 adds heard during the podcast that are not in my voice or placed by third-party agencies outside of my control and should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness or myself. Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. Jackalegs was an interesting and kind individual who met a sad end. Locals tell his body is buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church in western UK. Two stones that are 14 feet apart mark the end and foot of his grave. Some say Jackalegs was so tall people had to bend his corpse before placing him in his grave. Enduring stories of the 14-foot Hartfordshire giant Jackalegs have been passed down through generations and there is truly something captivating about this tall man who, according to legend, lived in a cave in a wood at Weston near the medieval town of Baldog. As the legend tells, Jackalegs, who used to steal from the rich and give to the poor, was a well-liked person in a village, which is why he is so often called Hartfordshire's Robin Hood. It is unknown exactly when Jackalegs lived, but it was hundreds and hundreds of years ago. The poem Speak Parrot, written by John Skelton in 1521, mentions that the gibbet of Baldog was made for Jackaleg. Since Baldog was founded, circa 1148, it is logical to assume the life of Jackalegs can be traced to this time period. With his height and strength, Jackalegs could scare even the bravest of men and it was not particularly difficult for him to prey on the rich and give the loot to the poor. However, one year there was a poor harvest and Baldog Bakers raised the price of flour. This made Jackalegs angry because the poor could no longer afford the price that bakers were demanding. So one day, Jackalegs hid at the top of his hill and waited for the bakers who used this road on their way home. When the giant saw them coming, he pounced them hard, stole their flour and gave everything to the poor locals. The Hartfordshire giant did this repeatedly until one day the bakers had had enough and decided to deal with Jackalegs once and for all. The bakers planned their revenge carefully. One day the bakers laid in wait for him and caught the surprised giant and took him to Baldog where they tied him up and blackened out his eyes. The decision had been made and Jackalegs was going to be executed. The giant knew he could not escape and before being murdered, he asked if they could grant him one last wish. The bakers agreed and Jackalegs asked to be pointed in the direction of Weston so he could shoot an arrow with his bow. Wherever the arrow landed, that is where he wanted to be buried. The bakers gave him a huge bow that no one else was strong enough to pull and he shot his bow over three miles away into the churchyard of the Holy Trinity Church, Weston. Some people claimed the arrow actually first hit the church tower before it came down to the ground. As always, with legends that have been passed down orally, there are other versions of what happened to Jackalegs and who he was. Some suggest the legend is based on a very tall robber who went around Baldog looking in upstairs windows. Being a good person at heart and generous to the less fortunate, he became a local hero. As time passed, stories about him were more and more exaggerated. The man became taller, stronger and even more heroic with a bigger bow and arrow. We may never know the entire truth about Jackalegs but many legends are based on actual events, including giants. Jackalegs was most likely much taller than the average man. Though one can visit his grave, his cave in a wood at the village of Weston has not yet been found, but maybe it will one day. In this episode of Weird Darkness, Ancient Giants. Welcome, Weirdos, I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained. If you're new here, welcome to the show and if you're already a member of this Weirdo family, please take a moment and invite someone else to listen. Recommending Weird Darkness to others helps make it possible for me to keep doing the show. And while you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com where you can find the show on Facebook and Twitter, and you can also join the Weird Darkness Weirdos Facebook group. Coming up in this episode, Ancient Giants in Ecuador were supposedly killed by fire from the sky. Tales of giants in North America exist. The stories of giants living in the days of Noah as well. How much of these stories about giants can be believed and how much should be considered tall tales? Bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness. Did giants exist in the distant past? The answer depends on who you ask. Most ordinary people are convinced prehistoric giants were real. Mainstream scholars will say ancient giants are a fantasy because no huge skeletons have ever been found. The existence of giants is a controversial subject, but many tend to forget we encounter men of huge stature even now in modern times. For example, the giant of Illinois, Robert Pershing Wadlow, he was the world's tallest man. Cheng Wu Gao never became as famous as Wadlow, but he was also a giant who lived not so long ago. Ancient myths and legends are filled with accounts of giants who were often in conflict with humans. Turning our attention to biblical lands, we learned that in ancient times Jericho was known as the city of giants because it was inhabited by giants known as Gaborum. When Spanish conquistadors encountered natives