20. Fact vs Fiction Regarding the Cardiff Giant
Smart people didn’t fall for George Hull’s hoax. Archaeologists, scientists, and other scholars who saw the Cardiff Giant immediately declared it a fraud. However, as crowds of the curious and faithful kept coming in ever greater numbers, many theologians and preachers stepped forth and passionately defended its authenticity. Hull, who had spent the equivalent of about $70,000 in 2021 dollars, sold his share in the Cardiff Giant to a syndicate for about $700,000 in today’s money. The Giant was then moved to Syracuse, where it drew even bigger crowds.
Eventually, huckster PT Barnum offered the equivalent of 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 it was the authentic Cardiff Giant, and that the one in Syracuse was a fake. That brazenness worked, giving rise to the phrase 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.
Read More: Remarkable Fraudulent Discoveries and Inventions.