Comments on: Fire-Wielding Beavers and Man-Bats, Oh My!

Fire-Wielding Beavers and Man-Bats, Oh My!

amyms — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:12:09 -0800

The Great Moon Hoax of 1835. During the last week of August 1835, the New York Sun published a six-part article about the discovery - purportedly by renowned astronomer Sir John Herschel - of fantastical life on the moon, including herds of bison, blue unicorns, "a primitive tribe of hut-dwelling, fire-wielding biped beavers, and a race of winged humans living in pastoral harmony around a mysterious, golden-roofed temple." The public's reaction was a mix of credulity and skepticism. Read the full text of the serialized articles: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.

By: drjimmy11

drjimmy11 — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:24:17 -0800

Very interesting. looks like it took place in 1835 though.

By: CynicalKnight

CynicalKnight — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:24:51 -0800

1835, not 1935. Cleanup in aisle three!

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:28:56 -0800

Interestingly enough, the modern-day New York Sun, est. 2002 and presumably unrelated, is also regarded as somewhat of a crackpot (right-wing style) publication.

By: amyms

amyms — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:30:39 -0800

looks like it took place in 1835 though. Oops, thanks for pointing that out! I'll email the admins and see if they can correct my typo.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:36:22 -0800

fixed the year for ya.

By: amyms

amyms — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:39:41 -0800

Thanks Matt!

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:40:37 -0800

Now that's service!

By: polyglot

polyglot — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:16:02 -0800

and the tags?

By: amyms

amyms — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:18:14 -0800

I just corrected the tag for the year, thanks polyglot!

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:26:52 -0800

I was glad to see Ali G clear up the controversy about the Moon in his interview with Buzz Aldrin.

By: imperium

imperium — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:58:24 -0800

Obviously a modern audience wouldn't fall for something this outlandish (or by Welles's War Of The Worlds). But what does the group think would be likely to fool us? (no IraqWMDfilter please)

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 01:32:21 -0800

I love the fact that the accepted standard for a hoax of this sort was basically to say "we're prestigious astronomers - and we've got this telescope - and let me tell you about this stuff we saw through it".

By: stavrogin

stavrogin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:35:25 -0800

But what does the group think would be likely to fool us? (no IraqWMDfilter please) Evolution doesn't exist, the world is 4000 years old and dinosaur bones were planted by Satan to test our faith.

By: matteo

matteo — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:47:10 -0800

it's not much worse or more improbable than the neocon bullshit the Sun is peddling these days

By: DU

DU — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:27:08 -0800

MetaFilter: The reaction was a mix of credulity and skepticism Beavers on the moon. I love old takes on life on other planets. Old science fiction stories are always finding life that "hasn't progressed past the reptile stage" or whatever. It seems so obvious now that life on another planet does not necessarily have to have anything directly comparable to a "reptile" or "beaver". Also, it wasn't that long ago that we didn't even know there wasn't air or water on the moon, let alone life.

By: Phanx

Phanx — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:02:07 -0800

I like the beavers - actually strange creatures, 'beaver' just being the nearest approximate description of their overall form. I can't say I've come across castorimorphic aliens before, though my reading of old SF is admittedly limited. I thought they were a relatively good imaginative effort, anyway - better than 'Star Trek', where nearly all aliens are exactly the same size and shape as humans, except with some plastic excrescences stuck on their heads.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:06:10 -0800

In 1838 Poe wrote The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, presented to the public as the authentic journals of a seaman who discovers the South Pole. Most people didn't buy into its authenticity but some did. I wonder if Poe was influenced by the Moon Hoax.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:26:51 -0800

I knew I remembered the story on MeFi before, but it was cryptic and the link is dead, so this is a welcome improvement. the modern-day New York Sun, est. 2002 and presumably unrelated Unrelated in that it's not under the same ownership or anything, but it was created in explicit homage to the earlier paper, and its first issue carried the solution to the crossword in the last (January 4, 1950) issue of the old Sun—the only clever and worthwhile thing the new version has ever done.

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:37:00 -0800

The New York Times believed the reports both "probable and possible", the New Yorker thought they heralded "a new era in astronomy", Yale was said to be "alive with staunch supporters", while, according to another report, an American clergyman considered starting a collection for Bibles for the lunar inhabitants.

By: SpiffyRob

SpiffyRob — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:49:31 -0800

Were there any whalers on the moon?

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:59:04 -0800

I don't believe this article was ever published anywhere. I smell a metahoax. Further, it smells a little gingery.

