Netlore Archive: 'Recent gas exploration activity in the southeast region of the Arabian desert uncovered skeletal remains of a human of phenomenal size...'
Description: Email hoax Circulating since: March 2004 (w/text) Status: False
Email example contributed by Liane, 19 April 2004:
Subject: [Fwd: Interesting discovery]
FYI. Just got this Email, only God knows better about this story, but check it out:
Recent gas exploration activity in the south east region of the Arabian desert uncovered a skeletal remains of a human of phenomenal size. This region of the Arabian desert is called the Empty Quarter, or in Arabic, 'Rab-Ul-Khalee'. The discovery was made by the Aramco Exploration team. As God states in the Quran that He had created people of phenomenal size the like of which He has not created since. These were the people of Aad where Prophet Hud was sent. They were very tall, big, and very powerful, such that they could put their arms around a tree trunk and uproot it. Later these people, who were given all the power, turned against God and the Prophet and transgressed beyond all boundaries set by God. As a result they were destroyed.
Ulema's of Saudi Arabia believe these to be the remains of the people of Aad. Saudi Military has secured the whole area and no one is allowed to enter except the ARAMCO personnel. It has been kept in secrecy, but a military helicopter took some pictures from the air and one of the pictures leaked out into the internet in Saudi Arabia. See the attachment and note the size of the two men standing in the picture in comparison to the size of the skeleton !!
Comments: Oh, come on. What are the odds that an archaeological discovery this mind-boggling, if real, would go unreported in the mass media? Answer: zilch. This is a giant hoax.
The image first surfaced in October 2002 as an entry in a Photoshop contest run by Worth1000.com. It was created by altering an actual photo of a Cornell University excavation of a mastodon skeleton.
The text is bogus too, obviously. It was first found circulating with the image in March 2004. The story of the Prophet Hud and the people of Aad (also spelled A'ad or 'Ad) is indeed from the Quran, which makes reference to the Aad's "great" or "tall" stature among their peers - traditionally interpreted by some as meaning they were literally a race of giants.
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