern 6-foot man, making the skeleton an estimated six and a half to seven feet tall.

LaGrange, Indiana, 1882, on the farm of Solomon Hedrick: From a mound 30 feet tall and covering four acres, a skeleton of about eight feet tall was recovered, along with various artifacts, including ivory beads and a shield made of bone.

Portland, Indiana, 1885: Giant ancient skeletons were removed during a gravel excavation. They had unusual sloping skulls, which were displayed at the county surveyor’s office for a time.

Here’s your text with some proofreading and corrections:

Shelbyville, Indiana, 1885: At a gravel pit on Franklin Boots’ Farm, George Arnold’s farmhand uncovered a gigantic skeleton in a sitting position facing the east. Upon examination by local authorities, they estimated the skeleton to be at least nine feet tall. Based on the wear of the teeth, it was determined that the man was at least 100 years old or older when he died.

Crawfordsville, Indiana, 1892: In a gravel pit near Hayabus Sugar Creek, 25 giant skeletons were found, with the last one recovered being at least seven feet tall.

Anderson, Indiana, 1892: Numerous giant skeletons were found at Mound State Park. The skulls were not only massive but also possessed a fifth cranial bone. Unfortunately, the skeletons disintegrated shortly after exposure to the air.

Shelbyville, Indiana, 1893: On the West Bank of the Big Blue River, a mound 75 feet tall, known locally as Hogback Hill, produced numerous skeletons and artifacts near the surface. However, 12 feet under the summit, a gigantic skeleton about eight to nine feet tall was found, with its head facing east.

But 1925 in Walkerton, Indiana, a genuinely unusual ancient burial was found. Below a mound, eight giant skeletons about eight to nine feet tall were discovered, with their bodies arranged like spokes of a wheel. All of them possessed substantial copper armor. The most enormous skeletons still had a flint arrowhead embedded in his skull. This was the find of the century.

With all these fantastic giant skeletons found in both Indiana and across the United States that did not disintegrate, the proof should speak for itself. There should be no doubt that giants lived in North America and built gigantic mounds and stone fortifications.

But that’s different from how it ended up. Impressive giant skeletons and artifacts once in private hands disappeared. Skeletons are sent to state museums; even the Smithsonian must be registered in their catalogs. They should be there even if they were considered hoaxes or had exaggerated sizes to sell newspapers. But they are gone.

This has led many to speculate that the leadership at the Smithsonian and other institutions deliberately wanted to suppress this information. Perhaps our government is involved in a massive cover-up. But why?

Giants have been recorded throughout written history, such as the biblical story of David facing a giant Philistine soldier with only a slingshot. Beyond that, we have actual photographs, eyewitnesses, and documentation of modern giants.

Due to a defect in his pituitary gland, Robert Wadlow grew to 8 feet 11.1 inches, making him the tallest man ever verified.

A woman named Sandy Allen lived in Shelbyville, Indiana, the same area known for numerous giant skeletons. She also had a defect in her pituitary gland and grew to seven feet seven inches tall. If she hadn’t received medical treatment to stop her growth, she would have grown even taller. Many NBA players in the past and present have been over seven feet tall, with Yao Ming being seven feet six inches tall. Giants live among us today.

So, why would museums or our government want to cover up what we already know? According to some, there’s a darker, scarier explanation. In the Bible, in the sixth chapter of Genesis, the fourth verse says, “There were giants in the Earth in those days. And after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men and bore children to them, they became mighty men of old renown.” In other words, angels married human females, resulting in babies that grew into giants known as the Nephilim.

Then came the story of Noah’s Ark and a gigantic flood that killed everyone except for Noah’s family and the animals taken on the boat. This would suggest that all these giants died. Or did they? Many other cultures had stories of the same flood, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, with some professing that giant men escaped on boats.

Later in the Bible, Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt through the Red Sea, and they wandered through the desert. Eventually, they come upon a city with massive walls. The Book of Numbers, the 13th chapter, verse 33, says, “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants, and we were in our sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” Again, there’s a parallel in Sumerian, Assyrian, and Babylonian stories. The giants are called Anunnaki, which sounds very similar to the sons of Anak mentioned in the Bible. When completely different cultures tell very similar stories, there’s often at least a grain of truth to be found.

