(light melodic music)
- [Radio Host] Near the end of October,
business was better, the war scare was over,
more men were back at work, sales were picking up.
On this particular evening, October 30th,
the Crossley Service estimated that 32 million people
were listening in on radios.
- [Radio Broadcaster] Ladies and gentleman,
we interrupt our program of dance music
to bring you a special bulletin
from the Intercontinental Radio News.
At 20 minutes before eight central time,
Professor Farrell of the Mount Jennings Observatory,
Chicago, Illinois reports observing
several explosions of incandescent gas
occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars.
(light haunting music)
- [Radio Reporter] Someone, calling someone or something,
I can take, coming out of a black hole two luminous disks,
the eyes, it might be a face, might be--
(speaker drowned out by shouting)
Something wriggling out of the shadow like a great snake.
Now it's another one and another one and another one,
they look like tentacles to me.
I can see the thing's body now, it's large as a bear.
(light melodic music)
- Good year, boys.
Stay at home for the night.
(owl hooting)
- [Radio Reporter] Ladies and gentlemen, am I on?
Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen,
here I am back start the stone wall
that adjoins Mr. Wilmuth's garden,
from here I get a sweep of the whole scene,
I'll give you every detail as long as I can talk,
as long as I can see.
More state police have arrived,
they're throwing up a cordon in front of the pit,
about 30 of them.
No need to push the crowd back now, they're--
- Hey. - Darren, you startled me.
Are you hearing this?
- [Darren] Hear what?
- Professor Pierson-- - This.
- [Radio Reporter] Yes, it is, now it's parted
and the professor moves around one side
studying the object, while the Captain and two policemen
advance with something in their hands.
I can see it now, it's a white handkerchief tied to a pole,
the flag of truce, if those creatures know what that means,
what anything means.
Wait a minute, something's happening.
- What is going on?
- [Radio Reporter] I can make out
a small beam of light against a mirror.
(light suspenseful music)
what's that?
There's a jet of flame springing from the mirror
and it leaps right at the advancing men,
it strikes them head on!
Good Lord, they're turning into flame!
(screaming)
The whole field's caught fire by the woods, the barns,
the gas tanks of the automobiles!
It's spreading everywhere! - Where's Gene?
- [Radio Reporter] It's coming this way, about 20 yards.
(melodic suspenseful music)
- Gene!
Gene, come home now!
(eerie humming)
- [Gene] Uh!
- [Government Official] I have been requested
by the Governor of New Jersey to place the counties
of Mercer and Middlesex, as far west as Princeton
and east to Jamesburg under martial law.
No one will be permitted to enter this area,
except by special pass
issued by state or military authorities.
More companies of State Militia
are proceeding from Trenton to Grover's Mill
and will aid in the evacuation of homes
within the range of military operations.
Thank you.
(light melodic music)
- Dad?
- Yeah, Gene?
- Do you ever think about the stars?
- What's there to think about?
They come out when it's time to sleep, Gene.
I guess no one's ever asked me that question before
or one like it. - How come?
- The only thing ever on your Grandaddy's mind
was how to keep the farm going.
Now I worry about that,
that someone's gonna come and take it from us.
What about you, you ever think of the stars?
- Yes, sir, I,
I do, I imagine.
- Imagine?
- Yeah, like Miss Leslie teaches us to do at school.
- [Darren] Okay.
- I imagine other places up there like here
where the things that live up there shine like the stars
and they're bigger than us, but friendlier than us too.
Guess it's all silly stuff though,
I'll have to work on the farm one day too, right Dad?
- You go ahead and think of the stars, son.
- [Radio Broadcaster] Citizens of the nation,
I shall not try to conceal the gravity of the situation,
that confronts the country,
nor the concern of your government
in protecting the lives and property of its people,
however I wish to impress upon you,
(eerie humming)
private citizens and public officials, all of you
the urgent need of calm and resourceful action.
(melodic orchestral music)
(eerie humming)
- [Orson] This is Orson Welles, ladies and gentlemen,
out of character to assure you
that the War of the Worlds has no further significance
than as the holiday offering it was intended to be.
We annihilated the world before your very ears
and utterly destroyed the CBS.
You will be relieved I hope to learn that we didn't mean it
and that both institutions are still open for business.
So goodbye everybody
and remember please for the next day or so
the terrible lesson you learned tonight,
that grinning, glowing, globular invader of your living room
is an inhabitant of the pumpkin patch
and if your doorbell rings and nobody is there,
that was no Martian, it's Halloween.
- [Announcer] Watch Dust, like this video,
subscribe for new visions of the future every week.
It is the business of the future to be dangerous,
your future is Dust.