On October 30, 1938, a radio reporter broadcasting from a farm field in New Jersey suddenly stopped speaking.

Moments earlier, he had described a terrifying scene: a strange metal cylinder, creatures emerging from inside it, and a mysterious weapon burning everything in its path.

Then came silence.

And somewhere in a New York studio, a piano began to play.

The broadcast was Orson Welles's adaptation of The War of the Worlds, a fictional account of a Martian invasion presented through realistic news bulletins.

According to newspaper headlines the following morning, America had descended into chaos. Families fled their homes. People barricaded themselves indoors. Some reportedly believed the world was ending.

But how much of that actually happened?

Tonight, we're revisiting one of the most famous broadcasts in American history, examining the evidence behind the legendary nationwide panic, and uncovering what really happened when another radio station staged its own Martian invasion eleven years later.

It's a story about fear, sensational headlines, the power of radio, and how a Halloween prank became a piece of American mythology.

Welcome to Day Sixteen of 31 Days of Halloween.

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