One of the greatest hoaxes on the live CBS radio broadcast happened 84 years ago. On Halloween, the announcer Orson Wells reports about a certain observatory, which has detected blasts from the planet Mars. The music again was interrupted by another bulletin. This time it was about a meteor that hurtled into a farm in Grover Mills, New Jersey. The “news reporter” gave a description of an alien coming out of space ship, this added to the panic that was already rising.
The extent of the damage done by the hox became evident when people started crowding the streets. Some hid in basements and cellars. Some wrapped their head in towels as a precaution against “alien gas.” It became a national scare. The War of the World’s radio show became one of the best hoaxes of all time.
