August 25, 2022
Matthew Goodman, author of "The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists and Lunar Man-Bats in 19th century New York." It was on this date back in 1835 that the first of six articles appeared in the New York Sun that chronicled the discovery by British astronomers that the moon was inhabited by an array of fantastic creatures. Needless to say, it was an outrageous hoax, but one that a large swath of the New York City public fell prey. /// Part Two- Andrew Jampoler, author of "Sailors in the Holy Land: The 1848 American Expedition to the Dead Sea and the Search for Sodom and Gomorrah."