in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 1543, they were told a tribe of giants once inhabited the Indians' land. These horrifying giants had been killed by a fire from the sky. The Spaniards were amused by this tale. Obviously, the locals were fabricating stories to gain their attention, but then the attitude changed about it. The Indians were very convincing, and perhaps there was a reason not to dismiss this story about men of giant stature as a fantasy after all. When the Spaniards discovered curious, large, ancient bones and odd markings on rocks, they knew something remarkable had taken place in Ecuador in the distant past. In 1553, Pedro Cieza de León published a report about the giants of Guayaquil. He wrote that the natives tell from what they heard to their forefathers who heard and had heard it far back that there came by sea in rafts of reeds after the manner of large boats some men who were so tall that from knee down, they were as big as the full length of an ordinary fair-sized man, and the limbs were in proportion to their bodies, so misshapen that it was monstrous to look at their heads as large as they were and with the hair that came down on the shoulders. In his account, Pedro Cieza de León also tells that these huge men were dressed in skins of animals, had no beards, and came without women. Did the Indians of Guayaquil really encounter giants or perhaps people of large stature who had come from across the seas? We know that Vikings visited America, and the description provided by Pedro Cieza de León reminds us of Norse explorers, but there are no records that Vikings ever visited Ecuador, or are there? According to Pedro Cieza de León, these giant men built a village, hunted, but they couldn't find any women because none of the local females were of their size. Conflicts between the Indians and giants were frequent, but the natives were afraid of tacking these large foreigners who had come to take their country. Then something happened that ended the Indians' nightmare. Cieza writes that according to the account handed down by the natives, an angel in a mass of fire descended from the heavens and killed the giants. It seems like a description of a cosmic object that wiped out the giants. Scholars have suggested this unusual destruction witnessed by the natives was caused by the fall of some meteorite of unusual size and brilliancy. It is also possible some kind of electrical phenomena such as ball lightning. Interestingly, the Choctaw people of Mississippi have a very interesting ancient legend about how their ancestors emerged from the Nenawaya Cave mound. The Indians tell of similar encounters with a race of red and blonde-haired white-skinned giants. Did the Native Americans of Guyakwil and Mississippi have the misfortune of meeting the same race of giant people from across the sea? The Choctaws say that their ancestors emerged from an artificial underground world a very long time ago, which they consider being the homeland of their ancestors. During this time, the Choctaw were invaded by a race of red and blonde-haired white-skinned giants. These huge men were dressed in thick skin and carried weapons such as axes and sharp clubs. It almost sounds like the Choctaw encountered foreign invaders from across the sea. Could it have been the Vikings or some other foreign people of great stature? The Choctaw are descendants of the Hopewell and Mississippian cultures who lived throughout the east of the Mississippi River Valley. Nenawaya, a 50-foot-tall natural geological formation, is located in what is central present-day Mississippi. The mound is said to have been built by the Hopewell people about 1,700 years ago. Nenawaya is sacred to the Choctaw people. The great mound has several natural openings, some of which have been sealed up. Still, the Choctaws say these openings serve as entrances to a vast, unknown underground realm that their ancestors inhabited. When the white giants with horns attacked their people, their ancestors were forced to hide inside the mound for generations. According to the Choctaw, the mound leads to a huge, subterranean world with a large series of caverns. There is an underground river there and it connects to other worlds or underground places. When the Choctaw emerged after staying underground for many generations, they won the war by using darts coated with a poison made from mushrooms found in the caverns. Victorious, they emerged again into the sunlit world. The Choctaw still consider Nenawaya to be a place that should be treated with respect, but they also fear it a little. They say several supernatural beings inhabit the mound. One of them is the Champi, a hair-covered human-like giant who has a terrible odor. Other mysterious beings are believed to live inside the Nenawaya, like dwarfs and giant serpents. There are many interesting and well-documented encounters with ancient giants in North America. According to another story, this took place in the vicinity of Tampa Bay, and many who came in contact with these aggressive giants died, but some managed to survive and it is thanks to them that we can learn about what had happened. If true, these giants might have survived the fire from the sky mentioned earlier in the account of Pedro Cieza de Leon. This incident takes place in 1528 when explorer Panfio de Narayas, who together with 300 men were on a mission to search for gold and other riches. Their five ships reached the coast, when they