A Fake Story That Got too Huge for Its Creators
As detailed by The Sun in a 17,000-word six-part series, reprinted from The Edinburgh Journal of Science, Herschel had travelled to the Cape in 1834 to catalog the stars of the Southern Hemisphere. However, he discovered far more than stars with his powerful telescope when he turned it to the Moon. First, were hints of vegetation, a body of water, a beach, and pyramids. As the focus was adjusted for sharper detail, herds of bison-like animals were seen. Next came blue goats, that looked like unicorns. Yet more animals, such as walking beavers, were described in the third installment. The biggest shocker came in the fourth installment: the discovery of hominids, about four feet tall, who flew with bat wings.
“We scientifically denominated them as Vespertilio-homo, or man bat; and they are doubtless innocent and happy creatures“, the article went on. That was when public excitement grew into a fever pitch. It was also when the authors discovered that they had greatly underestimated the public’s gullibility. The articles had been intended as satire, which the authors thought was obvious. Instead, they were taken as gospel truth. The authors eventually wound down the story with the telescope’s accidental destruction. Needless to say, Sir John Herschel had never claimed the astronomical discoveries attributed to him, nor had he made any such lunar observations. It was, literally, fake news.
