Great Moon Hoax (1835)

“Herschel, the article declared, had established a ‘new theory of cometary phenomena’; he had discovered planets in other solar systems; and he had ‘solved or corrected nearly every leading problem of mathematical astronomy.’ Then, almost as if it were an afterthought, the article revealed Herschel’s final, stunning achievement. He had discovered life on the moon.” (The article was a hoax — Herschel never made such claims.) —Great Moon Hoax (1835)Museum of Hoaxes)

Brigham Young, the Mormon prophet, wrote that since 1837, he felt he had a mission to evangelize the moon men: “In my patriarchal blessing, given by the father of Joseph the Prophet, in Kirtland, 1837, I was told that I should preach the gospel before I was 21 years of age; that I should preach the gospel to the inhabitants upon the islands of the sea, and – to the inhabitants of the moon, even the planet you can now behold with your eyes.”