13. The Great Moon Hoax of 1835: Bat-People, Fake News, and Lunar Bullsh*t

In 1835, the New York Sun claimed astronomers had discovered entire civilisations on the Moon: bat-people soaring over lunar forests, unicorns grazing in meadows,beaver-people lighting cooking fires.

For about a week, people believed it.

This was the Victorian version of viral fake news — cosmic clickbait that turned a respected scientist into the unwilling face of a lunar soap opera.

In this episode, we break down:
🌕 How the hoax exploded across 1830s America
🌕 Why newspapers embraced wild stories over facts
🌕 And how the same patterns of bullshit echo through conspiracy culture today.

Welcome to Probably Not True — where the conspiracies are older than you think, the facts are fuzzier than lunar dust, and the punchlines are made of cheese.

🔗 https://linktr.ee/probablynottrue

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