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:01:40 -0800

stbalbach, That sounds plausible.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:38:04 -0800

lukemesister, ahh yeah "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall" is more accurate, Arthur Gordon Pym came later. For some reason there were a lot of hoax stories being written in the 1830s, I wonder what historical forces were at work to make the public so fascinated. I know with Orson Wells War of the Worlds 1938 radio broadcast it was partly because so many people had radios and the real-time developing news story was a new phenomenon.

By: peacay

peacay — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:33:45 -0800

In 2002, SW Ruskin of the University of Notre Dame reported that a hitherto unknown letter by Herschel regarding this hoax had been uncovered. [2 page pdf] ----quote----> To the Editor of the Athenaeum. ––––––––––––––––––––––––-- Sir, As I perceive by an Advertisement in one of the London Newspapers now before me that the nonsense alluded to in the heading of this letter after running the round of the American and French journals has at last found a London Editor, it appears to me high time to disclaim all knowledge of or participation in the incoherent ravings under the name of discoveries which have been attributed to me. I feel confident that you will oblige me therefore by inserting this my disclaimer in your widely circulated and well conducted paper, not because I have the smallest fear that any person possessing the first elements of optical Science (to say nothing of Common Sense) could for a moment be misled into believing such extravagancies, but because I consider the precedent a bad one that the absurdity of a story should ensure its freedom from contradiction when universally repeated in so many quarters and in such a variety of forms. Dr. Johnson Indeed used to say that there was nothing, however absurd or impossible which if seriously told a man every morning at breakfast for 365 days he would not end in believing — and it was a maxim of Napoleon that the most effective figure in Rhetoric is Repetition. Now I should be sorry, for my own sake as well as for that of truth, that the world or even the most credulous part of it, should be brought to believe in my personal acquaintance with the man in the moon — well knowing that I should soon be pestered to death for private anecdotes of himself and his family, and having little intention and less inclination to humour the hoax, should come to be looked on as a very morose and uncommunicative sort of person when it was found that I could or would say no more about him than what is already known to all the world — vis that he "drinks claret" "Eats powdered beef turnip & carrot" and that "a cup of old Malaya Sack" "Will fire the pack at his back." I am Sir your obedient John F. Wm Herschel Near Wynberg C. G. H. } Aug 21 1836

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:43:10 -0800

What a delightful letter Peacay, thanks. Richard Locke is an interesting cat, somewhere in my desk I have samples of an unpublished short graphic novel about him that I was never able to get in touch with the author about or get anyone else in the house to take an interest in.

By: quin

quin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:47:50 -0800

The Great Moon Hoax Hoax? Damn it. This totally fucks up my plans to corner the market on imported exotic animals. What the hell am I supposed to do with all these Blue Lunacorn flyers?

By: stinkycheese

stinkycheese — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:27:02 -0800

Too bad the pics are so small. Looks neato.

By: Miko

Miko — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:38:38 -0800

Obviously a modern audience wouldn't fall for something this outlandish The arrival of the year 2000 will implode our computers and trigger total social collapse!

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:39:56 -0800

Obviously a modern audience wouldn't fall for something this outlandish (or by Welles's War Of The Worlds). Regarding War of the Worlds, WNYC's RadioLab did a really great show about whether or not people might fall for it again. Listen here.

By: Guy_Inamonkeysuit

Guy_Inamonkeysuit — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:56:11 -0800

Not as compelling as Doctor Doolittle in the Moon by a long shot.

By: mazola

mazola — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:08:06 -0800

I WANT TO BELIEVE!

By: quonsar

quonsar — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:04:25 -0800

1) Metafilter: a primitive tribe of hut-dwelling, fire-wielding biped beavers 2) "a primitive tribe of hut-dwelling, fire-wielding biped beavers" is so the name of my next blog/band.

By: Lou Stuells

Lou Stuells — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:08:46 -0800

How odd. Last night I just read a passing reference to these same moon beavers in a short story, "The Clockwork Horror" by F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre. I had no idea what was being referred to; it was quite bizarre and seemed like an utterly random non-sequitur. The story is based in 1835, so now I am pleased to understand.

By: Brian B.

Brian B. — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:16:32 -0800

The Mormon founder Joseph Smith was apparently one of those who repeated fantastic moon men claims to his flock, as his own divine observation, speaking as one who claimed to be a prophet in unknown matters. The controversy lingers for Mormons to this day, with no thanks to Brigham Young, who expounded on them.

By: Mael Oui

Mael Oui — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:26:25 -0800

Wow, the article from 1835 could be the whole premise of the Mighty Boosh movie! Someone should get a copy of this to Julian and Noel immediately!

By: jokeefe

jokeefe — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:37:11 -0800

Great post. It fits in nicely with what I'm currently reading-- Charles Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, which I highly recommend to anyone.

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:57:40 -0800

quonsar, Too bad PTHDFWBB is a bit unwieldy as a band name!