The Old HistoryPresented by Sully

Giants, copper pits and carved stones. What does the record really say?

Fifty claims you may have heard about America's past, from the ancient copper pits of Lake Superior to giant skeletons, inscribed stones, great earthworks and old maps. Each one is set beside what the people who were there actually said and wrote, quoted word for word, with the source named so you can look it up yourself.

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Sully, the presenter, seated at a desk

Our videos are dramatized. This book is not.

Sully
I.

The Book

Fifty claims. Five parts. Every source named.

Each entry fills one page: the claim as it is usually told, the record as it was written down, and the part no one can answer yet.

Cover of The Old History: an old book bound with a map of Lake Superior. 50 entries, audio edition, 20 framable prints, every claim sourced.

Illustrated PDF · Audiobook · Framable prints · Instant download

The Old History: old American claims, checked against the record.

Every quotation is word for word from its source. The sources for each entry are printed at the foot of its page, with a full list of citations and web addresses at the back. Every picture is a real historical image, credited on its page. Where the record is clear, the book says so. Where it is not, the question is left open.

$49

What you get

  • The Old History, illustrated PDF

    50 one-page entries in five parts, each with its own historical picture and its own sources. Letter-size pages that print well at home.

    67 pages
  • The audiobook

    Every entry read aloud, in five parts: one MP3 of about 1 hour 29 minutes. For the car, a walk, or tired eyes.

    MP3
  • 20 framable prints

    Old maps, plates and photographs from the book, as high-resolution JPG files sized for 10 by 8 inch frames. Only with the paid edition.

    JPG
  • Share it with your family

    One purchase for your household. Send it to your children and grandchildren.

    Household
You pay today$49
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Instant download · Pay once · Yours to keep

II.

How it reads

One page, one claim. Then the record.

The page Entry 03, in the free sample

Entry 03, Six Tons, Resting on Oak: an 1863 drawing of an ancient pit at the Minnesota Mine, followed by The Claim, The Record and Still Open, with sources at the foot of the page 123

How to read it Three parts, every entry

  1. The Claim. What is commonly said or believed. Here: ancient miners hauled copper masses of many tons up out of deep pits, using nothing but stone tools.
  2. The Record. What the people who were there wrote, quoted word for word. Here: the mass, over six tons, was found resting on oak timbers. The federal geologists Foster and Whitney reported in 1850 that it had been raised about five feet, then abandoned “as too laborious.”
  3. Still Open. The part no one can answer honestly yet. Here: samples of the oak were kept, but no published date for that crib of timber was found. Who built it, and when, is not known.

Entry 03, “Six Tons, Resting on Oak,” from Part I. The sources are printed at the foot of every entry, and most of the older ones are free to read online.

III.

What's inside

Fifty entries, in five parts.

The book goes back to the people who were actually there: the tellers who passed down their nations' traditions, the outsiders who wrote those words down, the miners and surveyors who dug, and the scientists still dating the work today.

Detail of the Jesuit map of Lake Superior and its missions, 1672Detail of a photograph of an ancient copper pit on Isle Royale, 1892Detail of an 1869 print of the Onondaga GiantDetail of Squier and Davis's 1848 plan of the Great Serpent, Adams County, OhioDetail of a 1972 photograph of Sipapu Bridge, Natural Bridges National MonumentDetail of a photograph of Obsidian Cliff, YellowstoneDetail of an 1866 stereograph of the mouth of Mammoth Cave, KentuckyDetail of an 1854 engraving of the Valley of the Copper Mines, Santa Rita
Details from 8 of the 20 framable prints in the paid edition: Lake Superior and Its Missions, Jesuit Map, 1672 · An Ancient Copper Pit, Isle Royale, 1892 · The Onondaga Giant, 1869 · The Great Serpent, Adams County, Ohio · Sipapu Bridge, Natural Bridges National Monument · Obsidian Cliff, Yellowstone · Mouth of Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, 1866 · Valley of the Copper Mines, Santa Rita, 1854. Each print is credited to its source.

Part I · Entries 01–10 · 3 in the free sample

Copper Country.

Lake Superior’s ancient copper pits, and what the first writers saw.

