The "Great Moon Hoax" began on August 25, 1835, when The Sun, a New York newspaper, ran the first of six articles "about the supposed discovery of life and civilization on the Moon," falsely attributed to the astronomer Sir John Herschel. According to Wikipedia, the articles described "bison, single-horned goats, mini zebras, unicorns, bipedal tail-less beavers and bat-like winged humanoids" who built temples.
The discoveries were supposedly made with "an immense telescope of an entirely new principle," its lens "24 feet in diameter and 7 tons in weight." The authors eventually wrote that the observations had ended when the Sun caused the lens to act as a "burning glass," setting fire to the observatory. The articles were never retracted; on September 16, 1835, The Sun admitted they were "in fact fabricated."
Authorship was later attributed to reporter Richard Adams Locke, whose aim was "to create a sensational story which would increase sales of The Sun" and to "ridicule some of the more extravagant astronomical theories." Herschel was at first amused, "noting that his own real observations could never be as exciting," but "later became annoyed when he had to answer questions from people who believed the hoax was serious."
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