Was the broadcast of War of the Worlds used as a cover up?

I dont necessarily think it was a coverup, it was my favorite moment in history, but you have to also understand someone had to realize the repurcussions that could have happened and did happen, by this broadcast. How could the Government been blind to the fact that during the 50's the beginnings times of mistrust of the Russians, that a Broadcast saying that Aliens had landed would not create a chaotic event for the public.

I find that hard to belive that there was no prior thought about the broadcast

Slugfast,

The broadcast actually happened in 1938, not in the beginning of the 50's. It occured pre-WWII and pre-Cold War.

There was no way to predict how the public would react. It was on Welles's daily radio show. He regularly featured plays and skits. To Welles's, it was just another part of the show....that is of course until after the actual broadcast.

I do think it is logical that the US Govt would use the Welles's broadcast as a benchmark for possible public reaction to disclosure.

[Edited on 10-3-2004 by Facefirst]

The musical version and artwork is freely available on kazaa for anyone who wants it. The book is well worth reading too, even though the musical follows it pretty much word for word, its good to read without any outside influences clouding what you get from the orignal text

Just a question guys, was Justin Hayward touted as the producer/writer/director etc of this in the US? its Jeff Waynes War Of The Worlds over here (UK) and Justin apparently only performed on it. id be interested to know

as for the origianl question, i think what others have posted is right, no cover up or even a governmental test, just Welles doing what he did, and very well at that. Although the authorities may well have changed policy after seeing the after effects

i listened to the radio transcript a few times in the past

throughout the reading, they reminded listeners that they were reading HG Wells, and it was not real.

i think people do what they usually do: hear, scream, jump out of the window

This just goes to show how many stupid people there are about.

It was mentioned from the start and repeatedly through the broadcast that it was a dramatisation.

Maybe the reports that people jumped out of windows was a conspiracy of its own, used to convince cospiracy theorists that releasing information would cause mass hysteria and thus they should give up their attempt to get the government to release information about UFO's....

sorry bout the 50's mix up, too much studyign has my brain boggled. I still think there are too many restraints on broadcasting that they Govt didn't fully explore the oppurtunity that public craziness could happen.

But again I could be wrong, but as a believe in Aliens, I tend to be skeptical about most things. I am the skeptic of my group of friends, the one with the radical ideas. The one who belives in Aliens and all that good stuff : )

Originally posted by Flyer
This just goes to show how many stupid people there are about.

It was mentioned from the start and repeatedly through the broadcast that it was a dramatisation.

If you listened to the original broadcast it doesn't say anything about a dramitization. In the future when it was played on the radio after the incident they made sure they mentioned that it was a dramatization and/or reading H.G. Wells/Orilson Wells. Here is FCC's outlook.
ftp.fcc.gov...

Originally posted by valnrick
If you listened to the original broadcast it doesn't say anything about a dramitization. In the future when it was played on the radio after the incident they made sure they mentioned that it was a dramatization and/or reading H.G. Wells/Orilson Wells. Here is FCC's outlook.
ftp.fcc.gov...

It doesnt say anywhere that there werent any warnings, everything I have read or heard about the broadcast stated it all happened even though there were repeated warnings before and throughout the show.

a reply to: silQ

Good question! There is no reason to cover up an 'alien invasion' with another 'alien invasion'. We can assume there was no invasion. Now, assume they weren't aliens. They were Germans, of course. But they're not going to say Germans came up from under the ground, are they. They're going to say bug-like aliens are planning an 'invasion' from dying Mars, something that makes us conspiracy theorists look ridiculous. As some of you pointed out already, there is evidence that the 'nationwide panic' is a complete fabrication. No such panic occurred, which means the original Orson Welles broadcast was *NOT* heard around the nation that night. Possibly a real broadcast was heard involving a real first-contact situation where the Army discovered some WW2 Germans hiding in america (family ties) with access to advanced technology. The H.G Welles story matched up close enough and turned our attention completely in the wrong direction(s).

Wotw 2005 (The boston bombing/Spielberg associated version) featured aliens coming up from under the ground. Berg didn't make much effort to be traditional with the story and may have given away some clues...

a reply to: pantha

More like a test of sorts to gauge public reaction i imagine.

If the war of the worlds was a faint to cover up a UFO landing and prevent mass hysteria .


it failed .

14 Years

This thread, were it an aged wine, would have cost over $200

Let dead posts die, unless new information arises. Nothing new here, bye bye dead post.

originally posted by: Archivalist
14 Years

This thread, were it an aged wine, would have cost over $200

Let dead posts die, unless new information arises. Nothing new here, bye bye dead post.

I was just looking at that, lol. I did find a recording of War of the Worlds to listen to later though. Im surprised you still can post on these old threads.

I'll chip in since we're coming up to the 80th anniversary on the eve of Halloween [sic].

According to research by Princeton University, it's estimated that six million people listened to the broadcast, 1.2 million of whom were "frightened" or "disturbed" rather than screaming through the neighbourhood in hair-pulling "panic" - which was the impression given by the Associated Press wire service who took a a few scattered anecdotes and magnified them to absurd lengths.

Paradoxically, the very press who pushed the non-story, decided to use it to give radio itself a good kicking as a new medium - "RADIO IS NEW, BUT IT HAS ADULT RESPONSIBILITIES", finger-wagged the hypocritical New York Times who themselves had childishly contributed their own panic-themed headline, "Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact". (I can naturally sense parallels with modern-day fingers wagging at the internet.)

So... no panic, no injuries and certainly no deaths. Just a bunch of excited hacks.


On a vaguely related note, two years later on October 28th 1940, I always found the radio chat between H.G. Wells and Orson Welles quite a surreal listen as two grand, distinct figures whose best work represented distinct centuries, finally came together. And yeah, shame about the extra "e" in Orson's surname.

This is, by anyone's definition, COOL...

I first heard this recording on Halloween of '71, I think? Somewhere around there...

I was 8, so yeah, '71.

It scared the livin' crap outta me, at first. We were in the car going home from some long forgotten do of some sort...then I noticed my parents in the front seat, weren't scared, didn't look worried...then the radio station came on with a disclaimer...

**phew**

Both my parents heard the original broadcast of Mercury Theater, and they said that there were people out looking.

Remember, the world was growing rather dark, with the clouds of war building all over the world...invasion wasn't such a far fetched idea for many.

I remember a story my Dad told me about that night in '38...his Dad, was at that time, a county sheriff in rural South-western Washington. His office got dozens of calls from rather frightened citizens.

Amusing now, so many years later...not so much then on a dark Halloween night in a darkening world.



BOO!!