[Capt. Tom]

Grover’s Mill, New Jersey, has declared martial law...

I was 3 years old in 1938 when Orson Wells caused that panic. -Tom

[Elsie]

You old coot!

The ‘panic’ was caused by those who failed to hear the FIRST part of the broadcast; which clearly stated that is was fiction.

I looked up the actual book that Wells wrote and the setting is in England. I used the radio program as an illustration because I figured most would not recognize the location in the book; but would the radio program.

[Elsie]

There is nothing new under the sun!

 

So how did the story of the "panic" grow over the years?

Slate blames newspapers, which allegedly "seized the opportunity

presented by Welles' program to discredit radio as a source of news.

The newspaper industry sensationalized the panic to prove to advertisers,

and regulators, that radio management was irresponsible and not to be trusted."

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/10/30/241797346/75-years-ago-war-of-the-worlds-started-a-panic-or-did-it

 

 

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https://www.google.com/search?q=war+of+worlds+panic&ie=&oe=

 

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ANNOUNCER: The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations

                           present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air in

                           The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells.

(MUSIC: MERCURY THEATRE MUSICAL THEME)

ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen: the director of the Mercury Theatre

                           and star of these broadcasts, Orson Welles . . .

 

 

(and the rest is history)