Belief in the Extraordinary
In August 25, 1835, a relatively new type of tabloid-type publication — “penny press” — by The Sun, a New York City news agency, reported that Sir John Herschel (the discoverer of the planet Uranus) of Edinburgh, assisted by Dr. Andrew Grant, with an unheard of powerful telescope, located in Cape Town, South Africa, discovered life on Earth’s moon. What followed were six articles, reportedly based on information from The Edinburgh Journal of Science, describing wondrous creatures, plants, and geography that rival Dr. Seuss’ own imagination. The Sun’s penny press rivaled other newspapers in the area because it offered a paper for less than the going rate 6 cents for a broadsheet, making it affordable for a great deal more people who believed what they read.
During 1917, cousins Frances Griffith and Elsie Wright took photographs, showing the presence of fairies flitting about with them in their garden. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (of Sherlock Holmes fame) was a member of the Theosophical Society which acknowledged philosophies of mysticism, spiritualism, and occultism. Doyle authenticated the photographs, in November 1920 publishing an article about the photographs in The Strand, capturing media attention.
On October 30, 1938, radio broadcasts of a deadly invasion of aliens from Mars panicked around a million listeners who jammed up highways, trying to flee the martians, begged for gas masks to protect them from the alien poison, and demanded electric companies turn off their electricity, so the aliens wouldn’t see them.
“The Great Moon Hoax” of 1835: The problem is The Edinburgh Journal of Science was no longer in print, Dr. Grant was fiction, and the probable author of the articles, Richard Adams Locke, intended them merely as satire, never expecting to entrap readers or galvanize scientists. September 16, The Sun issued an apology for the perpetration of a hoax.
“Cottingley Fairies” of 1917–1920: Originally, the cousins and their family only intended that the fairy photographs be a practical joke, but Doyle gave them credence and the cousins joined in. It wasn’t until the 1980s that one of the cousins admitted that the photos were fake. The fairies were mere pencil (it was still the age of black and white photographs) drawings on pins.
“War of the Worlds” of 1938: Orson Welles’ updated radio-broadcasted version of the H.G. Well’s 19th century science fiction novel began at 8pm with the announcement that the Mercury Theater Co. was presenting the fiction story, “War of the Worlds.” However, the audience of that broadcast were otherwise engaged with a popular ventriloquist show until 8:12pm, when “War of the Worlds” was well under way. “The radio play was extremely realistic with Welles employing sophisticated sound effects and his actors doing an excellent job, portraying terrified announcers and other characters,” (History) and viewers were unintentionally given the scare of their life. When CBS heard of the panic, Welles stepped in to assure the audience that it was only fiction.
Are we still so easily fooled? Maybe in the The Sun’s “penny press” of 1835 when leaps were made in scientific discovery and source availability and verification were scarce, yes? Perhaps, in black and white photographs in 1917, without technology to debunk and with a knighted, well-known author to credit them, yes? It could be, after the Great War and during the heating up for World War II, unimaginable times, and with the talent of good actors in a radio program of 1938, yes? Surely, in this age of unlimited information via television, radio, podcasts, and, most importantly, the internet we are not so fooled.
Within hours of the 9–11 attacks, 1503 born, French physician Michel de Nostradamus’ prediction as follows hit email inboxes and followed in an online newsgroup:
“In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb, The third big war will begin when the city is burning”
People found the 1656 prediction ominous for New York City as the “City of God,” the Towers as “Two brothers torn apart,” the Pentagon, “the fortress,” the U.S. President, “the great leader,” and World War III, “the third big war.”
But wait … Did you notice I wrote “the 1656 prediction?” Nostradamus died in 1566. Furthermore, critics said it was too obscure to be attributed to the event. Finally, that particular prophecy is in none of Nostradamus’ actual “Prophecies” books. It is part of an essay Neil Marshall wrote to show how easy it is to copy Nostradamus’ verse. His essay was posted online, and who knows how many people, including news groups, around the world were fooled.
We are a people who want to believe the extraordinary.
Works Cited
Emery, David. “Did Nostradamus Predict the 9/11 Attacks?” ThoughtCo. Dotdash Publishing, 14 Aug. 2018. thoughtco.com/did-nostradamus-predict-the-911-attacks-3298240.
Gaynor, Hazel. “Inside the Elaborate Hoax That Made British Society Believe in Fairies.” Time, 1 Aug. 2017. time.com/4876824/cottingley-fairies-book.
History. “1938: Welles Scares Nation.” History.com, 30 Oct. 2009. istory.com/this-day-in-history/welles-scares-nation.
McNamara, Robert. “Penny Press.” ThoughtCo., 14 Jun. 2018. thoughtco.com/penny-press-definition-1773293.
