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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardiff Giant | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_Giant | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:29:50.145870+00:00 | kb-cron |
Being asked my opinion, my answer was that the whole matter was undoubtedly a hoax; that there was no reason why the farmer should dig a well in the spot where the figure was found; that it was convenient neither to the house nor to the barn; that there was already a good spring and a stream of water running conveniently to both; that, as to the figure itself, it certainly could not have been carved by any prehistoric race, since no part of it showed the characteristics of any such early work; that, rude as it was, it betrayed the qualities of a modern performance of a low order. However, he was taken aback by the channels on the bottom part of the giant, stating that for such grooving to be created on local Onondaga grey limestone would require years. Yale paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh examined the statue, pointing out that it was made of soluble gypsum, which, had it been buried in its blanket of wet earth for centuries, would not still have fresh tool marks on it (which it did), and termed it "a most decided humbug". Some theologians and preachers, however, defended its authenticity. Eventually, Hull sold his part-interest for $23,000 (equivalent to $586,000 in 2025) to a syndicate of five men headed by David Hannum. They moved it to Syracuse, New York, for exhibition. The giant drew such crowds that showman P. T. Barnum offered $50,000 for the giant. When the syndicate refused, he hired a man to model the giant's shape covertly in wax and create a plaster copy. He displayed his giant in New York, claiming that his was the real giant, and the Cardiff Giant was a fake. As the newspapers reported Barnum's version of the story, David Hannum was quoted as saying, "There's a sucker born every minute" in reference to spectators paying to see Barnum's giant. Since then, the quotation has often been misattributed to Barnum himself. Hannum sued Barnum for calling his giant a fake, but the judge told him to get his giant to swear on his own genuineness in court if he wanted a favorable injunction. On December 10, 1869, Hull confessed everything to the press, and on February 2, 1870, both giants were revealed as fakes in court; the judge also ruled that Barnum could not be sued for terming a fake giant a fake. Hull proclaimed that he did not confess because of the pressing criticism, but confessed proudly that he intended for the hoax to be exposed to reveal the tendency of the Christian community to believe in things too easily and to counter the fundamentalist belief that giants once roamed the earth.
== Subsequent and current resting places == The Cardiff Giant was displayed at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, but did not attract much attention.
Iowa publisher Gardner Cowles, Jr., bought it later to adorn his basement rumpus room as a coffee table and conversation piece. In 1947, he sold it to the Fenimore Farm & Country Village in Cooperstown, New York, where it is still displayed. The owner of Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum, a coin-operated game arcade and museum of oddities in Farmington Hills, Michigan, has said that the copy displayed there is Barnum's. A copy of the Giant is displayed at The Fort Museum and Frontier Village in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
== Imitators == The Cardiff Giant has inspired a number of similar hoaxes.
In 1876, the Solid Muldoon was exhibited in Beulah, Colorado, at 50 cents a ticket. There was also a rumor that Barnum had offered to buy it for $20,000. One employer later revealed that this was also a creation of George Hull, aided by Willian Conant. The Solid Muldoon was made of clay, ground bones, meat, rock dust, and plaster. In 1879, the owner of a hotel at what is now Taughannock Falls State Park hired men to create a fake petrified man and place it where workmen would dig it up. One of the men who had buried the giant later revealed the truth when drunk. During 1897, a petrified man found downriver from Fort Benton, Montana, was claimed by promoters to be the remains of former territorial governor and U.S. Civil War General Thomas Francis Meagher. Meagher had drowned in the Missouri River during 1867. The petrified man was displayed across Montana as a novelty and exhibited in New York and Chicago.
== In popular culture == In Halt and Catch Fire, the fictional Cardiff Giant personal computer is named after the petrified man. "Cardiff Giant" is a song on the 2012 album Ten Stories by the band mewithoutYou. Mark Twain's 1869 short story "The Legend of the Capitoline Venus" was inspired by the Cardiff Giant, and the ghost of the Giant is a character in Twain's 1870 short story "A Ghost Story". A character called the Cardiff Giant appeared occasionally in the early years of the newspaper comic Alley Oop. The 1997 The Simpsons episode "Lisa the Skeptic" was inspired by the Cardiff Giant, the Piltdown Man, and the Scopes trial. Myron Edward Batesole was a professional wrestler during the 1940s and 50s billed as "The Cardiff Giant". Powerviolence band Spazz used an image of the Cardiff Giant for their album "Dwarf Jester Rising".
== See also == Pompey stone Nampa figurine
== References == Notes
Bibliography
Magnusson, Magnus (2006), Fakers, Forgers & Phoneys, Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, ISBN 1845961900 Further reading
Jacobs, Harvey (1997), American Goliath, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 978-0312194383 Tribble, Scott (2009), A Colossal Hoax: The Giant From Cardiff that Fooled America, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 978-0742560505
== External links ==
P.T. Barnum Never Did Say... Photo of "discovery" site US Library of Congress photo of the giant Cardiff Giant Hoax Recreated By Syracuse Artist Ty Marshal