 Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. On October 30, 1938, American history was changed forever by a Halloween prank. Most of the 6 million people who tuned in to 23-year-old Orson Welles' radio adaptation of the H.G. Welles sci-fi classic War of the Worlds realized that it was simply an audio drama. However, because of the realistic news bulletin format, many thousands of listeners believed that aliens had actually landed in the small town of Grover's Mill, New Jersey. Even in those days before Facebook and Twitter, the reaction was immediate. Listeners all across the country began calling their local newspapers and radio stations for updates, while National Guardsmen in New Jersey were calling their armories to find out if they needed to report for duty. After the broadcast, thousands of letters were sent to Welles from listeners, as well as to the FCC, complaining about the show. And Orson Welles, who had already made a name for himself on the New York stage, became an overnight success. Just three years later, he would create a masterpiece with his film Citizen Kane and became a legend. And it all started with a radio show the day before Halloween. I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome, Weirdos. I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained. October is the birthday month for Weird Darkness, celebrating eight years now and as you know, each year I celebrate our birthday by holding a fundraiser called Overcoming the Darkness. I'm using this whole month to raise funds for depression and suicide prevention. We all know someone who suffers depression or has thought about or even tried to commit suicide. I want to bring hope to them, as well as awareness about the issue, and I need help from you, my Weirdo family, to do so. A donation of any amount can help us reach our goal before the end of Halloween night. It all goes towards treatment and research for those who are in crisis. So please make your donation right now as you listen to this episode. Visit the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com and donate now while you're thinking about it. Speaking of Halloween, our annual Weird Darkness Halloween livestream is taking place tomorrow night Halloween night on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The live broadcast begins at 5pm Pacific, 6pm Mountain, 7pm Central, 8pm Eastern. I'll be narrating stories as usual, but it'll be in real time with me on camera and I can't edit out those mistakes before you hear them. I'll also be replying to your comments during the livestream, too. Again, the Weird Darkness Halloween livestream begins tomorrow night, October 31st, that's Halloween night, at 5pm Pacific, 6pm Mountain, 7pm Central, 8pm Eastern. I believe that's midnight to Greenwich Mean Time. You can watch on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter, get the details at WeirdDarkness.com. Coming up in this episode, it's another annual tradition for me. I want to share with you what made me fall in love with audio drama in the first place, and what in no small part has influenced my life and career direction, eventually bringing me here to Weird Darkness. The 1938 radio drama of War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells has performed by Mercury Radio Theater and Orson Wells. It's a classic that is still worth listening to all these years later. If you've heard it before, you know what I mean. If you've never heard it before, I consider it an honor to be the one who gets to share it with you for the first time. If you're new here, welcome to the show, and while you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for merchandise, to visit sponsors you hear about during the show, sign up for my newsletter and our contests. Connect with me on social media, plus you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you're struggling with depression or dark thoughts. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness. With War of the Worlds, author H. G. Wells tapped into the nation's anxiety over the Great Depression, which had been going on for a decade, and Hitler and Mussolini coming into power. If nations in Europe could be so easily invaded, then why not America? Men from Mars seemed almost as feasible as Nazis in those pre-war days. It was also a time when radio was the lifeline of the nation. It was where everyone got their news. When President Roosevelt would air his fireside chats, 40 million people tuned in. If there were reports of aliens invading New Jersey on the radio, then they must be true. The number one show in the time slot on October 30th was not Wells' Mercury Theater but NBC's Chase and Sandburn Hour, which featured ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy Charlie McCarthy. That evening, fans tuned in to their comedy monologue but began switching stations when singer and movie star Nelson Eddy was singing. Even though it was made clear at the start of Mercury Theater's War of the Worlds show that it was a dramatization, audiences who switched over to CBS from NBC wouldn't have known that because the beginning of the show sounded like a typical music program. Until a nervous announcer suddenly interrupted with news of a disturbance on the surface of Mars. In the aftermath of the show, CBS responded to public outcry by pointing to reminders throughout the broadcast that it was a performance. Many listeners sued the network for mental anguish and personal injury. All the lawsuits were dismissed except for one claim for a pair of black men's shoes size 9B by a Massachusetts man who spent his shoe money to escape the Martians. Wells insisted the man be paid. War of the Worlds may not have been the