From the unexplained to the mundane, come join us on a journey to the fringe.
Hello and welcome to Journey to the Fringe, just two adults in a trench coat of facts.
We are your adults for this podcast, Taylor and Chelsea, and today we are taking a look
at Giants, I think that are not associated with the Smithsonian Institute this time around,
Chelsea, am I correct?
I don't think so.
I don't think they have attempted to cover this one up.
There is some wiggle room, actually, if we want to say it was.
I mean, it's all unofficial.
Okay.
Well, we can unofficially add that.
So I'll make sure to say something at the end if we need to.
But this is Chelsea's episode, so I am going to turn it over to her.
Yeah, that's me.
This week by request, we're doing the Giant of Kandahar, and this story first appears in
a collection of military encounters put together into a little book with this title, Tales
from the Grid Square by Nick Orton.
So he says in relation to this book, quote,
And Chelsea, just so that we're all on the same page, this would be the second Gulf War,
correct?
Like 2003 onwards.
That's a very good question.
I don't think it says that.
It says to year and from that you will be able to tell which one it's for.
So he says of the book, quote,
During the war, many members of the U.S. military and coalition would encounter activity that
would defy normality, end quote, Orton wrote on Havoc Journal, quote, UFOs, cryptids and
ghosts, many bore witness to the immense and immeasurable mystery of Afghanistan.
What they witnessed is often kept close to the heart, be it terrifying or truly something
incredible, end quote.
Now that that is established, let me regale you with the terrifying encounter in focus
tonight.
The events that took place surrounding the giant of Kandahar, which allegedly happened
in 2002 in a desert part of Afghanistan when the U.S. Army Squad went missing.
Does that answer your question?
Yes.
So second Gulf War.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
That's that's what I said.
So the special ops task force, which the branch is unknown, there is speculation that
it was possibly Rangers considering that the missing squad was army.
I know nothing about the army and the military.
So yeah, they were power Rangers know all about them.
Yeah.
No, normal, normal Rangers, nothing.
They got to have power for me to know what they have.
Yep.
So the special ops task force was sent to find what had happened and the soldiers walked
along a Reagan mountainous trail until arriving at the entrance of a large cave.
They found pieces of broken U.S. military equipment and gear that were scattered all
around the clearing and the task force was about to enter the cave to explore its recesses
when at 12 to 15 foot roughly red headed six digit two rows of teeth bearing humanoid emerged
and attacked the soldiers.
The giant impaled one of the U.S. service members named Dan with a giant spear then
proceeded to attack the rest of the squad.
The witness states that it took 30 seconds of continuous fire to down the giant between
them. The squad was armed with a full auto M four carbines in quotes recon carbines semi
automatic.
There's a lot of quotes and brackets here and M 107 Barrette anti material rifles firing
point 50 BMG that was some sort of code I think this much firepower concentrated on
one target for one second let alone 30 would be extremely destructive.
According to the witness the giant war canvas or animal hide covers of some sort to protect
its feet like moccasins and it smelled like dead bodies.
The creature's body was airlifted back to the squad's base by helicopter and net from
there it was loaded into an aircraft and taken away and was never seen again probably to
the Smithsonian.
Yeah, upon their return the soldiers were made to sign non disclosure paperwork to stop
the word spreading of their encounter.
The witness states that he broke his silence because people have the right to know what's
happening on our planet and he probably got sued or something.
I don't know what happens if you break it and yeah.
Yeah, well it ends and generally if it's a contract like you need to receive something
to sign an NDA or it's not valid.
So I'm sure they got paid off.
Yeah, oh you have to get money.
Well to make it a legal contract you need to receive something back.
You can't just, yeah you can't just sign something.
You saying I'm not going to say anything about this without saying anything back is just a
promise which is not legally binding without a promise back.
But of course with the government you could have something separate but why would you
sign it?
I mean you could have your job in return.
Would that work?
No.
Okay that doesn't work.
Continue job doesn't count.
No.
Sign this or you're fired is not a valid argument.
Oh okay.
I'm sorry just an aside this is not legal advice.
Do not take this as legal advice.
Maybe I should give the legal advice.
You should be giving the legal advice.
So that's the story of the giant of Kandahar.
I gotta be honest I thought there was more to it than that but that's the story.
Everywhere you can find it it's identical.
Even with cryptids where you look up like origin stories and stuff like that you find
a little bit of difference between the stories and you kind of have to.
People want to have their flair.
Yeah you kind of put it together and like make your own story and journey to the fringe
story but this everywhere I saw it was identical.
I wonder if that's just because part of it is it is so new like it's the last 20 years
ish so it's fairly new so it hasn't had time to kind of like creep out and have its different
forms or if it's the fact that it comes it came from the military so it's a very matter
of fact story.
That's true.
A military person tells a story it's A to B to C they're not they're not changing it.
