The Great Moon Hoax, Lunar Animals, 1835
Lunar animals and other objects Discovered by Sir John Herschel in his observatory at the Cape of Good Hope and copied from sketches in the Edinburgh Journal of Science. Illustration for the New York Sun relating to the Great Moon Hoax with human-bat creatures, unicorns, and other imaginary beings on the Moon. The Great Moon Hoax refers to a series of six articles that were published in The Sun, a New York newspaper, beginning on August 25, 1835, about the supposed discovery of life and even civilization on the Moon. The discoveries were falsely attributed to English astronomer John Herschel. The articles described fantastic animals on the Moon, including bison, goats, unicorns, bipedal tail-less beavers and bat-like winged humanoids (Vespertilio-homo) who built temples. There were trees, oceans and beaches. These discoveries were supposedly made with an immense telescope of an entirely new principle. Eventually, the authors announced that the observations had been terminated by the destruction of the telescope, by means of the Sun causing the lens to act as a burning glass, setting fire to the observatory. Authorship of the article has been attributed to Richard Adams Locke a reporter who was working for The Sun. Herschel was initially amused by the hoax, noting that his own real observations could never be as exciting. He later became annoyed when he had to answer questions from people who believed the hoax was serious
