Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

Tanum Forlag, 1970), pp. 29–34; Katharine
M. Briggs, A Dictionary of Fairies (London:
Allen Lane, 1976), pp. 413–415; Joanne Asala,
Trolls: Remembering Norway (Iowa City, Iowa:
Penfield Press, 1994).
True Giant
Term used by Mark A. Hall to distinguish the
truly large GIANT HOMINIDS from the smaller
NEO-GIANT (BIGFOOT), the TALLER HOMINID,
and the SHORTER HOMINID. Some Native
American CANNIBAL GIANT traditions are incorporated
in this definition.
Variant names: BIG GREY MAN, CURIN-
QUÉAN, Giant hairy ape, GILYUK, JOGUNG,
KUNG-LU, Man mountain, NYALMO, ORANG
GADANG, PITT LAKE GIANT, QUINKIN.
Physical description: Lean body. Height,
10–20 feet. Covered with reddish-brown or
dark-brown hair, longer on the head and thinner
on the arms. Flat face. No neck. Large
hands.
Tracks: Four-toed. Length, 9–30 inches.
Width, 3.5–15 inches.
Distribution: Alaska; western Canada; Washington;
Oregon; Montana; Wyoming; California;
Pennsylvania; South Carolina; Georgia;
Mississippi; Texas; Brazil; Malaysia; Myanmar;
Nepal; Tibet; India; Australia; Ballachulish,
Scotland.
Significant sightings: One of the first reports
in North America was of giant footprints, 18
inches long and 9 inches wide, found in the
Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia, sometime prior
to 1829. The stride was just over 6 feet. Shortly
after hearing this account, nine hunters from
Florida set off, determined to find the maker of
the tracks. The party was attacked by a 13-foot
giant that they managed to shoot and kill—but
not before it did away with five of them. No
witness names were given in the newspaper account
of this incident.
On August 20, 1977, Fred C. Wilson, two
other airmen from Malmstrom Air Force Base,
and two young adults were camping in Belt
Creek Canyon, Montana, when they were
chased to their car by a 15-foot hairy giant. It
had an oblong head, flat nose, and canine teeth.
Possible explanation: Hall believes that an
evolved Gigantopithecus, a Pleistocene ape that
lived in Asia as recently as 500,000 years ago,
accounts for the True giant. Its estimated height
was 9–10 feet, and its estimated weight was
900–1,200 pounds. However, no weight-bearing
bones have been recovered, and it is possible
that the animal’s teeth and jaws were disproportionate
to its body size.
Sources: Vincennes (Ind.) Western Sun and
General Advertiser, June 6, 1829, p. 4; Roger
Patterson, Do Abominable Snowmen of America
Really Exist? (Yakima, Wash.: Franklin, 1966),
p. 137; Mark A. Hall, “True Giants (or,
Gigantopithecus Is Alive and Taller than You
Think),” Wonders 1, no. 2 (June 1992): 11–23;
Mark A. Hall, “True Giants around the
World,” Wonders 1, no. 3 (September 1992):
31–47; Mark A. Hall, “Encounters with True
Giants, 1829–1994,” Wonders 4, no. 3
(September 1995): 63–79; Mark A. Hall, The
Yeti, Bigfoot and True Giants (Minneapolis,
Minn.: Mark A. Hall, 1997), pp. 61–92.
Tsadjatko
CANNIBAL GIANT of the northwestern United
States.
Etymology: Quinault (Salishan), “giant.”
Variant name: Tsaaloh.
Distribution: Olympic Peninsula, Washington.
Source: Ronald L. Olson, “The Quinault
Indians,” University of Washington Publications
in Anthropology 6, no. 1 (1936): 170.
Tsamekes
CANNIBAL GIANT of western Canada.
Etymology: Cowichan (Salishan), “giant.”
Physical description: Height, 7–8 feet. Covered
with hair.
Behavior: Whistles.
Distribution: Southwestern British Columbia.
Source: Wayne Suttles, “On the Cultural
Track of the Sasquatch,” in Roderick Sprague
and Grover S. Krantz, eds., The Scientist Looks
at the Sasquatch, 2d ed. (Moscow: University of
Idaho Press, 1979), pp. 39–76.
TSAMEKES 559