Autumn Stewart

Prof. Michelle Butler

Literature Core 102, Section 36

April 26, 1999

The Martian Invasion

"I can see the thing’s body. It’s as large as a bear and it glistens like wet leather…The eyes are black and gleam like a serpent. The mouth is V-shaped with saliva dripping from its simless lips that seem to quiver and pulsate. The monster or whatever it is can hardly move" (Koch 50). Although this description of Martians may sound unbelievable, many believed that these terrible creatures were invading the United States after listening to a radio show. The episode began as a Halloween story airing on Columbia Broadcasting System and became one of the most famous unintentional hoaxes of all time. Sixty years after the radio drama first aired in 1938, scholars still use the event to point out some important lessons about the media and human perception that can be learned from the incident.

On Halloween evening in 1938, Americans everywhere tuned into their radios for the weekly Mercury Theatre. Ramon Raquello and his orchestra were repeatedly interrupted by fake news reports about a meteor that landed on a small farm in New Jersey (Koch 42). The interruption was part of radio personality Orson Welles’ dramatization of H. G. Wells’ science fiction classic, The War of the Worlds. Orson Welles and Mercury Theatre co-producer John Houseman presented the novel to young playwright Howard Koch with the request that he rewrite it as a series of news bulletins to be used in the following week’s Sunday night show. Using the names of real places, Koch revised the story to fit Welles’ particular tastes (Koch 12-13).

Twenty-three year old Orson Welles began reading Koch’s script at eight o’clock on October 30, 1938. The staged news bulletins began with reports of unusual explosions on the surface of Mars. More bulletins followed reporting a meteorite landing in Grover Mills, New Jersey. Then the creatures previously described made their exit from within the meteorite, holstering their deadly heat rays, setting the surrounding forest and farmland afire, and killing over forty people. The foreign invaders, releasing thick clouds of black smoke destroyed communication and transportation lines. Welles announced that citizens packed up their belongings and prepared to leave home, but there was nowhere to run. According to the fictional tale, the Martians had already begun invading other parts of the United States as well. As the imaginary Martians blast their heat rays and their choking black gas suffocates New York City, the real citizens of America went into a state of hysteria and thought that the country was being destroyed by an army from outer space. By nine o’clock, just one hour after Orson Welles began his presentation, the panicked nation was convinced that the world was coming to an end (Koch 33-67).

Hysterical citizens disrupted what would have been a normal Sunday evening and created a mass panic of unforseen proportions due to the impact that the radio show had created. Newspapers and police stations were inundated with countless phone calls from frantic residents asking where they should go and what they should do to escape the Martians’ toxic gases. Homeowners packed up their belongings and prepared to evacuate. Many did flee to the streets, causing traffic jams throughout New York City. Patients at local hospitals were treated with sedatives to control their shock and hysteria. Church services and theatre shows were interrupted by the spreading news that New Jersey was under attack by Martian bombs. In fact, some people were so convinced that they called police stations, reporting that they could smell the poisonous gases and were being choked. One man informed Bronx Police that he "could see the smoke from the bombs drifting over toward New York" ("Radio Listeners in Panic" 4).

Although the panic was mostly centered in the New Jersey and New York areas, Americans all over the country responded to the fictional broadcast:

Citizens all over the nation were gripped in fear. Had the listeners remained more attentive to the drama that was unfolding over the radio, they would have heard the repeated announcement, "You are listening to a CBS presentation of Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air in an original dramatization of the War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells" (Koch 67). So many had gone into a panic that they missed the disclaimer and the victorious ending when the fictitious Martians were finally defeated by Earth’s bacteria (Koch 79). However, by the ending the damage had already been done—the nation was in a panic and Orson Welles was under fire.

Once aware that the broadcast was not reporting actual events, the public attacked CBS and blamed Orson Welles for the panic that terrified the nation. Millions of dollars in lawsuits against CBS and Mercury Theatre were unsuccessfully filed, while Welles was hounded by reporters and threatened by angry listeners (Koch 68). The real threat arose when the Federal Communications Commission threatened to further investigate the matter, considering it a potentially dangerous hoax. However, fears of censorship made any punishment against CBS or Welles highly unlikely. The Columbia Broadcasting System also promised to never again use simulated news broadcasts in a context where they could cause panic among listeners ("FCC to Scan Script" 1+). CBS clearly stated before and during the broadcast that it was a work of fiction, not an intentional attempt to deceive listeners. Because they had offered the disclaimer, they could not be held accountable for the misunderstanding.

