* * * * *
                                        
    Today, he would probably be arrested and we'd never hear from him again
                                        
> The story of the mass panic caused by Welles’s War of the Worlds remains
> popular, but recent research has suggested that the extent of the commotion
> is far more limited than the myth allows. Newspapers at the time greatly
> exaggerated listeners’ panic - most of the show’s audience understood the
> play was fictitious - as a way to discredit radio, which was emerging as a
> serious competition to newspapers.
> 

Via Impudence [1], “This Day In History | October 30th 1938: ‘War of the
Worlds’ broadcast… [2]”

Ah, the more things change, the more they stay the same [3].

Anyway, I remember my Great Aunt Freddie (she was my mom's father's sister,
and yes, Freddie really was her name) telling stories about this radio
broadcast. As a kid, she was attending an evening church service that Sunday
when a frantic guy burst in claiming that Martians had landed in New Jersey.
Sadly, I don't recall more of the story other than that. I would have liked
to have known the pastor's reaction to that.

[1] http://violetimpudence.tumblr.com/post/132223823595/todayinhistory-
[2] http://todayinhistory.tumblr.com/post/132208168060/october-30th-1938-
[3] http://www.economist.com/node/7830218

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

.