The Great Moon Hoax

New Telescope Sees All! Amazing Secrets to Be Revealed! So the headlines read in the New York Sun one day in the summer of 1835. For a week straight, the newspaper printed stories and pictures of the discoveries made using a new telescope in far-off Africa. And on the streets of New York City, hundreds of newsboys shouted the headlines at the top of their lungs: Heavens Filled with Buffalo! Moon Beavers! Man Bats! We Are Not Alone! Every day, newsboys Jake and Charlie sold their stacks of newspapers quickly. The good business paid off for them—they could even afford a room at a boarding house. As they jingled the coins in their pockets, they wondered about what they were reading. Would the man bats fly to Earth? Would a moon ship carry treasure hunters into the sky? And would their good fortune last?