Talk:Cardiff Giant

Untitled
"Then he transported to giant by rail to a near Binghampton and eventually to Cardiff in November 1868. He had spent for the hoax"

This sentence doesn't really make sense to me. Kranak 20:32, 24 February 2006 (UTC)


 * I've changed it as part of a series of edits. - DavidWBrooks 23:07, 24 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Still, doesn't quite make sense due to bad grammar. I suppose it should go like this:


 * "Then he transported the giant by rail to Cardiff in November 1868. He had then spent on the hoax."


 * rather than


 * "Then he transported to giant by rail to Cardiff in November 1868. He had spent for the hoax"


 * Furthermore, it's unclear how and why Nevell came to know of the giant. Was he an accomplice to Hull? Did Hull tell him where it was buried or did he find it by chance? What were his motives, and what was Hull's interest in the whole thing? Qui bono? Kranak 15:27, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, something got messed up in the editing - maybe in my editing. Hopefully I've fixed it now - including the fact that the name is Newell, not Nevell. - DavidWBrooks 17:11, 25 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Nope, still broken. Kranak 17:06, 27 February 2006 (UTC)


 * OK, it now states that Newell was his cousin. It makes a lot more sense now. Good. Kranak 17:30, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

This article needs some rewriting
Much of the text appears to be more or less copied from this site: http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/cardiff.html It needs to be rewritten so the text is original. -ramz- 14:25, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Recent photograph
A more recent photograph of the state would be great. --Thenickdude 03:16, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

LaFayette
Technically it was discovered in LaFayette, New York. Cardiff isn't an actual town, it is a region in the town of LaFayette. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mistari (talk • contribs) 18:39, 18 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Apparently this hamlet has some reputation as a separate place, see this travel report for example. It even had a church. If a very small place isn't self-governing but has a name of its own, there's no reason not to use that name, being more specific than the political entity to which it belongs. Bever (talk) 23:34, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Soapy Smith's Petrified Man
I suspect this was Elmer McCurdy. There is a song about this person. He eventually ended up painted, and as part of a "house of horrors" type carnival ride, until it was discovered he was a real corpse! He is mentioned in a few forensic anthropolgy texts. See link. Pustelnik (talk) 12:33, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

Sucker Born Every Minute
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_sucker_born_every_minute states "other sources say it was actually uttered by David Hannum, spoken in reference to Barnum's part in the Cardiff Giant hoax." without giving a reference. This Cardiff Giant page says that a newspaper quoted Hannum and it later became attributed to Barnum, again without a reference. I know the entire article has issues with attributions but the cross-linking of the two articles that contradict each other is frustrating. As this piece is the one that states "as fact" that the quote was in a newspaper without a reference, I think it is the one that needs editing. AkaSylvia (talk) 12:58, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

English please
Can anyone tell me what the following sentence was supposed to say? "In 2001 Cardiff Giant production company part of production team for Jon Favreau movie "Made" (2001) - additionally, contained in plot line as a fictitious company with limousine and hospitality accounts utilized by main characters." I have removed this from the article until it can be rephrased in an intelligible manner. --Khajidha (talk) 11:31, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

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Hull's part-interest?
The third paragraph of the "Exhibition and exposure as fraud" section says: "Eventually, Hull sold his part-interest for $23,000 (...) to a syndicate of five men". But the article does not explain why Hull had a 'part-interest'. If they maintained the hoax, the land-owner and/or the people who excavated the statue were the owners (in some countries the state would have rights as well, but that's probably not the case in the U.S.). If one fabricates a artefact, puts it in the ground and keeps silent about it, how can one claim ownership?

Even after reading two of the references ("When Giants Roamed the Earth" and "The monster that stoked Americans’ devotion to faith over science") the chronology and roles of people involved is not completely clear. For example, the first article says Hull negotiated with businessmen and the other article attributes this to Newell. Also they diverge on the sum Barnum offered. Bever (talk) 23:48, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Editing lead sentence
I copied this lead sentence from my sandbox for a concise but additional description. It now reads, "the Cardiff Giant was one of the most famous archaeological hoaxes in American history." Zionnalof (talk) 02:51, 22 March 2022 (UTC)

exact site
Does anyone know the exact spot where the Giant was buried? As far as I can tell, there are three historical markers, two of which only say it was nearby. Elsquared67 (talk) 01:35, 28 April 2023 (UTC)