Censorship was just one of many concerns that the public harbored after the war drama panic. Many realized through the incident how easily the public could be manipulated by the mass media. Although Welles did not deliberately try to trick the public, the ease with which it was done alarmed people for decades to come ("FCC is Perplexed" 26). Some believe fewer would have panicked had there not been tension overseas. One eyewitness believed that the fake invasion was a clever deception by the Germans, "It was really an airplane like a zeppelin that looked like a meteor and the Germans were attacking us with gas bombs" (Koch 103). The pre-war conflicts cannot be blamed entirely, though; similar panics have been repeated several times throughout the world. In each situation, the public became deceived by "reliable" media sources. This concern gains increasing importance as new technologies are developed (Bartholomew). Images on television can be manipulated to mislead the public, as the director shows in the popular movie Wag the Dog. Computer users must be wary of false information found over the Internet as well. It is well-known that a wealth of information can be found on the web; but the validity of that information must be evaluated. Anyone with access to a computer can create a website and post anything, true or false. Even the most dependable newspaper may print inaccurate information. The public must learn to use more discretion when reading or watching the news if a widespread panic, like the one in 1938, is to be avoided.

Human perception is another related factor that contributed to the widespread panic surrounding War of the Worlds. Bartholomew notes in his article "The Martian Panic Sixty Years Later: What Have We Learned?" that humans have varying perceptions of an incident depending upon a person’s frame of reference. Eyewitnesses described the event as it was processed in their own minds. One observer could smell the Martian’s gas, while another claimed that he was being choked by it. Some listeners referred to parts of the broadcast that did not exist. "Miss Jane Dean…when recalling the broadcast, said the most realistic portion was ‘the sheet of flame that swept over the entire country. That was just the way I pictured the end.’ In reality, there was no mention of a sheet of flame anywhere in the broadcast" (Bartholomew). An evaluation of the contrasting descriptions of the "invasion" shows how easily an eyewitness account can be flawed or completely wrong and exemplifies the delicate intricacies of human perception.

The fact remains that a large number of people were deceived by H. G. Wells’ fantastic story when depicted over the airwaves. Many of Wells’ stories, although science fiction, are still somewhat believable; furthermore, some of his stories have been prophetic. In his 1914 novel, The World Set Free, Wells writes about atomic bombs and an invasion of France by the Germans causing a second Great War. In "In the Abyss" (1896), he describes a steel sphere used in deep-sea exploration (Gardner 74). The short story, The Country of the Blind although not yet prophetic, appears to be possible. The development and maintenance of an entire society without sight seems reasonable through out knowledge of evolution and the scientific discovery that senses can grow stronger to compensate for a weakness such as deafness or blindness. Considering the believability of many of Wells’ stories, one can assume that his classic War of the Worlds is no exception. The panic that resulted from the presentation of his story is a testament to Wells’ amazing ability to write realistic and believable science fiction.

H. G. Wells story The War of the Worlds will forever live in history as being the cause of one of the largest mass frenzies of all time. Looking back on the event, it is both interesting and scary that such a large number of people were fooled by what was essentially a Halloween story. The personal accounts of and the reactions to the "invasion" are humorous to us today because we know what really happened and find it absurd that so many people would believe such an unbelievable story. Though we think we are not susceptible, the mass media still maintains so much control over our lives that we take what they say as truth and ignore the logical explanations. Remembering what happened in 1938 will hopefully encourage the public to think rationally and prevent any panic like this from happening again.

Works Cited

Bartholomew, Robert E. "The Martian Panic Sixty Years Later: What Have We

Learned?" The Skeptical Inquirer. Nov/Dec 1998: n. pag. Online.

Proquest Direct. 22 April 1999.

"FCC is Perplexed on Steps to Make." The New York Times. 1 Nov. 1938: 26.

"FCC to Scan Script of ‘War’ Broadcast/" The New York Times. 1 Nov. 1938:

1+.

Koch, Howard. The Panic Broadcast. Boston: Little, Brown and Company,

1970.

Martin Gardner, ed. The Country of the Blind. By H. G. Wells. New York:

Dover, 1997.

"Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact." The New York Times 31

Oct. 1938: 1+.