Richard Adams Locke creates Moon Hoax

Date: 1835 A.D.
Author: Sir John Frederick William Herschel, British Astronomer

Dear Journal,
     I found a few double stars in the Magellanic clouds today. As my father William Herschel studied the northern heavens, I survey the southern skies with equal thoroughness and wonder. 
     I heard some peculiar news today. While I was in South Africa, a Richard Adams Locke had reported in the August New York Sun an alleged sighting I made of wonders on the moon. According to this account, I had seen, through a huge telescope, gigantic precious stones, beaches, a zoo of animals, and intelligent 4-feet, copper-haired, winged moonmen.
     Upon hearing the story, I exploded into a fit of laughter and ended up with a peach red face on the floor. My father did believe that it was possible that beings lived deep inside the moon but the possibility is far from reality. That reporter however, did succeed in pushing his newspaper's circulation to twenty thousand, demonstrating the appetite and gullibility of the public for such discoveries of intelligent life elsewhere.