first show of its kind but it was the finest and it has since been imitated many times. Recorded broadcasts of the show are widely available today on the internet as you are about to hear in a few moments. Let yourself be taken back in time to the 1930s when radio was king and imagine what it must have been like without television news and only your imagination to fill in the blanks. Even today you will find the first section of the show to be surprisingly effective and I can pretty much promise you that it can still give you a few nice chills even after all this time. When Weird Darkness returns, H. G. Wells War of the Worlds as presented by Mercury Theatre and Orson Welles. Gentlemen, the director of the Mercury Theatre and star of these broadcasts, Orson Welles. We know now that in the early years of the 20th century this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man and yet as mortal as his own. We know now that as human beings visit themselves about their various concerns. They were scrutinized and studied. Perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacence people went to and fro over the earth about their little affairs. Serene in the assurance of their dominion over this small spinning fragment of solar driftwood which by chance or design man has inherited out of the dark mystery of time and space. Yet across an immense ethereal gulf, minds that are to our minds as ours that are the beasts in the jungle, intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic regarded this earth with envious eyes and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. In the 39th year of the 20th century came the great disillusionment near the end of October. Business was better. The war scare was over. More men were back at work. Sayos were picking up. On this particular evening, October 30th, the Crossley service estimated that 32 million people were listening in on radios. There was not much change in temperature. A slight atmospheric disturbance of undetermined origin is reported over Nova Scotia, causing a low pressure area to move down rather rapidly over the northeastern states, bringing a forecast of rain accompanied by winds of light gale force. Maximum temperature 66, minimum 48. This weather report comes to you from the Government Weather Bureau. We take you now to the Meridian Room in the Hotel Park Plaza in downtown New York, where you will be entertained by the music of Raymond Raquello and his orchestra. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. From the Meridian Room in the Park Plaza Hotel in New York City, we bring you the music of Raymond Raquello and his orchestra. With the touch of the Spanish, Raymond Raquello leads off with La Compensita. Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News. At 20 minutes before 8 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. The spectroscope indicates the gas to be hydrogen and moving toward the Earth with enormous velocity. Professor Pearson of the Observatory at Princeton confirms Farrell's observation and describes the phenomenon as, quote, like a jet of blue flame shot from a gun, unquote. We now return you to the music of Raymond Raquello playing for you in the Meridian Room of the Park Plaza Hotel, situated in downtown New York. It's a tune that never loses in favor. The ever-popular Stardust. Raymond Raquello on the door. Ladies and gentlemen, following on the news given in our bulletin a moment ago, the Government Meteorological Bureau has requested the large observatories of the country to keep an astronomical watch on any further disturbances occurring on the planet Mars. Due to the unusual nature of this occurrence, we have arranged an interview with a noted astronomer, Professor Pearson, who will give us his views on this event. In a few moments, we will take you to the Princeton Observatory at Princeton, New Jersey. We return you on kill, then, to the music of Raymond Raquello and his orchestra. We are ready now to take you to the Princeton Observatory at Princeton, where Carl Phillips, our commentator, will interview Professor Richard Pearson, famous astronomer. We take you now to Princeton, New Jersey. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. As Carl Phillips speaking to you from the Observatory at Princeton and standing in a large center-circuit room, pitch black except for an oblong spread in the sea. Through this opening, I can see a sprinkling of stars that cast a kind of frosty glow over the intricate mechanism of the huge telescope. The ticking sounds you hear is the vibration of the clockwork. Professor Pearson stands directly above me on a small platform, carrying through the giant lane. I ask you to be patient, ladies and gentlemen, during any delay that may arise during our interview. The skies are cease to swatch of the heavens. Professor Pearson may be interrupted by telephone or other communications. During this period, he is in constant touch with the astronomical centers of the world. Professor, may I begin our question? At any time, Mr. Post. Professor, would you please tell our radio audience exactly what you see as you observe the planet Mars through your telescope? Nothing unusual at the moment, Mr. Post. A red disc swimming in the blue sea, transverse stripes across the disc. Quite distinct now because Mars happens to be at the point nearest the earth in opposition, as we call it. In your opinion, what are these transverse stripes signified, Professor Pearson? Not canal, if I can assure you, Mr. Post. Although that's the popular conjecture of those who imagine Mars to be inhabited. From a scientific viewpoint, the stripes are merely the result of atmospheric conditions peculiar to the planet. Then