encountered beings whom they could not fight with. Only Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and three men survived this fatal meeting. In his writing, Cabeza de Vaca described how these giant floreta people attacked his party. When we came to Appalachian, he writes, the governor ordered that I should take nine cavalry with a fifth infantry and enter the town. Accordingly, the assessor and I assailed it. Having got in, we found only women and boys there, the men being absent. However, these returned to its support after a little time while we were talking about and began discharging arrows at us. They killed the horse of the assessor and at last taking the flight, they left us. The town consisted of 40 small houses, made low and set up in sheltered places because of the frequent storms. The material was They were surrounded by very dense woods, large groves and many bodies of fresh water. The hours after our arrival at Appalachian, the Indians who had fled from there came in peace to us, asking for their women and children whom we released. But the mention of a Casica, the Indian's chief by the governor, produced great excitement in consequence of which they returned to battle early the next day and attacked us with such promptness and alacrity that they succeeded in setting fire to the houses in which we were. As the story goes, after 25 days, Norway's army departed Appalachian. But a short while later, as they attempted to cross a large lake, they came under heavy tech from many giant Indians concealed behind the trees. Some of our men were wounded in this conflict for whom the good armor they wore did not avail, continues Kabeza de Vaca. There were those in this day who swore that they had seen two red oaks, each the thickness of the lower part of the leg, pierced through from side to side by arrows, and this not so much to be wondered at considering the power and skills with which the Indians are able to project them. I myself saw an arrow that had entered the butt of an elm to the depth of a span. The Indians we had so far seen in Florida are all archers. They go naked, are large of body and appear at a distance like giants. They are of admirable proportions, very rare and of great activity and strength. The bows they use are as thick as the arm of eleven or twelve palms in length, which will discharge at two hundred pieces with so great precision that they miss nothing. As Charles Delosh explained in his book, giants, harassment by these Indians giants continued, so Narvejas decided to head south for the Gulf Coast and escape the sea. Arriving there after much hardship, he and his men constructed five crude boats in order to search alongside the coast for a Spanish settlement. Unfortunately, a sudden fierce storm caught them some distance from the land. A high winds drove all the boats with all their men aboard far out to sea. All were subsequently lost except Kabeza de Vaca and three companions who managed to reach the shore. They walked across Texas and northern Mexico, finally reaching the Pacific Coast where they lined up with Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in 1541. Up next, we'll look at the story of Noah and how it ties in with red giants and a race called the Watchers when Weird Darkness returns. Our next Weirdo Watch Party is Saturday, April 13th. Are all the men gathered? All the fools. We'll be treated to a Roger Corman crapfest from 1958. Teenage Caveman starring Robert Vaughn. There are shadows there deep and cold and dirt that eats men. Did he just say dirt that eats men? There are shadows there deep and cold and dirt that eats men. Yep, I guess so. Mistress Malicious and her Mistress Peace Theater will keep us entertained throughout the film as we watch this caveman teenager with great hair go into the jungle to fight prehistoric monsters like dogs and an armadillo. Whatever, they're prehistoric creatures. Our Weirdo Watch Party is always free to watch online, so grab your popcorn, candy and soda and jump into the fun and even get involved in the live chat as we watch the movie. Plus, during this Weirdo Watch Party, I'll be giving away a creepy crate to one lucky winner full of scary surprises like horror collectibles, true crime-themed accessories, books, terrifying trinkets and more with some Weird Darkness swag added in. You won't know what's in the creepy crate until you open it. Strengthening his courage, his daring, his dreams. And I'll be giving instructions on how to win the creepy crate inside the chat during the movie, so you have to tune in to win. It's Teenage Caveman, Saturday, April 13th, hosted by Mistress Peace Theater. The show begins at 10 p.m. Eastern, 9 p.m. Central, 8 p.m. Mountain and 7 p.m. Pacific. You can watch a trailer for the film and watch horror hosts and schlocky B movies any time, day or night on the Monster Channel page at WeirdDarkness.com. Hope to see you on Saturday, April 13th. Mention the name Noah, and most people will say they remember that he was the man in the Bible who built an ark and saved himself, his family, and a number of animals two by two from the great flood that he had been warned about by God. The story of Noah, who at the time of the deluge was 600 years old, appears in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Genesis, chapters 5-9. The story of Noah's ark is not just a Biblical story, though. Noah was known under a different name in India among ancient Egyptians and Native