Cardiff Giant Unearthed (1869)

After an argument with a revivalist about the literalness of the Bible - specifically the contention in Genesis 6:4 that at one time there were “giants in the earth” - atheist George Hull arranged to have a ten-foot giant sculpted in his own image and then “discovered” in a shallow grave on his brother-in-law’s farm. Believers started coming in droves to witness the supposed fossil, and a group of opportunistic Syracuse businessmen purchase it for the handsome sum of $37,500. Showman P.T. Barnum wanted in and commissioned a fake of the fake, which soon attacted more attention than the real fake. Cursing the doubly deceived punters, it was David Hannum of the Syracuse syndicate, and not Barnum (as is commonly thought), who first quipped, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”