On this day, a hoax sparked hysteria.
Halloween specials are a staple of most American broadcasts, be it television or radio. They are usually darker thematically, or themed with the spooky holiday. However, sometimes the scares can go too far–CBS Radio Network’s 1938 radio drama is one such instance.
In 1938, the program decided to air a dramatization of Orson Welles’ 1898 sci-fi novel The War of the Worlds, which is a fictional first-hand account of a Martian invasion of Earth. The novel is the earliest iteration of the “alien invasion” genre, pioneering hallmark elements such as alien technology, global catastrophe and mass panic.
CBS had a series airing on the radio called The Mercury Theatre on the Air, and as part of a Halloween special, it featured Orson Welles himself to both direct and narrate the story. It premiered at 8 P.M. as the 17th episode that night, which led to many listeners tuning in too late to catch the preceding message that confirmed the story to be fictional.
The program was formatted to imitate a live news broadcast, including dance music interwoven with developing bulletins, reporters “on site,” while fighting and screaming could be heard in the background. Fictional “officials” making public statements were also included. While the novel took place in 1890s England, the radio drama changed the setting to be contemporary, encompassing all of 1930s America.
All of this, in hindsight, created a remarkably immersive radio drama. But almost immediately, there emerged pockets of the public who mistook the program for fact. Although some genuinely believed the war “occurring” was with aliens, the majority mistakenly assumed the invasion was by the Germans due to rising instability in Europe at the time. It is also important to note that the pockets of mistaken listeners were largely from rural parts of the country, therefore limiting their worldliness. The true extent of the “hysteria” was relatively tiny, but once newspapers caught wind of the story, it was blown out of proportion–leading to the infamous mistake.
To this day, CBS’ The War of the Worlds is still an impressive feat of immersive storytelling. If you listen to it, you can understand why some people mistook it for reality. While the truth of its effect may be exaggerated, the legend itself is enough to immortalize it.