It sounds like it's almost in like a press release or something and it's just been copied
and pasted like that's how I saw it.
So the story's been popularized as it was featured on Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell.
There are others that talk about giants within the like paranormal community that point to
the story in their research and that includes Stephen Quayle one that needs to be added
to our list I think and L.A. Marzulli which I can't really remember what he talks about
but obviously it's giants.
It's a great name like it would be a good balance with our Bill Moore.
So in August 2016 Snopes did an article on this it's a fairly short article and they
reached out in the article to the Department of Defense about the Kandahar giant incident
and the Department of Defense told Snopes in no uncertain terms that they had no record
or information about the special forces members killed by a giant in Kandahar seems pretty
suspicious.
They would say that.
So what's more there are no press releases on the Department of Defense's website involving
either a special forces troop disappearing in Afghanistan or of any incident involving
soldiers spelling a giant.
Obviously this lack of evidence doesn't prove that the myth of the Kandahar giant doesn't
exist.
In fact Snopes's debunking of the legend has had quite the opposite effect in certain
cryptid spaces which claim that the government is trying to hide the truth from the public
obviously.
Yeah well and in conspiracy talking circles Snopes does not have the best reputation.
No I wonder what Bill Moore would have said.
Yeah so around the same time that the Snopes article came out that tried to discredit the
story L.A. Marzulli told several right wing websites that the United States government
was covering up the spectacular story and that those in power had a vested interest
in keeping the truth of biblical prophecies from being exposed to the general public.
Quote from L.A. Marzulli, people have the right to know about this stuff.
If there are 15 or 18 flitters roaming the earth and our military has brought them down
we have the right as American citizens to know about it he said.
And we're Canadian so maybe we don't have the right to know about it but I'd like to
think we do.
In a perfect world his quote goes on I mean this isn't classified military stuff well it
appears to be L.A. Marzulli.
He says this is something we need to know and it points back to the biblical prophetic
narrative.
Also he's messed up the height because the original Kanda Harsaiting had a 12 to 15
footer which by the way if you estimate a human size between like 5 and 8 feet if you
estimated a human size between 5 and 8 feet like a 3 foot range is huge you don't get
away with it with people so like.
Most people are within that range.
Most people are within that range but maybe it's just because you've never seen something
so big so you don't know exactly like how to measure it.
But if you take your size and you're like it's roughly double me.
But that would only make it 10 feet 10 to 12 feet.
And actually what I think about it too looking at trees I'm not even going to get within
a 3 foot range of how big it is.
No it would be a much greater range I'd just be like that's roughly between a 50 to 300
foot.
Yeah.
Because anyone between taller than me and 500 feet somewhere in that range.
Possibly could be higher.
But even be shorter than me.
Too far away as hell.
Okay so in a now deleted video first posted August 16 2016 Marzulli interviewed this person
called Mr. K and he's a man who was purporting to be a soldier who said he witnessed the
giant of Kandahar.
Mr. K claims.
Is he Dan?
Is it Dan K?
No because I think Dan died.
I think he was the one who died.
Said he was impaled I didn't think he actually died.
No he died.
Okay.
By the impaling.
I guess it would be a pretty that would be a fairly significant hole in your chest I'm
guessing from like because this guy's 12 to 15 feet tall so it's gotta be a pretty like
that would be like let's just assume it's three times the normal width of a spear because
it's three times the size.
That's like bigger than a pruslin.
Mr. K claimed he saw the giant carrying a spear and murdering oh this is where we found
out he was murdered he succumbed to his injuries.
A United States soldier named Dan before he and the other special forces took it down.
I mean they didn't say he's not a ghost so it could be Dan.
According to Marzuli the creature was a Nephilim a group of people mentioned in Genesis who
were said to be offspring of the gods and human women who inhabit a Kenan at the time
of the Israelite conquest and they were people of unusually large size and strength that
could be found in the Middle East before and after the flood of Noah's Ark.
I didn't realize rodents of unusual size from Princess Diaries had like a biblical origin
for name.
Who?
Rodents of unusual size from Princess Bride because he just said that the humans of unusual
size and strength.
Yeah.
Yeah so same same naming format as in the Bible biblical in nature.
Okay.
We can get past that don't worry.
You'll let everybody listen.
I always do.
Anyhow biblical prophesied in the Snopes article the only Dan they found that died in Kandahar
around the time of this alleged incident in 2002 was Sergeant First Class Daniel A Romero
who was killed in a bomb blast alongside three other soldiers.
Wait.
So.
Only one Dan died in the Afghanistan fight?
Around this time.
Huh.
Yeah.
Okay.
So you think there would be multiple around this time for you?
It's common name I would have assumed.
It is.
It just feels like.
So even with the evidence stacked against it I mean it was only two things so far in
which the evidence says this didn't happen.
