You’re Having A Laugh – Part Three
The Cardiff Giant, 1869
On 16th October 1869 a group of workmen were digging a well behind a barn on the farm of one William C “Stub” Newell when they made an astonishing discovery. They unearthed the petrified remains of a giant ten-foot tall man. News of the discovery spread like wildfire and crowds soon assembled anxious to view the phenomenon. The enterprising Newell erected a tent over the site and charged a fee of 25 cents for a look. Two days later he upped it to 50 cents – even this did not deter the crowds.
The discovery was opportune as locally there had been an impassioned debate as to whether the Bible should be taken literally. One of the adherents of literalism had claimed that the passage in Genesis 6:4 which states “There were giants in the earth in those days” was a historical fact. The unearthing of the Cardiff Giant, as it was dubbed, seemed to have made his point. A group of businessmen clubbed together to raise $37,500 to buy the giant so that it could be moved to Syracuse to be displayed more prominently.
Of course the discovery was too good to be true because it was all an elaborate hoax, the brainchild of an atheist tobacconist from New York, George Hull – is there any other sort?. In the light of the discussion on giants, he immediately “thought of making a statue, and passing it off as a petrified man.” Not only would it give him the opportunity to pull the legs of the Bible bashers but it might even earn him some money. So the idea of an elaborate hoax was born.
Having secured a 3.2 metre tall block of gypsum he had it carved by a German stonecutter, Edward Burghardt, based in Chicago. To give it the appearance of antiquity, the statue was treated with various stains and acids. It was then transported by rail to the farm owned by Newell – Hull’s cousin. In all Hull spent around $2,600 in setting up the hoax. The two workmen hired to dig the well, Gideon Emmens and Henry Nichols, were also probably in the plot. One of the workers, on discovering the giant, remarked “I declare, some old Indian has been buried here!”
Despite the attempts to age the statue, they were extremely amateurish and didn’t pass the scrutiny of experts who pored over the find in Syracuse. A palaeontologist from Yale University, Othniel C Marsh, declared it to be a fake. Chisel marks were plainly visible which would have worn away had the statue been in the ground for any length of time. Realising that he had had a good run for his money, Hull came clean and confessed that it had all been an elaborate hoax.
But the story of the Cardiff giant didn’t finish there. It seems even then people believed what they wanted to believe. They couldn’t care that it was a hoax – they wanted to see it and kept coming in their droves. The giant was even given an affectionate nickname – Old Hoaxey.
Never one to miss out on a good thing, showman, P T Barnum, offered the owners of the giant $60,000 to lease it for three months. When they refused, he had his own replica made and displayed it in his museum in New York. The owners of the giant sued but the case was dropped because the judge wanted the genuineness of the original to be established. The giant can still be seen today, housed in the Farmer’s Museum in Coopertown.
Filed under: Culture, History Tagged: Cardiff Giant court case, Farmer's Museum in Coopertown, Genesis 6:4, George Hull, Gideon Emmens and Henry Nichols, Old Hoaxey, P T Barnum, The Cardiff giant, William C “Stub” Newell
