Abstract: Stories of giants have occurred throughout the ages and in different cultures. These stories contrast to the scientific evidence that there never have been races of giant humans, even though there are some specific cases of unusually tall individuals. If the stories don’t come from true experience, where do they come from?





In January 2018, the Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon was published, attractively bound in leather. The Amazon listing for the edition, which is still available, has the following sales invitation—an invitation that even implies apostolic endorsement:

This book has seen unprecedented demand. The first printing sold out in a matter of days. The second printing has now finally made it to the publisher and the books are back in circulation. This particular edition seems to have struck a vital nerve among readers. . . . Unlike almost every similar publication over the last 50 years, this one’s “appeal-to-authority” is not that of the scholars, but rather the authority of Prophets and Apostles.1

The Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon is explained and illustrated according to concepts promoted by those who espouse the Heartland model of the Book of Mormon. Stephen O. Smoot provided an extensive review of the book and concluded, among other things, that the editors “approach archaeology with enormous carelessness and an overall untrustworthy methodology.” The part of his review that is particularly important for this paper concerns a photograph that [Page 80]the Annotated Edition uses to illustrate Ether 1:34 , which refers to “the brother of Jared being a large and mighty man.” Smoot remarks of this photo:

The picture . . . is juxtaposed next to a clipped 1925 newspaper article with the sensational headline: “Mound Giants in Indiana Said to Antedate Indian.” However, the [Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon] provides no documentation for when and where the photograph was taken, who took the photograph, and what the “giant” skeleton in the photograph really is. The obvious goal here in the [Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon] is to associate the “giant” skeleton with the newspaper article describing “giants” discovered in a mound in Indiana and thereby link Ether 1:34 with these findings.2

The association of stories of giants with the Book of Mormon in editions of the Book of Mormon marketed to English-speaking Latter-day Saints creates a perception of new importance for some of these old stories. The apparently large number of sales of this edition suggest that these ideas are being presented to a large number of Latter-day Saints and are being accepted and believed.

Giants in the Book of Mormon

The Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon isn’t the only place where we find Latter-day Saints promoting the claim that there were giants in the Book of Mormon. A website promoting the Heartland model looks at the question of giants in the Book of Mormon:

Were there giants in the Book of Mormon, if so, where?

Jaredites in the Land Northward:



And the brother of Jared being a LARGE and mighty man . . . (Ether 1:34 )





And they were LARGE and mighty men as to the strength of men. (Ether 15:26 )



[Page 81]Zarahemlaites in the Land Southward:



And they came down again that they might pitch battle against the Nephites.