> "In 1894, the public became excited by the idea too, after astronomer Percival Lowell suggested that Schiaparelli's observations showed canals that had been made by an alien civilization."
Lowell really wanted there to be canals on other planets. He made the same claims about venus, when he was actually mapping out the veins inside his eye
An alternate explanation for the failure to detect radio signals from Mars, is that the Martians had also quieted their own radio signals in their attempt to detect radio signals from Earth.