In 1835, the New York Sun newspaper published a series of articles detailing the discovery of life on the moon. Now, the complete text of these articles is available in classic Reactor Core style, all on one big page that you can easily download and save with a single click. Read it here: The Great Moon Hoax of 1835.
The 1835 moon hoax is interesting as a work of science fiction. Falsely ascribed to astronomer Sir John Herschel, the moon hoax talked of primitive, hut-dwelling beaver-men, purple unicorns, and flying men with wings like bats.
Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, the founders and leaders of the Mormon church, taught as doctrine that men live on the moon, are six feet tall, and dress like Quakers. Perhaps they got their information from this very hoax, which was published just as the Mormon church was getting founded. You can read the evidence here and here.
Intelligent, educated people believed in the Moon Hoax of 1835 for a very long time. Today, a lot of intelligent, educated people have fallen for the NASA Moon Hoax of 1969. Things don't change much.