Doomsday arrived on Oct. 30, 1938, when poisonous black gas crept through New Jersey, ray guns shot flames across New York City and killing machines from Mars took over the nation... nearly 1 million american radio listeners thought it, at least.
..."Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News. At twenty minutes before eight, central time, Professor Farrell of the Mount Jennings Observatory, Chicago, Ill., reports observing several explosions of incandescent gas, occurring at regular interviews on the planet Mars." Orson Welles
After the broadcast, thousands of letters were sent to Welles from listeners, as well as to the FCC complaining about the broadcast. And Welles, who had already made a name for himself in the New York theater scene, became a superstar.
Last Wednesday marked the 75th anniversary of Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" broadcast, an adaptation of H.G. Wells' science fiction novel. Welles was just 23 years old at the time.