In 1869, near the town of Cardiff, in a rural area of New York State, workers digging a well unearthed a giant humanlike figure. The Cardiff Giant, as it came to be known, was more than 10 feet tall and appeared to be of ancient origin. The discovery created a national sensation. Was the Cardiff Giant one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the century?
A number of people thought that it was. Newspaper reporters called it the “eighth wonder of the world.” William Newell, who
owned the farm on which the discovery was made, erected a tent around the Giant and charged admission to view it. Thousands came. Then a group of prominent Syracuse, New
York, businesspeople saw the potential for making even greater profits. They purchased a three-fourths interest in the Cardiff Giant for $30,000 and moved it to Syracuse, where it could attract even larger crowds.
At this point, some anthropologists began to express uncertainty about the authenticity of the Giant. Shortly thereafter, it was exposed as a counterfeit, a hoax engineered by George Hull, a tobacco farmer and cigar manufacturer. Hull had bought a large block of gypsum, a white mineral, and had had two sculptors carve from it the likeness of a human being. He then attended to every detail to give the statue an aged look. When the Giant was complete, Hull and Newell had buried it.
Hull’s Cardiff Giant was the ultimate American anthropological hoax. Ironically, people still wanted to see the fake. It was moved to Albany and then to New York City. Thwarted in his attempt to buy the giant, the great promoter P.T. Barnum had an imitation made. Barnum’s fake was soon drawing larger crowds than the original!
Over the years, the Cardiff Giant has been displayed by its many owners. In 1948 the Giant was moved to the Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, New York, where you can still see it today.