The Giant of Kandahar
While giants have been confined to ancient tales, books and films, a modern story has emerged from Kandahar in Afghanistan. While supposedly taking place in 2002, the story was not picked up widely until 2016 when a YouTuber named L. A. Marzulli posted an episode of his series ‘Watchers’.
The episode featured a supposed military contractor or soldier who said they witnessed a blade-wielding giant kill one of their fellow US special forces soldiers. The giant was then downed by the remaining troops, following the skirmish, the giant’s body was loaded into a military transport aircraft and flown to an undisclosed location to be hidden away from the public.
According to the supposed eyewitness, the ‘giant of Kandahar’ was 12-15 feet tall, 1,100 pounds with scarlet coloured hair and six fingers instead of five. The witness and his team were sent to a remote area to search for a patrol which had gone missing. As they arrived in the area, the giant emerged from a cave wielding a huge blade which it used to skewer and kill his friend “Dan”.
When questioned directly, the US Department of Defence stated that they had no record of this incident occurring. Furthermore, they said that the only member in service who lost their life in Kandahar in 2002 with the first name Dan or Daniel was one of four soldiers who lost their lives during an accident involving the clearance and disposal of explosives. This statement can be backed up by looking through the US Department of Defence press release page which publicly lists all military casualties. The press release page does not contain any records which involve a giant or an entire patrol disappearing in Afghanistan.
Although this casts doubt on the story, this has not stopped conspiracy theorists and monster enthusiasts from discussing the story. Upon the release of the YouTube episode which brought the story to light, several websites which are used for discussions about conspiracies and monsters crashed with the traffic from people rushing to look into and talk about the story.
In the interview in question, the witness goes into a lot of detail regarding the incident. The witness and the victim were part of a Special Ops Task Force looking for a missing US Army squad. After trekking along a mountain trail they arrived at a large cave surrounded by broken military equipment and gear. As they prepared to enter the cave, the giant emerged, impaling ‘Dan’ and proceeded to attack the rest of the squad. The witness states they took 30 seconds of continuous fire to down the giant.
Between them, the squad was armed with M4 Submachine Guns, .308/7.62 Recon Carbines (Semi-Automatic Rifles) and .50 BMG Barrett Sniper Rifles. This much firepower, concentrated on one target for one second, let alone thirty would create a lot of damage. Stating that they fired for 30 seconds would mean that the target was something big – if the story is true…
According to the witness, the giant wore canvas or animal hide covers on to protect its feet like moccasins and smelt like dead bodies. The creature’s body was airlifted back to the squad’s base by a helicopter and net. From there it was loaded into an aircraft and taken away, never to be seen again.
Upon their return, the soldiers were made to sign non-disclosure paperwork to stop the word spreading of their encounter. The witness states that he broke his silence because “people have the right to know what’s happening on our planet”.