[music playing] NARRATOR: Tonight on "Search
for the Lost Giants." JIM VIEIRA: The account,
it's like a treasure map. It's going to be some work. Look up there. Wow. There's an 8-foot giant
dug out right over there. JAMES CLARY: Wow, look at that. This is like a gold mine. JAMES CLARY: I can say
without reservation, that's a game changer. BILL VIEIRA: Brad,
Check this out. Jim, you're not going to
believe what we found up here. To get to the bottom
of this mystery, we got to go to the
bottom of the lake. NARRATOR: For
millennia, humankind has told tales of giants
that once walked the Earth. JIM VIEIRA: Those are
caves in Arkansas-- 9 foot, Provo,
Utah, are 8 foot 6". NARRATOR: Jim Viera believes
it may be more than just myth. JIM VIEIRA: It's big mystery. Where are the bones? NARRATOR: Jim and
his brother, Bill-- Here we go, brother. NARRATOR: --want to
get to the truth. JIM VIEIRA: It just
seems it slipped through the hands of history. Whoa. Holy. Wow. That's wicked cool. BILL VIEIRA: Unbelievable. Whoa. JIM VIEIRA: Let's do it. [music playing] Ozarks-- Parks can't believe
we're in the Deep South looking for Giants. It's amazing. Yeehaw. Oh man. NARRATOR: After spending years
compiling historical accounts that point to the possibility
of an ancient race of giants, brothers and stonemason's
Jim and Bill Vieira are hitting the road, following
a trail that they hope will lead them to
evidence and the truth. BILL VIEIRA: You
know, I'm excited. But I'm nervous. You know, you come all this way. You don't want to swing and
a miss on this one, right? JIM VIEIRA: Yeah. NARRATOR: The brothers are
tapping into their savings in order to dedicate two months
to their quest, which began in their native New England,
where they've investigated a mysterious structure in
Western Massachusetts called the Goshen Tunnel. Inside, they may have
uncovered a secret chamber that is similar to other sites where
giant skeletons were allegedly found. They reported their
findings to archaeologists at the University of
Massachusetts hoping to interest the scientific
establishment in conducting a full out excavation
at the site. We're getting close. I'm totally pumped. NARRATOR: But the
verdict will take time. So the brothers turn their
attention to the next best lead they have-- two accounts of giant
skeletons in the rugged Ozarks, where Native American lore says
a race of cannibalistic giants once dwelled. Paiute Indians, the Shoshone,
the Choctaw, the Cherokee-- they talk about an ancient
enemy that they warred and they battled with-- cannibals that basically
trapped and feasted on Native Americans. NARRATOR: But is it possible
that these stories are more than mere legend? JIM VIEIRA: This is Gerard
Fowke, the field explorer for the Smithsonian. BILL VIEIRA: Yep. He investigated
hundreds of caves. And he found people living in
them thousands of years ago. NARRATOR: During his exploration
of caves in the Ozarks, archaeologist Gerard Fowke
found multiple instances of cannibalism, human
bones that had been cracked for the extraction
of the marrow. Were these victims of
an ancient giant enemy? Cannibalistic giants-- crazy. I know, it's-- it's pretty freaky
is what it is. So there's a
million clues here. This account is from the '30s-- summer '33. I mean, it's just like--
it feels like yesterday. NARRATOR: In 1933, a boy
named Billy Harman was on a hike in the Ozarks
of southwestern Missouri searching along the Merrimack
River for arrowheads when he stumbled
upon Puckett's Cave. Inside the cave, Billy unearthed
a few treasured arrowheads. But as he continued to dig,
he found something shocking-- the 8 and 1/2 foot frame
of an Ozark Goliath. The Vieira's first step is
to find the cave itself. Sweet. Yeah. NARRATOR: And Jim knows
another giant hunter who says he has an idea
where the cave is but has yet to explore it. JAMES CLARY: Hey. Sup, James. JAMES CLARY: Jim, how are you? Finally, we meet, bro. Yes, nice to meet you. BILL VIEIRA: James Clary saw
Jimmy's presentations online. 9 foot, double rows
of teeth, 9 foot high-- both more than 10 feet. BILL VIEIRA: And
he contacted Jimmy. You can find these accounts
in the historical records. You inspired me, your work. Awesome. Fellow giant hunter. JAMES CLARY: Absolutely, man. You ready? I'm fired up. Let's go, man. We're going to find it if we
have to hack our way through to get there, I'm telling you. JIM VIEIRA: There's a lot of