Americans, just to mention a few cultures. Some of the details of the Noah story seem mythical, so many Biblical scholars believe the story of Noah and the ark was inspired by the legendary flood stories of nearby Mesopotamia in particular. The epic of Gilgamesh. Though many still question the reality of the Biblical flood, there are scientists who are convinced the story of Noah's ark and the great flood was based on real events. However, as intriguing as these events are, we will not focus our attention on Noah's attempt to escape the deluge. Instead, we are going to discuss Noah's supernatural origin. As we continue to explore these mysteries, we are going to try and unravel why there is reason to assume Noah was no ordinary human being. And we are going to discuss Noah's strange and often overlooked connection with red-skinned giants and the watchers. The Bible is full of fascinating accounts, and when we read between the lines and study certain passages in more detail, we can discover some Biblical figures might not be those we thought they were. When Noah's father Lamek saw his newborn son for the first time, he was terrified because of the baby's unusual appearance. Baby Noah was so unlike any ordinary babies that Lamek became suspicious and doubted it was even his child. Lamek looked at the child and saw that his body was white as snow and red as the blooming of a rose, and the hair of his head and his long locks were white as wool and his eyes beautiful. And when he opened his eyes, he lighted up the whole house like the sun and the whole house was very light. A confused and troubled Lamek decided to visit his father Methuselah and ask what to think of this unusual newborn child. An interesting passage taken from the non-Biblical book of Noah relates how Lamek tells his father about how he is worried there is something wrong with the baby. And he, Lamek, said unto him, I have begotten a strange son, diverse from an unlike man, and resembling the sons of the God of Heaven, and his nature is different, and he is not like us, and his eyes are as the rays of the sun and his countenance is glorious. And it seems to me that he has not sprung from me, but from the angels, and I fear that in his days a wonder may be wrought on the earth. And now, my father, I am here to petition thee and implore thee that thou mayest go to Enoch, our father, and learn from him the truth, for his dwelling place is among the angels. And when Methuselah heard the words of his son, he came to me to the ends of the earth, for he had heard that I was there, and he cried aloud, and I heard his voice, and I came to him, and said unto him, Behold, here am I, my son, wherefore hast thou come to me? And he answered and said, Because of the great cause of anxiety have I come to thee, and because of a disturbing vision have I approached. And now, my father, hear me, unto Lamek my son, here hath been borne a son, the like of whom there is none, and his nature is not like the man's nature, and the color of his body is wider than snow, and redder than the bloom of a rose, and the hair of his head is wider than white wool, and his eyes are like the rays of the sun. And he opened his eyes, and thereupon lighted up the whole house. And he arose in the hands of the midwife, and opened his mouth, and blessed the Lord of heaven. And his father Lamek became afraid, and fled to me. It did not believe that he was sprung from him, but that he was in the likeness of the angels of heaven. And behold, I have come to thee, that thou mayest make known to me the truth. And I, Enoch, answered, and said unto him, The Lord will do new things on the earth, and this I have already seen in a vision, and make known to thee that in the generation of my father Jared, some of the angels of heaven transgressed the word of the Lord. And behold, they commit sin and transgress the law, and have united themselves with women and commit sin with them, and have married some of them, and have begotten children by them. And they shall produce on the earth giants, not according to the spirit, but according to the flesh. And there shall be a great punishment on the earth, and the earth shall be cleansed from all impurity. Yea, there shall come a great destruction over the whole earth, and there shall be a deluge, and a great destruction for one year. And this son who has been born unto you shall be left on the earth, and his three children shall be saved with him. With all mankind that are on the earth shall die, he and his sons shall be saved. And now make known to thy son Lamech, that he who has been born is in truth his son. And call his name Noah, for he shall be left to you, and he and his sons shall be saved from the destruction, which shall come upon the earth on account of all the sin and all the unrighteousness, which shall be consummated on the earth in his days. And after that there shall be still more unrighteousness than that which was first consummated on the earth, for I know the mysteries of the holy ones, for he, the Lord, has showed me and informed me, and I have read them in the heavenly tablets. Okay, for the TLDR version of all of that, what Lamech is implying is that Noah's shining appearance could mean that he was a child made by one of the angels, but Enoch assures him, no, that's not the case. The child is his and his name will be Noah, meaning rest or comfort. Lamech did have reasons to doubt Noah was his child. After all, we learn from the