Excerpt
Introduction: “Can You Believe It?”
The New York Sun had the city buzzing. Moon men with wings? Crystal towers? A whole civilization living on the Moon? People didn’t just read the story—they believed it. But before we dive into that wild tale, let’s pause and talk about something important: what exactly is a hoax?
A hoax is a trick. A big, often sneaky, sometimes silly, and occasionally dangerous trick. It’s when someone makes up a fake story or event and tries to convince others that it’s real. Not by joking or saying, “Just kidding!”—but by pretending it’s the truth. Hoaxes can be harmless, like a prank played for fun, or they can get out of control, fooling millions of people and causing real problems.
But why would anyone fall for something that isn’t true?
It starts with a feeling. Excitement. Curiosity. Wonder. People want stories to be true, especially when those stories are surprising, mysterious, or just plain cool. Think about it: wouldn’t it be amazing to find out there really are creatures on the Moon? Or that someone discovered a giant, ancient person turned to stone? Those stories pull us in. They make the world feel bigger and weirder and more exciting.
That’s one of the biggest reasons people fall for hoaxes—because they want them to be real.
But there’s more to it than just wishful thinking. Sometimes people believe hoaxes because the information comes from someone they trust. Like a newspaper or a radio station. If a person hears a wild story from a goofy kid on the playground, they might laugh and move on. But if the same story comes from a trusted news reporter or a scientist or a grown-up they respect? That makes it harder to doubt.
Even smart people can fall for hoaxes. Being intelligent doesn’t protect someone from being tricked. In fact, sometimes smart people are more likely to believe a hoax—especially if it matches something they already believe or really want to be true. That’s called confirmation bias, and it means we’re more likely to believe things that fit our own ideas, even if the facts don’t add up.
It’s kind of like this: you hear a rumor that your favorite band is coming to your town. You really, really want that to be true. You don’t check if it’s on their website or ask someone who would know—you just believe it. Why? Because it feels good to believe it. That’s confirmation bias at work.
Sometimes hoaxes are designed to be sneaky. The person creating the hoax might use “evidence” that looks real, like fake photos or pretend expert interviews. They might use big science-y words or detailed descriptions that sound official. They want to make it hard to question what they’re saying. And if they say it in a serious voice or publish it in a real-looking place, it gets even harder.
Other times, hoaxes spread because of the way we humans share stories. Have you ever played the game telephone? One person whispers a message to the next, and by the time it reaches the last person, the message is totally different. That’s what can happen with hoaxes, especially before the internet existed. People heard a story, told it to their friends, and passed it along—sometimes adding details without meaning to. Before long, the story had grown into something huge and totally untrue.
And even today, stories spread faster than ever. With the internet, something fake can go around the world in minutes. A single post or video can be seen by thousands—or even millions—before anyone has time to check if it’s real. That’s one reason hoaxes still happen. They don’t need to make sense; they just need to be shared fast.
There’s another reason people fall for hoaxes, too—because they don’t always want to believe they’ve been tricked. Imagine finding out something you believed your whole life was fake. That’s tough! Some people would rather keep believing than admit they were fooled. It feels embarrassing. But here’s the truth: getting tricked doesn’t mean you’re dumb. It means you’re human.
We all want answers. We all love mysteries. And we all—every single one of us—have fallen for something that wasn’t true at some point. The important thing is what we do next. Once we start asking questions like, “Where did this come from?” and “Who’s telling this story, and why?” we begin to build our hoax detector. That’s the part of our brain that learns to pause, think, and dig deeper.
You might think this is a modern problem, something that only happens with clickbait or fake videos. But as you’ll see, people have been falling for hoaxes for hundreds of years. Some hoaxes were meant to be jokes. Others were created for money or fame. A few were even meant to test how easily people could be fooled.
But here’s the thing: every time someone believed a hoax, they also learned from it—eventually. Scientists got better at checking facts. Journalists learned to ask tougher questions. Everyday people became more careful about what they believed. That’s how progress works. Even mistakes, even really silly ones, can help us get smarter and stronger.
The Moon hoax is a perfect example. People wanted it to be true. The story was in a real newspaper, written with fancy words and amazing “details.” And back then, nobody could actually prove what was on the Moon. There were no spaceships or satellites. If someone said there were glowing crystal cities up there, how could you argue?
But eventually, the truth came out. The hoax was exposed. And even though it embarrassed a lot of people, it also taught them to think more carefully before believing the next incredible claim.
