The Great Moon Hoax makes for entertaining reading. Long before the era of the internet, in 1835 the newspaper New York Sun ran a series of hoax articles purporting to be reports from the astronomer John Herschel. He was reported to have looked upon the moon with a remarkable new telescope at the Cape of Good Hope… where he saw forests, moon-bison and winged, flying “bat men.” The series of reports ended with the telescope accidentally being destroyed by fire caused by the sun focusing through the main lens.

Along with being a classic example of why you should always view the news media with severe skepticism, the articles are also an early example of science fiction in popular culture.

You can read the articles HERE.

The Smithsonian has posted some decent-resolution scans of 1836 artwork of some of the fantastical critters an ideas from the articles. Included is rendering of a hydrogen balloon-based “spaceship” for a trip to the moon…modified upon arrival by the action of enslaving some of the local winged men to serve as propulsion systems. Welcome to the early 19th century…