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Lovelock Nevada, 1911
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Inside a narrow cave, two miners
are searching for bat guano.
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a key ingredient in making fertilizer.
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But as they head deeper into the darkness,
they make an unexpected discovery.
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They find more than 40 human skeletons,
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some of which are abnormally large.
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In 1911 giant bones
were found in Lovelock cave.
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Large human skulls and skeletons
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that measured
between 7 and 8 feet in height
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which for ancient man
would have been rather significant.
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This caused a sensation
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and one of the strange things
about the discoveries in Lovelock cave
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is that the skeletons
were often found with red hair
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and so it does seem like there are
a different kind of people
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than the Native Americans from the area
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although many of the large bones
found in Lovelock cave
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were unfortunately
lost a time for decades.
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A number of skulls were preserved
at a local museum.
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Until about 10 years ago,
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there were four very large skulls
on display inside the museum
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and these were then removed
and ceremonially buried
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Was also so interesting
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is that over 100,000 artifacts
were excavated from Lovelock cave.
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The strange thing is that
many of the artifacts were huge
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like you have giant sized sandals
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like a 15 inch long shoe
which is size 29 US
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which would fit someone
who's about 9 feet tall.
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And even pieces of clothing
which was so big,
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looked as though they were worn by giants.
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The idea that giant bones
were actually found in a cave in Nevada
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may sound far-fetched to some
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but the truth is that there were
many such discoveries reported
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during the wild west.
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Even in the southwestern United States,
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there's several
very strange stories of these,
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dead corpses or skeletons
being found regularly
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in terms of the reports of giants.
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This is a compelling motif.
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People were fascinated
by the idea of a giant race
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that had lived here previously
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and this connects
to a lot of biblical belief
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that tended to be fairly literal back
in the day
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and the Bible talks about back
when there was a race of giants
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when there was a race of giants
that lived on the Earth
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and so for many people in the wild west
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when you see some skeletons
dug out of the earth
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that seem to corroborate this.
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This was an affirmation
of literal biblical beliefs as well
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Is it really possible that a race
of giants once inhabited the old West?
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As the numerous discoveries
reported throughout the 1800s suggest
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and if so?
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Was evidence of these giants
recovered in Lovelock cave?
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Perhaps a clue can be found
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by examining the history
of the indigenous Piute people
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who have inhabited
the Nevada desert for centuries .
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A woman named Sarah Winnemucca
who was a descendant of chief Winnemucca,
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the Piutes, wrote a book in the 1800s
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and recounted her people's battle.
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with this race of giants
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Now, what's fascinating about this
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is that she says
that it was an actual battle
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not part of tribal lore or mythology
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but something that actually occurred.
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The ??? were red-haired and lived
in the mountains near the Piute nation
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and they were cannibals.
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According to the Piutes,
they naturally grew tired
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of being cannibalized
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and they confronted these giants.
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A war was started between the giants
and the Piute people, for three years.
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They battled one another.
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The last of the giants
holded themselves up
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in the Lovelock cave
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and the Piute people stuff the openings
with a bunch of of brush and firewood
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and lit the place on fire
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and that was the end
of the redhaired giant cannibals.
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What's also interesting is that
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when the discovery was made
in 1911 at Lovelock cave
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they also found evidence
of extreme burning
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which took place near
the entrance to the cave
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So, this matches the story
almost precisely
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and again have evidence of red hair
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because Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins
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actually saved some of the hair
and sewed it into a morning dress
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which she used when she gave lectures
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and so the story of the Piutes
defeating the giants.
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then suddenly became a reality.
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For many the evidence in support
of the Piute story
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about the redheaded giants
is compelling
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not only because
of what was found in Lovelock cave
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but also because there have been
reports of giant bones
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being discovered in other places
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throughout the Western Nevada desert.
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If you go back
and look through the records
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you can find numerous accounts of bones,
skeletons and giant sized artifacts
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that been found in this area.
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In 1904 it was reported
that an 11 feet tall skeleton was found
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and then we have accounts in 1931
of an 8 and 1/2 feet skeleton
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that was reported and so the fact is
you have the stories,
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you have the skeletal evidence
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and you have the artifacts
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And even the legends that proved
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this was a real story of giants
in this area.
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To be sure the Piutes believe this to be
a historical truth.
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People might dismiss him as just folklore
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but again who's to say
that it didn't happen?
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Of course, there were ethnic conflicts,
of course there were wars
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and of course people
tend to remember this.
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So, this has been a real important part
of many people's historical beliefs
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and how they think
about their own history.
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Mecca, it is home to one of the world's
largest religious structures,
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the Grand Mosque.
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In the center courtyard
of this immense edifice
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stands a 43 foot tall granite Cube
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known as the Caaba, the house of God.
