The Man in the Moon
European legend says a man was banished to the Moon, and you can still see him there with his bundle of sticks, his lantern and his dog.
What was reported
In medieval Europe, many people saw a figure in the Moon's markings: a man carrying a bundle of thorns or sticks on his back. One story said he had been caught gathering firewood on the Sabbath and was sent to the Moon as punishment, to stand there forever as a warning.
By Shakespeare's time he had picked up a lantern and a dog, and in A Midsummer Night's Dream a character plays 'Moonshine' with just those props.
Explanations offered
It's pareidolia, the tendency to see faces and figures in random patterns, applied to the Moon's dark seas. Different cultures see different things in the same patches: a face, a rabbit, a toad, a woman weaving or a girl carrying water.
- When
- Told since the Middle Ages
- Where
- The Moon, as told in Europe
- Witnesses
- European tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.