War of the Worlds

After Orson Welles presented his rendition of War of the Worlds over the radio in 1938, people went into mass hysteria. People were hysterical because they actually thought that the broadcast was actually real and it was actually happening. Considering the radio was the new forefront in presenting the public with national and local news, people actually thought that what was being presented was real. Considering the television was not really invented yet, or in the homes of the public, the listeners could not see real-time what was happening while the broadcasters were talking, so for all they knew, it actually could have been happening. The sound effects that went along with the broadcast added the extra special effect that an alien invasion was actually happening right where the broadcasters were. People also reacted strongly due to the recent hysteria on the radio of WWII. Another reason people freaked out was because in Washington, due to the amount of people calling into the radio station to confirm if the broadcast was actually true or not, there was a power outage. People thought that the power outage was due to aliens invading their town. If I was in that position in 1938, I probably would have built a bunker.