By Bob Walsh
For the 78th year in a row the Martians did NOT attack the earth, at Grover's Mill, New Jersey, or anyplace else for that matter.
There is actually a commemorative monument at the site where the Martian's didn't land on October 30,. 1938. Every year I listen to a recording of the Mercury Theater presentation of the War of the Worlds. Every year I have to remind myself that radio was relatively new and audiences were less sophisticated than they are now. The time line and compression is way off, what seemed to be happening could not possibly be happening in the time presented in the pseudo-news broadcast but many people believed that it was. In fact the remains of a water tower still stand there, it was shot up by locals who believed it was one of the Martian war machines attacking.
Still, it could have been worse. The same broadcast, in Spanish of course, with the geography tweaked for local audiences, was put out in Venezuela shortly after the end of WW II. When the locals found out that it was a "hoax" they attacked the radio station, killed several people and burned the building to the ground.
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