The New York Sun had the city buzzing. Moon men with wings? Crystal towers? A whole civilization living on the Moon? People didn’t just read the story—they believed it. But before we dive into that wild tale, let’s pause and talk about something important: what exactly is a hoax?
A hoax is a trick. A big, often sneaky, sometimes silly, and occasionally dangerous trick. It’s when someone makes up a fake story or event and tries to convince others that it’s real. Not by joking or saying, “Just kidding!”—but by pretending it’s the truth. Hoaxes can be harmless, like a prank played for fun, or they can get out of control, fooling millions of people and causing real problems.
But why would anyone fall for something that isn’t true?
It starts with a feeling. Excitement. Curiosity. Wonder. People want stories to be true, especially when those stories are surprising, mysterious, or just plain cool. Think about it: wouldn’t it be amazing to find out there really are creatures on the Moon? Or that someone discovered a giant, ancient person turned to stone? Those stories pull us in. They make the world feel bigger and weirder and more exciting.
That’s one of the biggest reasons people fall for hoaxes—because they want them to be real.
But there’s more to it than just wishful thinking. Sometimes people believe hoaxes because the information comes from someone they trust. Like a newspaper or a radio station. If a person hears a wild story from a goofy kid on the playground, they might laugh and move on. But if the same story comes from a trusted news reporter or a scientist or a grown-up they respect? That makes it harder to doubt.
Even smart people can fall for hoaxes. Being intelligent doesn’t protect someone from being tricked. In fact, sometimes smart people are more likely to believe a hoax—especially if it matches something they already believe or really want to be true. That’s called confirmation bias, and it means we’re more likely to believe things that fit our own ideas, even if the facts don’t add up.
It’s kind of like this: you hear a rumor that your favorite band is coming to your town. You really, really want that to be true. You don’t check if it’s on their website or ask someone who would know—you just believe it. Why? Because it feels good to believe it. That’s confirmation bias at work.
Sometimes hoaxes are designed to be sneaky. The person creating the hoax might use “evidence” that looks real, like fake photos or pretend expert interviews. They might use big science-y words or detailed descriptions that sound official. They want to make it hard to question what they’re saying. And if they say it in a serious voice or publish it in a real-looking place, it gets even harder.
Other times, hoaxes spread because of the way we humans share stories. Have you ever played the game telephone? One person whispers a message to the next, and by the time it reaches the last person, the message is totally different. That’s what can happen with hoaxes, especially before the internet existed. People heard a story, told it to their friends, and passed it along—sometimes adding details without meaning to. Before long, the story had grown into something huge and totally untrue.
And even today, stories spread faster than ever. With the internet, something fake can go around the world in minutes. A single post or video can be seen by thousands—or even millions—before anyone has time to check if it’s real. That’s one reason hoaxes still happen. They don’t need to make sense; they just need to be shared fast.
There’s another reason people fall for hoaxes, too—because they don’t always want to believe they’ve been tricked. Imagine finding out something you believed your whole life was fake. That’s tough! Some people would rather keep believing than admit they were fooled. It feels embarrassing. But here’s the truth: getting tricked doesn’t mean you’re dumb. It means you’re human.
We all want answers. We all love mysteries. And we all—every single one of us—have fallen for something that wasn’t true at some point. The important thing is what we do next. Once we start asking questions like, “Where did this come from?” and “Who’s telling this story, and why?” we begin to build our hoax detector. That’s the part of our brain that learns to pause, think, and dig deeper.
You might think this is a modern problem, something that only happens with clickbait or fake videos. But as you’ll see, people have been falling for hoaxes for hundreds of years. Some hoaxes were meant to be jokes. Others were created for money or fame. A few were even meant to test how easily people could be fooled.
But here’s the thing: every time someone believed a hoax, they also learned from it—eventually. Scientists got better at checking facts. Journalists learned to ask tougher questions. Everyday people became more careful about what they believed. That’s how progress works. Even mistakes, even really silly ones, can help us get smarter and stronger.
The Moon hoax is a perfect example. People wanted it to be true. The story was in a real newspaper, written with fancy words and amazing “details.” And back then, nobody could actually prove what was on the Moon. There were no spaceships or satellites. If someone said there were glowing crystal cities up there, how could you argue?
But eventually, the truth came out. The hoax was exposed. And even though it embarrassed a lot of people, it also taught them to think more carefully before believing the next incredible claim.