I’ll start off by saying if there was an award for the best prank to scare the hell out of Americans, I’d give it to Mr.Welles and his fellow pranksters of the mercury theater. The worst part about this hysteria is that the broadcast begins with an introduction of the director and cast! There was no reason for it at all. H.G Wells, in 1889 published one of the first novels detailing the clash of humans and beings from another planet, it was called “The War Of Worlds”. Orson Welles and the mercury theater recreated the story live on the radio and some listeners thought it was truly happening.

This fake broadcast was a great example of power in media. Just because it was heard on the radio even after it was made clear that is was a show. It was indeed very believable so I can see how someone can tune in at a bad time and feel fear. Fear is a very infectious feeling it is an energy transferred like the speed of light. If a crowd is running towards you screaming with flailing arms you would not ask questions you will begin to run too! This is all that was, people listened in on the fear of others and it sparked it up within them.

The reactions of the people who did not tune into the show early were 100% understandable. If I just turned on the radio and heard the reporter live at a scene was pronounced dead due to a martian attack I’d freak out too! Imagine people on the air telling you mars has initiated a war with humans and they are very scientifically advanced, WHAT !? shooting heat rays and releasing toxic gas? That would be the day I become best friends with a martian. However, through my research of what truly happened I discovered the newspapers exaggerated the level of panic. Fewer people were truly worried than the papers made it seem, it did cause quite an unnecessary  stir nonetheless.

This, or something like can definitely occur today, and it will be worse. When the mercury theater did this it was at a point in time where radio and newspaper were your primary news sources. Now you have social media working as a news outlet along with television, newspaper and radio. More people can be reached much quicker with the new media. In fact some time last year there was a panic after a UFO sightings in Miami and California. Many People posted videos and pictures of this strange light in the sky that seemed to be moving and then just disappears. With Facebook, the videos and pictures did not just cause Americans to question life as they knew it but people all over the world. Some say it was nothing and the government came forward and said they were “testing missiles”. I call bologna on this one ! That was definitely a UFO, call me a conspiracy theorist but I feel like there are definitely things the government do NOT want to share. Other life forms and military mistakes I feel are high up on the list of government secrets, secrets they would do anything to keep quiet.

Best Moments

Moment 12:25-13:07 -Carl Philips interviewing Farm owner and trying to force the scary details out and cutting him off once he got what he wanted. This is how news has been working, take and show what you want from a story. Here I was thinking this is a new method in delivering the news, silly me.

Moment 39:41-40:42 -When professor Pearson goes on air and questions his existence as the only living man. For one he isn’t alone and just the thought of him being alone starts to send him mad. My mom always tells the story of when she thought for a brief moment that she was the only one alive after the Year 2000 scare.

Moment 51:31-53:38 -He thinks hes the only human remaining and says he’s standing alone in time square. This is exactly what Will Smith did in “I Am Legend” I Find this to be an amazing touch because no one is ever alone in times square. There has to be little to no humans left alive in order for this to occur.

Moment 38:50-39:14 – INTERMISSION! This has got to be the best part of the broadcast! People who tuned in late and were terrified now hear what they missed in the beginning and BOOM, Crisis Over.