speculation about this being a cannibalized a giant. In different caves, they
found cannibalistic behavior. Right. NARRATOR: Because this
account is more recent, Jim and Bill are hoping to find
not only corroborative proof that a skeleton was found here-- Look up there. NARRATOR: --but possibly
eyewitnesses, photographs, and maybe even actual
physical evidence. I'll go along and see
if I can get up there. Whoa. Yeah. JIM VIEIRA: Thinking,
as I hike up the bluff, of the ancient
tribesmen who were here hunting deer or rabbit. And they're going up the
bluff, chasing their prey. And they keep
going up the bluff. Wow. And they realize they're at
the front door of the giant. And they're the prey. I'm speechless. Very close to all
the descriptions. BILL VIEIRA: Now it's time
to verify to make sure that this is the cave. We've got to see if we can
find the spot where they dug the skeleton up. Give me the report, Jim. A corner on the north
wall formed the giant's tomb in this niche. Which way's the north, Bill? This is our north wall. It has to be. It could be
anywhere along here. Let's see if we can
find any evidence. We would be
looking for a niche. JAMES CLARY: Whoa. Look at that over there, guys. This right here,
there's a depression. It looks like it's
been excavated. JIM VIEIRA: Whoa. Yep. BILL VIEIRA: There's a
notch in the north wall, just like the
account talks about. You could tell somebody
took something out of there. There's soil all
around the edges. NARRATOR: According
to the account, the skeleton was found in a
kneeling position-- it severed skull face down. Beside the body, an arrowhead,
which the account speculates might have been the cause
of the giants death. Why? What happened. In the Bible, you hear about
Goliath killed by David. Maybe this giant ended up
meeting a similar fate. NARRATOR: The writer
of the account echoes Jim's analysis, drawing a
comparison between this giant and Goliath and wondering if the
creature was slain by a David of the Missouri hill country. BILL VIEIRA: Our giant
could have come right out of this hole right here. JAMES CLARY: I'm thinking
about that kid finding a skull. We have to come
back, no question. It needs to be looked over
with a fine-tooth comb. NARRATOR: The next day-- JIM VIEIRA: For your homework
assignment, that's for you. Yes. He's read many accounts. NARRATOR: --James Clary's friend
Brad H'Doubler joins the team. BRAD H'DOUBLER: Got
some tools we can use. And I have a metal detector. Let's do it. Let's do it. Their plan is to split up. Nice, huh? Yeah. Yeehaw. NARRATOR: Bill and Brad,
a trained geologist, will head back to the cave
to scour for evidence. Ready to roll. NARRATOR: While Jim and
James will hunt for clues in nearby Steelville, Missouri. It's a small town. It was only 1933, so-- You know, somebody
around here's got to know somebody or
remember something about it. NARRATOR: Steelville is
the hometown of the boy who discovered the bones,
Billy Harman, and also the place where the skeleton was
reportedly assembled and wired together by a local
physician named R. C. Parker. The internet is filled with
hoaxes, misidentifications, misrepresentations. You really-- you can't get to
the truth of the matter unless you walk out in the field-- Hey, how are you? JIM VIEIRA: --interview
real people, ask questions about
Billy Harman, Dr. Parker to see if this is all reality. I have an odd request. We're looking to an account
of an 8-foot skeleton. I've been told by skeptics
that giant skeleton finds are hoaxes or imaginations of
somebody who's up to no good. I never really
heard about this. But I'm interested in it now. JIM VIEIRA: So we want to see
if we can verify this account. We're in town researching an
8-foot giant skeleton that was unearthed in the 1930s. Oh my goodness. Hey, Lloyd. JIM VIEIRA: Jim Vieira,
nice to meet you, sir. There's a list of people that
are associated with the find. Doc Parker was the only
doctor in town at the time. Do you remember him? Oh, yeah, he
doctored me a lot. JIM VIEIRA: Dr. Parker
was your personal doctor when you were younger? Yeah. Sure was. This old-timer actually said
that he had his rib repaired by Doc Parker. Was he well-respected in town? Yeah, he was just
an old country doctor. JIM VIEIRA: So we start
finding that people in town have heard of Doc Parker. We still have quite a
