On this day in 1938, Orson Welles’ "The War of the Worlds" aired on
CBS radio. The belief that the realistic radio dramatization was a live news event about a Martian invasion caused panic among listeners.
Welles takes questions from reporters at a press conference the day
after the broadcast, on October 31, 1938. He told them that no one connected with the broadcast had any idea it would cause panic.
George Orson Welles
(May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985)