The Great Moon Hoax of 1835: The Week America Believed There Were Bat-Men on the Moon
About 4 min readFor six days in August 1835, The New York Sun told its readers that the astronomer Sir John Herschel had discovered forests, bison, unicorns — and winged, human-like creatures — on the Moon. None of it was true. It was the first great newspaper hoax, and it sold papers by the thousand.