Snopes is trying really hard.
The myth of the Kandahar giant is still said to be an open secret among soldiers who served
in Kandahar in 2002 and several veterans who served in the region have said that from that
point on they were instructed to point their weapons high by aiming for the head and then
a little higher.
That's the whole giant of Kandahar story.
But I don't want to end it so soon.
I know you want more stories aren't you you want them right?
Yes.
I would like at least three more stories.
Before you even answer you're in luck.
That is if you said you wanted more stories he didn't answer.
I just had to continue reading what I wrote.
It was written though.
So that then I didn't go to waste.
Here are a few mentions of stories appearing in Orton's book.
Remember he wrote that book that I talked about the spooky military one where that story
first appeared and then LA Merzouli kind of like held onto it as well and other people
Stephen Quill.
Next story.
There are many accounts of soldiers who have been reported seeing massive humanoids that
tower over the normal man in Afghanistan.
Orton continued.
Why is that even in there?
These stories are out there albeit hard to come by.
Not many are going to come forward and claim they saw a massive man running around in
the mountains of Afghanistan.
But perhaps there is something truly massive out there.
First we've got the giant of Kunar.
A massive being an infantry team leader reportedly saw during a deployment between 2008 and 2009.
While overlooking a village one fateful night the soldier peered through his newly mounted
thermal scope.
As he spanned the valley he came across a very large heat signature.
He assumed was a group of Taliban fighters huddled together around a light high up in
the mountains.
All of a sudden the heat signature stood up as one being the soldier recalled in Orton's
post.
The trees in that area grew up to about 10 to 12 feet tall and this thing was at least
as tall if not taller than the trees that surrounded it.
Can you see trees on thermal scope?
I don't think so but I don't know for sure.
You can see like especially some of these behind trees you would see like the trees.
You would see the tree line.
Yeah.
The tree was slow and relaxed yet it moved with incredible speed.
Well if it's giant of course it does.
The soldier added noting the giant's chill yet purposeful vibe.
It's gonna be hard to notice chill through a heat signature hey.
Yeah.
It would have to have quite the stride to portray chill.
Yeah.
But I can't say I wouldn't know what to see it.
I would know a chill walking vibe wouldn't you?
I don't know.
All you need is a heat signature to tell you that nice chill if he's walking chill enough.
Chill but purposeful.
Chill but okay I would be able to tell a chill vibe not a chill yet purposeful vibe.
Gotta say.
Yeah.
I feel those are kind of one or the other are they not?
Like chill kind of denotes no purpose.
I can tell you chill vibe walking vibe.
I can't tell you.
You could tell purposeful.
You could tell purposeful it would probably seem like he had somewhere to be.
Yeah.
Like looks at his watch and like just kind of picks up speed but they're not the same.
They're very opposites.
No they're not.
You couldn't tell that from a heat signature.
I would have trouble with a heat signature that's for sure.
Yeah.
Maybe we just need to see the heat signature.
Maybe we do.
Maybe that's what we're missing.
Maybe if we saw it we'd be like yeah that's for sure.
No purpose to describe this.
So did I read this?
Walk parallel to the soldier's position for a time before disappearing along a nearby
spur.
Not sure about that.
Stories of the encounter were not shared with many.
The soldier reportedly said but memories of what he had seen came flooding back after
listening to the coast to coast dispatch.
It's funny how that happens.
I think that's what I saw.
A member of an ancient race of giants that descended from fallen angels he wrote or it
could be something like Sasquatch.
I'm not sure.
I mean those are two good options for that.
So it goes on.
Orton also includes the story of an anonymous Air Force drone operator who was working in
the northern part of Afghanistan during the war.
Scanning around doing my thing and looking for stuff.
He recalled.
That would be a part of the job description for that I'm sure.
And one day the drone operator.
One day.
I got so excited to read the story.
One day the drone operator spotted three giants each standing roughly 12 foot tall.
There is a ruler tool that tells you how wide your crosshair is.
And the people were as tall as the crosshair was wide the operator said.
This was all in mid wave which is infrared at night.
Also they showed up as black humanoid heat signatures.
For 10 minutes the operator observed them during which time he reported the giants tended
their fire and performed other chores.
You know.
Hold on.
Bill but purposefully.
He says.
You know.
Giant stuff.
Oh wait he actually said that.
Yeah he did.
Okay.
Giant.
The chores he was observant were giant stuff.
Okay.
Those giant they're very particular.
If you see them doing chores.
They only have giant stuff to do.
Not only is it only giant stuff.
The way they walk is indescribable.
You could never picture it until you saw a giant walking.
He goes on to say the only interesting thing was the size.
The giant was not interesting.
I'm sorry what were the goats.
They look like cats next to them.
Okay.
There are goats that are the size of cats.
There are baby goats.
And there are baby goats.
