This Day in the History of Hoaxes: July 4

July 4, 1879: The Taughannock Giant
Residents of the town of Trumansburg, in upstate New York, came out to see a giant "Stone Man" that had recently been discovered buried near Taughannock Falls. But the excitement only lasted a few days, since it soon became known that the figure wasn't a petrified prehistoric man, as originally thought, but rather a fake created by local hotel owner John Thompson to drum up publicity for his business. [Taughannock Stone Man]