The biggest scam about life on the Moon

In 1835, a small newspaper in New York made an unprecedented big trick, making the world believe that life was found on the Moon.

The story begins early in the summer when Benjamin Day, the founder of New York Sun, meets Adams Locke , who claims to be a major journalist, attended the University of Cambridge. Locke was working for a tabloid newspaper specializing in news about sensational events. Day approached Locke and offered to write a paper for the newspaper. Locke agrees to work for the New York Sun, but on condition that his name does not appear because he works elsewhere.

On August 25, 1835, the New York Sun newspaper published the first of a series of six articles about finding life on the Moon. This series has the title: "Sir John Herschel's greatest astronomical discovery at the Cape of Goodness" - from the supplement of the Edinburgh Science Journal. Herschel is a famous British astronomer and the article begins with his findings through a telescope.

Andrew Grant is the author of articles dubbed "The Greatest Play on the Moon" , published in the New York Sun. Grant claimed to be a colleague of Sir John Herschel. Grant wrote that Herschel, an astronomer, went to Cape Town, South Africa, in January 1834 to set up an observatory with a new super powerful telescope, capable of studying insects on the Moon.

According to Grant, astronomer Herschel found evidence of life forms on the Moon, including very wonderful animals such as unicorns, two-legged beavers, and humans with feathers and wings, like children. bat. The New York Sun article also offers vivid descriptions of Moon features, including large craters, giant amethyst crystals and lush rivers and trees.

The creature is called bat by Herschel.

The description of the two-legged, intelligent beaver on the Moon is as follows: "The big cup held her in her arms like a human, and the huts she set up looked taller, more beautiful than tents. of our tribes ". In terms of people, the New York Sun article cites astronomer Herschel's description as follows: "It is a 1m2 tall creature, has copper hair and a winged membrane". New York Sun said, through Herschel's unique telescope, the creature on the Moon is of course very intelligent, talking to each other. This creature is called bat by Herschel .

Next, New York Sun's writings also mention a lot of imaginative information such as the discovery of trees, oceans and beaches. Grant also said he was traveling with astronomer John Herschel and a series of New York Sun posts linked to the information Herschel presented to the Royal Society - the world's oldest independent scientific academy.

The story on New York Sun spread quickly, even some other prestigious newspapers and magazines also regained. After the series on the discovery of life on the Moon, newspaper sales skyrocketed.

In fact, no life exists on the Moon, it's all a prank.

Although there are many doubts, most people believe that true life exists on the Moon. New York Sun information made readers happy, but that is not true. Edinburgh science week has stopped publishing many years ago and Grant is a fictional character. In fact, it was Locke who wrote the articles.

On September 16, 1835, New York Sun admitted the article was just a prank. According to the New York Sun, the article is aimed at satirical, mocking the previous judgments about extraterrestrial life. The New York Sun newspaper continued to operate until 1950.