The year was 1938, and the entire country was nervous. It was the year before World War II began. The United States was still recovering from the Great Depression - a time when many people suddenly found themselves without money. In 1938 no one was sure what would happen next.
On Halloween that year, thousands of people across the country were listening to a popular radio show called the Mercury Theatre. They heard dance music for a while, and then an announcer broke in. Then the music resumed. Soon there was another news bulletin. A famous astronomer reported that a seismograph had registered a shock, almost as great as an earthquake, near Princeton, New Jersey. The music came back on but was interrupted again.
"It is reported that at 8:50 P.M. a huge, flaming object, believed to be a meteorite, fell on a farm in the neighborhood of Gravers Mill, New Jersey."
The radio listeners settled backs again to enjoy the music, but soon there was another bulletin. This time it came from a mobile radio unit in Gravers Mill.
Sirens could be heard in the back - "Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program to bring you a special bulletin."
The bulletin told about explosions that had been observed on Mars ground. A reporter described the scene.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed. Wait a minute! Someone's crawling out of the hollow top. Someone or... something...."
Eyewitness reports kept pouring out of the radio. The creatures were marching across New Jersey, sending out poisonous gas in front of them. They were heading for New York City. Nothing could slow them down.
By this time, thousands of listeners were calling police stations, hospitals, newspapers, and government leaders. Some were asking for protection against the invaders. Some were volunteering to fight them. In New Jersey, families fled with handkerchiefs over their faces. Highways all around New York were jammed. In the Midwest people hid in cellars or ran to warn their neighbors.
But it was all a joke. All the special bulletins and the eyewitness reports had been part of a play titled Invasion from Mars. The reporters and the 'eyewitnesses' were really actors. The sound effects were created by sound experts in another studio. The actors and sound experts had done a good job. A poll taken after the broadcast showed that more than half of the 1,700,000 listeners that night had believed that an invasion from Mars was really happening. They didn't realize that it was just a radio play until the end, when the director of the Mercury Theatre came on the air to say:
"This is Orson Welles, ladies and gentlemen, out of character to assure you that The War of the Worlds has no further significance than as the holiday offering it was intended to be ... it's Halloween."