Yes.
Another airman recalled doing a pre-opsoak northeast of Koringal Valley where he scanned
and analyzed real time video feeds.
According to his elaborate account the airman watched some dudes.
God you gotta love the late 2000s.
He watched some dudes around a fire to see if he could identify any weapons.
This is definitely the 2000s.
After about 20 minutes what we thought were two dudes huddled together under a blanket
stood up the airman wrote.
The guy made the rest of the dudes look like children.
In terms of height he stood up and walked over to a mud hut that he had to bend way
over to get him.
Is there a chance that this dude just happened to be hanging out with children?
None at all.
Okay.
None.
Finally.
An Australian army officer who was on sentry duty in the country's Erusgan province recalled
spotting a giant going for a leisurely stroll around a nearby compound.
It was lanky and wore unusual clothing he said.
By lacing the compound the officer estimated the giant to be about 1800 meters away.
It wasn't in any hurry and I followed it for about 5 minutes before it went out of my field
of vision.
The officer recalled adding that he suspected the giant to be about 12 feet tall or 14 feet
according to its Tinder profile.
What?
Uh.
Just looked like it was walking he wrote on Orton's post.
It wasn't in a hurry at all but was aware of what was happening around it.
Looking around especially near the compounds.
I don't know of anyone else who saw anything like it.
Never told anyone about it before but it has stayed with me over all of these years.
So those are some interesting military stories about giants.
Yeah.
I do have a- you know what?
I think I'm gonna wrap it up here see what your thoughts are on this.
I did have another quick one but it doesn't belong in this episode I just quickly decided
because it's- it doesn't have to do with the military we could just do an overall giant
episode but what do you think?
You think they're real don't you?
Yeah.
Of course.
I mean Dan died for us to learn this story.
Yeah.
Be that maybe Dan's real name wasn't Dan and it was just a nickname.
Maybe it was short for Dandy because he's the dandiest guy in the group.
I wouldn't be surprised.
And of course this is fully believable because the most professional of the sightings was
from an Australian.
Of course known for their straight no silly business talk.
The Australians are the most credible of people.
Yeah.
I mean all their- the names of their places are not hilarious in the least bit.
Yeah.
And he didn't slip one C word in there so you know Australian.
They would never do that.
Yeah.
No I- I've never seen such casual like we cover a lot of cryptids and I've never seen
such casual analysis of them being seen.
This has to be our best analysis.
Observations happening in real time we've ever come across some dudes chill but what
was the way he was watching.
Oh purposeful.
Chill but purposeful.
And giant stuff.
They sound pretty elegant as a species.
They sound like they have their own things that they have to do that is completely foreign
to human stuff and that as soon as you see it you would just say oh yeah they're doing
giant stuff.
You know what's a giant.
Yeah that's giant stuff for sure.
Like are they sharpening bones?
Are they like watching a goose like golden eggs?
Pretty much everything I expect from giants comes from Jack and the Beanstalk by the
way so.
Not only that but I assume that you can only know this once you observe a giant so we might
just be not able to be privy to this information because we've never seen a giant.
Yeah.
You have to see it and then you're like right that's giant stuff.
Yeah no some of that latent information that lies hidden deep within your brain that only
upon seeing a giant you're like right it's right it's coming back to me giant stuff.
It's giant stuff for sure.
I've never seen a giant before but that is some giant stuff.
It's all coming back to me now.
That is just described as giant stuff and that's it.
Yeah so that was an episode full of giant stuff.
Yeah.
Giant military stuff.
Yeah and I feel like yeah we have to do an episode on L.A. Marzouli who just takes everything
at face value apparently and doesn't ask questions back in any way.
No.
That's at least my understanding as of right now.
It's a name I as soon as he said it I'm like right that's a name that used to come up a
lot not in this episode but in this show but he was like all over coast to coast back in
the early 2000s.
It was.
Can't put a name to his face or what he actually talked about but apparently a lot of giants
so you best believe he's going on to the list.
Then with Steven Coyle I forgot about him as well.
Yes.
And I also got him confused with that other guy Steven Greer.
Greer yeah and Greer is already on the list.
He is yeah.
Yeah.
So that's our Friday episode.
Well I think it's good and I most importantly.
I do as well.
Yes it's probably our most recent of cryptid I guess would you call it a cryptid?
Yeah I don't see why not.
Yeah.
And I always like because there are other giant stories that we'll definitely do in
another episode where they always make sure that they say the double sets of teeth and
six fingers on each hand and usually they'll also say red hair.
Red hair yeah.
And I just went to the Bible but yeah.
Yeah.
Don't worry.
We'll talk about that at a later date.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well that's all I have to say.
Okay and I think that's all I have to say so I have been Taylor here with Chelsea.
We are during to the fringe.
Thank you all for listening and we'll see you next week.
Bye.
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