In the 1800s, atheist George Hull had an argument with a Christian over whether giants once roamed the earth. Deciding that people will believe anything in the Bible, Hull carved a “petrified” statue of a giant man and buried it in Cardiff, NY. He waited over a year before unearthing the ‘Cardiff Giant’, charged people to come see it, and by the time his hoax was revealed, he’d made about $430k. Source Source 2 Source 3