few Harmans in Steelville. Is that right? And they know Harmans. Harmans? Oh, I know about
five or six brothers. Let's see what we can find. Yeah, hi. Is this Mr. Harman? NARRATOR: Jim and
James reach out to Harmans residing in
the Steelville area-- JAMES CLARY: Found In the
cave back in the '30s. NARRATOR: --hoping to find
one related to Billy Harman. Let's try another one. NARRATOR: Which could be their
best chance of tracking down the giant bones. Bye. This is Ed Harman. Has the same last name as you. Oh, you are? Really? JIM VIEIRA: Ed Harman, a live
relative of Billy Harman. Listen, is there any way we
could come by and talk to you? That would be awesome. He invites us down his farm. We're going to get a chance
to talk to somebody who's not far removed from the event. Listen, is there any way we
could come by and talk to you? NARRATOR: Giant hunters
Jim Vieira and James Clary are searching for evidence of
an 8-foot skeleton reportedly discovered in the 1930s by a
teenager named Billy Harman. Bye. Ed Harman. Let's go. NARRATOR: They now head towards
a farm on the outskirts of town to meet with a living
relative of Billy Harman. For Jim, this is an
opportunity to shed light not only on this giant account,
but to further his quest to prove the existence of
a forgotten race of giants. JIM VIEIRA: It's really nerve
wracking because you're just diving into this crazy subject. And people like, you know,
you're out of your mind, dude. You know? JAMES CLARY: You must be Ed. Yep. Nice to meet you guys. Good to meet you. Come on in. JIM VIEIRA: But, you know,
one person to the next, it seems like something
is working with us to tell the story. JAMES CLARY: It's
just beautiful. JIM VIEIRA: So
we're just wondering if you, being a Harman,
what connection you had to Billy Harman or if you
know anything about Puckett's Cave or the story? Well, my grandfather Sam
Harman was a cousin to Billy. And my grandfather relayed
the story to me as a child, you know. He took me through the cave
and all that, showed me where the skeleton was found. My grandfather said he was a
very-- extremely tall person, you know, approximately
8-foot tall. JIM VIEIRA: Ed's telling us the
story and I look over at James and I'm like, this
is a gold mine. JAMES CLARY: It
was a true story. It wasn't a hoax, correct? Correct, because my
grandfather was the type of person that whatever
he told you a story, he never embellished
on anything. I mean, when he told you
something, then it was factual. It was something you
could take to the bank. So we're trying to
hunt down basically what happened to the bombs, right? There's an 8-foot skeleton
stretched out in R. C. Parker's office. Right. Most of the details are
pretty ironclad in this. But what happened
to the bones is not. Right. Right. And I couldn't tell
you that for sure. I really don't know. JIM VIEIRA: Now, we have a
relative of Billy Harman that corroborates the account. Thank you, my friend. JIM VIEIRA: But
where are the bones? And that's what we
want to find out. We need to find evidence,
documentation of photographs of the skeleton
actually existing, being in a place, being wired
together to see if this is all a reality. NARRATOR: Meanwhile,
10 miles north-- This is it. NARRATOR: --Bill and
geologist Brad H'Doubler-- Wow. NARRATOR: --have returned
to Puckett's Cave. Prominent niche
in the north wall. NARRATOR: The Vieiras have
identified the spot where the giant may have been buried. I'm going to pull
these rocks out of here, get them out of your way. OK. NARRATOR: But today, Bill
and Brad hope to prove it. Presumably, back in the
'30s, Billy Harman didn't have a metal detector in here. BILL VIEIRA: When you start
talking about giants, the one thing that's lacking is physical
evidence-- something that we can have DNA tested or carbon
dated that would really corroborate a lot of our
theories, push us over the top. NARRATOR: Throughout
history, there have been instances where
theories and beliefs were dismissed as myth but
were later proven true by physical evidence. For years, the biblical
tale of the Great Flood was widely regarded by
scientists as mere legend. But after recent discoveries
reveal that a rapid flooding of the Black Sea
occurred around 5,000 BC, some academics now believe that
the story of a massive flood could be based in fact. Could the same be true about
the existence of Giants? BILL VIEIRA: Our hope is
