Eve of Halloween: October 30, 1938
Now that was a night my mother remembered. As a young teenager listening to the radio, she heard the breaking news:
Martians invaded Earth ... and they landed in New Jersey!
She was scared, captivated by the Orson Welles broadcast based on the H.G. Wells science fiction novel - The War of the Worlds. Though disclaimers were given that this was only fiction, many in the audience missed it, and panic ensued. [reference: 1938 Welles scares the nation ]
An abridged audio of that broadcast is here below -
The generation that first heard this broadcast knew something about troubling times. In 1938, they had lived through most of the Great Depression, many remembering the Great War and hearing the rumblings of more wars to come.
From Wars of the Worlds to World Wars
Ironically, H. G. Welles wrote The War of the Worlds in 1898, sixteen years before World War I (1914 - 1918). And Orson Welles broadcast the radio version within a year of World War II (1939 - 1945). Both these World Wars surpassed the horror of science fiction.
Often society, science, and tech imitate art...
From book to radio to the big screen
The SciFi novel jumped from radio to the movies: The War of the Worlds (1953). And its remake in 2005 is shown in its trailer below:
And there have been countless stories about life on Mars and their invasions of Earth. Now, it's our turn, for real, as science and tech continue to follow SciFi.
Earthlings invade Mars
Humans via their robots have invaded Mars from 1976 with Viking 1 to the 21 century's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and Mars Curiosity Rover. Their findings are still in the news: MarsNews.com
As we plan to colonize Mars, more SciFi hit the big screen as The Martian (2015), still in theaters:
So our fascination with Mars continues in Pop Culture as science and tech follows SciFi.
The Classic Halloween Scary Story?
This October 31st, treat yourself to the original radio broadcast. For the full broadcast (its an hour long), see below:
And that one Halloween almost 80 years ago,
Mars certainly has captured our imagination with all kinds of pseudoscience about Martians and all that rot. I was grateful to hear that liquid water has been confirmed on the surface. I predicted that there would be water underground in my novel, Alone?
One of our fellow authors, Peter J. Kautsky, has been posting a novel in progress, The Sludge, depicting a mission to Mars that comes under phenomenal circumstances. Very good reading.
You always come up with interesting articles on subjects that resonate with the times and with holidays like Halloween.
Ron