Cardiff Giant
From Conservapedia
The Cardiff Giant was a fraudulent statue, promoted as a fossil of a giant man.
George Hull, a New York atheist, perpetrated the fraud after arguing with a minister about a passage in Genesis that claimed there were 'giants' on earth in biblical times. After creating the fake out of a block of gypsum quarried in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Hull transported it to his cousin's farm where it was buried for a year. The two men charged 25¢ to view the fake. When circus owner P.T. Barnum was unable to purchase the giant, he had another one carved and promoted it as the original.