that we find something copper because that's
the one associated with these giant accounts. Yes. BILL VIEIRA: In a perfect world,
we'd get a giant copper axe. NARRATOR: Copper is
important because according to some accounts, giant
skeletons have been found buried with copper jewelry,
crowns, and even weapons, like a 27 pound giant axe
head reportedly discovered in Ohio in 1893. Looks like we got
something in here. [metal detector sounds] Nailed it. NARRATOR: According to
the original account, the boy who discovered
the bones, Billy Harman, also found a series of
disparate artifacts buried in the floor of the cave. Look at this-- shotgun shell. just get this
ominous feeling here, like I'm following in
Billy Harman's footsteps. I feel like we're
on the right track. NARRATOR: But the cave
will need to yield more if the brothers are going
to prove Billy Harman's story. It's going to be a
long day, my friend. Yeah. NARRATOR: And further
their quest for giants. The search continues. NARRATOR: Meanwhile, back
in Steelville, Jim and James continue their hunt. JIM VIEIRA: We were
looking into records. Rainy C. Parker had an 8-foot
skeleton in his office. Well, we do have a
genealogy section back here. Great. Thank you. NARRATOR: They hope the town
library might contain clues about what happened
to the skeleton. See, hopefully, you
can find something here. Crawford County genealogy. Small town libraries are a
treasure trove of information. There might be a
story, actually. It was such a buzz
in the town, right? Handwritten notes, diaries,
personal correspondence-- it's not on the internet. It's never been published. You can't find it anywhere
else in the world. I'm going to see if
I find anything related to the giant skeleton. JIM VIEIRA: So we're digging. This looks like microfiche here. And I see there are
boxes of microfilm from of "Steelville Ledger,"
the local newspaper. Wow. OK. NARRATOR: They load the
microfilm from the year the skeleton was discovered. Check all these articles. We go through the paper
and see if there's any mention of this account. Keep going. Oh. Oh. Look at that. Oh, man. We find the front page of the
"Steelville Ledger," June 15, 1933. "Ancient Skeleton Found
in Cave Near Steelville." JAMES CLARY: OK,
now wait a minute. That's a photograph. JIM VIEIRA: Oh, man. That's wild. JAMES CLARY: That's amazing. JIM VIEIRA: On it is a
picture of a 6-foot guy next to the 8-foot skeleton. I'm thinking, this could
be the giant cannibal of Puckett's Cave. JAMES CLARY: I can say without
reservation, that is a photo. That's a game changer. [music playing] Oh, look at that. JIM VIEIRA: Oh, man. "Ancient Skeleton Found
in Cave Near Steelville." NARRATOR: Giant hunters Jim
Vieira and James Clary have just uncovered an astounding
clue in their investigation into an 8-foot giant-- JAMES CLARY: That's
a photograph. That's wild. NARRATOR: --reportedly unearthed
in a cave in the 1930s. JAMES CLARY: That's amazing. JIM VIEIRA: On it is a
picture of a 6-foot guy next to the 8-foot skeleton
in Doc Parker's office. JAMES CLARY: I can say without
reservation, that is a photo. And That-- that's a
game changer in my book. JIM VIEIRA: We're blown away. Could you please take
a picture of that? JAMES CLARY: Yeah. Look at that. JIM VIEIRA: The skeleton--
a 6-foot guy next to it. It's like, what
can you say to it? Here you go. Let's continue to
roll through here. NARRATOR: Jim and James may
be close to answering the most important question of all. JIM VIEIRA: Where
did the skeleton go? So, we're poring
through this report-- oh, look. "The skeleton is now on
exhibition at the office of Dr. R. C. Parker." We see the name of Doc Parker-- "Dr. Parker is in receipt
of a letter from Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, D.C.--" "--and requested that he
ship the skeleton to Washington for study by the experts,
as they think it is that of a giant of
prehistoric times." Holy [bleep]. Wow. The path leads
to the Smithsonian. NARRATOR: The Smithsonian
Institution, established for the increase and
diffusion of knowledge, was created by the
federal government in 1846 and has been a center
for scientific research and a depository for the
nation's most prized treasures ever since. "Dr. Parker made shipment--" "--the first of the week,
carefully wrapping the bones." The account tells
us the Smithsonian received the remains. They were boxed up by Dr.
