The Cardiff Giant

[Scott]

THE CARDIFF GIANT

Been wanting to see the CARDIFF GIANT in upstate New York for years now near Howe's Caverns East of Syracuse. Back in the mid 1800's a guy chisled a giant stone statue and buried it. Later digging it up and claiming it was one of the giants of renown in the book of Genesis chapter 6 verse 4. The laying stone would later be revealed as a hoax. You can still pay to see the Cardiff Giant. Reminds me of the movie GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN. The Giant was about 2-3 hours from my home town and I've yet to see it.  You can find it at the Farmers Museum not far from Cooperstown.





http://www.farmersmuseum.org/exhibitions/cardiff.htm

[youtube=425,350]http://youtube.com/watch?v=lZPB1dpnTYs

[Raffine]

Sounds like a great tourist destination. Something I've wanted to see for years is the Mutter Museum in Philly.

Here's one of my favorite Mark Twain stories, A Ghost Story,  all about his encounter with the ghost of the Cardiff Giant.

http://www.metalvortex.com/poems/aghost.htm

[Scott]

Sounds like a great tourist destination. Something I've wanted to see for years is the Mutter Museum in Philly.

Raffine, I highly recommend the Mutter Museum. We went to it last Summer. Amazing.

It's seems that the Cardiff Giant attraction was very big for the first 10 years. I grew up just a couple miles from Mark Twain's Summer home/study where he wrote most of his stories and his burial site. He married a woman from Elmira, New York. When he was looking for gold in Nevada his partner had a picture of his sister and when Mark Twain saw her he said that he's going to marry her. Went to Elmira, N.Y. to look her up and married her. He was more of a vagabond back then and her family didn't want him around at the time. It's said he faked a leg injury to arrange a longer stay to get to know her.



The study was moved from the hill and is now on the campus of Elmira College. You can still sit in the same chair he wrote many of his stories if you go.

[Yaddo 42]

I second the Twain story, good stuff; and would like to see the Giant someday. Exposed hoaxes, fascinate me, I'd love to tour one of those museums dedicated to psuedoscience medical devices that turn up on TV from time to time.

I'd like to see the Twain home someday, I'm a fan and my father was a huge fan of his.

[Scott]

I'd like to see the Twain home someday, I'm a fan and my father was a huge fan of his.

Some places you can go if you want to vist the historic places of Mark Twain:

Hannibal, Missouri - Childhood home
Virginia City, Nevada - Where he was a journalist.
Mississipi River - Where he was steamboat pilot
Elmira, New York - His Summer home and burial place
Hartford, Conneticut - His later home


Hannibal Missouri childhood home. The house is still there.

[Yaddo 42]

Thanks Scott, I visited Virginia City about 10 years ago when I visited relatives in Reno, NV.

[Scott]

Last year I was at Lake Tahoe after riding up the Eastern side of the Sierra Mountain range from Los Angeles. I was just 10 miles from both Virginia City and Reno when we decided to head towards Placerville, Marshall God Discovery Site, and Yosemite National Park on our way back to L.A..

Next time I'll hit Reno and Virginia City when we go to Northern California I'll make that part of Nevada part of the trip.