Seventy years ago this evening, CBS radio aired something that frightened over a million people. It was a piece of science fiction about the end of the world, and it was told over the radio so convincingly that people thought it was real. The radio show I am speaking of is Orson Welles' presentation of War of The Worlds.
The original novel called War of The Worlds was written by H.G. Wells in 1898. As I'm sure you know, the book is about an army of aliens from Mars who come to Earth for the sole purpose of invasion. The story was fairly well known by 1938, but Orson Welles decided to adapt the book to modern times and told the story in a news broadcast format so that it would sound as if the listeners were actually hearing the events happen live. The effect was astounding. Local police stations were inundated with phone calls from concerned citizens who were convinced that the martian invasion was actually taking place in New Jersey, and others went into a full blown panic.
After the radio broadcast, the public was in an outcry against CBS for broadcasting the show. The governtment conducted an investigation into the incident, and even Adolph Hitler described the broadcast as "evidence of the decadence and corrupt condition of democracy."
But really, who listens to Hitler? That guy was a douche.
Now here we are, secenty years later, and if you actually take the time to listen to the broadcast, it still stands the test of time. It's an amazing piece of writing, and a great piece of science fiction.
If you care to, you can download the original broadcast here: WarOfTheWorlds
Also, the NPR show Radio Lab did an amazing piece on the original broadcast of War of the Worlds, it's impact on modern culture, and how scarily effective remakes of the radio show have been. The story about the remake in South America is truly tragic. You can listen to that show here.
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