Parker and shipped there. The weird part is that a lot
of museums like the Smithsonian say that giants, they
don't even exist. They're delusions of explorers--
misidentified mastodon remains and hoaxes. That mentality went
all the way to some of the top anthropologists in
the country, like Dr. Hrdlicka. NARRATOR: Dr. Ales
Hrdlicka, a physician and physical anthropologist--
he headed the Smithsonian's department of
anthropology from 1903 and remained its director
for nearly 40 years. As director, Hrdlicka
possessed great influence on the scientists
that work beneath him and was the ultimate decider of
what was to be fact or fiction. JIM VIEIRA: Dr. Hrdlicka
really said this-- this whole idea was
not just not a reality, but very foolish and
idiotic and a career ruiner if you were to delve into it. NARRATOR: But why were museums
and scientists like Hrdlicka so opposed to investigating
certain remains? Some may have been merely
protecting their reputations in the aftermath of
hoaxes, like Piltdown Man. In 1912, amateur
archaeologist Charles Dawson claimed he'd found unusual
skeletal remains, remnants of one of the crucial
links between ape and man. But others, like Hrdlicka
were wary of the claims. And this time, they were right. Dawson had merely combined
the jaw of an orangutan with a human skull. Piltdown Man was a fake. JIM VIEIRA: I think
hoaxes like Piltdown Man closed a lot of minds
because, you know, nobody wants to
look like a fool. NARRATOR: Jim believes that
countless giant bones may have been routinely dismissed
as hoaxes as well and, as a result, were cast
aside or buried deep in museum archives. Did specimens like the Ozark
Goliath presented truth that was to radically
outside the status quo of the scientific community? This is great. JIM VIEIRA: Down
the rabbit hole. It's possible science
may have excluded a lot of this information. All the reports
add up to nothing if there's no physical
remains to back them up. It's very disconcerting. And it's a good question to ask. Where are the bones? That is the main question. Where are they? NARRATOR: A question
that Jim intends to present to his
academic contacts back East as soon as possible. JAMES CLARY: I don't want
to miss this opportunity. Good work. NARRATOR: Meanwhile,
back in Puckett's Cave, Bill and Brad have come upon
their fourth hour of scouring for clues. BILL VIEIRA: If we could
find any physical evidence, that's really what we're looking
for-- something that we can have DNA tested or carbon
dated to see what was happening with this human that
was 8-foot tall. There's actually a neat
little cavern under here. [music playing] [metal detector sounds] Brad. Brad, check this out. So we're going up and
down the north wall. I'm pushing aside leaves. And out of the corner of my
eye, I see something white. What did you find? Look. When we take a closer look at
this thing, we're dumbstruck. That's a tooth. It's huge. It's a big one. So Brad and I are going
back and forth speculating about what it might be. Could it be a bear tooth? Doesn't seem sharp enough. A deer? A cow? We're 70 feet up
in a shelter cave. It kind of looks human to me. That would be one big human. Brad and I are
looking at each other. And we think it looks
like a human incisor. My mind is racing. I'm thinking about
all these accounts we have-- giant skulls, massive
jawbones, double rows of teeth. If this thing is an
ancient giant tooth, we might have just
hit the jackpot. It could change the game. NARRATOR: In the Ozarks,
the Vieira brothers are on an extraordinary quest to
find out if giants once existed in North America. And now at Puckett's Cave, the
site where an 8-foot Goliath was unearthed over 80 years ago,
Bill Vieira and geologist Brad H'Doubler may have
found an important clue. BILL VIEIRA: I mean, it's huge. It's a big one. NARRATOR: A large tooth,
possibly an incisor. Kind of looks human to me. That would be one big human. NARRATOR: If the
tooth is an incisor, the jawbone and skull
that it would match would be considerably
larger than that of the average adult human male. BILL VIEIRA: Big Jim. JIM VIEIRA (ON
PHONE): Sup, Bill? Yeah, you're not going to
believe what we found up here. JIM VIEIRA (ON PHONE): What? A big ass tooth. JIM VIEIRA: Bill