book of Enoch, again another non-biblical book, that in ancient times 200 heavenly watchers rebelled against God in heaven, led by the angels Semyaza and Azazel. The watchers came to earth on Mount Hernon, where they mated with human women. This resulted in the birth of bloodthirsty hybrid giants and later led to the great flood. The supernatural origin of Noah was mentioned in other ancient texts worthy of further discussion. Though Enoch assured Lamech that Noah was indeed his own son, there are some strange aspects to the whole story. As stated, Noah's strange supernatural origins are mentioned in other ancient texts, not just the Bible. In the medieval Samaritan legends of Moses, circumstances surrounding Noah's birth are also described. Startling confirmation of the story came with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, wherein Lamech suspected that his child had been conceived by one of the heavenly watchers, or holy beings, and that it really did belong to the giants. Bethanosh, his wife, indignantly protested that this fruit was planted by you and not by some stranger or by any of the watchers or heavenly beings. Not wholly convinced in view of his son's celestial appearance, Lamech begged Methuselah, his father, to turn to his father Enoch, the favorite of God, to learn the whole truth from him. We already know that Enoch told Lamech Noah was his son, and even if this may not have been the case, the pre-flood prophet may not have been aware the whole truth. What we also know from the Bible is that Noah's birth coincides with Adam's death. Yes, that Adam. Whenever the name Adam is mentioned, people think about the Bible and the first male human being created by God in his image. The story about biblical Adam is rather complex, and it gives us a lot to think about, where the creation stories in Genesis meant to be taken literally. Personally, I believe so, but not everybody agrees. Perhaps there is a much deeper story hidden behind the creation of Adam, especially if you look outside of the Bible. If nothing else, it certainly is fascinating even for non-believers. At the end of the biblical creation story in Genesis, God creates two humans, one female and one male. The man is given the name Adam, and the woman Eve. The name Adam is related to the Hebrew word earth because he was taken out of the earth. After Adam was created, he is put under divine anesthesia and a female companion is created from him out of one of his ribs. This means that Adam and Eve were created separately from the rest of the earth's creatures. This is the story that if you went to Sunday school, it would probably sound familiar to you. But if you step away from the Bible and look at other sources, he gets really freaky. In the secret book of John, also called the Apocryphon of John, it is written that 365 angels contributed to the creation of Adam. Each and every one had a responsibility in the creation of the male body. According to the Apocryphon of John, this is the number of the angels. Together they are 365. They all worked on it until limb for limb, the natural and the material body was completed by them. Now there are other ones in charge over the remaining passions whom I did not mention to you, but if you wish to know them it is written in the book of Zoroaster, and all the angels and demons worked until they had constructed the natural body, and their product was completely inactive and motionless for a long time. So according to this story, Adam did not live until they gave his body a spirit. Again, according to the Apocryphon of John, and when the mother wanted to retrieve the power which she had given to the chief archon, she petitioned the mother father of the all who is most merciful. He sent by means of the holy decree the five lights down upon the place of the angels of the chief archon. They advised him that they should bring forth the power of the mother, and they said to Yalta Baoth, Blow into his face something of your spirit and his body will arise, and he blew into his face the spirit which is the power of his mother. He did not know this for he exists in ignorance, and the power of the mother went out of Yalta Baoth into the natural body which they had fashioned after the image of the one who exists from the beginning. The body moved and gained strength and it was luminous. Like many other biblical people, Adam has an extremely long lifespan. He had reached 930 years old before he died. There is a thought provoking theory suggesting that Adam may not have been a human after all, but something else. The idea is that Adam was a giant who emerged from an underground world. Yeah, the theory does sound incredible, almost ridiculous, some would say, but it is not a blind theory. It is a statement found in sacred ancient books and texts outside the Bible. There is no shortage of mysterious personalities in the Bible itself. The Holy Book gives intriguing accounts of people with unusually long lifespans, individuals who performed deeds described as miracles, and beings who appeared out of nowhere and vanished into thin air. The Bible offers a huge number of interesting stories that are often controversial and mysterious in nature, and biblical scholars are not afraid to admit that several biblical passages are unusual and not easy to fully understand. Some ancient authors of non-biblical texts wrote that Adam was a giant manifested from a subterranean world. Where was this mysterious