Excerpt from National Geographic Magazine
September, 1952
Vol. CII, No. 3
Title: SEEKING THE SECRET OF THE GIANTS
By Frank M. Setzler
Page 390
Our immediate objective was this: to find, and photograph, in the parched, trackless desert near Blythe,
California, crude figures of men and animals reported by airplane pilots. Later I hoped to solve the
mystery of these immense and lonely figures—to arrive at a scientific conclusion as to who made them,
when, and why.
Suddenly and almost simultaneously we spotted our target. On a broad, bare mesa sloping up from the
mesquite-dotted plain stretched a gigantic figure, crudely outlined in the dark-brown gravel. It lay upon its
back, arms and legs flung out as if sprawled there for some interminable sun-bath.
From our altitude of 1,500 feet, the great effigy seemed about two or three inches long; on the ground,
we quickly calculated, it must extend a good 100 feet from head to toe.
Wheeling around, we scrutinized the surrounding territory. In a minute we sighted two other recumbent
figures, then a third. One was a misshapen four-legged creature, the others an odd circle and a scraggly
ellipse.
Pages 399-400
The human figure, which we dubbed “Site No. 1 Blythe,” stretches 94 feet from head to toe; his arm
spread we found to be 67 feet 9 inches.
The largest and most impressive is the female effigy at Site No. 3 Blythe. It is 170 feet 9 inches long, and
its outflung arms measure 158 feet 1 inch.
Several features distinguish this latter figure. It has exaggerated elbows and knees, rather well-defined
fingers and toes, an abdomen slightly distended on the right side, an elongated neck, and quartzite stones
to represent eyes, nose, mouth, and breasts.
Perhaps the figure’s most striking adornment consists of six strands of hair on one side of its head and
seven on the other. These extend 39 feet 6 inches to the right, and 45 feet 11 inches to the left.
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The other types of figure proved to be on the same huge scale. The quadrupled at Site No. 3 turned out to
be 53 feet long and 43 feet 10 inches tall. One of the larger formations of circles and other insignia is 296
feet long.
Page 401
The mysterious sculptors had to be numerous simply to see what they were depicting; our own
observations demonstrated that. Even when five or six of us stationed ourselves at various points along a
figure’s extremities, we could barely make out its design. Thus it hardly seems possible that a couple of
nomadic families could have made such a figure, or that a people would go to the immense pains of
creating these huge effigies only to leave them and wander on.
When we examine the history of the Southwest, we find that the most stable and most important Indians
living in the lower Colorado River area in the post-1540 period were the Yuman-speaking tribes.
Page 404
In all the historic and linguistic literature dealing with the Yuman tribes, their legends and their
mythology, I could find no specific reference to the construction of these gigantic figures.
That was a puzzler. However, following up a lead suggested by Dr. Arthur Woodward of the Los Angeles
County Museum, I came upon an intriguing piece of evidence. It was an account set down by an
ethnologist, Dr. Frank Russell, in 1901-02, and it dealt with a myth held by the Pima Indians of the Gila
River Indian Reservation, near Sacaton, Arizona.
This was the legend: To the daughter of Si’al Tcu’-utak Sivan was born a strange-looking child, with long
claws instead of fingers and toes, and teeth that were long and sharp. People named her Hâ-âk, which
meant something dreadful, or ferocious.
Indian Monster Ate Children
In only three or four years the child grew to maturity. She ate any kind of meat, cooked or raw. When she
began to eat children as well, the people became frightened and tried to kill her. She escaped, however,
and fled to a cave.
Then the people called upon the all-powerful “Elder Brother” for help. He went up to the cave and
destroyed the monster.
To commemorate this deed, the Pima built a shrine. Here is how Dr. Russell described it:
“Hâ-âk Vâ-âk, [or] Hâ-âk Lying, is a crude outline of a human figure situated about 5 miles north of
Sacaton [about 30 miles southeast of Phoenix, Arizona]. It was made by scraping aside the small stones
with which the mesa is there thickly strewn to form furrows about 50 cm. [20 inches] wide.
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“The body furrow is 35 m. [105 feet] long and has a small heap of stones at the head, another at a
distance of 11 m. [33 feet] from the first, and another at the junction of body and legs. The latter are 11
m. long and 1 m. [3 feet] apart. The arms curve outward from the head and terminate in small pyramids.”
When I read this account, I felt certain a real clue had turned up. Here was a letter-perfect description of a
giant human effigy like the one we had seen and photographed at Site No. 2 Blythe. Surely this was the
mythological link for which I had been searching!
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