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Five times a day, every day,
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almost 2 billion Muslims across the world
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will turn and prey towards
this striking black monument,
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the holiest and most sacred site
in all of Islam.
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Why? Because embedded
in the Eastern corner of the shrine
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is perhaps the most sacred stone
in all the world,
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the Black Stone of Mecca.
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For the world's 1.8 billion Muslims,
this stone is crucial.
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When Muslims face
in the direction of Mecca,
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they face in the direction of that stone.
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This object, as simple as it might be,
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is of incredible significance
to the Muslim faith
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because it is said to have fallen
from Heaven
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at the commands of Allah
at the time of Adam and Eve
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and it was was said to have marked
the position of the first temple
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which obviously becomes Mecca itself.
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Then the story is that
that stone gets lost during the flood
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because Muslims have the same flood story
that Jews do from the Hebrew Bible.
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Then that stone for Muslims
is rediscovered by Abraham,
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so Abraham with his son Ishmael
build in Mecca the first place of prayer.
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That's why Mecca is important to Muslims,
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because this is the first place of prayer
to the one God.
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Over time it gets worn away,
the building gets rebuilt.
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In 605 the prophet Muhammad himself
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is the one that places
that stone in its place.
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That's part of what gives it power.
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Each year millions of Muslims
make a pilgrimage or Hajj to the Kaaba.
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Once there, visitors take part
in a series of rituals called Tawaf
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which includes circling
the Kaaba seven times
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in the belief that it will bring about
true humility
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by linking them with God.
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The Black Stone is therefore
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one of the focal points
of the Hajj ceremony
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that every Muslim certainly
tries to achieve during their lifetime
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and they will then enter
the Central Court of Mecca
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and, if possible,
try to kiss the Black Stone
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in emulation of Muhammad
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who was said to have set it up
in this position in the year 605 AD.
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Certainly the stories
that have been built around it
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really pull people in
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and some people suggested that maybe
it's something in the stone itself
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that pulls people in.
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The stone itself pulling people in?
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But how for the millions,
if not billions, of Muslims,
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who have made their pilgrimage
to the Kaaba?
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There's no doubt that the Black Stone
has an inexorable power
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that seems to draw them into its orbit
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and, according to some experts,
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that's because the Black Stone
is not of this world.
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Muslims believe that
this was sent down by God to Earth.
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If we're scientific
we may call that a meteorite.
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If we're not scientific,
we may call that miraculous.
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Here's this stone that comes
from the heavens.
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When a meteorite hits the Earth
and somebody witness it to fall
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and they were to go to that location,
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there's a variety of things
that they might be able to find.
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If the stone falls in a sandy area,
for example,
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there might be a lot of heat
associated with the meteorite as it falls
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and that could cause a fusion of the sand
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to cause some kind of glass to form.
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And so, when you walk up onto it
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you might find
some interesting new features
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that you probably wouldn't have seen
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in that particular part
of the of the world before.
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Meteorites arrive from outer space
being exposed to cosmic rays.
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They're slightly radioactive to people
not exposed to electromagnetic radiation.
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They would might have been able
to even feel that buzz from this rock,
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from the radiation,
beta particles especially.
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Whether you believe
it was sent by God
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or whether you believe
it was a random act,
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it has literally extraterrestrial origins
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and so that creates a real power there.
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Could the Black Stone of Mecca
really have the power
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to physically affect people
who come near it?
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Now, the truth is
we may never know for sure
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because no one has ever been officially
allowed to inspect or analyze it.
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So, there are a lot of exciting
and interesting questions
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about the Black Stone.
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I think the first initial one is
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Is it actually a meteorite?
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A lot of people propose that
and there's some evidence,
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particularly from a local impact trader,
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that it came from there
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and is there some sort of radiation energy
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that it emits or is coming from it
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that we just don't understand yet.
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So, it would be really amazing
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to have the opportunity
to analyze the Black Stone
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There are obviously challenges,
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both sort of social as well as scientific.
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It's in the Muslim world,
it's in a very sacred place.
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It's a very sacred stone.
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So, bringing in scientists
and doing careful analyses
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have those social challenges
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and would be difficult.
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Tombstone, Arizona.
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The spirit of the Wild West
is alive and well in this small town
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where a saloon doors still swing open
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and horses pull stage coaches
along main street.
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Founded in the late 1800s
Tombstone embraces its history
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when outlaws, gunslingers
and violent shootouts were all too common.
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Tombstone was a silver broom town...
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but what makes Tombstone so legendary
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was well mostly
the Gunfight of the O.K. Corral.
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That was between the Earps, the Clantons,
and McLauries and Billy Claiborne.
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Also Doc Holliday
was involved in that gunfight.
