On the eve of Halloween 76 years ago, Orson Welles pulled off one of history’s most memorable tricks…although how many people were actually fooled on October 30, 1938 is still debated. H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds” had been around for 40 years, but 23-year-old Orson Welles was finding it difficult to translate into a gripping radio drama for his CBS Radio “Mercury Theatre” hour. Welles insisted the story was too dull and needed authentic-sounding news bulletins to spice up the broadcast. Frantic re-writes took place throughout the week, with a final script gaining network approval just two days before the Sunday broadcast.

Whether intentionally or not, Welles set up his prank perfectly. He front-loaded the broadcast with the announcement that what followed was a drama, followed by a colorless musical section interspersed with dry news bulletins. Only after several minutes, when NBC’s competing comedy and variety show launched into a musical interlude, freeing up that audience to see what else was happening around the dial, did Welles launch into the meat of his show: A dramatized Martian invasion of New Jersey, “reported” live by on-scene "correspondents." It was a dramatic masterpiece that also happened to sound a lot like a real newscast (assuming you didn’t have the presence of mind to see if anyone else was reporting what would have been the biggest story of all time).

Welles announced it was all a joke at the end, but the damage was done. CBS’ switchboard was lit up with calls, and the New York Times building’s lighted bulletin declared “ORSON WELLES CAUSES PANIC” around midnight. Newspapers played up the story, reporting mobs of people fleeing their homes to escape the invasion. In the lead up to World War II, some listeners apparently thought they were listening to a German invasion. The Washington Post claimed a man had died of a heart attack, but this wasn’t verified. In fact, many of the newspaper reports seem to have been exaggerated. The show’s audience wasn’t as large as the papers claimed, and those who did hear it largely realized it was fictional. Radio was a new medium, and had started taking newspapers’ advertising revenue, leading some to speculate in hindsight that the older medium had embellished a few accounts of genuine panic to rouse suspicion about radio.

But some people clearly were fooled, and even sued for damages. As it turned out, only one listener was paid: A man from Massachusetts who had spent his shoe money to escape the Martians, and asked for enough to afford a new pair. Welles agreed he should be paid. But that was the extent of any punishment for CBS and Welles. The FCC decided not to impose new censorship standards on radio…and Orson Welles, thanks to H.G. Wells, got away with one of the most celebrated pranks any Halloween has witnessed.

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