Giant Skeleton Hoax
Summary:
Email claims that skeletal remains of a gigantic human have been unearthed in the Arabian desert.

Status:
False

Example:(Submitted via email, July 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 !!

Commentary:
I am not sure if even the most gullible of recipients would take the following piece of netlore seriously. However, it's an interesting little tale backed up by an excellent, although completely fake, photographic image.

The message claims that a skeleton of a gigantic human has been discovered during a gas exploration and sports an attached photograph to "prove" the claim. The email tries to add legitimacy to this fanciful tale by referencing the Quran's Prophet Hud and the people of Aad.

The clever image of the giant skeleton is actually an entry in an image manipulation contest in which participants were instructed to create "a picture of an archaeological discovery that looks so real, had it not appeared at Worth1000, people might have done a double take".

There used to be an old adage that stated, "Photographs never lie". These days, the combination of sophisticated image manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop and a talented end user can result in "Photographs" that lie like a pig in mud. :)