📰 NEWS FLASH 📰

ALIENS 👽HAVE INVADED THE EARTH 🌎

On October 30, 1938, 23-year-old Orson Welles, a prodigy in radio and theater, directed a live radio adaptation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds as a series of realistic news bulletins, which led to widespread panic among listeners who mistook it for a real alien invasion. The broadcast, aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) as part of the Mercury Theatre on the Air series, was framed as a breaking news report, with the story set in modern-day New Jersey, specifically the town of Grovers Mill, to enhance its authenticity. Welles introduced the program with a disclaimer stating it was a fictional dramatization, but many listeners who tuned in late missed this announcement, contributing to the confusion