American Experience

War of the Worlds

Shortly after 8 p.m. on the Halloween Eve, 1938, a panicked radio announcer broke in with a report that Martians had landed in the tiny town of Grovers Mill, New Jersey. Although most listeners understood that the program was a radio drama, the next day's headlines reported that thousands of others plunged into panic. It turned out to be H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds performed by Orson Welles.

War of the Worlds: Outtakes

1m 18s

To bring freshness to the story behind Orson Welles' famous broadcast, producers used letters written by listeners right after hearing War of the Worlds. Actors delivered monologues of parts of these letters as if they were archival interviews - you can see it in the film. Here, actors have some fun at the end of the day describing what it's like to play a character from the 1930s.

Previews + Extras

  • The Power of Propaganda: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Power of Propaganda

    S25 E6 - 18s

    Many Americans could not fathom that some people heard War of the Worlds and actually believed that Martians had landed in New Jersey. Time and again, newspapers blamed the listener. To journalist Dorothy Thompson, who applauded Welles in her widely-read column, the episode cleverly proved the power of propaganda. Watch this video to hear what she wrote in her column.

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