But, so what? There were giants in ancient times, and giants live among us today. What’s the big deal about that? Some people theorize that the giants of ancient times were aliens. That’s how they possessed the incredible knowledge to build the giant pyramids, mounds, and other unique structures of antiquity with such precision, including building details that can only be seen from high up in the sky. As the theory goes, they aligned these monuments to the stars because that’s where they came from. If that’s true, governments wouldn’t want people alarmed that giant aliens not only existed in the past but might be coming back.

But maybe we need to include something.

Here’s your text with some proofreading and corrections:

In Evansville, Indiana, lies the Angel Mounds Plateau, one of the nation’s most well-preserved and studied mound complexes. This is primarily thanks to the efforts of archaeologists Glenn Albert Black and his wife, Ida Mae.

They arrived here in 1939 and, over the next 25 years, meticulously surveyed every corner of the 450-acre grounds with the help of 250 workers. They conducted an enormous excavation totaling 120,000 square feet by 1942—equivalent to two football fields.

With unlimited financial support from Colonel Eli Lilly, founder of Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals, Glenn and Ida could study and compare these artifacts to others throughout the state without any time constraints. Over 2.3 million artifacts were discovered at the Angel Mound site, providing a much better understanding of these ancient, forgotten people.

These ancient inhabitants were experts in weaving and creating pottery, art, jewelry, and even musical instruments. Exiting from the back of the interpretive center, visitors can walk where these ancient people once walked and feel a profound sense of history.

On the grounds, you’ll find 11 mounds in total, ranging from rounded to irregular platforms. Glenn Black also uncovered remnants of a massive wall encircling the entire city. These walls stood 12 feet tall and several feet thick. The one you see here is a reproduction.

The question arises: Why build such a tall wall? Were the people who lived here giants, or were they concerned about potential threats from more extensive outsiders? The fact is, none of the skeletons found here were giants. It’s possible that taller individuals held leadership positions, but there’s no solid evidence that giants made up a significant portion of the population.

In cases where giant skeletons were found, they were often accompanied by many smaller ones. Additionally, amateur archaeologists may have overestimated the size of a skeleton without flesh and blood to provide context. It’s also worth noting that early newspapers often exaggerated stories to boost sales, so calling the size of a skeleton a “giant” would undoubtedly attract attention. Many duplicate reports of skeleton excavations described them as seven to nine-foot giants or didn’t mention their height.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, the true giant at Angel Mounds was Glenn Black himself. He dedicated 25 years of his life to understanding these ancient people. Glenn passed away in 1964, suffering a heart attack while still excavating at Angel Mounds. His immense work and dedication dispelled many myths while leaving numerous unanswered questions.

Once you’ve seen a mound in Indiana or elsewhere, you wonder if you’ve overlooked others. A hill may not be just a hill but a very ancient place. Indiana’s vast forests, covering most of southern Indiana, could hide ancient mounds mistaken for natural hills. Fields with a small hill in the middle, standing there alone, make you wonder if they’ve tilled around an ancient mound for generations, and often, that has been the case.

There are over 2,100 mounds in Indiana, with likely many more that have never been recorded. The mound at Evansville may look like just another hill, but so did the Pyramid of the Sun in Mexico until it was excavated. The El Castillo Temple, also in Mexico, was so overgrown that it was unrecognizable before excavation. In Indiana, many more ancient, exotic discoveries could be hiding in plain sight, waiting to be found.

For decades, kids in Indiana have ridden their sleds down Sugarloaf Mound every winter, unaware that hundreds of people lay buried below them. As much as we’ve studied and continue researching, we may only know some things about the mound builders. But perhaps that’s part of the appeal: lost tombs, giant skeletons, and advanced ancient civilizations—all very captivating. Wherever there’s a gap in our understanding, our imagination fills the void, and that sense of wonder mixed with question marks makes the journey worthwhile.