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Oct 31 • 26 tweets • 9 min read
#ufotwitter #ufo #radiodrama
Today In History - The War of the Worlds Radio Drama
October 30, 1938 - Invasion Hoax
8:00 p.m. “The War of the Worlds” episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air, [Cont.]
directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles, is an adaptation of H. G. Wells’s novel The War of the Worlds (1898). It is performed and broadcast live in New York City as a Halloween episode over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. The episode
becomes famous for allegedly causing panic among its listening audience, though the scale of that panic is disputed as the program has relatively few listeners. In the days after the adaptation, widespread outrage is expressed in the media. The program’s news-
bulletin format is
described as deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the broadcasters and calls for regulation by the FCC, which declines. Some government agencies in the US, Germany, and Russia take note of how segments of the population are easily
manipulated into thinking fiction is fact. According to Annie Jacobsen, the confusion allegedly inspires Joseph Stalin to create a similar scenario with a fake alien crash in the US. - Eberhart

Sources:
Anne Jacobsen, Area 51, pp. 22, 211;
Wikipedia, "The_War_of_the_Worlds_(1938_radio_drama)"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_o…
Collection of newspaper articles at the time:

digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo…
Transcript:
The War of the Worlds

COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM
ORSON WELLES AND MERCURY THEATRE ON THE AIR
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1938
8:00 TO 9:00 P.M.

sacred-texts.com/ufo/mars/wow.h…
The Night America Trembled 1957 - H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds

Orson Welles - The Untold Story Behind The War Of The Worlds
The Broadcast That Terrified A Nation - Inside A Mind
PBS documentary on American Experience, "War of the Worlds"

pbs.org/wgbh/americane…
The Infamous “War of the Worlds” Radio Broadcast Was a Magnificent Fluke by A. Brad Swartz

smithsonianmag.com/history/infamo…
Orson Welles and History’s First Viral-Media Event by A. Brad Swartz

vanityfair.com/culture/2015/0…
Broadcast Hysteria
Orson Welles's War of the Worlds and the Art of Fake News
By A. Brad Schwartz · 2015

google.com/books/edition/…
A. Brad Swartz talking about his book on CSPAN

c-span.org/video/?326380-…
An early study and book on this event: The Invasion from Mars: A Study in the Psychology of Panic: with the Complete Script of the Famous Orson Welles Broadcast by Hadley Cantril (1940).

amazon.com/Invasion-psych…
Of course Robert Bartholomew has covered this in a few books. Like: The Martians Have Landed!
A History of Media-Driven Panics and Hoaxes
By Robert E. Bartholomew, Benjamin Radford · 2011

google.com/books/edition/…
The Myth of the War of the Worlds Panic
Orson Welles’ infamous 1938 radio program did not touch off nationwide hysteria. Why does the legend persist?
By Jefferson Pooley and Michael J. Socolow
slate.com/culture/2013/1…
The Fake News of Orson Welles
By Peter Tonguette
HUMANITIES, Fall 2018, Volume 39, Number 4
neh.gov/article/fake-n…
An earlier radio panic in England in 1926
The BBC Radio Panic
hoaxes.org/archive/permal…
"Welles often invokes "The War of the Worlds" as host of Who's Out There? (1975), an award-winning NASA documentary short film by Robert Drew about the likelihood of life on other planets"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Who%…
In 1975 a TV movie dramatizing this called "The Night That Panicked America" was aired, with a story/screenplay written by Nicholas Meyer. Famous for Star Trek II/IV, his Sherlock Holmes novels and movie The Seven Percent Solution, Time After Time,etc..
archive.org/details/night-…

