LOCKE, Richard Adams

Richard Adams Locke was a British-American journalist and editor who became infamous for creating one of the most successful media hoaxes of the 19th century. In August 1835, while working for the *New York Sun*, Locke published a series of articles falsely attributed to renowned astronomer Sir John Herschel, claiming the discovery of life on the moon through powerful telescope observations from the Cape of Good Hope.

The articles, published over six days, described in elaborate detail a lunar civilization complete with winged humanoid creatures, unicorn-like animals, and vast crystal structures. Locke presented the fabricated findings as legitimate scientific discovery, complete with technical astronomical language and references to real scientific instruments. The hoax was so convincing that it fooled prominent scientists and increased the *Sun's* circulation dramatically.

Locke's motivation was reportedly to satirize contemporary scientific speculation and religious debates about plurality of worlds, though the commercial success of the hoax may have encouraged its continuation. The articles generated enormous public excitement and were reprinted in newspapers across America and Europe before being exposed as fiction. Even after the hoax was revealed, many readers continued to believe the lunar discoveries were genuine.

The Great Moon Hoax established templates for sensationalist journalism that persist today, demonstrating how fabricated news could achieve wide circulation before verification became possible. Locke's technique of combining scientific authority with fantastical claims influenced later media hoaxes and remains relevant to discussions of misinformation in digital media.

After the moon hoax, Locke continued his journalism career but never achieved comparable notoriety. He died in relative obscurity on Staten Island in 1871, though his lunar fabrication continues to be studied as an early example of viral misinformation.