Run for Cover! The Martians are Attacking!
By iHeartMedia’s Sally Adams
80 years ago today your grandparents may have had the fright of their lives listening to the radio.
On October 30, 1938, supposedly some people really believed a radio production of H G Wells' War of the Worlds was a live account of Martians landing. Could that happen today - maybe with a social media hoax? I asked Texas Tech Pop Culture Expert Rob Weiner what he thought, “No.” He said. “We are far too sophisticated and jaded to fall for something like that again. In fact – we’re too busy looking at our selfies and how many ‘likes’ our posts guess to notice!”
But, Weiner did bring up an exception. “Back in 1999, there WERE people who believed Blair Witch was real!”
Click here to hear the broadcast just as it sounded on the radio in 1938.