On this day in Arlington history, October 30, 1938, Arlington and the DC region and indeed much of the east coast were still reacting to Orson Wells’ “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast from the previous evening. Most people who were within radio range of the New York City Broadcast were still not sure if aliens had invaded a small town in New Jersey.
WETA’s Boundary Stones blog describes the historic mood best. On the evening of Sunday, October 30, 1938, Orson Welles’ radio show “The Mercury Theater On the Air” program aired “War of the Worlds,” a dramatization of H. G. Wells 1898 book about an alien invasion. The Mercury Theater program aired locally on WJSV, which became WTOP in 1943. While there were periodic mentions during the broadcast that the events being portrayed were fictional, a lot of listeners did not get the joke and took the story very seriously.
The radio program had breaking news of the Martian landing periodically interrupting a fake classical music concert. Which increased with frequency as the fake news became more dire and frightening. The sound effects were chilling and the actors portraying the news reporter, the townspeople, and the fake authorities in New Jersey were all convincing. Thousands of people were terrified. WJSV telephone switchboards were overwhelmed during and after the broadcast with hundreds people calling in for more information, updates, and asking if they should flee. The Washington Post reported that even some local police officers had been duped because the Washington Detective Bureau called WJSV to get the latest news on the invasion.
The “War of the Worlds” broadcast remained a popular topic of conversation for weeks. Letters poured into the Washington Post as area residents who offered theories on why the broadcast had gotten such a reaction.
