Holliday2


 * The Great Moon Hoax of 1835 **

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Background**__ "The Great Moon Hoax of 1835 consisted of a series of articles, allegedly reprinted from the nonexistent //Edinburgh Journal of Science//, relating to the discovery of life on the moon by Sir John Herschel, eminent British astronomer, who some time before had gone to the Cape of Good Hope to try out a new type of powerful telescope." ([|R.J. Brown]) The six articles were published each day in the //New York Sun// beginning on August 25, 1835.

Objective: List at least three lunar "discoveries" of Sir John Herschel in 1835 **
 * Title: Life on the Moon: The Great Moon Hoax of 1835

** __Answer__ ** The six articles focused on his telescope, plant and animal life, geologic formations, and temple-building humanoids. Specifically, the articles discussed trees, oceans, beaches, bison, goats, unicorns, bipedal tail-less beavers, and bat-like winged humanoids who built temples. These discoveries were supposedly made with a new type of powerful telescope.

My best resource for primary source information was museumofhoaxes.com. Here is a [|link] to the article that appeared on the front page of the //New York Sun// in August of 1835. All six of the original articles are included. I summarized each of the articles below using information from this website. __Article 1:__ [|Herschel's] __Telescope__ "[Article 1] was principally devoted to establishing the premise upon which the entire hoax depended: that Herschel had created an immense new telescope so powerful that it could be used to view astronomical objects with great clarity at previously unheard-of magnifications..."

__Article 2: Plant and Animal Life__ "Having thus established that the moon contained plant life, the central question remaining was whether the moon also supported animal life. That day’s narrative soon answered that question when it reported that the scientists had seen herds of brown quadrupeds similar to bison, a goat 'of a bluish lead color,' and 'a strange amphibious creature, of a spherical form, which rolled with great velocity across the pebbly beach'.“

__ Article 3: The Biped Beaver__ "[T]he highlight of this [article] was the discovery of the biped beaver. This was the first sign of intelligent, though primitive, life on the moon. These extraordinary beavers, who walked on two feet and bore their young in their arms, lived in huts 'constructed better and higher than those of many tribes of human savages.' Signs of smoke above the huts of the beavers indicated that these advanced animals had mastered the use of fire."

__Article 4: [|The Vespertilio-Homo]__ "[This article] proved to be the highpoint of the entire narrative. The scientists discovered human-like creatures living inside a ring of red hills they dubbed the 'Ruby Colosseum.' Unlike earth-bound humans, these creatures were 'covered, except on the face, with short and glossy copper-colored hair, and had wings composed of a thin membrane, without hair, lying snugly upon their backs.' The faces of these creatures, Dr. Grant remarked, being 'of a yellowish flesh color, was a slight improvement upon that of the large orang outang.' Further observation of these curious creatures, whom Herschel dubbed the 'Vespertilio-homo, or man-bat,' followed. The astronomers watched them engage in what appeared to be animated conversations and 'hence inferred that they were rational creatures.' "

__Article 5: The Sapphire Temple__ "[This article was intended to] present readers with a mystery: An apparently abandoned temple, built of polished sapphire. The roof of this temple was constructed out of a yellow metal and fashioned to look like a mass of flames rising upwards and licking at a large sphere of clouded copper, 'as if hieroglyphically consuming it.' The astronomers pondered what was meant by this globe surrounded by flames. Did the makers of the globe 'by this record any past calamity of their world, or predict any future one of ours?' “

__Article 6: [|Higher Orders of the Vespertilio-Homo]__ "In the final [article] the astronomers discovered a superior order of Vespertilio-homo living in close proximity to the mysterious sapphire temple. These new creatures 'were of a larger stature than the former specimens, less dark in color, and in every respect an improved variety of the race.' While observing these creatures, who spent their time collecting fruit, flying, bathing, and conversing, the astronomers realized that there reigned a 'universal state of amity among all classes of lunar creatures.' “

**This one minute** [|video] **comes from history.com**



References: Boese, Alex. "The Great Moon Hoax." //Museumofhoaxes.com.// Web. 29 September 2009. Brown, R.J. "The Great Moon Hoax of 1835". //Historybuff.com.// Web. 10 September 2009. "This Day in History: 1835". //History.com.// Web. 15 September 2009.