It sounded like breaking news. It was a radio play about Martians.

On the evening of October 30, 1938, CBS aired Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air. Welles, just 23, adapted H.G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds as a string of realistic news bulletins describing a Martian landing at Grover's Mill, New Jersey.

Some listeners who missed the opening introduction believed the reports were real. Newspapers ran stories of panic the next morning, though historians now believe the reaction was far smaller than the headlines claimed.

Either way, the broadcast became a lasting lesson in how persuasive mass media can be.

Why do you think a radio play could feel so convincing to its listeners?

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