Shortly after 8 p.m. on the Halloween Eve, 1938, the voice of a panicked radio announcer broke in with a news bulletin reporting strange explosions taking place on the planet Mars, followed minutes later by a report that Martians had landed in the tiny town of Grovers Mill, New Jersey. Although most listeners understood that the program was a radio drama, the next day’s headlines reported that thousands of others plunged into panic, convinced that America was under a deadly Martian attack. It turned out to be H.G. Wells’ classic The War of the Worlds, performed by 23-year-old Orson Welles.
77 years ago today, at around 8 pm, thousands of Americans pushed the proverbial panic button, loaded up their cars and drove off in a panic, convinced that they had moments to live because of an invasion. It’s hard to believe, nowadays, that people were that naïve–or is it?
77 years ago people had little exposure to media, especially like they do today. They had no TV, only the radio and movie theaters. There was a lack of sophistication and many fewer people then had much formal education. It might not be too far-fetched to think that little Green men from one of our neighboring planets were invading.
While we laugh about someone thinking that Martians were landing, I am reminded of people who are convinced that the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969 was a hoax by NBC. Then there was the pentagon hoax of 9-11 that was supposedly staged. Deniers, birthers, etc all seem to believe whatever story is throw out there.
Meanwhile, the War of the Worlds saga continues. As I listen to the old radio broadcast, it does sound pretty darn realistic!!
The PBS documentary can be seen at the above link.
It’s easy for us to look back and ridicule those who thought the Orison Wells broadcast was real. We need to remember that the “world” of people in that day was much smaller, more localized. Many didn’t have phones, news came from the local paper, or via newsreel at the local theater. Most people were educated in the basics, and entered the workforce. The radio was still a relatively new medium for the distribution of information and entertainment.
You are right on pointing out how quickly hoaxes, conspiracy, and misinformation is spread these days, via the myriad of methods we have to share information.
I am not so sure that people are any smarter today. Nigerian cousins, your grand son has been arrested and this is the IRS give me your credit card.
My father was old enough to remember the Welles broadcast. Anyone who knew Orson Welles and listened to that particular program understood that this was a dramatic setting of H.G. Wells’s work. But the immediacy and novelty of radio made it seem very much like news shows (a new phenomenon), particularly if one got in after the beginning.
I’m quite sure we’re no smarter than those who were frightened by the 1938 broadcast. If we were, there wouldn’t be these cable news and talk radio shows for the fearful. There’s money in scamming credulous people, whether it be about Martians, immigrants, gun confiscation, or Obama seizing a third term. People like to be frightened, and life seems richer if we perpetually perceive ourselves to be threatened. It’s more boring if we acknowledge that we live in the most secure, free, religiously tolerant nation that ever existed on the face of the Earth.
I don’t know about smarter…..see the success of Alex Jones and InfoWar.