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Great Moon Hoax

The Great Moon Hoax was a series of six articles that appeared in the New York Sun beginning on August 25, 1835 about the supposed discovery of life on the Moon. The articles were falsely attributed to Sir John Herschel, perhaps the best-known astronomer of his day.

The headline read:

GREAT ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES

LATELY MADE
BY SIR JOHN HERSCHEL, L.L.D. F.R.S. &c.
At the Cape of Good Hope

[From Supplement to the Edinburgh Journal of Science]

The articles were written by Richard Adams Locke (18001871); the Edinburgh Journal of Science was a real scientific journal which had however ceased publication some years earlier. Locke later stated that his intention was satire rather than a hoax, to poke fun at scientists and what he considered their wild speculations.

The articles described fantastic animals on the Moon, including bison, goats, unicorns, bipedal tailless beavers and batlike winged humanoids ("Vespertilio-homo") who built temples. There were trees and oceans and beaches. These discoveries were supposedly made with "an immense telescope of an entirely new principle".

For a time the Sun's circulation skyrocketed, and remained permanently higher than before. In a way, the hoax "made" the paper, which had only begun publishing a few years earlier.

Herschel was initially amused at the hoax, noting that his own real observations could never be as exciting. This later turned to annoyance when he had to field questions from people who had taken the hoax seriously.

External links

  • The Great Moon Hoax of 1835 http://www.historybuff.com/library/refmoon.html
  • http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/moonhoax.html
    • 1st article http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/moonhoax1.html (August 25 1835)
    • 2nd article http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/moonhoax2.html (August 26 1835)
    • 3rd article http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/moonhoax3.html (August 27 1835)
    • 4th article http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/moonhoax4.html (August 28 1835)
    • 5th article http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/moonhoax5.html (August 29 1835)
    • 6th article http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/moonhoax6.html (August 31 1835)

References

  • Evans, David S. "The Great Moon Hoax," Sky & Telescope, 196 (September 1981) and 308 (October 1981).

See also



Last updated: 02-25-2005 14:51:14