Wheeling Giant

The Wheeling Giant was an alleged giant skeleton that was claimed to have been excavated at Wheeling, Virginia during 1852, described in a newspaper report of the Sunbury Gazette (Sunbury, PA) as measuring 7 feet (2.13 m.) in height and supposed to have been the remains of an ancestral Native American. The majority of the remains reportedly "crumbled to pieces upon being exposed to the air," leaving only part of one of the jaws with teeth remaining. No further information has been found regarding the claim at this time.

Another excavation of a similar kind, the East Wheeling Giant, was reportedly made in what is today a neighbourhood of Wheeling four years later in 1856.

Press Coverage

• "Remains of an Indian.", Sunbury Gazette (Sunbury, PA): 3, 20 Nov. 1852, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/27978214/sunburn_gazette_nov_20_1852_giant/, "The remains of an Indian were dug up at Wheeling, Va. a few days ago. The Gazette says: We judge that the skeleton is that of a red man from the peculiar shape of his chin and the soundness of his teeth, and from the enormous size of his skull, his thigh bones, and other parts of the human frame, he could not have been less than seven feet. Most of the remains crumbled to pieces upon being exposed to the air. A portion of one of his jaws, however, full teethed, has been secured by ourselves."