drops a bomb on me. And my mind starts racing. You serious? I'm just like, what the hell? This might be a part
of the skeleton. The report mentioned
that the skull had several teeth missing. A tooth is one of the
best things we could find. You can precisely
date the enamel. The root has DNA in it. But just the very idea of
finding something like this is pretty remarkable. OK, man. Bye. He said, document everything. Sounds like a good plan. Let me take a picture. NARRATOR: According
to the law, any time potential human
remains are found, they must be reported to
the local medical examiner. We decided to be safe. There's a chance it
might be a human tooth. So we need to call the coroner. What a find. It's crazy. NARRATOR: The brothers
reunite and head to the office of the local coroner-- PAUL HUDSON: Crawford
County coroner, Paul Hudson. NARRATOR: --in
hopes that he might be able to shed some light
on whether the tooth is human or something else. [music playing] It's definitely big. It's pretty large in diameter. I think it's probably
an incisor to-- one of these teeth,
like a biter. I mean, to us, it looked like
a human tooth but only much bigger. PAUL HUDSON: Exactly. It definitely has
the characteristics of a human tooth. But I-- I really don't know what it is. NARRATOR: Archeologists
around the world have discovered
a number of teeth with human properties that
didn't belong to modern man. In 2000, a tooth was found in
the Denisova Cave in Siberia. When analyzed, scientists
found that the DNA was different from both
Neanderthal and modern man. That tooth led science
to proclaim a discovery of a new previously unknown
species of ancient man they named the Denisovans. JIM VIEIRA: We're blown away. It's really starting to
look pretty mysterious. We're definitely going to
get it thoroughly tested by a professional lab. Well, that's great. Fingers are crossed our
thousand-mile trek might all pay off because we're
coming out of the Ozarks with a giant tooth. NARRATOR: The brothers
came to the Ozarks with two promising leads-- two accounts of
giant skeleton finds. I think we're near the
state line, actually. Arkansas. NARRATOR: So far, the
first has paid off with possible physical evidence. Now, Jim plans to investigate
the account of a giant reported to be even more massive than
the one in Puckett's Cave. It's like a culmination
of a long trip if we could actually
find this cave. NARRATOR: The Vieiras are on the
trail of an explorer and writer from the early 20th century
named Victor Schoffelmayer. In 1913, Schoffelmayer
traveled to the Ozarks. He writes an article in "The
New Age Magazine," "White River Trails," about interviewing
hillbillies essentially before they die off. NARRATOR: One of the men
Schoffelmayer interviewed claimed to have unearthed
something peculiar and one of the shelter caves nearby-- several giant skulls
and a skeleton that measured to a startling
10 feet in length. 10 foot. I know. It's straight out of
"The Twilight Zone." NARRATOR: The brothers' goal
is to find the cave where the bones were discovered
in hopes of gathering additional evidence. But locating it may be
difficult. In the 1960s, Beaver Dam was constructed right
near the cave Schoffelmayer wrote about. And now that cave is
35 feet under water. To get to the bottom
of this shelter cave, we've got to go to the
bottom of the lake. NARRATOR: The brothers
head to a dive shop on the shore of Beaver Lake. Hey, Mike. Hey, Alan. How are you doing? Hey, buddy. This is Jim. What's up, Mike? How are you doing, buddy? Pleasure to meet you. And maybe you
can help them out. NARRATOR: They have enlisted
the help of Alan Bland, a park ranger with US
Army Corps of Engineers, and Mike Young, a professional
master cave diver. I actually have some photos. This is a skull in the Yucatan. Wow. MIKE YOUNG: It was gorgeous. BILL VIEIRA: Mike Young
has been all over the world doing cave dives. We're hoping that Mike can help
us pinpoint where this cave is. We're looking for this
cave where there's a lot of giant skeletons. We're going off
a report from 1913. So we tell Mike about
the account and the area we're looking for. MIKE YOUNG: Well, actually, I
think I might know the area. JIM VIEIRA: And Mike says
he has a location in mind. MIKE YOUNG: I'm not sure exactly
where the entrance is at. But we could go and look for it. - Yes.
