At the turn of the 20th century, the "Mars Craze" reached a fever pitch, fueled by tales of intelligent canal-building Martians and the tantalizing possibly of contact between planets. Newspapers ...

Talk about fake news: In 1907 a New York Times banner headline declared, “There Is Life On the Planet Mars.” Upping the ante the next year, the stodgy Wall Street Journal claimed “proof” of “conscious ...

As a kid in the 1960s and '70s, David Baron – like many others – was fascinated by Mars. “There was a popular sitcom back then called “My Favorite Martian,” about an alien from the Red planet who ...

In 1906, the New York Times ran the headline, “There is life on the planet Mars.” It was based on the work of Percival Lowell, a professor who was convinced Mars contained a series of irrigation ...

Courtesy of University of Arizona Libraries. Submitted author photo. As a kid in the 1960s and 70s, David Baron – like many others – was fascinated by Mars. “There was a popular sitcom back then ...

Upping the ante the next year, the stodgy Wall Street Journal claimed "proof" of "conscious, intelligent human life" on our red neighbor. A decades-long cultural phenomenon is revisited in the "The ...