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Now, the gunfight was actually
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in the alleyway leading
into the O.K. Corral, on Freemont Street.
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No one knows who fired the first shot.
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It was a 30 second gunfight.
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38 shots were fired
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and three men lay dead on the street.
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There's so much history around here.
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When you walk those streets in Tombstone,
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you're walking in the steps of History.
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The gunfight at the O.K. Corral
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is the most well-known tale
from this wild west boomtown.
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But Tombstone past is also riddled
with bizarre supernatural stories,
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including tales of strange creatures
roaming the frontier
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that spread like wildfire
in the 19th century.
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There are a lot of legends
that have come out of Tombstone.
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but there's one very curious one.
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In 1890 the Tombstone Epitaph
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reported a story about two ranchers
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who saw a giant flying creature
in the sky above them.
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Tombstone Epitaph reported
that they encountered
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a prehistoric looking monster,flying,
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and they said the whole body
was about 100 feet long
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and the head was about 8 feet long,
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loaded with razor sharp teeth.
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They not only were afraid of it
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but apparently they tracked it down
and killed this creature
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and tried to take a photograph of it
sprawled out.
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According to local lore, a photo
of the strange creature was indeed taken
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and even published
in the Tombstone Epitaph
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but locating the supposed picture
is proven to be difficult.
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In terms of the photograph,
there are legions of people
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who remember seeing this pictur
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even into the 1930s and 40s.
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Yet no one has ever been able to locate it
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and in fact the edition of the Epitaph
that the story ran in
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didn't have any photographs at all.
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Although the alleged newspaper photo
has never been found,
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over the years a number
of bizarre pictures
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featuring cowboys
and a massive winged creature
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have surfaced and can be seen
on the Internet.
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One photograph depicts a group of men
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with a giant winged beast.
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That creature is winged
but it's not really a bird.
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It looks more like a pterodactyl,
something prehistoric
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with large leathery wings
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and a large head with two feet
hanging down below.
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It adds to the mystery of the creature
and makes us wonder
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what exactly is flying around
in the southern deserts.
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While the images
of the wing creature are compelling
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historians have questioned
their authenticity
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and claim that
they may have been fabricated
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as a result of the fascination people have
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with this strange tale
from the old West.
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Although most variations of the photos
seem to be hoaxes,
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I think it's weird when you combine
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all of the things
of the newspaper encounter
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people swearing that they personally saw
the photograph
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and now it's gone.
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It only adds more history and wonder
to the story
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and I think in some regard,
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it makes it even bigger
than it would have been.
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Is the story of the Tombstone pterodactyl
just a tall tale?
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Or is it possible that there really was
a species of giant flying creatures
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that roam the deserts of the old west?
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Perhaps the answer can be found
by examining accounts
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from Native American folklore
of a creature known as the Thunderbird.
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The Thunderbird is one of the most
widespread powerful creatures
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and symbols in Native American mythology.
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It is a gigantic bird,
some kind of a raptor,
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sometimes with somewhat human qualities
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but it's connected
with thunder and with lightning.
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Very often, those flapping its wings
is what creates thunder.
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It shoots lightning out of its eyes.
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The Thunderbird is common
in Native American tribes
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all over the West.
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You'll find them on petroglyphs,
on the rocks ,
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or you'll find them in totem poles.
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It's a special bird,
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a special spiritual power
of protection and support and strength.
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That's what the Thunderbird represents.
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By some accounts, Thunderbirds
were strictly spiritual beings.
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they lived in another world and they were
18:17
frightening but could also sometimes lend their power to the people on other occasions they were
18:25
perly real creatures that could swoop down at any time and snatch up humans if
18:31
they so choose is it possible that there is a connection between the Thunderbird and
18:38
the winged creature that was reportedly seen near Tombstone Arizona in
18:43
1890 for now the answer is unclear but people remain fascinated by
18:51
the idea that massive winged Birds really did soar over the American
18:57
frontier it's important to remember that this is taking place in the wild west is taking
19:04
place when people are looking out for Marvels and becoming aware of Native American explanations Native American
19:10
mythology at the same time so people were aware that the Thunderbird was held to be out there which leads us back to
19:16
the question you know the Thunderbird is it encrypted like it's out there somewhere is it is it simply a deity
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that's sort of cobbled together from abstract Notions of what the Divine is or is it sort of resulting from
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people finding you know pterodactyl skeletons and saying wow there must have been a great big bird here at some point
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uh or maybe all three so this is still a great
19:42
mystery Sardinia 1974 on This Island located off the
Sardinia
19:49
coast of Italy a farmer in a region known as Monte PR is tilling his Fields
19:56
when he strikes what appears to be a large Rock but upon closer inspection he