underground world then and why is this not mentioned in the actual Bible? To find the answer to that, we turn to sacred ancient texts that in some cases predate the Bible. The idea that there are mysterious, ancient, subterranean worlds is not a new idea. Throughout all the Americas, there are a number of legends of secret subterranean passages stretching for miles, which we talked about earlier. Some years ago, a researcher suggested that across Europe there are thousands of underground tunnels from the north in Scotland leading all the way down to the Mediterranean. This 12,000-year-old massive underground network is pretty impressive. Some experts believe the network was a way of protecting man from predators while others suggest that the linked tunnels were used like motorways are today for people to travel safely, regardless of wars or violence or even weather conditions on the ground. It can be described as a kind of ancient underground superhighways. Others think the tunnels are gateways to the underworld. Okay, so what does all this have to do with the biblical atom? Well, according to authors Alec McClellan and Harold T. Wilkins, ancient accounts and traditions reveal Adam, who was the first man, came from a secret subterranean world. According to an ancient sage named St. Ephraim, his home was in the middle of the earth and his dying words were that his redeemer and that of his posterity would come from this place. The tradition goes on to say that Adam's body was embalmed and then kept safely until a priest called Mechizedek, a wise man from the subterranean world, arrived some years later through a tunnel to take it back for proper burial. McClellan writes in his book Lost World of the Akarti. Mechizedek, whose name means King of Righteousness, is definitely one of the most baffling figures in the Bible. Mechizedek was not a Jew and he did not even worship the same religion as Abraham, yet this mysterious individual was very important in ancient times. In his book Secret Cities of Old South America, Harold T. Wilkins speculates that Mechizedek originated from Atlantis. The idea that Adam was a giant is also indicated by the Quran, that described Adam as a handsome man as tall as a palm tree. In Vedic literature, there are also references to Adam being a giant and emerging from the underground. Hindu lore says that he was the king of a group of elders who had first gone underground at the time of a great cataclysm and then returned to supervise the re-establishment of life on the surface world, McClellan writes. The Hindu description of Adam is interpreted by Wilkins as a direct reference to the lost kingdom of Atlantis. Adam was a king of a greater or old Atlantis, Wilkins writes. Adam from the Bible and Atlantis being tied together. As you can see, the study of Adam just becomes more and more complex and weird when you rely on other ancient sources other than the Bible. It is not the only holy book to mention Adam. So, all of that said, Adam is not an ordinary being. If that is the case, could the same be said about Noah? Was Noah also a giant who was born under unusual circumstances? Some occultists believe Noah was a red-scanned giant survivor from Atlantis about 10,000 B.C., whose family bridged man's transition from the 4th root race to the 5th. Madam H. P. Bolvatsky associates Noah and other flawed heroes with the submergence of the great Atlantean islands of Ruta and Didia, possibly 850,000 years ago. The ancient, venerated Noah as an Atlantean and Titan, his family is the powerful Kibiri, the Greeks regarded the Titans as sons of Uranus, symbolizing a most ancient stellar race, thereby linking Noah with the spacemen corresponding to biblical traditions, associating him with the angels, the sons of God. The story in Genesis describes antediluvians as civilized but wicked, their country totally destroyed by immense flood, whose survivors sailed far away, suggesting the destruction of Atlantis. Ancient alternative theories proposed giants of Atlantis knew more than we could ever imagine about the secrets of Venus. Their wisdom was perverted by black magicians who fought with occult powers against the white magicians until some titanic nuclear blast smashed Atlantis down to the deep, before the catastrophe it chose and initiates migrated to Egypt and America. In essence, the story of the destruction of the depraved Atlantis parallels the biblical tale of the sons of God siring giants whose wickedness brought the deluge to destroy sinful mankind, leaving only the righteous Noah and his family to be saved. It just gets weirder and weirder as we go, doesn't it? So those heavenly watchers that chose to rebel against God and come down on Earth that we mentioned earlier, what do they have to do with giants? Well, that's where we get the nephilim, and I'll tell you more about that when Weird Darkness returns. The first letter seemed harmless enough, possibly even just a result of a mistaken delivery. The second one drew concern, and paired with the unexplained visions of something darkly unsettling, Sam Morris finally caves. The everyman, safe world he lives in, is about to take a drastic and dark turn. He quickly falls into a world of insanity, the morbid and the macabre. He's drawn into a darkness that is just as deadly as it is mysterious, a darkness that dwells in a house that could only be conjured up by a mad brain. It is a house that calls you, a house that haunts you with its