Today in History—August 25: The Great Moon Hoax Takes Off

Written by

Amy Tikkanen

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

For centuries the Moon has fascinated people—and inspired some rather far-out ideas. It was worshipped as a goddess, believed to drive people mad, and even considered a realm for the dead.

And then there was the time when people believed it was home to batlike humans.

That was thanks to a New York tabloid. On this day in 1835—four days after a teaser notice appeared in the paper—The Sun began publishing a series of incredible discoveries attributed to John Herschel, son of famed astronomer William Herschel, discoverer of Uranus. The stories became known as the Great Moon Hoax.

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According to The Sun, the younger Herschel had built a telescope so powerful, he had “solved or corrected nearly every leading problem of mathematical astronomy.” While Herschel had undoubtedly made hundreds of discoveries with his amazing telescope, The Sun focused on just one: He had discovered life on the Moon.

And Moon life was pretty incredible.

Herschel’s telescope could view things as small as 18 inches on the Moon—which, for the record, is some 238,600 miles from Earth. He reportedly saw beaches and temples and brown animals that resembled bison. There were also blue unicorns and beavers that walked on two legs.

The Sun waited until the fourth story to make the boldest claim: Herschel had seen a winged humanlike species that he named Vespertilio-homo (“man-bat”). These creatures stood about four feet tall and could walk, talk, and fly.

Fun Fact

Rev. Thomas Dick, a 19th-century science writer, claimed that the solar system was home to more than 21 trillion inhabitants.

The sixth and final installment brought some bad news. One of the telescope’s magnifying lenses focused on the Sun, and the intense rays started a fire. While the damaged telescope was repaired, the Moon was no longer visible. There would be no more lunar discoveries.

By then the stories had become a global sensation. Unfortunately, none of them were true. The Sun soon admitted what seemed pretty obvious: All the discoveries were made up.

But Richard Adams Locke, who wrote the series, later claimed that deception wasn’t his goal. He said the articles were actually satire, meant to discredit those who used religion to argue that all planets and the Moon were inhabited. While Locke failed in that regard, his articles live on as one of the most famous media hoaxes.

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