Earlier today my buddy Nick Redfern sent me a link to a photo (right) of a humanoid “cryptid” he had posted on his blog recently, which in reality is one of a bizarre series of statues that adorn the twists and turns of a particular cave system open for tours below England. “What was interesting was the intricately woven tale that accompanied the picture when it was mailed to me,” Nick recounts. “I forget the precise details now, but it all revolved around the claim that intelligent, sword-wielding cryptids were roaming the many and varied caves that exist deep below the British Isles. The letter ran to 2 or 3 pages – and was, of course, all complete nonsense. So, if you too have ever been on the receiving end of this photo, just enjoy it for what it is: a piece of man-made entertainment and nothing else!”

Recently I also received an email from a Gralien Report reader named Jacob with some questions about my views regarding the biblical Nephilim; especially in conjunction with reports of hominid relics and cryptozoology, as well as tensions building in the great surge toward 2012. According to Mark Wickstrom in his book The Gospel of Grace, there are three common views regarding what the Nephilim were:

1) They were the offspring of fallen angels and human women.
2) They were the hybrid offspring of descendants of Seth with those of Cain.
3) They are not historical figures and are ancient imagery with questionable meaning.

Maybe it was looking at the photo above from Nick Redfern’s blog that had me already thinking about subterranean monstrosities living in caves below the Earth. Whatever the case, while pondering Jacob’s questions, I was reminded of one of my favorite books, The Descent by Jeff Long. In it, a race of protohumans called “Hadals” are discovered living in vast caverns beneath the Earth, leading to the notion that a historical figure might have existed (physically) that represented Satan, and furthermore, an actual “underworld” (Hell). In Hebrew, “Nephilim” means “those causing others to fall”, which some scholars literally have taken to mean that men’s hearts would fail at the sight of these beings. Alternatively, perhaps this instead meant that Nephilim caused others to fall spiritually (sin, perhaps), or even that the Nephilim were violent and literally “struck down” their opposition. But perhaps there is yet another more literal interpretation; could the reference to “falling” be similarly translated to mean “descend”? What if it meant to fall as in fall from grace? This might allude to one of two new possibilities… that the Nephilim themselves may have “fallen” (i.e. fallen angels), or to interpret this in a completely literal fashion, perhaps they were Earthbound to begin with, and “falling” was a direct reference to descending into the ground.

Whatever the case, it has also long been supposed that these Nephilim were giants, and that Nephilim is actually a generic ancient Hebrew word indicating some kind of massive creatures. Along these lines, consider again the proto-human element that Jeff Long outlines in his novel. As opposed to a historical “Satan” as was the premise of The Descent, what if in reality there existed a proto-human variant in our family tree which indicated instead that there were “giants” in the days of old?

Instantly, Sasquatches come to mind… and many native traditions here in the US, as well as other parts of the world, suggest that Bigfoot-like creatures are actually Native humans of some sort themselves. For instance, the Chehalis natives of British Columbia say they have occasionally heard Sasquatch creatures speak in what they call “The Douglass Dialect”, a 300 year old variant on their traditional language. Strange that Natives in the region would recognize “Sasquatch language” as a variant of their own tongue… is there any surprise to the revelation that they also consider Sasquatches to be “Indians” like themselves?

Furthermore, when we look at the history of the Smithsonian Museum, specifically reports made by Cyrus Thomas in the 1890s, we see further evidence of “giant Indians” living in the Americas. Thomas, then acting director of the Smithsonian’s Bureau of Ethnology, was appointed by Thomas Powell, head of the Smithsonian, to excavate a variety of the Indian mounds present throughout Ohio and other parts of the Eastern United States. In many instances, Thomas described in his reports the discovery of giant skeletons, the remains of which were often eight feet or more in length from head to toe. Strangely, many of these alledged skeletons were said to have been taken to the Smithsonian, and in a few instances confirmation of their receipt was recorded. To the dismay of a handful of researchers over the years, it turns out that in spite of their recorded arrival, their present whereabouts remains a mystery…

Indeed, I suppose we could spin yarns all day around whether Sasqatches are giants, and giants are Nephilim, and Nephilim lived in caves, ad infinitum. After a while, I suppose it becomes a big game of “Seven Degrees of Sasquatch”. But as readers of this blog have come to know over time, it seems that tying togther seemingly unrelated elements from time to time can often draw new historical and even scientific parallels, further shedding light on this world’s strangest mysteries. I’ll leave you with this favorite quote of mine from the book Genesis:

Gen 6:4 : There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.