Fort Dodge, Iowa

The Cardiff Giant

1869

The Cardiff Giant is known as one of the biggest hoaxes of all time in the United States. Fort Dodge and its gypsum deposits gained a world-wide notoriety from the "Cardiff Giant." because it was developed from the gypsum ledges in the Fort Dodge area.

New York tobacconist George Hull was engaged in a friendly discussion with a clergyman regarding the Biblical story about the Sons of Anak. These were biblical giants who were part of a tribe that was referenced in a number of locations in the Bible. Hull and the clergyman were debating whether there ever had been, in fact, giants living on earth.

After considering this possibility, Hull hatched a scheme to manufacture a “giant” that could be buried and later “discovered” and be passed off as a petrified man. It is safe to assume that Hull’s fraudulent hoax was probably founded on a scheme to make a great deal of money.

About a year later, Hull travelled to Fort Dodge in order to by a large block of gypsum. Gypsum was chosen because of the various colored veins that ran through the rock. Hull thought these colors would look like the veins in a human body. Hull and a friend visited Fort Dodge and soon appeared to be suspicious in character, so many local residents wanted nothing to do with them.

Hull supposedly bought an acre of land in Gypsum Hollow in Webster County, although no record of this transaction has been found in the Webster County Courthouse. He recruited local miners to facture out a large block of gypsum of this land, telling them he wanted it so that it could be used to create a monument to Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C. Hull had difficulty convincing miners to excavate such a large block of gypsum (12’long, 4’wide and 22 inches thick) because the miners told Hull that size would be too heavy to ship. He eventually succeeded in convincing them to excavate the gypsum and after three weeks, it was loaded on a wagon and then a train and shipped to Chicago. Along the trip to the train station, some of the gypsum was shaved off the block of gypsum to reduce its weight and make it easier to transport.

A sculptor in Chicago, Edward Burkhardt, was commissioned to carve a large human form from the block of gypsum. Burkhardt was sworn to secrecy. Various stains and acids were used to make the figure look old and weathered. Hull also rubbed the figure with a wet sponge filled with sand to get rid of any traces of chisel marks on the sculpture. The finished figure weighed approximately three tons.

Hull then transported the giant by railroad to his cousin William Newell’s farm in near Cardiff, New York, a town near Syracuse, New York, where he had it buried on Newell’s land. Nearly a year later, in October of 1869, Newell hired some men to dig a well. As the men began digging, their shovels came in contact with something that seemed to be a very large rock. As they continued digging, the “discovered” what appeared to be a very large petrified man. Word of the unearthing of a petrified man spread quickly around the countryside. People came from miles around to see the Giant, which was identified as an example of an ancient race mentioned in Genesis by some believers. “Found” in the heart of New York’s Burnt Over District, the Giant benefited from the religious fervor sweeping the area.

News of this discovery spread quickly, and people began coming to Newell’s farm from miles around to see the giant. A tent was set up over the giant, and Newell charged 25 cents per person to see the figure. It rapidly became so popular that Newell raised the price to 50 cents per person. Hundreds came to see the figure and receipts often reached $1,000 per day.

It was soon raised from its “grave” and exhibited in various cities. P.T. Barnum found that it was competing with his museum and purportedly offered to buy it for $40,000. This offer was refused. A local syndicate was soon organized and became owners, with Newell retaining 25% ownership in the giant.

There was skepticism as to the veracity of the claim that this was indeed a petrified human giant. Scientific experts offered another theory on the Giant’s origin. Dr. John F. Boynton, scientific lecturer, declared that the Giant was a statue created by a Jesuit priest during the early 17th century to awe local Indian tribes. Noted geologist Dr. James Hall (who was the first State Geologist of Iowa and later in Wisconsin) examined the giant and made a lengthy report, stating that the figures was indeed an ancient statue and not an actual human being. But by Hall’s observation of the soil erosion and water flow around the figure, he stated that the statue “was an ancient statue and had not been buried in recent times.” The public wasn’t quite convinced, and continued to view the figure under the understanding that it could quite possibly be a mummified human form.

After the figure had been exhibited in a number of cities, another noted paleontologist, a Professor March, stated that it was a hoax, a “humbug”. Farmers were found who remembered having seen Hull hauling an immense box on the road between Binghamton, New York and Cardiff, and with affidavits from men of good character in Iowa, the scheme started to unravel.

When the evidence became too strong to be successfully combated, and Hull disposed of his interest in his "invention" for $23,000. He was elated over the fame he had acquired and admitted that he was the originator of the "Petrified Giant" and enjoyed greatly the discomfiture of the scientists whom he had deceived. Finally he made a full confession confirming every important aspect of the history of the deception and published it in the Fort Dodge pamphlet in 1870. This confession should forever have settled the thirty year controversy, but thousands of people continued to believe in the "petrified giant" to the end of their lives.

The original Cardiff Giant was put on exhibition at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in 1901. In 1947, the Giant was sold to The Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, New York, where it remains on display inside the main barn of the museum. A replica of the Giant is on display at the Fort Museum and Frontier Village in Fort Dodge, Iowa, from where one of the greatest American hoaxes originated.

Sources:

*The Des Moines Register

*Fort Dodge: America’s Frontier Town, by Alan Foster Nelson

*Roadsideamerica.com

*farmersmuseum.org

*National Gypsum: www.ngc-heritage.com