The Great Moon Hoax

The New York Sun announced that a famous astronomer had seen bat-winged people living on the Moon. Circulation went through the roof.

Six instalments described unicorns, bipedal beavers and the "Vespertilio-homo", all supposedly seen through a giant telescope at the Cape of Good Hope. Sir John Herschel, who was genuinely there and knew nothing about it, found the whole thing funny for a while and then rather less so.