Ancient mummies were found with blond hair on Catalina Island and long black hair in other parts of the country, but the red-haired ones piqued curiosity because they were found all over the country and sometimes ᴀssociated with being, well, generally cranky, giant, and troublesome like the cannabilistic ones in Nevada ᴀssociated with the Lovelock Cave.

Supposedly, samples taken from some in Florida showed them to be of Northern European origin. As a Thorvaldsen of Norway and Eng of Lapland, I suspect my ancestors were all over the place. They have the travel bug. Were they giant? Well, as a 5’8″ woman in a family of 5’2″ women, perhaps?

I obviously feel an attachment for these red-haired ones, so I began to research, only to find that America was not the only location of red-haired giants. Here’s just some locations.

Canary Islands: Gaunches were what they called the Nordic ones in the Canary Islands. The Gaunches were pyramid builders and built some on the islands. They had East-West alignment.

The males were over 6 feet and the women approached 6 feet tall, strong, and reportedly very attractive. The Spanish wished to take the women as wives.

The guanche also practiced mummification.

China: Red-haired mummies were uncovered in China from 2400 BC to 4000 BC. They were reported to have classically Nordic features including hair color, thin lips, deep-set eyes.

Egypt: “The mighty Osiris and Isis walked into the Egyptian Valley out of nowhere and ᴀssumed command. . They were taller and more imposing and than the men of the time, with long blond hair, marblelike white skin and remarkable powers that enabled them to perform miracles.” (Nordic aliens?) The wife of King Tut had auburn hair. A mummy with red hair and red mustache and beard was found by the pyramids of Saqqara. Red-haired mummies were found in the crocodile caverns of Aboufaaida. The pharoah Thothmes II had light chestnut-colored hair.

Mammoth Cave: Carbon testing of Scudder’s mummy with fawn red hair showed it to be 3400 years old. A 3000-year-old female mummy with dark auburn hair was found. The dryness of caves makes naturally created mummies a strong possibility.

United States: Perhaps the most famous red-haired mummies in America were those found in Lovelock Cave in Nevada. Ancient Paiute tales told of a race of cannibalistic red-haired giants that they fought and trapped in the cave and burned alive. In the early 20th Century, guano farmers went into the cave in search of valuable guano and dug around, tossing aside basketry, duck decoys, and the mummies of red-haired giants. Two other red-haired mummies were found by a couple toward the middle of the 20th Century. In the bogs of Florida, more red-haired mummies were found.