Martians Land in New Jersey

Today marks 75th Anniversary of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds radio broadcast

October 30th, 2013, at 7:00, will mark 75th anniversary of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast. Delivered from CBS New York’s Mercury Theater on the Air the broadcast was based on a book written in the late 19th century about an invasion from Mars. However the majority of Americans were not interested in this program. Most were listening to a variety show on NBC, and when the singer came on, many people in the audience began to turn the dial. By that point the War of the Worlds had broadcast its disclaimer, that the show was just a show.

Welles had decided earlier that week to duplicate another show he’d recently heard where an air raid was staged in a recording booth. He liked the sound of the realistic news bulletins, and incorporated them into his own show. It was these parts that most people tuned in to.

They listened as a meteor crashed down in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey. And as the reporter on the field witnessed a horrible machine crawl out of the crater, and begin eliminating the people surrounding it. Fears increased when the audience heard more explosions were occurring on the red planet. The national guard was decimated by the machines before the listeners’ ears. One disaster after another, dashing all hope humanity would survive.

So, what did they all do? PANIC!

There are many stories about people’s reactions to the broadcast. Many left their homes and went to police stations, or other locations for emergency. Many called their family members around the South Jersey and Southeastern Pennsylvania area, to see if they had been turned to mush. One woman ran into a church service and declared the end of the world had come. But none of these stories compare to the poor town of Concrete. During the climax of the first act, the power went out all over town. The men of the town ran for their guns–they were ready for those damned extraterrestrial invaders. The citizens took to the hills and waited.

But of course nothing came.

Mr. Welles’ had been informed of the hysteria pretty much twenty or more minutes before the end. His daughter says he couldn’t believe people would fall for a radio show like that. You can hear his disappointment in his statement at the end, “The War of the Worlds has no further significance, than the holiday offering it was intended to be…remember, for the next day or so, the horrible lesson you learned tonight. That grinning, glowing, [round] invader of your home is an inhabitant of the pumpkin patch. And if your doorbell rings and nobody’s there, that was no martian, it’s Halloween.”