Jack the Crackpot Genealogist

The late Jack Manahan has been called the "king of … Charlottesville eccentrics." Not surprisingly, he was a genealogist.

Most famous for marrying Anna "Anastasia" Anderson, Manahan allegedly tracked down the origins of Peter Francisco—a boy abandoned on a Virginia waterfront who grew up to be a Revolutionary War hero known as "the Virginia giant" for his immense size, strength and bravery.

"Many years later," [Overton] McGehee wrote, "the old war hero was honored with the post of Sergeant of Arms at the Virginia General Assembly. Still no one knew from whence he came, not even Francisco himself. That knowledge had to wait until Jack Manahan came along.

"[Jack] went to an island in the Azores where many people are unusually large. Sure enough, there was a record of Pietro Francisco, who had vanished at the age of four. Today, buttressed by Jack's research, Portuguese-American communities celebrate Peter Francisco Day, in honor of the first Portuguese-American hero." [Link]

I can't vouch for Manahan's conclusions, especially after reading that he invited Emperor Hirohito and the Pope to his imaginary wedding in 1986.

A Large Wild Man at Large

From the Macclesfield (U.K.) Express of Jan. 18, 2006:

We’re all related to the Macclesfield Wild Man

WOULD the real relative of the legendary Wild Man of Macclesfield please stand up?

After the Macclesfield Express went in search of the legend behind a local giant who was transported to Australia, escaped and became an Aboriginal chief for 30 years – we thought we would be lucky to find one living relative.

But, like London buses, three came along at once!

[snip]

Margaret Windelinckx, 64, of Chelford Road, Macclesfield, was the first person to come forward as a potential relative, and is the one candidate who has traced her family tree – originally from Belgium – the furthest back to William.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

They Might Be Giants

From Pravda:

Russian researchers discover giants' graves in Syria

12/01/2005 15:45

The grave of Abel, the second son of Adam and Eve, is the most famous and significant grave

A group of Russian scientists with Professor Ernst Muldashev at the head set off for an expedition to Syria, Lebanon and Egypt in the beginning of this year.

[snip]

Researchers discovered the graves of gigantic people after the expedition found a giant's footprints in Syria.

Q: Many a legend and fairy tale say about giants and titans. Why do you think no giant bones have been found so far?

A: Ancient giants may have never buried their dead in the ground the way we do. Different people in the present-day world bury the dead differently. It is a custom in India to burn the dead and throw the ashes in water. It seems to me that ancient people put the dead bodies into sarcophaguses where the bodies dematerialized and turned into a kind of energy blobs that were used by living people for various purposes. That is why the bones of giant people may never be found.

Q: Did you find any?

A: No, we did not. But we found the graves of ancient giants.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Perhaps I just lack imagination, but I can't think of a single use for corpse-rendered energy blobs.