It was October 16th, 1869, and workers in Cardiff, New York, were digging a well behind the barn of William C. “Stub” Newell, when they struck stone about three feet down. A huge foot was unearthed when they cleared the soil around the obstruction. Excitement mounted as the workers continued to dig, and to their astonishment, they uncovered the petrified remains of a ten-foot-tall man. As seen below, the discovery created a sensation, rocked the country, and in due course, helped the career of P.T. Barnum, huckster and co-founder of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Confirmation of the Biblical Claim That Giants Had Walked the Earth?
News of the Cardiff discovery swiftly spread. Soon, hundreds of archaeologists and scientists, and thousands of the curious, flocked to Newell’s farm. He charged visitors 50 cents for a look. Newell made no claims about the giant’s authenticity, but invited visitors to draw their own conclusions. To many observant people, it seemed to be a crude statue. Many more, however, saw it as proof of the Bible’s assertions that giants had once walked the earth. The skeptics were right. The Cardiff Giant was actually a statue created by an atheist named George Hull.
After a heated debate at a revival meeting about Genesis 6:4, which asserts that giants used to inhabit the earth, Hull decided to have some fun. He bought a ten foot gypsum block in Iowa, and shipped it to Chicago. There, he swore a stonecutter to secrecy, and commissioned him to shape the gypsum into the likeness of a man. Chemicals were then applied to give the statue an aged look, and needles were used to puncture and pit its surface to make it appear more weathered. Hull then shipped it to the farm of his cousin, William Newell, who buried it behind his barn in 1868. A year later, Newell hired workers to dig a well behind the barn, where they came across the statue.
“There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute”
Archaeologists, scientists, and other scholars who saw the Cardiff Giant were not taken in by the hoax, and instantly declared it a fraud. However, many theologians and preachers stepped forth and passionately defended its authenticity. Crowds of the curious and faithful continued to arrive and see it for themselves in ever greater numbers. Hull, who had spent the equivalent of about $65,000 in 2025 dollars, sold his share in the Cardiff Giant to a syndicate for about $650,000 in today’s money. The buyers then moved the Giant to Syracuse, where it drew ever larger crowds.
Eventually, huckster PT Barnum offered the equivalent of more than a million dollars for the find. When the owners refused to sell, Barnum commissioned his own plaster copy and exhibited it in New York City. He declared that his was the authentic Cardiff Giant, and that the one in Syracuse was a fake. His brazenness worked, and gave rise to the phrase, coined in reference to those paying to see Barnum’s copy, that “there’s a sucker born every minute”. Lawsuits about authenticity followed, and in the subsequent litigation, Hull finally confessed to the hoax. The court declared both Giants fakes, and ruled that Barnum could not be sued for calling a fake giant a fake.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
Federer, Kenneth L. – Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walum Olum (2010)
History Halls – The Tasaday Hoax: The Stone Age Tribe That Wasn’t
Smithsonian Magazine, October 16th, 2017 – The Cardiff Giant Was Just a Big Hoax
Tribble, Scott – A Colossal Hoax: The Giant From Cardiff That Fooled America (2009)
