The UnXplained: top 5 shocking mysteries of 2023 | Part 1

Lovelock Nevada, 1911

Inside a narrow cave, two miners
are searching for bat guano.

a key ingredient in making fertilizer.

But as they head deeper into the darkness,
they make an unexpected discovery.

They find more than 40 human skeletons,

some of which are abnormally large.

In 1911 giant bones
were found in Lovelock cave.

Large human skulls and skeletons

that measured
between 7 and 8 feet in height

which for ancient man
would have been rather significant.

This caused a sensation

and one of the strange things
about the discoveries in Lovelock cave

is that the skeletons
were often found with red hair

and so it does seem like there are
a different kind of people

than the Native Americans from the area

although many of the large bones
found in Lovelock cave

were unfortunately
lost a time for decades.

A number of skulls were preserved
at a local museum.

Until about 10 years ago,

there were four very large skulls
on display inside the museum

and these were then removed
and ceremonially buried

Was also so interesting

is that over 100,000 artifacts
were excavated from Lovelock cave.

The strange thing is that
many of the artifacts were huge

like you have giant sized sandals

like a 15 inch long shoe
which is size 29 US

which would fit someone
who's about 9 feet tall.

And even pieces of clothing
which was so big,

looked as though they were worn by giants.

The idea that giant bones
were actually found in a cave in Nevada

may sound far-fetched to some

but the truth is that there were
many such discoveries reported

during the wild west.

Even in the southwestern United States,

there's several
very strange stories of these,

dead corpses or skeletons
being found regularly

in terms of the reports of giants.

This is a compelling motif.

People were fascinated
by the idea of a giant race

that had lived here previously

and this connects
to a lot of biblical belief

that tended to be fairly literal back
in the day

and the Bible talks about back
when there was a race of giants

when there was a race of giants
that lived on the Earth

and so for many people in the wild west

when you see some skeletons
dug out of the earth

that seem to corroborate this.

This was an affirmation
of literal biblical beliefs as well

Is it really possible that a race
of giants once inhabited the old West?

As the numerous discoveries
reported throughout the 1800s suggest

and if so?

Was evidence of these giants
recovered in Lovelock cave?

Perhaps a clue can be found

by examining the history
of the indigenous Piute people

who have inhabited
the Nevada desert for centuries .

A woman named Sarah Winnemucca
who was a descendant of chief Winnemucca,

the Piutes, wrote a book in the 1800s

and recounted her people's battle.

with this race of giants

Now, what's fascinating about this

is that she says
that it was an actual battle

not part of tribal lore or mythology

but something that actually occurred.

The ??? were red-haired and lived
in the mountains near the Piute nation

and they were cannibals.

According to the Piutes,
they naturally grew tired

of being cannibalized

and they confronted these giants.

A war was started between the giants
and the Piute people, for three years.

They battled one another.

The last of the giants
holded themselves up

in the Lovelock cave

and the Piute people stuff the openings
with a bunch of of brush and firewood

and lit the place on fire

and that was the end
of the redhaired giant cannibals.

What's also interesting is that

when the discovery was made
in 1911 at Lovelock cave

they also found evidence
of extreme burning

which took place near
the entrance to the cave

So, this matches the story
almost precisely

and again have evidence of red hair

because Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins

actually saved some of the hair
and sewed it into a morning dress

which she used when she gave lectures

and so the story of the Piutes
defeating the giants.

then suddenly became a reality.

For many the evidence in support
of the Piute story

about the redheaded giants
is compelling

not only because
of what was found in Lovelock cave

but also because there have been
reports of giant bones

being discovered in other places

throughout the Western Nevada desert.

If you go back
and look through the records

you can find numerous accounts of bones,
skeletons and giant sized artifacts

that been found in this area.

In 1904 it was reported
that an 11 feet tall skeleton was found

and then we have accounts in 1931
of an 8 and 1/2 feet skeleton

that was reported and so the fact is
you have the stories,

you have the skeletal evidence

and you have the artifacts

And even the legends that proved

this was a real story of giants
in this area.

To be sure the Piutes believe this to be
a historical truth.

People might dismiss him as just folklore

but again who's to say
that it didn't happen?

Of course, there were ethnic conflicts,
of course there were wars

and of course people
tend to remember this.

So, this has been a real important part
of many people's historical beliefs

and how they think
about their own history.

Mecca, it is home to one of the world's
largest religious structures,

the Grand Mosque.

In the center courtyard
of this immense edifice

stands a 43 foot tall granite Cube

known as the Caaba, the house of God.

Five times a day, every day,

almost 2 billion Muslims across the world

will turn and prey towards
this striking black monument,

the holiest and most sacred site
in all of Islam.

Why? Because embedded
in the Eastern corner of the shrine

is perhaps the most sacred stone
in all the world,

the black stone of Mecca for the world's 1.8 billion Muslims this stone is crucial when
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Muslims face in the direction of Mecca they face in the direction of that
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stone this object as simple as it might be is of incredible significance to the
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Muslim faith because it is said to have fallen from
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Heaven at the commands of Allah at the time of Adam and Eve and it was was said
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to have marked the position of the first temple which obviously becomes Mecca
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itself then the story is that that stone gets lost during the flood because Muslims have the same flood story that
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Jews do from the Hebrew Bible then that stone for Muslims is rediscovered by Abraham so Abraham with his son Ishmael
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build in Mecca the first place of prayer that's why Mecca is important to Muslims
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because this is the first place of prayer to the one God over time it gets
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worn away the building gets rebuilt in 605 the prophet Muhammad himself is the
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one that places that stone in its place that's part of what gives it
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power each year millions of Muslims make a pilgrimage or Hajj to the
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Caba once there visitors take part in a series of rituals called tawa which