In 1835, the New York Sun ran a series of articles about amazing discoveries of sentient creatures living happy and productive lives in harmony on…the moon. And people believed it!
Sources:
Goodman, Matthew. The Sun and the Moon : The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York. New York, Basic Books,.
Matthias, Meg. “The Great Moon Hoax of 1835 Was Sci-Fi Passed off as News | Britannica.” Www.britannica.com, 2024, www.britannica.com/story/the-great-moon-hoax-of-1835-was-sci-fi-passed-off-as-news. Accessed 2025.
Richard Adams Locke, and Ormond Seavey. The Moon Hoax. 1836. Boston Gregg Pr, 1975.
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