Hobbitses!

I was going to say, “Not really” – except they (‘they’ being Homo floresiensis) apparently existed up until quite recently (up to 10,000 BC).  At least one batch of researchers are sure now that they were a real, distinct species.  I dunno: maybe Tolkien accessed that old Jungian collective unconscious and ancestral memory told him of halflings.  Or maybe Eru Ilúvatar decided to throw down some of that old inspiration*.

I still doubt the pipeweed.  Unless it was hashish.  Everybody smoked that stuff.

HT: Instapundit and The Volokh Conspiracy.

Moe Lane

*Or yes, sheesh, maybe Johnny Two-Rs just made it all up.  Tough crowd…