War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds is a science-fiction novel written by H. G. Wells and published in 1898. The novel focuses on the adventures of a single protagonist during a time in which Earth is being invaded by violent aliens from Mars. The novel gained significant success and was adapted for a radio broadcast in 1938.

The broadcast, directed by Orson Welles, was aired as an episode of Mercury Theatre on the Air (a drama series that aired on CBS's radio network) at 8:00 p.m. on October 30, 1938. The broadcast was formatted to run for 60 minutes, with the first 40 minutes being presented in the form of news reports. Approximately 12 million people listened to the broadcast. The realism of the news reports, coupled with the fact that about one million listeners did not hear any of the disclaimers that had been stated and displayed prior to the broadcast, led many people to believe that Martians were actually invading Earth.

In addition, approximately one month prior to the War of the Worlds broadcast, news reporters at radio stations across the country began interrupting programs to inform the American public of the increasing dangers in Europe, describing how Adolf Hitler was rising to power and threatening to invade many countries. In one month, interruptions for news bulletins became increasingly frequent, adding eyewitness accounts and live interviews. These bulletins became so frequent that when the War of the Worlds broadcast occurred, many uninformed people believed that it was another actual news bulletin.

The broadcast began with a disclaimer describing the novel and story. Orchestral music then played for a while, followed by a news anchor's voice interrupting to describe explosions and meteors from Mars. The orchestral music then resumed but was later interrupted by another news bulletin. The story then developed as the Martians landed in Grover's Mill, New Jersey, and began vaporizing humans with their advanced and violent heat-ray technology and toxic hydrogen gas.

Orson Welles, acting as Professor Richard Pierson of Princeton University, discussed the Martian technology, while a news reporter discussed the horrors that the Martians were wreaking on New Jersey and New York. Many other interviews with actors pretending to be astronomy experts, military officials, and the secretary of the interior were played in the broadcast as well. The broadcast also used orchestral music, commercial breaks, and intermissions to add realism.

The broadcast was intended to be an entertaining story in the spirit of Halloween. In fact, after the story had finished, Welles reminded the audience that it was a work of fiction meant to [Page 926]be a spooky tale for the Halloween season. However, the reaction from the public was one of terror. Many people who listened to the broadcast had failed to notice the many advertisements—including newspaper listings and radio announcements—regarding the upcoming broadcast, and missed the first few minutes of the broadcast introducing the War of the Worlds as a novel and fictional story.

This resulted in a mass panic. Trenton, New Jersey, police received 2,000 phone calls in less than two hours. The New York Times' switchboard received 875 calls from people asking what they should do to keep safe. At 9:00 p.m. that night, a woman walked into a New York police station with her two children saying she was ready to leave the city. Several Harlem residents rushed into police stations saying they were packed and ready to evacuate. Many people had called police stations asking what they should do to avoid the poison hydrogen gas that the aliens were releasing on Earth. Instances like these were reported in several police stations across New York and New Jersey, and reaching as far as the west coast of the United States. Some of these people believed that the United States was actually being invaded by Germans, not Martians.

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