The 1938 "War of the Worlds" broadcast.

The show was broadcast as part of the Mercury Theater series of dramatic presentations. More about that program here.

And here's Wikipedia's take on the brouhaha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama)

Thank for the links and bringing up the subject and to think we now have two working robots moving around the surface of Mars.

You're quite welcome, Bill. Enjoy!

I had a record album of the broadcast, but gave it away to a man who had not heard it before.

Ever the gullible sheeple.

It was interesting in the full disclosure that most Americans were listening to the Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy show (what I have a problem with is that this was a VENTRILIQUIST ON THE RADIO). As soon as the opening monologue was finished with McCarthy's jokes, much of Bbergens audience started "Surfing" and found the musical interlude (which was the Mercury Theqter).
SO these people (approximately 10 million) tuned into a fake nenws broadcast that started with all the reports from an observatory that stated there were visible explosions on the surface of Mars (apparently ships exiting).

This happened twice again , once in Equador and then again (I think in Wisconsin).

This really launched Welles career more than his "Shadow".

Could it happen again? I thnk so, Every time we have a mass shooting or some other tragedy,both CNN and FOX get it first and get it very wrong, and people believe em.

It was interesting in the full disclosure that most Americans were listening to the Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy show (what I have a problem with is that this was a VENTRILIQUIST ON THE RADIO). As soon as the opening monologue was finished with McCarthy's jokes, much of Bbergens audience started "Surfing" and found the musical interlude (which was the Mercury Theqter).
SO these people (approximately 10 million) tuned into a fake nenws broadcast that started with all the reports from an observatory that stated there were visible explosions on the surface of Mars (apparently ships exiting).

This happened twice again , once in Equador and then again (I think in Wisconsin).

This really launched Welles career more than his "Shadow".

Could it happen again? I thnk so, Every time we have a mass shooting or some other tragedy,both CNN and FOX get it first and get it very wrong, and people believe em.

Ever the gullible sheeple, Farmer. You could be the leader of the herd.

I think you're right, farmer: it could happen again. We are all pretty gullible when it comes to believing whatever some well-known newscaster says on the air. And if it's on the Web, why, it must be so. I'm not at all safe from this tendency to be deluded. More than once I've seen a purported "news" story on the Web and bought it as factual until someone pointed out that it was an Onion satire.

I listened to the fake martian program from Quito in 1949. Itbwas really cheesey (the sound effects were done by some amateur who couldn't make the "death ray" sound real). Yet that entire broadcast resulted in the radio station being burned down and people shot.

At least in NJ they just got over it and went for some beers, and Orson Welles became an overnight success .

PS, on last nights 75 anniversary rebroadcast of the War of the Worlds, PBS followed up with another program about the fallout and how people were arguing about whether they were on the gullible side or among the ones who saw it as Halloween entertainment.That program was called "The War of the Welles". George Takei was the host and he regaled us with several "Oh My's".

Told ya so, Merry. And this has been happening your whole life, and Farmer's and ... .

Damn! And I wasn't listening. Blame the Red Sox.

Damn! And I wasn't listening. Blame the Red Sox.

Sox were on TV ,"War" was on PBS radio.
Bosox played this game so that when it was 6 to zip, it was over not much excitement after the runup in the score (except for St Louiee's one run)

Here's a modern take on a FAKE news bulletin interrupting a fake show.

Except, instead of aliens coming to kill us, it's Putin launching a nuclear war against NATO.



The video portrays the US as being unrealistically timid in my view. It seems to me that if this were real, by about halfway through the video we would be showering Russian population centers with thermonuclear warheads.

That said, the video makes a good point that we need to seriously boost military spending and move a lot more forces up to Russia's border in order to deter this sort of aggression before it ever gets to the point of nuclear war.

And someone sure put a lot of effort into making this. The video is in high definition if you want to download it. Just be sure when you play it on TV that everyone knows it is a FAKE news broadcast, lest you start another War of the Worlds panic.

there was this Venezuelan Radio Program about aliens in the surrounding hills of Caracas. The country went bug **** .

I think a"YouTube" presentation is an instant minimal credibility conferral from the get--go.

If you really want to scare someone, download a high-definition copy and play it directly on a TV.

Like was done to this poor guy:


Although, the one I linked in my earlier post might work best scaring people in the UK. People elsewhere might wonder why they are getting emergency messages for people in the wrong country.

There is also an United States-focused version but I found it less realistic. The emergency "nukes incoming" message at the end gave British "Protect and Survive" instructions instead of American "Duck and Cover" instructions. I thought it was a dead giveaway. But then again, some people might not know the difference.

I actually see the value of these videos not as ways to scare people, but rather as a way to get people to think about how dangerous it is to let our defense spending slip. This thing is only plausible because our military so unacceptably weak.

If you want to be mean and scare someone in the US, here's the "BBC America" version (keep in mind the flaws I mentioned though):


If you want something for April Fools Day, they are promising new versions after the Trump Administration comes in.