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Locke, Richard Adams: The Great Moon Hoax of 1835.V1. 25 July 2016

From Wikipedia

Quote:

"The Great Moon Hoax" refers to a series of six articles that were published in The Sun, a New York newspaper, beginning on August 25, 1835, about the supposed discovery of life and even civilization on the Moon. The discoveries were falsely attributed to Sir John Herschel, one of the best-known astronomers of his time.

The story was advertised on August 21, 1835, as an upcoming feature allegedly reprinted from The Edinburgh Courant. The first in a series of six was published four days later on August 25.

Thanks, I've downloaded it.

If my failing memory serves me rightly Harriet Martineau referred to this in passing in her Retrospect of Western Travel, though she didn't give any details.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexBell (Post 3359548)

Thanks, I've downloaded it.

If my failing memory serves me rightly Harriet Martineau referred to this in passing in her Retrospect of Western Travel, though she didn't give any details.

I don't know. I do know that Mr. Locke was apparently the editor for Edgar Allan Poe and some think that he borrowed ideas from one of Poe's works and outdid Poe's story a bit. It could be that he did or it could just be sour grapes on the part of Mr. Poe. What's really interesting to think about is that just over 100 yrs later there was another hoax that caused wide spread panic. On Sunday Oct. 30 1938 Orson Welles put his "War of the Worlds" broadcast on the radio and caused quite a panic among the listeners.