With Halloween nigh upon us, I am reminded of one of the most outlandish modern stories linked to this annual celebration. Yes, I’m talking about how the October 30, 1938, radio dramatization of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds caused many listeners to think that Martians were invading Earth … or at least New Jersey.
Because I’ve written about this episode before in The Rap Sheet, I won’t repeat the story, but instead direct you to my previous report here. At that link, you can also listen to the entire, hour-long broadcast by Orson Welles’ The Mercury Theatre on the Air.
In recent decades, there has been considerable debunking of the legend—as appealing as it is—that tens of thousands of gullible Americans panicked at hearing aliens had descended upon our planet. But in the broadcast’s immediate wake, many newspaper stories spread those rumors far and wide, including the one featured atop this post, from the October 31, 1938, edition of The Baltimore Sun.
READ MORE: “Invaders in Our Living Room: Why We Love the Myth That Most Americans Believed the 1938 War of the Worlds Broadcast,” by Benjamin Naddaff-Hafrey (Pacific Standard); “The War of the Worlds Panic Was Anti-Radio Propaganda,” by Louis Anslow (Pessimist’s Archive); “Retro: When Orson Welles’ 1938 Broadcast of The War of the Worlds Scared the Dickens Out of Baltimoreans,” by Frederick N. Rasmussen (The Baltimore Sun).
3 comments:
I know they claim now that folks were not freaked out. My grandparents used to talk about how relatives up there in the area, and as far west as Saint Louis, were loading their shotguns and getting ready, as were the neighbors those folks knew, because they thought it was real.
The link to your previous post about The War of the Worlds doesn't work.
Sorry, Fiona. I don't know what went wrong there, but the link should be fixed now. -- Cheers, Jeff
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