The literal truth of giants was an accepted creationist thing at the time (and still is). And as, well frankly pissed, about the early dinosaur finds they were. IIRC mammoths, mastadons and what have had already been frequent finds and well known for a while. So right around the time of the Cardiff Giant there was already (and still is) an active interest among the churchy in finding preserved or fossilized giant humans. The Cardiff Giant wasn’t the first hoax giant, nor was it the last. Some of them having been presented (and still are) by creationists seeking to create the proof they couldn’t find. And there were regular hoax articles in papers around the country.
So the Cardiff Giant was absolutely intended to give them what they wanted. Tweak their noses. And expose the half assedness of the newspapers at the time.