you're quite convinced, as a scientist, that living intelligence, as we know it, does not exist on Mars? I'd say the chances against it are a thousand to one. And yet, how do you account for these gas eruptions occurring on the surface of the planet at regular intervals? Well, I cannot account for it. By the way, Professor, for the benefit of our listeners, how far is Mars from the earth? Approximately 40 million miles. Well, that seems a safe enough distance. Just a moment, ladies and gentlemen, someone has just handed Professor Pearson a message while he reads it. Let me remind you that we are speaking to you from the Observatory in Princeton, New Jersey, where we are interviewing the world famous astronomer, Professor Pearson. One moment, please. Professor Pearson has passed me a message, which he has just received. Professor, may I read the message to the listening audience? Certainly, Mr. Post. Ladies and gentlemen, I should read you a wire addressed to Professor Pearson from Dr. Gray of the Natural History Museum, New York. 9.15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Seismographs registered shock of almost earthquake intensity occurring within a radius of 20 miles of Princeton. Please investigate. Signed Lloyd Gray, Chief of Astronomical Division. Unquote. Professor Pearson, could this occurrence possibly have something to do with the disturbances observed on the planet Mars? Hardly, Mr. Phillips. This is probably a meteorite of unusual size, and its arrival at this particular time is merely a coincidence. However, we shall conduct your search as soon as daylight permits. Thank you, Professor. Ladies and gentlemen, for the past 10 minutes, we've been speaking to you from the Observatory at Princeton, bringing you a special interview with Professor Pearson, noted astronomer. This is Carl Phillips speaking. We are returning you now to our New York studio. Ladies and gentlemen, here is the latest bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News, Toronto, Canada. Professor Morris of Macmillan University reports observing a total of three explosions on the planet Mars between the hours of 7.45 p.m. and 9.20 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. This confirms earlier reports received from American Observatories. Now, nearer home comes a special bulletin from Trenton, New Jersey. It is reported that at 8.50 p.m., a huge flaming object believed to be a meteorite fell on a farm in the neighborhood of Grover's Mill, New Jersey, 22 miles from Trenton. The flash in the sky was visible within a radius of several hundred miles, and the noise of the impact was heard as far north as Elizabeth. We have dispatched a special mobile unit to the scene, and we'll have our commentator, Carl Phillips, give you a word picture of the scene as soon as he can reach there from Princeton. In the meantime, we take you to the Hotel Martinette in Brooklyn, where Bobby Millette and his orchestra are offering a program of dance music. Welcome to Grover's Mill, New Jersey. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Carl Phillips again. How does the Wilma's farm, Grover's Mill, New Jersey? Professor Pearson and myself made the 11 miles in 10 minutes. Well, I hardly know where to begin. Thank you for your word picture of the strange scene before my eyes, but nothing out of the moderate radius of the night that I just got here. I hadn't had a chance to look around yet. I guess that's it. Yes, I guess that's the thing directly in front of me. Half buried in a vast pit. Must have slept with terrific voice. The ground is covered with sprinters of a tree. It must have struck on its way down, but I can feel the object itself doesn't look very much like a meteor. At least not the meteors I've seen. It looks more like a huge cylinder as a diameter of what would you say, Professor Pearson? What would you say? What's the diameter? About 30 yards. About 30 yards. The metal on the sheet is, well, I've never seen anything like it. The color is sort of yellowish white. It's curious spectators now are pressing close to the object in spite of the efforts of the police to keep in fact getting in front of my line of vision. Would you mind standing one side, please? While the police are pushing the crowd back. Here's Mr. Wilmot, owner of the pond here. He may have some interesting facts to add. Mr. Wilmot, would you please tell the radio audience as much as you remember of this rather unusual visitor that's dropped in your backyard? Step closer, please. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Mr. Wilmot. Well, I was listening to the radio. Please, listen louder, please. Pardon? Louder, please, please. Yes. I was listening to the radio and kind of drowsing. A professor fellow was talking about Mars. So I was half chosen to have. Yes, yes, Mr. Wilmot. And then what happened? Well, as I was saying, I was listening to the radio kind of halfway. Yes, Mr. Wilmot. And then you saw something. Not first off, I heard something. And what did you hear? A hissing sound like this. Kind of like a force that you lie rocking. Yes, then what? I turned my head out the window and would have sworn I was asleep and dreaming. Yes. I seen that kind of greenish streak and then jingle. Something smacked the ground, not to be clear out of my chair. Well, were you fighting, Mr. Wilmot? Well, I ain't quite sure. I reckon I was kind of riled. Thank you, Mr. Wilmot. Thank you very much. No, that's right. That's funny. Ladies and gentlemen, you've just heard, Mr. Wilmot, owner of the farm where this thing has fallen. I wish I could convey the atmosphere, the background of this fantastic scene. Hundreds of cars have parked in a field in back of us and the police are