On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles performed
a radio broadcast of a version of H. G. Wells'
The War of the Worlds, in which aliens
land in New Jersey on October 31.
Welles' radio version was made to sound as though
it was a radio news broadcast, and the nation
panicked!
I think that this episode tells us a lot about
sociology and history and also the history
of communications and I think it is fascinating.
It is has also
been suggested that this one of the earliest examples
of
people realizing
the power of broadcast media.
The
radio script
is available online, which I think is extremely cool.