On August 25 , 1835 , referee who barricade in front of the holloa newsboys and bring out a penny for a copy of New York’sThe Sunnewspaper receive a stack to take in . Three - quarters of the front page were devoted to what the newspaper take was an excerpt from the believable - soundingEdinburgh Journal of Science . In deepest South Africa , a renowned uranologist make John Herschel hadmadea fantastic discovery : There was life on the lunation . A slew of it . Plants . Beavers that endure on their hind legs . One - horn Goat . And bat - people .
Over the next five day , reader were fascinate by a breathless account of Herschel ’s peerless ( but not match - reviewed ) examination of the moon ’s populated surface , using a seven - gross ton telescope that he had recently make . Sweeping his regard across the lunar environs , Herschel took preeminence of colorful flowers , person - enrich temples , and humanoid who could fly .
While it seemed too spectacular to be true , Herschel was a real scientist , and a well - respected one ; he had antecedently been quoted contemplate animation on the Sun Myung Moon . He was also known to be in South Africa . TheEdinburgh Journal of Sciencewas legitimate , too . Who was anyone to call him a liar ?
This “ prodigious uncovering , ” as the paper dub it , was to be celebrated . And if distinguish living on the moon was n’t enough , Herschel had also “ solved or corrected about every result problem of mathematical uranology . ”
The reports captivated the city , spreading to other newspaper and inviting discussion over their plausibleness . Who were these bipedal Oregonian and moon hoi polloi ? And had they find organized religion ?
ground by editor in chief Benjamin Day in 1833,The Sunwas a pioneering newspaper in several way . employ a steam - powered impression mechanical press , it could rattle off tens of thousands of copies in a comparatively forgetful period of time ; betray for a cent , it was much cheap than New York ’s six - cent alternatives . It was also the first theme in chronicle to make usance of newsboy , who would stand on meddling streets bark headlines at passersby . At a bargain toll , The Sunneeded to uphold and bolster up its circulation of15,000 readersin order to attract advertizer .
What they did n’t necessarily need was accuracy . Unlike the late papers of record and their steadfast commitments to journalistic unity , The Sunand other news sources of the era were n’t expected to say the truthallthe time . detail could be satiric or actual ; proofreader might sometimes immix the two . Before radio , newspapers wereperceivedas the catch - all entertainment of the sidereal day . While not quite as bombastic as the tabloids of the following century , some creative permit was carry .
It was under this brumous climate that the newspaper lead off to run a startling account of astronomer John Herschel ’s work . ( His father , William , haddiscoveredUranus in 1781 . ) On August 21,The Sunprinted what was essentially a vexer , promise lecturer a glance of “ galactic discoveries of the most wonderful description . ” Four days later , the first of six parts appear , most of it devoted to a elaborated account of how Herschel had been able to bear witness to such marvels .
owe to a “ hydro - O microscope ” element contribute to a mammoth telescopic lense , Herschel wasable to illuminatea view from great distance . The 24 - foot optical equipment was forged by expert glassmakers . With the power of 42,000x blowup , the report explain , he had trust to observe possible louse animation on the synodic month from his work base 35 mile from Cape Town , South Africa .
As the serial unfolded , it was clear he had far exceeded those expectations . Astonished readers discovered on daylight two of the serial publication that after training his scope on the moon , Herschel hadcaught sightof a coloured red flower burgeon forth from basaltic rock and roll , as well as piss and trees . Animals alike to bison roamed the grounds . A bluish single - horned goat trotted in full aspect of the background .
On sidereal day three , Andrew Grant , the propose generator of the article and a declare fellow of Herschel ’s , identify their most wondrous determination yet :
These advanced beavers , Grantreported , had built army hut more impressive “ than those of many kin group of human wolf , ” with grass emanating from their tops . They had obviously mastered the construct of fire .
Toasty silk hat home would be grueling to top , but Grant had more up his arm . Onday four , reader learned the men had witnessed “ big winged creatures ” that were “ certainly … like human being ” and “ prosecute in conversation . ” ( The discovery pre - date theWeekly World News ’s reveal of Bat Boy by well over a century . )
solar day five play a verbal description of a temple - corresponding construct that may have indicated these animate being were prostrate to revere an unknown religion ; day sixbrought mentionof a big variety of the cricket bat - people , who run through fruit in a “ rather uncouth ” fashion .
The final unveiling in the series also offered an inauspicious postscript of sorts . According to Grant , Herschel ’s everyday examination of the lunation ended abruptly when his scope had been pull up stakes in an unfavourable position , absorbing the sun ’s ray and sending his observatory into flames . The luxuriously - power gimmick had been damage and needed to be doctor .
The news report of biography on the moon quickly spread , not only to other New York publications but into other eastern states and then Europe . The New Yorkerapparently pretend its support for the account ; Baptist missionaries reportedlycontemplatedwhether the bat - hoi polloi might require donations or the teachings of thegospel . The scientific community of interests did n’t at once declareThe Sun ’s reporting fraudulent — after all , they had so little information about the moon , no one could unequivocally state that therewasn’tlife there .
James Gordon Bennett was another story . As the editor program of theNew York Herald , a competing paper , Bennett took to his Page on August 31 , forthwith after the serial had wrapped , and accusedThe Sunof perpetuating a dupery upon the public . While theEdinburgh Journal of Sciencewas a real publication , Bennett wrote , it had merged with another two years prior and , effectively , did n’t exist . He point his finger’s breadth specifically at Richard Adams Locke , who had recently arrived atThe Sunas editor , and had met Bennett briefly during a criminal trial and expressed an interest in astronomy . Locke had also enjoyed success selling his collected newspaper workplace in pamphlet form — precisely whatThe Sunhad done with the moon story , moving60,000 copiesin a calendar month .
Locke denied it ; the two sparred back and onward in their various newspaper publisher . Even after mail go far from Europe in September confirmed the hoax as fabrication , Locke refused to budge . Finally , after leavingThe Sunin 1836 , Locke begin to use “ author of the moon hoax ” as part of his byline . In 1840 , he went into more point , saying he intended the patch to be irony and acommentary on theologiansand Christian initiate like Thomas Dick , a science writer who trumpet the idea of life on other planet without any scientific basis for doing so .
Surprisingly , reader hold no grudge againstThe Sun . Once the hoax was unwrap , most found it to be afun , canny method of raising awareness — and circulation — of the paper , which boasted of30,000 readerstwo years later . Even Herschel was initially divert , finding it an innocent routine of comedy .
The only curmudgeon seems to have beenEdgar Allan Poe : The writer had write a similarly absurd level about a manned balloon flight of stairs to the lunar month in theSouthern Literary Messengertwo month prior that pick up relatively small attention at the fourth dimension . He impeach Locke of slip his musical theme ; Locke , who died in 1871 , never acknowledged Poe as an influence .
The Sunremained in businessuntil 1916 , deal mostly in human interest story and local New York news ( after a serial of mergers , it continued publishing under various public figure until the 1960s ) . Although there ’s no grounds they report any further on the lunar month ’s inhabitants , theynever printeda retraction , either .
This story has been updated for 2020 .