- OK. Let's do it. NARRATOR: Mike
leads the brothers to a largely unexplored
portion of Beaver Lake. Wow, look at the area. Nice. NARRATOR: These
rocky outcroppings were once bluffs hundreds of
feet above the White River. JIM VIEIRA: It's so awesome to
be in this area of this account that's fascinated me for years. It's really haunting. Here's a wet suit. NARRATOR: Bill is
a certified diver and will be the one to join
Mike in the underwater hunt for the Schoffelmayer cave. JIM VIEIRA: The fact that Bill
is here with me, following my strange quest, especially
doing something so dangerous, it's really cool. I couldn't ask for
more out of my brother. BILL VIEIRA: I'm nervous. I haven't done in a long time. Cave diving is super dangerous. People die all the time in it. You know, you get in that
cave, you kick up some silt, you lose your line, you get your
leg wedged under something-- there's a lot of ways that
you can wind up not coming out of that cave. Good luck. BILL VIEIRA: It's on me to
go down and find out what's in this cave for both of us. You relaxed? Yep. All right. Let's go. NARRATOR: Brothers
Jim and Bill Vieira are searching for
an underwater cave where, in 1913, a man
was reported to have made a shocking discovery-- giant skulls and a
massive 10-foot skeleton. JIM VIEIRA: If we're lucky
enough to find a cave down there, we're looking
for different signs that you find at
other giant sites. You may find artifacts,
pictographs, or stone structures of some kind-- stone tombs, stone
walls, something like in Deerfield that we found. That's what we're looking for. BILL VIEIRA: We're going from
10 feet down to about 40 feet down. And it's pretty murky. Visibility is about 10 feet. We're kicking up sediment. We're not really
finding anything. Going around the floor,
then all of a sudden, boom. We see a cave. The first thing
that sticks out-- obvious stacked stones. As a stonemason, I can tell
those stones were put there as a wall. Woo, we found the cave. JIM VIEIRA: Yeah, baby. BILL VIEIRA: Giant shelter cave. There's like a made berm. JIM VIEIRA: Billy's all excited. He starts describing
a stone wall near the mouth of the cave. NARRATOR: Was this
remnant of stacked stones once part of a 10-foot
giant's burial chamber, one that was discovered by an
Ozark man over 100 years ago? Perhaps. But the brothers will
need more evidence if they're going
to verify that this is the cave that Schoffelmayer
described in his account. There you go-- anything
you can film in there. NARRATOR: The brothers equip
Mike with an underwater camera capable of capturing high
resolution images even in the murkiest low
light conditions in hopes that the camera will
reveal clues that remain shrouded to the naked eye-- clues that could
help the brothers prove that towering giants
that have sprung from the pages of storybooks once existed. JIM VIEIRA: So it's
all in Mike's hands now, which is great because
he's the one with the most experience. NARRATOR: Mike exhaustively
documents the interior of the cave. JIM VIEIRA: What did you see? MIKE YOUNG: Conditions
were horrible. Back in there, man,
it's really silty. You'll-- you'll see the footage. NARRATOR: Mike is uncertain
which images the camera was able to capture. JIM VIEIRA: This is like
Christmas morning right here. NARRATOR: That night, the
brothers review Mike's footage. That's killer. BILL VIEIRA: What
we're looking for is pictographs, obviously
any artifacts, or even bones. NARRATOR: They scour the footage
it's possible the cave may have been picked or washed clean,
any evidence of giants swallowed by time. Whoa, whoa. Stop that. Look at that. Looks like a carved
head, doesn't it? Right? Yeah. JIM VIEIRA: On the wall,
I saw what I thought was a potential pictograph-- what looks like a large face. And my mind starts turning. Cave drawings are associated
with giant burials. I don't want to pretend to be
seeing things, but that, right? The nose. BILL VIEIRA: Two eyes,
a nose, and a mouth. JIM VIEIRA: Whoa, whoa. Stop that. Look at that. Right? BILL VIEIRA: Yeah. NARRATOR: In their search
