What Started the War of the Worlds (A Halloween Story)

Update: Also a Rescued diary at Kos.

Today is the 70th anniversary of the famous Orson Welles radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” on October 31, 1938. It’s famous because a lot of people believed that America actually was being invaded by Martians.

Even after the panic subsided, some people weren’t amused. One was the author of the novel that the Mercury Theatre of the Air had dramatized: H.G. Wells. Though Wells and Welles seem to get along when they met later in Texas, when H.G. first heard about the broadcast, he was livid. He didn’t approve of his novel being turned into “a Halloween prank.”

While Wells deliberately set about writing a popular novel in The War of the Worlds, it’s true that he had serious intentions and points to make. There was a real world situation that gave him the idea for the story, and it relates to a central theme in Barack Obama’s campaign. [continued after photo]