The 19th century was an age of exploration and discovery.
It seemed as though everyday some new concept or theory came to light that revolutionized
the way people saw the world, and even the universe.
It's no wonder then that when numerous articles proclaiming that life had been found on the
moon appeared in the New York Sun in the summer of 1835, people believed them.
The articles contained a slew of fantastic claims, outlining what life on the moon was
like and also how the discoveries were made in the first place.
It would go on to become one of the most famous hoaxes of all time.
It all started on August 21 when a small teaser appeared in the New York Sun.
It read:
This was just the set up to get people excited about what was to come.
The articles themselves were split up into six parts and claimed to be extracts reprinted
from the Edinburgh Journal of Science.
The first article talked mostly about the technology that was used for the discoveries,
proclaiming that Herschel had built a giant telescope that was 24 ft in diameter and contained
a special second lens referred to as a “hydro-oxygen miscroscope” which allowed for a level of
magnification and detail like nothing ever seen before.
The author was a Dr. Andrew Grant who was said to be a colleague of Herschel who was
keeping track of his discoveries.
While the first article was mostly about the telescope, it's with the consecutive articles
that the amazing fantasy worlds of the moon would be revealed.
The articles claimed that when Herschel pointed the telescope at the moon, he saw a beautiful,
colorful world made of green basaltic rock, covered with flowers, forests, and bodies
of water.
There were herds of miniature buffalo, there were horned bears, white deer with black antlers,
animals that resembled giraffes, strange, exotic birds and even bipedal beavers who
lived in huts and carried their young much like human mothers.
The most fantastic claim was that the moon was inhabited by intelligent human-like beings.
They were covered in fur, had wings like bats and faces like orangutans.
They lived in a place named the ruby coliseum and were highly advanced.
They were given the scientific named vespertilio homo.
The batmen existed in a utopian society that was free of violence.
They were said to be extremely polite and vegetarian.
They also built large monuments, such as a temple made of sapphire.
The articles generated a lot of excitement.
They were reprinted in many newspapers, although they were also condemned as a hoax by other
publications.
Many people believed that claims, and some were more skeptical, especially about the
more fantastic claims.
So who was behind the hoax?
Although Sir John Herschel was a real scientist who really did study the moon, and really
was building a telescope, he had no idea about the articles until later and eventually would
grow annoyed at having his name associated with something so outrageous.
The purported author of the articles, Dr. Andrew Grant, was completely made up.
The author of the hoax was most likely a reporter named Richard Adams Luck.
He confessed to writing the articles in 1940, although he never really explained why he
did it, but it's though that he did it in part to satirize the more fantastical claims
and astronomical theories that had been floating around at the time.
Interestingly enough, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened.
In fact, only a few months earlier, famed author Edgar Allen Poe had published a similar
story about a guy who used a hot air balloon to take a trip to the moon.
He also claimed that his story was real even though he knew it wasn't and it's worth noting
that Locke was Poe's editor for the story, so it's likely that that's how he got the
idea in the first place.
Whatever the case, the Great Moon Hoax is remembered today as one of the first mass
media events.
I highly suggest you guys go out and read the text from the articles because I really
only scratched the surface here.
They're very long and go into great detail about the lunar discoveries.
It's worth a read.
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