trying to rope off the roadway leading into the farm, but it's no use. They're breaking right through cars, headlights, throwing an enormous spotlight on the pit where the objects have buried. Now, some of the more garing stories now are venturing near the edge. They're still standing out against the metal scheme. One man wants to touch the thing. He's having an argument with a policeman. Now, the policeman wins. Now, ladies and gentlemen, there's something I haven't mentioned in all this excitement, but it's becoming more distinct. Perhaps you've caught it already on your radio. Listen, please. Do you hear it? It's a curious humming sound that seems to come from inside the object. I'll move the microphone nearer here. Now, we're not more than 25 feet away. Can you hear it now? Professor Pearson. Yes. Can you tell us the meaning of that scraping noise inside the thing? Possibly the unequal cooling of a surface. I say, do you still think it's immediate, Professor? I don't know what to think. The metal casing is definitely extraterrestrial. Not found on this friction with the earth. The atmosphere usually tears holes in the meteorite. This thing is smooth. You can see it's cylindrical. Something's happening. Ladies and gentlemen, this is terrific. This end of the thing is beginning to break off. The top is beginning to rotate like a screw and this thing must be hollow. Keep those idiots back. Get off! The top's loose! Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I've ever witnessed. Wait a minute. Someone's calling someone or something. I can see it's coming out of that black hole through luminous disks. For the eyes, it might be a face. It might be all the things that happen. Something breaking out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now, it's another one and another one. It looks like it can't look to me. I can see the thing spotting out. It's large. It's a bear. It's just like wet leather. But it's a face. Ladies and gentlemen, I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it. It's awful. The eyes are black and they seem like a serpent in the mountains. That kind of V-shape was alive. It's dripping from its windless lips. It seemed like a river pulsating. The monster or whatever it is can hardly move. It seems weighed down by possibly gravity or something. The thing is rising up now and the car falls back. It seems quite easy. Of course it's tired. It's very, very gentle, Mike. Can't find words. Well, I'll pull this microphone with me as I talk. I'll have to stop the description until I can take a new position. Hold on with it, please. I'll be right back in a minute. We are bringing you an eyewitness account of what's happening on the Wilmuth Farm Grover's Mill, New Jersey. Now, I'll return you to Carl Phillips at Grover's Mill. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, here I am back with Stonewall that joins Mr. Wilmuth's garden. From here, I get a sweet for the whole scene. I'll give you every detail as long as I can talk and as long as I can see this. More state police have arrived at throwing up a cordon in front of the pit. About 30 of them. No need to push the car back now. They're willing to keep their distance. The captain's inferring with someone. Can't quite see who. Yes, I believe it's Professor Pearson. Yes, it is. Now they've 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 hexagon tied to a pole, like a truce. Those creatures know what that means, what anything means. Any minute something's happening. Some shape is rising out of the pit. They make out a small beam of light against the mirror. The best is a jet of flame springing from the mirror and at least slightly evasive men. Splice them head on. Lord, they're turning into flames. The whole sea is caught up by the woods of fire. There's gas tanks in the automobile spreading everywhere. Coming this way now, about 20 yards by right. Ladies and gentlemen, due to circumstances beyond our control, we are unable to continue the broadcast from Grover's mill. Evidently, there's some difficulty with our field transmission. However, we will return to that point at the earliest opportunity. In the meantime, we have a late bulletin from San Diego, California. Professor Indole Copper, speaking at a dinner of the California Astronomical Society, expressed the opinion that the explosions on Mars are undoubtedly nothing more than severe volcanic disturbances on the surface of the planet. We continue now with our piano interval. Ladies and gentlemen, I've just been handed a message that came in from Grover's mill by telephone. Just one moment, please. At least 40 people, including six state troopers, lie dead in the field east of the village of Grover's mill. Their bodies burned and distorted beyond all possible recognition. The next voice you hear will be that of Brigadier General Montgomery Smith, Commander of the State Militia at Trenton, New Jersey. 