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Jeff Knox Profile picture
Nov 2
#ufotwitter #ufohistory #ce3 #ufo #ufolanding
Today In History - Cennina CE3 Landing Case
November 1, 1954 - Cennina, Italy
1/6:30 a.m. Rosa Lotti Dainelli sets out for the church at the castle of Cennina, Arezzo, Italy. As she passes through a wooded area, she sees a ImageImageImageImage
2/spindle-shaped object standing upright next to a cypress tree. It has two portholes and a little door, through which she can see two chairs. Two little men come out from behind the object; they are dressed in gray suits, cloaks that come down to their waists, and red helmets. ImageImageImageImage
3/They speak in an unintelligible language and snatch flowers from her hands and throw them inside the UFO. Dainelli flees, glancing back only once. [Eberhart]
Sources:
Cover of "La Domenica del Corriere" November 14, 1954;
Article in the weekly "Tutti" of November 14, 1954; ImageImageImageImage
Read 15 tweets
Jeff Knox Profile picture
Nov 1
#ufotwitter #ufohistory #UFO
Today In UFO History - Colorado Project Officially Starts
November 1, 1966
1/The University of Colorado UFO project officially launches. Michael D. Swords writes:
2/“It was one of the most peculiar scientific grants of all time. Normally a governmental grant goes to a scientist who has initiated it or is at least vitally interested and experienced in the field, and essentially knows exactly what he is going to do. This grant was to a ImageImageImageImage
3/scientist who was pushed into it, had little interest and apparently no experience, and, despite his brilliance, ‘didn’t have a clue.’ Because the reports of the UFO phenomenon are so complex and multidimensional, this short-term ‘backwards grant’ was doomed to fail before it
Read 4 tweets
Jeff Knox Profile picture
Nov 1
November 2, 1972 - Vogel Report
The Vogel Study of the Yakima/Toppenish lights was undertaking at the request of J Allen Hynek (who investigated them as well) by David Akers, WJ Vogel. Greg Long also studied them, and Earthlights in general. #ufotwitter #ufohistory #earthlights
REPORT ON THE INVESTIGATION OF NOCTURNAL LIGHT PHENOMENA AT TOPPENISH, WASHINGTON
AUGUST 1972 [Delivered to Hynek 11/2/72]
By David W. Akers, P.E.

cufon.org/cufon/yak1.htm
INVESTIGATION OF NOCTURNAL LIGHT PHENOMENA
1973 SIGHTING REPORTS FROM TOPPENISH, WASHINGTON
by David W. Akers, P.E.

cufon.org/cufon/yak2.htm
Read 4 tweets
Jeff Knox Profile picture
Nov 1
#ufotwitter #aviationhistory #aviation
November 1, 1978
The Air Force decides to produce an F-117A stealth fighter based on the mostly successful tests of Have Blue aircraft at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada. The contract goes to Lockheed’s Skunk Works.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_…
Read 6 tweets
Jeff Knox Profile picture
Nov 1
#ufotwitter #ufohistory #NASA
Today In UFO History - NASA's Original Attempt to Study UFOs
October 31, 1977
1/David Williamson Jr., a NASA assistant administrator for special projects, drafts a memorandum of a proposed letter to be signed by Noel W. Hinners and sent to ImageImageImage
2/Robert A. Frosch. The letter mentions a revival of interest in UFOs and paranormal phenomena, as well as new sightings. It mentions a lack of tangible evidence to analyze and a lack of protocols for investigating UFOs as hindrances to NASA setting up an investigatory panel:
3/“All in all, undertaking a formal study at this time appears to be fraught with peril.” Williamson sees two choices: refuse the project, or have NASA review the best cases from civilian UFO organizations and new cases. He foresees problems with workload, peer pressure, and
Read 4 tweets
Jeff Knox Profile picture
Oct 31
#ufohistory #ufotwitter #condon
Today In UFO History - The Condon Report
October 31, 1968
1/The Colorado project delivers its report, Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, to the Air Force. The first two sections, conclusions and recommendations, are written by Condon Image
2/himself. He concludes that “further extensive study of UFOs probably cannot be justified in the expectation that science will be advanced thereby.” It is a clear signal to shut down Project Blue Book. Yet 30% of its cases are unexplained. Condon says a UFO cover-up is Image
3/unthinkable because no one could keep such a secret for so long. He refutes the claim that the CIA has installed an agent within the project. He disapproves of UFO “amateurists,” especially NICAP. The project ignored old cases because they only offered witness testimony, are Image
Read 22 tweets

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