The Bible speaks of giants walking the earth, "Sons of God" married earth women and their children became giants and men of renown. Apparently they survived the deluge, because giants are mentioned again as occupiers of the "Promised Land" before the Children of Israel took it over. King Og was a giant. Other ancient writings mention giants too.
Today, our giants are people with growth hormone problems. Oddities. Many basketball players are giants by definition. Our giants today don't match the height of the fabled giants of old who were supposed by many to be children of extraterrestrial beings.
The tallest human on record, one who was actually alive and walking around among us, that is, was one Robert Wadlow of Indiana, who stood nearly 9 feet tall (8 ft-11 inches.) He only lived to be 22 years old. I found his story to be sad and tragic, yet somehow heroic and inspirational at the same time. He was a very gentle giant. He died in 1940.
As a child I saw one of his shoes on a traveling display at a shoe store downtown.
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Below: Robert Wadlow (1) as an adolescent and (2) shortly before his death.
