We have here something worth looking at
Provided by their Creator with some extraordinary powers of locomotion
On Day Three, the first animal was spotted — a whole herd of them, in fact. Discovered in the shade of a recently uncovered forest, a gathering of shaggy-haired quadrupeds emerged, described as a cross between a buffalo and a yak — albeit significantly smaller than either. Even more peculiar than their size, however, is the addition of a “hairy veil” over their eyes.
The appendage, the observer posited, evolved to cope with the extreme light and darkness of the animals’ surroundings. Next, another four-legged animal. This one resembled a blueish goat but sporting a single horn and graceful but skittish movements more closely associated with an antelope. A unicorn of sorts.
On Day Four, more animals were added to the menagerie. There were gray pelicans and white and black cranes. A horned bear was spotted, along with several tailless beavers who walked upright on hind legs, carrying around offspring in a manner similar to humans. The biggest surprise of all, however, arrived on day four of six, when the observers spotted four flocks of winged animals, “wholly unlike any kind of birds.” In spite of the extremely flowery nature of the language throughout, it’s clear that narrator was intentionally underselling the matter.
“Now, gentlemen” the writer continued, “my theories against your proofs, which you have often found a pretty even bet, we have here something worth looking at: I was confident that if we ever found beings in human shape, it would be in this longitude, and that they would be provided by their Creator with some extraordinary powers of locomotion.”
The animals were, by all accounts, human – or, at very least, human adjacent enough to warrant the classification of “humanoid” in the text. Some fairly loaded language ensues. After landing, their thinly-membraned, bat-like wings retract, and the four-foot, copper-haired creatures walked, “erect and dignified.” Soon after, they were discovered to possessed some manner of language, replete with expressive gestures.
“Whilst passing across the canvas” the narrator added, “and whenever we afterwards saw them, these creatures were evidently engaged in conversation; their gesticulation, more particularly the varied action of their hands and arms, appeared impassioned and emphatic.”
It was a remarkable discovery by any measure – particularly given that the observation occurred exclusively through the lens of a telescope. But this was no ordinary telescope – nor ordinary observer on the other end. The dispatches were attributed to the legendary astronomer, Sir John Herschel, who commissioned the building of a seven-ton telescope, measuring 24 feet in diameter. It was roughly six-times the size of any constructed to that point in history and capable of magnifying images 42,000x.
The scientist was real: a 19th century polymath, credited with inventing the blueprint, naming seven of Saturn’s 82 moons and four of Uranus’s (a planet discovered by his equally accomplished father, William). But the telescope -- and the discoveries identified therein – were invented out of from whole cloth. New York Sun editor Richard Adams Locke was believed to be behind the piece, which spanned 17,000 words, spread across six pages in six days. Attributed to Herschel’s colleague, Dr. Andrew Grant, the story was enough of a sensation to more than double the New York tabloid’s circulation, from 8,000 to north of 19,000 for the week it was printed.
Published in August 1835, four months before the anticipated arrival of Halley’s Comet, “The Great Moon Hoax” caused a national – and international – sensation. A team of scientists from Yale traveled to New York to find more information about the original article, which supposedly saw first publication in fellow paper, The Edinburgh Courant. Missionaries were said to have sought a means by which to send bibles to the bat-winged moon men. The Sun, a tentpole publication of the “Penny Press Era” was firmly established, becoming a New York City mainstay in the process (remaining in print until 1950). The public was, simply put, fooled by a hoax its editors would later claim was simply satire of science’s on-going obsession with alien life.
While The Sun never issued a proper retraction, it admitted the hoax on September 16th – a full two weeks after its publication. The paper reportedly suffered no consequences to its circulation as a result of the admission. Herschel’s reaction to his unwitting involvement was more mixed. He was said to initially be amused by the whole business, but ultimately annoyed by having to continually entertain questions from those who still accept the story as fact.
The fictional seven-ton telescope, on the other hand, fared far worse. Left out by one of the scientists, the massive lens caught the daylight rays of the sun, causing the observatory to burn down.
Sources:
The Great Moon Hoax is published in The New York Sun https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-great-moon-hoax
“The ‘Great Moon Hoax’ of 1835” by István Kornél Vida
Moonshot https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/moon-shot-race-a-hoax-and-the-birth-of-fake-news
The Great Moon Hoax was simply a sign of its time https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/great-moon-hoax-was-simply-sign-its-time-180955761/
The Great Moon Hoax of 1835 http://hoaxes.org/text/display/the_great_moon_hoax_of_1835_text/