A letter supposedly written by the astrologers of Toledo and addressed to Pope Clement III began circulating throughout Europe in 1184. It predicted the end of the world would occur in September 1186. It said there would be wind and storms, drought and famine, pestilence and earthquake. The air would grow dark and a dreadful voice would be heard that would destroy the hearts of men. Coastal towns would be covered with sand and earth. All this would be triggered by a rare conjunction of the planets in the sign of the Scales and in the tail of the Dragon. People were advised to flee their homes and find safety in the mountains.

The letter caused panic throughout Europe. The Archbishop of Canterbury ordered a 3-day fast to prevent the calamity. When September 1186 arrived, the planetary conjunction did occur on schedule, but the end of the world never happened. Nevertheless, some attribute the Third Crusade of 1189 to the unrest stirred up by the letter.

This was not the end of the Toledo Letter. Variants of it continued to circulate for centuries, with names and dates altered. A version from around 1214, which attributed the text to a Cardinal Johannes Toletanus, warned of the end of the world in 1229, citing the same rare planetary conjunction as the reason. By the end of the fourteenth century the text was attributed to the Magisters in Paris, though the content of the warning remained essentially the same. Even as late as 1480 it was still in circulation, now attributed to a Mount Sinai hermit and a Rasis of Antiochia, who warned the end would come in 1510.

On August 25, 1835 the New York Sun announced the discovery of life on the moon. It explained that the discovery had been made by the famous British astronomer Sir John Herschel, who had invented a new telescope "of vast dimensions and an entirely new principle." Over the course of the next week the Sun printed details about the moon creatures Herschel had supposedly spied with his telescope. These creatures included lunar bison, fire-wielding biped beavers, and winged "man-bats." The public was fascinated by the reports. Papers throughout the nation reprinted the Sun's articles. But over time, as word from Europe failed to arrive corroborating what the Sun claimed, people realized they had been hoaxed. More→

in early February 1874, the Kansas City Times ran a story claiming that scientists had discovered that the transatlantic telegraph cables were acting like enormous electromagnets, pulling the earth into the sun. Calculations indicated that if the earth's current trajectory continued unchecked, Europe would become tropical in 12 years, and the entire earth would be uninhabitable soon after. Finally the planet would plunge into the sun. More→