Cardiff Giant #3

Cardiff Giant-3, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. William Newell set up a tent over the giant and charged the public 25 cents to view it. (Business was so brisk that he later increased the price to 50 cents.) A syndicate headed by David Hannum bought a part-interest in the giant and exhibited it in Syracuse, New York, where it drew such large crowds that P.T. Barnum offered $60,000 for a three-month lease of it. When his offer was rejected, Barnum exhibited a plaster replica, which he claimed was the real giant. When reporters asked David Hannum about the crowds flocking to see Barnum’s giant, he responded by saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” the quote eventually misattributed to Barnum himself Today, the giant is on display in the Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, New York. What is claimed to be Barnum’s replica is in a museum of oddities in Farmington Hills, Michigan. (Wasn’t a fiberglass replica also on display in a Barnum sideshow attraction at CWM in the early 1960’s?)