  1. Copper Kept as a Gift From Beneath the Water
  2. The Island No One Would Land On In the free sample
  3. Six Tons, Resting on Oak In the free sample
  4. Ten Cart-Loads of Stone Hammers
  5. The Pit Holmes Opened
  6. Dating the Pits: At Least 9,500 Years
  7. “A Billion Pounds of Missing Copper” In the free sample
  8. The Copper Rock on the Ontonagon
  9. The Boulder Goes to Washington
  10. Houghton’s Warning and the Copper Rush

Part II · Entries 11–20 · 3 in the free sample

Giants in the Record.

Giants and little people in tradition and in print, and how the hoaxes began.

  1. The Slant-Eyed Giant Who Owned the Game
  2. The Slant-Eyed People From the West
  3. Judaculla Rock and the Footprint Blasted for the Railroad
  4. The Little People and the Nûñnĕ’hĭ
  5. Yé’iitsoh: The Giant Whose Blood Became Lava
  6. Sarah Winnemucca, 1883: What She Wrote, and What She Never Wrote
  7. Lovelock Cave: Guano Miners, a Report, and Eleven Duck Decoys In the free sample
  8. The Cardiff Giant, 1869: A “Tradition” Invented in a Week In the free sample
  9. The Smithsonian’s Own 7½-Foot Burial
  10. “The Smithsonian Destroyed Giant Skeletons”: The 2014 Satire In the free sample

Part III · Entries 21–30 · 3 in the free sample

Sacred Ground.

Caves, mounds, a lake and other places the nations hold sacred.

  1. The Hole That Breathes In the free sample
  2. The Opening at the Bottom of the Canyon
  3. Where the Zuni Came Up
  4. The Mother Mound
  5. The Door in the Side of the Mound In the free sample
  6. A Hopi Word on a Utah Map
  7. The Lake That Came Back
  8. The Hill of the Little People In the free sample
  9. The Serpent on the Hill
  10. Miners in the Dark

Part IV · Entries 31–40 · 3 in the free sample

The Old Diggings.

Ancient quarries and mines for flint, obsidian, turquoise, mica and copper.

  1. Quarrying by Torchlight
  2. A Hole Made in Our Flesh
  3. Fire and Water on the Flint
  4. Black Glass From Yellowstone In the free sample
  5. Rainbow Flint of the Panhandle
  6. The Mine Found by Peosta’s Wife
  7. Copper Mines in Apache Country
  8. The Turquoise Pit at Los Cerrillos In the free sample
  9. Mica Pits in the Blue Ridge In the free sample
  10. Drilling by Hand

Part V · Entries 41–50 · 3 in the free sample

Strange Finds on Record.

Inscribed stones, odd relics and old legends of lost peoples, traced to the record.

  1. The Dorchester Vessel In the free sample
  2. The Grave Creek Stone
  3. The Davenport Tablets
  4. The Bat Creek Stone In the free sample
  5. The Newark Holy Stones
  6. The Michigan Relics
  7. The Walam Olum
  8. The Piasa
  9. The “Lost Race” of Mound Builders In the free sample
  10. The Welsh Indians
Entry 21, The Hole That Breathes: a photograph of the natural entrance of Wind Cave, then The Claim, The Record and Still Open
Cover of The Old History free sample

Look inside

Read fifteen entries, free.

Three entries from each part, from the copper pits of Lake Superior to the Cardiff Giant and Wind Cave, with every picture, every source and the full contents. Free through Gumroad: enter your email and the PDF is yours at once.

Download the free sample →

A page from the free sample: entry 21, The Hole That Breathes

IV.

In their words

What viewers are saying.

Word for word from the comments under our videos. The book is new, so they are about the videos, not the book.

You asked. We went and found it.

Sources include

  • Smithsonian Institution
  • Bureau of American Ethnology
  • The Jesuit Relations
  • National Park Service
  • U.S. Geological Survey
  • Library of Congress
V.

Who is behind this

Hello. I'm Sully.

Sully, the presenter, at a desk in front of bookshelves

Our videos are dramatized stories set in real places. This book is not.