ghosts. They'll scratch and claw through your fragile hide, bringing madness bubbling to the surface. Come see the ghosts for yourself, if you dare. Weird Darkness Publishing presents of A Mad Brain by Scott Donnelly, now available on paperback, ebook and audiobook versions through Amazon and WeirdDarkness.com. Earlier, we learned that 200 heavenly watchers rebelled against God in heaven. Led by the angels Semiaza and Azazel, the watchers came to earth on Mount Hernan, where they mated with human women. This resulted in the birth of bloodthirsty hybrid giants that we know as the Nephilim. Little is known about the watchers themselves, the fallen angels who were the sons of God. The subject of the watchers is controversial, and scholars think the watchers deliberately created the hybrid giants to destroy God's creation as punishment for being cast out of heaven. In the Bible, there are many references to the giants Nephilim who were offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men before the Great Flood. Genesis 6 verses 1-4, and you might want to pay attention to this because it does get referenced a little later on, even outside of the Bible. Genesis 6 verses 1-4, When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took as their wives any they chose. Then the Lord said, My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh, his days shall be 120 years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, where the sons of God came into the daughters of man, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. Okay, we'll get back to the Nephilim in just a moment. But as for the watchers, mentioned only a few times in the Bible, we have to seek our answers about the watchers in the book of Enoch, one of the most well-known non-canonical apocryphal works. Enoch, the initiator, was pre-Flood messenger and initiator. He was the great grandfather of Noah and one of the first people who talked face to face with the Lord. He gathered all secret knowledge that he had been given and wrote it down for future generations of mankind. It's in the book of Enoch we find the most interesting account of the watchers. Enoch tells that in ancient times, 200 heavenly watchers rebelled against God in heaven, led by the angels, Smyaza and Azazel, the watchers came to earth on Mount Hernan, where they mated with human women. This resulted in the birth of bloodthirsty hybrid giants, the Nephilim, and later led to the Great Flood. The book of Enoch has some remarkable details about the watchers. There is no complete record of the names of all 200 watchers, but some of their names are mentioned. The two most important of these watchers was Smyaza and Azazel, who was later considered to be a demon and has occasionally identified even as the devil himself or as one of his chieftains. Azazel, who was the leader of the fallen angels, is often identified with Lucifer, the lightbringer or Lumiel, the light of God. According to the book of Enoch, the watchers revealed occult secrets to mankind. They went against God's will and taught humans not only various creative arts, but valuable knowledge related to science and technology, agriculture, the use of cosmetics, metallurgy, medicine, astrology, astronomy, and much more was also a gift from the watchers to mankind. Unfortunately, the watchers also taught humans how to engage in war. As punishment for giving humans so much secret knowledge, God sent a great flood to wipe out the watchers along with all the Nephilim. However, some of the fallen angels survived and fled to other countries where they continued to teach mankind occult secrets. The watchers were never destroyed, according to the book of Enoch, and their secret knowledge was spread across various cultures. Many would say that their knowledge has survived until this day, and if you look at society the way it is, it is kind of hard to argue otherwise. Some secret societies are said to be in possession of knowledge that was inherited by the watchers, who were led by Lucifer, the bringer of light, the Freemasons being one of those secret societies. The true identity of the watchers and the Nephilim has been a controversial subject debated among scholars for millennia. Some researchers think that the watchers were not heavenly angelic beings at all. According to the Sethite view, for example, the watchers were simply humans from the righteous lineage of Seth. Julius Africanus, a Christian traveler and historian of the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries, wrote that the descendants of Seth are called the sons of God on account of the righteous men and patriarchs who have sprung from him, even down to the Savior himself, but that the descendants of Cain are named the seed of men as having nothing divine in them on account of the wickedness of their race and the inequality of their nature being a mixed people and have stirred the indignation of God. This is one of many opinions dealing with the identity of the watchers. The problem with this view, though, is that the sons of God are nowhere in Scripture ever signified as the descendants of Seth. In fact, every single use of sons of God elsewhere in the Old Testament always refers to angelic beings. The website gotquestions.org does a really good job of telling us what the Nephilim were and how they came to be, and you can see some parallels between the Bible and the book of Enoch and other apocryphal works. According to gotquestions.org, the