“A curious discovery has just been made at Vimoutiers, in the Department of the Orne, by a peasant living in the village of Cutesson. He was digging in his field when the ground suddenly gave way, and he fell into a hole 10 feet in depth.
“The peasant had accidentally lighted upon a subterranean chamber, the existence of which was not previously suspected. On examination, a number of human bones, partially petrified, were found in an adjoining vault, constructed in the form of a circle.
“The bones are of exceptionally large dimensions and appear to have belonged to a race of gigantic stature and great breadth of frame. In fact, the persons who have studied the case on the spot are of the opinion that the bodies must have been interred in this burial place at a very remote period.
“Further researches have been temporarily interrupted by the subsidence of other plots of ground. It seems by no means improbable that some highly interesting discoveries will result from this accident.”
According to Paul Brown from Singular Discoveries, at the end of the newspaper article, it was stated that excavations at the site were eventually temporarily stopped due to subsidence.
The story immediately became widespread and was published in other British newspapers. This was written about in France itself; of course, the French press was simply not as read in the world as the British press.
In
particular, in French newspapers these finds were called “ossements
humains d’une taille étonnante” (“human bones of amazingly large size”)
and they also indicated some details that were not written in British
newspapers. For example, the underground chamber where the skeletons
were located was so large that two peasant horses fell into this hole....<<<Read More>>>...