An 1868 newspaper article trumpeting the discovery of a giant skeleton continues to mystify the city of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota.
Nearly 150 years ago, a report surfaced that quarry workers with the Sauk Rapids Water Power Co. unearthed the remains of a 10-foot-tall giant along the shores of the Mississippi River.
The story was printed on the front page of the Sauk Rapids Sentinel on Dec. 18, 1868, under the headline, “Wonderful Discovery!” where authors touted the remains as the “largest skeleton ever found.”
A few days later, the bones were nowhere to be found, rumored to have been whisked east on a late-night train and sold to the circus.
So what happened to these giant bones? Were they part of a publicity scheme, or dreamed up by a local reporter?
The water company employees reportedly discovered the bones while quarrying rock for a dam near the present day site of Lions Park, between the Sauk Rapids Bridge and the former bridge site.
According to the story, the workers found embedded “in solid granite rock the remains of a human being of gigantic stature.”
The grave — reported as being 12 feet long, 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep — was estimated to be about 2 feet below the level of the river. Atop the tomb, the report said, was a flat limestone rock that remained separate from the surrounding granite.
“The remains are completely petrified, and are of gigantic dimensions,” the story states. The head is massive, measures thirty-one and one-half inches in circumference, but low in theosfrontis, and very flat on top.”
The story offers additional dimensions, such as a 26¼-inch femur, a 25½-inch fibula and more than 59 inches for the measurement around the chest. The skeleton measured 10 feet, 9½ inches from the “crown of the head to the sole of the foot.”
Nearly 150 years later, townspeople still do not know if the story was real or merely fiction, leading to spirited debate over the veracity over the tale.
Museum director Mary Ostby argued to the St. Cloud Times that the detailed reporting of the skeleton’s measurements suggest it was a true story.