Lincoln 1848 Niagara Falls fragment (September 25-30 1848). Selectively-truncated sentence deployed as conspiracy-proof: 'The eyes of that species of extinct giants, whose bones fill the Mounds of America, have gazed on Niagara, as ours do now.'
Next unredacted sentence (suppressed by conspiracy deployment): 'The Mammoth and Mastadon — now so long dead, that fragments of their monstrous bones, alone testify, that they ever lived, have gazed on Niagara.' Lincoln was explicitly referencing Pleistocene megafauna. Documented primary-source-truncation case.
Aleš Hrdlička (Smithsonian anthropologist, 1869-1943) early-20th-c. debunking: attributed giant-skeleton reports to public 'will to believe' + anatomical ignorance of amateur diggers unable to distinguish large-animal femur from human bone.
2014 World News Daily Report satirical article — falsely claimed lawsuit by fictional 'American Institution of Alternative Archaeology' forced Smithsonian to admit destroying 12-foot giant skeletons. Debunked by Reuters + AP.
Structural function: the 'absolute absence of evidence becomes ultimate proof of vast institutional cover-up.' Inoculates omni-conspiracy against demands for physical evidence. YouTube channels promoting these myths achieve staggering viewership (Universe Inside You channel: 12+ million views on single videos).
Genre instance of Narrative Subversion mechanism — specific hoax (2014 WNDR) becomes architectural in conspiracy narrative.