Panic That Wasn't

The story is legendary: On Halloween night 1938, Orson Welles broadcast a radio adaptation of "The War of the Worlds." Millions of Americans, believing Martians were actually invading New Jersey, fled their homes in terror, clogged highways, and hid in basements. It is cited as the ultimate example of the power of media and human gullibility. There is just one problem: most of it never happened.



"The Panic That Wasn't" debunks the myth of the War of the Worlds panic. Robert Hughes reveals that the broadcast had very few listeners (most were listening to a ventriloquist act on a rival channel). The reports of mass hysteria were largely fabricated by newspapers the next day. Why? Because the print industry was terrified of the new medium of radio stealing their ad revenue. They wanted to prove that radio was dangerous and untrustworthy.



This book is a fascinating investigation into the first major "Fake News" event about fake news. It explores how a small artistic experiment was weaponized by corporate rivals to create a legend that persists to this day. It teaches us to be skeptical not just of what we hear, but of the stories we are told about how we reacted.