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. Four 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. You have just been listening to General Montgomery Smith, commanding the State Militia at Trenton. In the meantime, further details of the catastrophe at Grover's mill are coming in. The strange creatures, after unleashing their deadly assault, crawled back in their pit and made no attempt to prevent the efforts of the firemen to recover the bodies and extinguish the fire. The combined fire departments of Mercer County are fighting the flames which menace the entire countryside. We have been unable to establish any contact with our mobile unit at Grover's mill, but we hope to be able to return you there at the earliest possible moment. In the meantime, we take you to just one moment please. Ladies and gentlemen, I have just been informed that we have finally established communication with an eyewitness of the tragedy. Professor Pearson has been located at a farmhouse near Grover's mill where he has established an emergency observation post. As a scientist, he will give you his explanation of the calamity. The next voice you hear will be that of Professor Pearson, brought to you by direct wire. Professor Pearson. Of the creatures in the rocket cylinder at Grover's mill, I can give you no authoritative information, either to their nature, their origin, or their one of a better term or to evidence that these creatures have scientific knowledge far in advance of our own. In some way, they are able to generate an intense non-conductivity. This intense heat they project in a parallel beam against any object they choose by means of a polished parabolic mirror of unknown composition, much as the mirror's beam of light in texture of the origin of the heat ray. Thank you, Professor Pearson. Ladies and gentlemen, here is a bulletin from Trenton. It is a brief statement informing us that the charred body of Carl Phillips has been identified in the Trenton hospital. Now, here's another bulletin from Washington, D.C. The Office of the Director of the National Red Cross reports 10 units of Red Cross emergency workers have been assigned outside of Grover's mill, New Jersey. Here's a bulletin from state police, Trenton Grover's mill and vicinity are now under control, line of light appearing from the mouth of the cylinder. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we have a special statement from Mr. Harry McDonald. Vice president in charge of you now to the field... Now engaged in military operations in the vicinity of Grover's mill. The situation arising from the reported presence of certain individuals of unidentified nature is now under complete control. The cylindrical object which lies in a pit directly below our position, surrounded on all sides by eight battalions of infantry, without heavy field peaches but adequately armed with rifles and machine guns. All cause for alarm, if such cause ever existed, is now entirely unjustified. Things, whatever they are, do not even venture to poke their head above the pit. I can see their hiding place plainly in the glare of the searchlights here. With all their reported resources, these creatures can scarcely stand up against heavy machine gun fire. Anyway, it's an interesting outing for the troops. I can make out their cocky uniforms, crossing back and forth in front of the lights. Looks almost like a real war. There appears to be some slight smoke in the woods bordering the Milestone River, probably fire started by campers. Well, we ought to see some action soon. One of the companies is deploying on the left flank. A quick thrust and it'll all be over. Oh, wait a minute, I see something on top of the cylinder. No, it's nothing but a shadow. Now the two from the edge of the Wilma Flam, 7,000 armed men closing in on an old metal tube. A tub, brother. Well, wait, that wasn't a shadow, it's something moving. Solid metal, kind of a shield like a fair rising up out of the cylinder, going higher and higher. It's standing on legs, actually rearing up on a sort of metal framework. Now it's reaching above the trees and the searchlights are on it. Hold on. Ladies and gentlemen, I have a grave announcement to make. Incredible as it may seem, both the observations of science and the evidence of our eyes lead to the inescapable assumption that those strange beings who landed in the Jersey farmlands tonight are the vanguard of an invading army from the planet Mars. The battle which took place tonight at Grover Mills has ended in one of the most strapping deceit never suffered by an army in modern times. 7,000 men armed with rifles and machine guns pitted against a single fighting machine of the invaders from Mars. 120 known survivors. The rest strewn over the battle area from Grover's mill to Plainsboro crushed and trampled the death under the metal feet of the monster or burned to cinders by its heat ray. The monster is now in control of the middle section of New Jersey and has effectively cut the state through its center. Communication lines are down from Pennsylvania to the Atlantic Ocean. Railroad tracks are torn in service from New York to Philadelphia discontinued except routing some of the trains through Allerton and Phoenixville. Highways to the North, South and West are clogged with frantic human traffic. Police and army reserves are unable to control the mad flight. By morning the fugitives will have swelled Philadelphia, Camden and Trenton. It is estimated to twice their normal population. Marshal law prevails throughout New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. At this time we take you to Washington for a special broadcast on the national emergency. The secretary of the interior. 