America is full of old holes in the ground, carved rocks and stones with writing on them, and a great deal has been said about all of them. Much of it is repeated so often that people assume someone, somewhere, must have checked. In this book we went back to the old reports, newspapers and the words of named tellers, and we quote them so you can read them for yourself.

If you have a question, or you find a mistake, write to us at . You will get an answer.

Sully

VI.

Is this for you

Why not just watch the videos or search online?

If this sounds like you, we made this for you

  • You have heard about giant skeletons, lost races or ancient copper miners, and wondered what was really written down.
  • You have stood on an old mound, beside a carved rock or at the mouth of a cave, and wondered who came before.
  • You would rather read the original words than someone's summary of them.
What you getOur videosFree archivesThe book
Only real, documented material✕✓✓
Time to study every picture✕✓✓
Each claim set beside the record✕✕✓
All gathered in one place✕✕✓
Can be heard as well as read✓✕✓
Yours to keep and print✕✓✓
VII.

Order

Book, audiobook and prints, one price.

Cover of The Old History
  1. Pay on the secure Gumroad page.
  2. Get your files at once, on screen and by email.
  3. Read, listen, print.
You pay today$49
Get the book · $49 →

Try it for 7 days. If it is not for you, email us and we will refund you in full. That is our promise. Sully

Secure checkout by Gumroad. Cards and PayPal accepted. Prices are in US dollars, and checkout may show your local currency. Any sales tax or VAT is shown there before you pay.

VIII.

Questions

Before you buy.

What exactly do I get?

Three things you download: The Old History as an illustrated PDF (67 pages, 50 entries in five parts), the audiobook as one MP3 of about 1 hour 29 minutes, and 20 framable prints as high-resolution JPG files. Nothing is mailed to you. The free sample holds 15 of the entries; the audiobook and the prints come only with the paid edition.

How and when do I get it?

Right after you pay. You reach a download page at once and receive a receipt by email with your link, so you can come back to it whenever you like.

Is this the same as the videos?

No. Our videos are dramatized stories set in real places and times. The book is the record: what people said, what was found on the ground, and what dated documents say, quoted word for word where possible. The huge tools and machines from our videos are not in these pages, because they are not part of the historical record.

Can't I find all this for free?

Much of it, yes, and the book tells you where. Each entry names its sources with enough detail to look them up, and most of the older ones are free to read online. What you pay for is the searching, checking and quoting, gathered in one place.

I'm not good with computers. Will this be hard?

If you can open an email, you can open this. If you get stuck, write to and we will help you.

What if I don't like it?

Email us within 7 days and we will refund you in full. You don't have to give a reason.

Can I give it as a gift?

Yes. You can send it as a gift through the checkout, or print the pages yourself. It arrives instantly, so it works right up to the last minute.

Can I listen in the car?

Yes. The audiobook is one ordinary MP3 file, about 1 hour 29 minutes long, with every entry read aloud in five parts. It plays on a phone, a computer or anything else that plays music.

Can I print it?

Yes. The book is 67 letter-size pages and prints on ordinary paper at home. The 20 prints are high-resolution JPG files sized for 10 by 8 inch frames; a photo counter or copy shop can print them for you.

Will it work on my phone or tablet?

Yes. PDFs open on phones, tablets and computers. A tablet or a printout is the most comfortable way to read.

Is my card safe? What will my statement say?

Payment is handled by Gumroad, and we never see your card number. Gumroad is the merchant of record, so your receipt and card statement will show Gumroad.

Who is this not for?

Anyone who wants a printed book in the mail, or proof of giants and lost races. Some old claims hold up, some do not, and some are still open. The book says which, and leaves belief to you.

Who makes this?

Sully and the team behind the YouTube channel. The facts come from the sources cited in the book.

How was each entry checked?

Every quotation is word for word from its source, every source is named, and every entry was checked a second time against the original documents. Every picture is a real historical image, credited on its page. The book holds no photographs of human remains, burials or objects taken from graves, and no directions to places their keepers ask outsiders not to visit. If you find a mistake, write to us with the source and we will correct it for every reader.

Last call

Who said it first? And what did the ground actually hold?

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