Nephilim, or fallen ones, the giants, were the offspring of sexual relationships between the sons of God and daughters of men in Genesis 6 verses 1-4. There is much debate as to the identity of the sons of God. It is our opinion that the sons of God were fallen angels or demons who mated with human females or possessed human males who then mated with human females. These unions resulted in offspring, the Nephilim, who were heroes of old, men of renown. So why would demons even do such a thing? The Bible does not specifically give us the answer. Demons are evil, twisted beings, so nothing they do should surprise us. As to a distinct motivation, one speculation is that the demons were attempting to pollute the human bloodline in order to prevent the coming of the Messiah. God had promised that the Messiah would one day crush the head of the serpent, that is, Satan. The demons in Genesis 6 were possibly attempting to prevent the crushing of the serpent and make it impossible for a sinless seed of the woman to be born. Again, this is not a specifically biblical answer, but it is biblically plausible. So what were the Nephilim? Well, according to Hebraic and other legends, the book of Enoch and other non-biblical writings, they were a race of giants and superheroes who did acts of great evil. A great size and power likely came from the mixture of demonic DNA with human genetics. According to the movie Nella, starring Russell Crowe, the Nephilim were fallen angels encased in rock. Although the Bible directly says about them though is that they were heroes of old, men of renown. But Nephilim were not aliens, angels, watchers, or rock monsters. They were literal physical beings produced from the union of the sons of God and the daughters of men. So what happened to the Nephilim? They were one of the primary reasons for the great flood in Noah's time. Immediately after the mention of Nephilim, God's word says, the Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth and his heart was filled with pain, so the Lord said, I will wipe mankind whom I have created from the face of the earth, men and animals and creatures that move along the ground and birds of the air, for I am grieved that I have made them. God proceeded to flood the entire earth, killing everybody and everything other than Noah, his family and the animals on the ark. Everything else perished including the Nephilim. So were there Nephilim after the flood? Genesis 6.4 tells us the Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterward. So seems the demons repeated their sin sometime after the flood as well, making more Nephilim. However, it likely took place to a much lesser extent than it did prior to the flood. When the Israelites spied out the land of Canaan, they reported back to Moses. We saw the Nephilim there, the descendants of Enoch came from the Nephilim. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them. This passage does not say the Nephilim were genuinely there, only that the spies thought they saw the Nephilim. It is more likely that the spies witnessed very large people in Canaan and in their fear believed them to be Nephilim. Or it is possible that after the flood the demons again mated with human females, producing more Nephilim. It is even possible that some traits of the Nephilim were passed on through the heredity of one of Noah's daughters-in-law. Whatever the case, these giants were destroyed by the Israelites during their invasion of Canaan in Joshua 11 and later in history in Deuteronomy 3 and 1 Samuel 17. What prevents the demons from producing more Nephilim today then? What seems God put an end to demons mating with humans by placing all the demons who committed such an act in isolation? Jude 6 tells us the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home. These he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great day. Obviously not all demons are imprisoned today, so there must have been a group of demons who committed further grievous sin beyond the original fall. Imagine, demons as evil as they are having a group of demons that are even too evil for them. Presumably the demons who mated with human females, they were the ones who are bound with everlasting chains, and that would prevent any more demons from attempting such sin. And thank God for that. Thanks for listening. If you like the show, please share it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters or unsolved mysteries like you do. You can email me anytime with your questions or comments at Darren at WeirdDarkness.com. And you can find the show on Facebook and Twitter, including the show's Weirdos Facebook group on the Contact social page at WeirdDarkness.com. Also on the website, if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell, click on Tell Your Story. Jack O'Lags was written by Ellen Lloyd, and Giants of Your comes from GotQuestions.org and Ancient Pages. I have links to all the resources for this episode in the show notes. WeirdDarkness is a production and trademark of Marlar House Productions. And now that we are coming out of the dark, I will leave you with a little light. Jeremiah 29 verse 11, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. And a final thought from Anita A. Lesko, whatever your beginnings, no matter how humble or difficult, if you stay focused and follow your heart in your dreams, you will eventually reach your goal. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.