for evidence of a lost race of giants,
Jim and Bill Vieira have hit on a possible clue
filmed in an underwater cave thought to be a burial
place of giant skulls and a 10-foot skeleton. I don't want to pretend
to be seeing things. But that, right? The nose. BILL VIEIRA: Two eyes,
a nose, and a mouth. JIM VIEIRA: On the
left side of the wall, I saw what I thought was a
large face and then, right next to it, something
that really looks like the head of a wolf. I'm wondering, are these
pictographs in the wall? NARRATOR: Primitive cave
paintings and rock art have oftentimes been associated
with giant skeleton finds. JIM VIEIRA: There is
this petroglyph site up at Rockingham, Vermont right
out of the Connecticut River-- these skull-like faces,
strange and haunting. And over on the other
side of the river, in 1849 a giant native
chief was unearthed. Let's do it again. Right there. NARRATOR: If these
are rock carvings, is it possible they were created
to signal that this cave was special? And could it be that the man
Victor Schoffelmayer wrote about in his account was telling
the truth about what he found here back in 1913? JIM VIEIRA: Got the feeling
and the clear intuition that this was the
burial site of a giant. Moving forward. NARRATOR: The brothers study
every frame of the footage looking for artifacts or bones. Just the walls. NARRATOR: The cave
offers no leads. Frustrating. NARRATOR: Their Arkansas
trip is a dead end. But the Vieiras are
batting 500 in the Ozarks. That's wild. NARRATOR: They're returning home
with a photograph of what could be a giant skeleton and, most
importantly, possible physical evidence that they
can genetically test. Cool? Killer. Todd Disotell said,
give me physical evidence. And we feel like we might
have that physical evidence in our hands. NARRATOR: Two days later-- Country boys in
the big city, Jim? It's very vertical. Yeah. NARRATOR: --Jim and Bill arrive
in New York City to share their findings with
Todd Disotell-- Here's my conference room. NARRATOR: --an anthropologist
with New York University's Center for the Study
of Human Origins. Let's see what you brought. NARRATOR: The brothers
hope Todd might be able to offer some insight
as to the fate of the Ozark Goliath reportedly sent
to the Smithsonian. JIM VIEIRA: So I'm wondering,
did they receive this? Did they not receive
the skeleton? You know, questions like
that of the ones we have you. You know, things say that it
was donated to the Smithsonian. You know, hundreds of
thousands, millions of items have been donated
over 100 plus years. JIM VIEIRA: Yep. TODD DISOTELL: But I would
say if the Smithsonian had massive 8-foot individuals,
double rows of teeth, we would be seeing
them on display. OK. TODD DISOTELL: You know,
I want to see this. I like the
interesting, the weird, the fascinating, et cetera. So you know, I-- I would pay money to
go to an exhibit that had these things on display. So we need more than it was
shipped to the Smithsonian. JIM VIEIRA: You have
something for Todd? Yes. Here it is. Weird. It's big. You found it in a cave? I'm pretty sure it's not human. But if it's human, it's an
extraordinarily large human. We want to get it tested and
get a definitive answer of what it is. There's no reason
not to pursue it. I look forward to continuing
this conversation. That's great. Awesome, man. Thank you so much for your time. With every step of
this journey, we know we're going to be
getting closer to the truth. JIM VIEIRA: But we've
only just scratched the surface in our quest. We have a lot of ground to
cover and a lot of things to dig into if we hope to get
to the bottom of this mystery. NARRATOR: Next week on
"Search for the Lost Giants." JIM VIEIRA: They exhumed a
native chief of giant stature. And the teeth were all double. BILL VIEIRA: That, to
me, is the type of sand that is not found in Goshen. This early remarkable. BILL VIEIRA: The tunnel is
playing mind games with us. Whoa. That skeleton could
even be in this house. All right, shield you eyes.
