Why Do We Want to Believe?: A Guest Post by David Baron

David Baron delves into the astonishing historical evidence of the Mars mania that swept the nation at the turn of the 20th century. Whether you believe in UFOs or not… the truth can be stranger than fiction. Read on for an exclusive essay from David Baron on writing The Martians.

I knew I had the makings of a compelling book the moment I began exploring archival newspapers from the early twentieth century. When I searched on the term “Martians,” I uncovered long-lost headlines that seemed straight out of fiction.

 “There Is Life on the Planet Mars,” The New York Times proclaimed in 1906. “Photographs Indicate Intelligent Beings Live on Mars,” The New York Herald declared in 1907. Meanwhile, The New York Journal asked, “Has Nikola Tesla Spoken with Mars?” and the answer appeared to be yes. Tesla, the genius inventor, said he had received Martian radio signals in 1899.

What I had discovered, to my astonishment, was that in the decades before Martians became staples of science fiction, they had been widely believed to be scientific fact. No less of an authority than Alexander Graham Bell maintained in 1909 that there was “no escape from the conviction that Mars is inhabited by a highly civilized and intelligent race of beings.” Newspapers published artists’ renditions of the Martians—bald, barrel-chested aliens with saucer eyes.

Here was a forgotten historical drama worthy of an Erik Larson bestseller that called for the playfulness characteristic of Mary Roach’s whimsical science books. To me it seemed an irresistible combination.

My search of old newspapers had been prompted by my own personal fascination with Mars. Born in the 1960s, I grew up surrounded by Martians. They appeared in comic books, science fiction novels, sitcoms, and—my favorite—Saturday morning cartoons, in which Bugs Bunny thwarted the Earth-destroying schemes of an ill-tempered Marvin the Martian. Having since matured into an adult who writes about astronomy, I wanted to know where our cultural fascination with Mars originated.

While the old headlines hinted at an answer, they raised new questions. What was the “science” that convinced Alexander Graham Bell that Martians really existed? What enabled this mass delusion to spread so far and wide? How did the Martians infiltrate popular culture, from vaudeville shows to the music of Tin Pan Alley? And, with Nikola Tesla supposedly conversing with Mars, what did Earth hope to learn from its neighbors in space?

Answering those questions required seven years of research as I traveled across three continents, explored the personal papers of dozens of prominent scientists and writers, and immersed myself in the preoccupations of America in the waning days of the Gilded Age.

Today, the idea that Mars is inhabited by intelligent beings seems laughable, and yet the planet retains its gravitational pull on our culture. Both the United States and China hope to send astronauts to Mars as soon as the 2030s, and a conspicuous tech billionaire with his own rocket company aims to colonize Mars to create a more peaceful, egalitarian world.

As I discovered in my travels through history, Mars is a mirror that reflects back on ourselves. What we imagine on the planet says more about our own longings than about the physical reality of that diminutive orb. To understand why we are prone to believe fanciful notions about Mars ultimately requires understanding this: Why do we want to believe?