In August of 1835, the New York Sun published a series of articles claiming that a British astronomer had discovered life on the moon. Not microbial life, not the theoretical possibility of life, but ...

New Yorkers turned their attention skyward in the summer of 1835. Haley’s comet was on the way, and The Sun newspaper had just made a shocking announcement: a scientist had discovered life on the moon ...

Newspaper readers were captivated by news of an amazing scientific discovery: Creatures — including winged humanoids — who lived on the moon. The story got a lot of attention. And it sold a lot of ...

Turns out fake news goes all the way back to 1835, when the New York Sun reported on evidence of life on the moon. But, the story was actually satire and the event ...

http://blog.library.si.edu/2013/09/the-great-moon-hoax-or-was-it-the-jokes-on-who/#.U_dI7_ldXh5 ...