Just before July 2, 1879, local hotel owner John Thompson and collaborators buried a hoax petrified seven-foot humanoid in the path of road construction so crews would find it. They tunneled sideways so the soil above it would not be disturbed. It was made out of a mix composed of eggs, beef blood, iron filings, and plaster or cement by another local, Ira Dean, who fashioned it in this way so it would fool Cornell University scientists into authenticating it as real human remains. The scheme worked at first. Like the Cardiff Giant…
