Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey Brainstuff
Speaker 1: Lauren bog obam here. On August five, the newspaper The
Speaker 1: Sun ran the first in a series of articles describing
Speaker 1: scientific findings from the Moon, reprinted from the Edinburgh Journal
Speaker 1: of Science and recounted by one doctor Andrew Grant, a
Speaker 1: colleague of the famous astronomer Sir John Herschel. This series
Speaker 1: featured some of the most popular articles in the New
Speaker 1: York newspaper ever printed and had people clamoring for the
Speaker 1: breaking scientific information of the day. The one problem with
Speaker 1: this the articles were completely fake. Grant didn't exist, and
Speaker 1: the findings printed had no basis in scientific fact. The
Speaker 1: articles purported to describe the flora and fauna of the Moon,
Speaker 1: as well as the beings that lived there and the
Speaker 1: temples that they resided in. Here's a quick and fanciful
Speaker 1: excerpt about those beings. The average four feet in height,
Speaker 1: were covered except on the face, was short and glossy
Speaker 1: copper colored hair, and had wings composed of a thin
Speaker 1: membrane without hair, lying snugly on their backs. The articles
Speaker 1: reported on the moon being's way of life, how their
Speaker 1: societies worked, and what they looked like the telescope that
Speaker 1: allegedly saw these wondrous things was located at an observatory
Speaker 1: at the Cape of Good Hope. These stories on the
Speaker 1: life of the moon captured the imagination of people from
Speaker 1: one end of the u S to the other. Newspapers
Speaker 1: couldn't print them fast enough. Artists set out to recreate
Speaker 1: the images spoken of in the articles. People believed this,
Speaker 1: and why wouldn't they? Would you expect to encounter unlabeled
Speaker 1: satire in your newspaper of choice? Furthermore, who would perpetrate
Speaker 1: such a thing? And why well? Follow the money? Richard
Speaker 1: Adam's Lock was the name of the man behind the hoax,
Speaker 1: and he was an editor at the Sun. Lock meticulously
Speaker 1: went about his work of trying to make people believe
Speaker 1: the stories, dropping items in the pay for beforehand at
Speaker 1: establishing the unquestionable scientific reputation of the names involved Sir
Speaker 1: John Herschel, for example. Then he released the articles, where
Speaker 1: they only grew an absurdity. The Sun's papers flew off
Speaker 1: the shelf, getting reprinted all over the country and the world,
Speaker 1: with people believing Locke's fanciful satire. He claimed for a
Speaker 1: while that he hadn't intended for anyone to believe the tales,
Speaker 1: and that when he wanted to go public, the owner
Speaker 1: of the paper refused to allow him. It would be
Speaker 1: many years before these ridiculous moon findings were able to
Speaker 1: be debunked in the press. Edgar Allan Poe claimed that
Speaker 1: the Great Moon Hoax plagiarized a satire he had written
Speaker 1: just a few weeks earlier about a man who had
Speaker 1: made its way to the Moon via hot air balloon.
Speaker 1: Today the world sees this phenomenon continue on the internet.
Speaker 1: How many times do you see in April fools Day
Speaker 1: article get repackaged by an outlet that didn't do its
Speaker 1: due diligence, and then you find that secondary source on
Speaker 1: your Facebook feed shared a million times with everyone believing
Speaker 1: it as fact. For the article that this episode is
Speaker 1: based on how Stuff Works. Spoken by email with Tracy Duncan,
Speaker 1: editor of Club Jade, the popular pop culture news site
Speaker 1: dedicated to Star Wars, she said, there's no way your
Speaker 1: standard news outlet is going to knowingly report a hoax
Speaker 1: is fact. These days, people are far too willing to
Speaker 1: disbelieve and discredit outlets for far less than that. And
Speaker 1: on the other side of the scale, There are still
Speaker 1: people out there who will fall for stories from the Onion.
Speaker 1: So whether you find that there are temples on the
Speaker 1: Moon or some long canceled show has been revived for
Speaker 1: another season, be sure to double check the original source.
Speaker 1: People are liable to believe anything as long as it
Speaker 1: looks official enough. Today's episode is based on the article
Speaker 1: Ridiculous History the Great Moon Hoax of thirty five on
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot Com, written by Brian Young. Brain
Speaker 1: Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership with
Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com um and is produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Clay. For more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the
Speaker 1: I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows. H