Over the Moon. I'm Jason Horton. I'm Rebecca Leeb. And this is Ghost Town.

On August 25, 1835, the world was introduced to a fantastic scientific discovery in the New York Sun.

The piece read, quote,

We will state at once that by means of a telescope of vast dimensions and an entirely new principle,

the younger Herschel at his observatory in the Southern Hemisphere

has already made the most extraordinary discoveries in every planet of our solar system,

and has obtained a distinct view of objects in the moon,

and has affirmatively settled the question whether this satellite be

inhabited and by what order of beings. Proof of life on other planets. But was it? A tale of

imagination, misinformation, plagiarism, and sci-fi wonder. Today on Ghost Town, we're talking

about the Great Moon hoax.

During the week of August 25, 1835, a series of six articles, supposedly from the Edinburgh

Journal of Science, were published in the New York Sun newspaper, supposedly announcing

the discovery of life on the moon. The pieces were authored by a Dr. Andrew Grant,

described as a colleague of Sir John Herschel, a famous astronomer of the day.

Herschel had in fact traveled to Cape Town, South Africa,

Herschel had in fact traveled to Cape Town South Africa in January of 1834 to set up an observatory

with a powerful new telescope. As Grant described it, Herschel had taken up the work of his

astronomer father, and in doing so, found evidence of life forms on the moon, including unicorns,

two-legged beavers, and furry, winged-like human creatures that resembled bats.

All by way of his telescope, Grant explained these discoveries,

including some imaginative descriptions of the moon's geography,

...