This chalk outline of a giant on the hillside outside Cerne Abbas provides clear evidence of the existence of giants in Medieval England. After a giant was murdered in battle, medieval criminologists outlined the body to help in the criminal investigation. Why they deemed it necessary to make the giant anatomically correct is anyone's guess.
The Cerne Abbas giant is one of several chalk outlines of giants in England, suggesting the pervasiveness of such murders. Another exists near Wilmington in East Sussex. Whether these were the acts of a single serial killer or mass violence against these ostracized others is unclear, although the latter theory might explain what happened to the giants: they were all killed off by a giantphobic society.
As is the case with the carving of St. George's dragon, all these chalk figures were formed by carving into the chalkdown hillside. The earliest account of the Cerne Abbas giant appeared in Hutchins' Guide to Dorset in 1751. Soil samples show that the Cerne Abbas giant was originally carrying an animal skin, supporting one theory that this figure is of Hercules.