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 private citizens and public officials, all of you the urgent need of calm and resourceful action. Fortunately, this formidable enemy is still confined to a comparatively small area and we may place our faith in the military forces to keep them there. In the meantime, placing our faith in God, we must continue the performance of our duties each and every one of us so that we may confront this destructive adversary with a nation united, courageous and consecrated to the preservation of human supremacy on this earth. I thank you. You have just heard the secretary of the interior speaking from Washington. Bulletin's too numerous to read appalling up in the studio here. We're informed that the central portion of New Jersey is blacked out from radio communication due to the effect of the heat ray upon power lines and electrical equipment. Here's a special bullet in New York. Cables have been received from English, French and German scientific bodies offering assistance. Astronomers report continued gas outbursts of regular intervals on the planet Mars. The majority voiced the opinion that the enemy will be reinforced by additional rocket machines. There have been several attempts made to locate Professor Pearson of Princeton who has observed Martians at close range. It is feared he was lost in the recent battle. Langham Field, Virginia. Scouting planes report three Martian machines visible above treetops moving north towards Somerville with population fleeing ahead of them. The heat ray is not in use although advancing at express train speed invaders picked their way carefully. They seem to be making a conscious effort to avoid destruction of cities and countryside whether they stop to uproot power lines bridges and railroad tracks. Their apparent objective is to crush resistance, paralyze communication and disorganize human society. Here is a bulletin from Dashing Ridge, New Jersey. Coon hunters have stumbled on a second cylinder similar to the first embedded in the great swamp 20 miles south of Marstown. Army field pieces are proceeding from Newark to blow up the second invading unit before the cylinder can be opened in the fighting machine rig. They are taking up a position in the foothills of Watson Mountain. Another bulletin from Langham Field, Virginia. Scouting planes report enemy machines now three a number increasing speed northward kicking over houses and trees in their evident haste to form a conjunction with their allies south of Marstown. Machines also sighted by telephone operate east of Middlesex within 10 miles of plain field. Here's a bulletin from Winstonfield, Long Island. A fleet of army bombers carrying heavy explosives flying north in pursuit of enemy. Scouting planes act as guides. They keep the speeding enemy in sight. Just a moment please ladies and gentlemen. We've run special wires to the artillery line in the station villages to give you direct reports in the zone of the advancing enemy. First we take you to the battery of the 20 second field artillery located in the Watson Mountains. Range 32 meters 32 meters section 39 degrees 39 degrees fire 40 yards to the right sir shift range 31 meters 31 meters projection 37 degrees 37 degrees fire but the type of one of them that's tough the others are trying to repair it get the range shift 50 30 meters 30 meters projection 27 degrees 27 degrees fire and see the shell answers letting off the smoke what is it like closer moving this way right close to the ground moving fast and put on gas masks ready to fire shift to 24 meters 24 meters projection 24 degrees 24 degrees fire there can't be that range 33 meters 33 meters 43 meters 32 degrees 22 degrees bombing plane v8 43 off bay on New Jersey lieutenant both commanding eight bombers reporting to commander Fairfax Langham Field this is both reporting to commander Fairfax Langham Field enemy tripod machines now in sight reinforced by three machines from the Mars pound cylinder six all together one machine partially crippled the leaves hit by shell from army gun and watch young mountains guns now appear silent a heavy black fog hanging close to the earth of extreme density nature unknown no sign of heat ray enemy now turns east crossing the Sayek River into the Jersey marshes another straddles the flesky skyway evident objective is new york city and pushing down a high tension power station machines are close together now we're ready to attack plane circling ready to strike a thousand yards and we'll be over the first 800 yards there they go giant arm raised green flash spang us with flame 2000 feet engines are giving out no chance to release bombs only one thing left up on the plane at all now the engine started on new jersey calling langham field come in please langham field go ahead eight army bombers and engagement with enemy tripod machines over jersey flats engines incapacitated by heat ray all crashed one enemy machine destroyed enemy now discharging heavy black smoke in direction of new york new jersey this is new york new jersey warning poisonous black smoke pouring in from jersey marshes reach about three gas masks useless urge populations moving to open spaces automobiles use routes seven twenty three twenty four avoid congested areas smoke now spreading over over raymond boulevard to x2l calling say kill to x2l calling say kill to x2l calling 8x3r come in please this is 8x3r coming back at 2x2l eyes reception eyes reception okay please where are you 8x3r what's the matter where are you broadcasting building i'm speaking from the roof of broadcasting building new york city the bell you hear a ringing to warn the people to evacuate the city as martian's approach estimated in last two hours three million people have moved out along the roads to the north but just in river parkway still kept open for motor traffic avoid bridges to long island hopelessly jam all communication with jerseys shore closed 10 minutes ago no more defenses our army is wiped out artillery air force everything wiped out this may be the last broadcast we'll stay here to the end people are holding service here below us in the cathedral now i look down the harbor all all manner of boats overloaded with green population pulling out from docks streets are all jammed noise and crowds like new year's eve in city wait a minute the the enemy is now in sight above the palace stage five five great machines first one is crossing the river i can see it from here waiting waiting the hudson like a man waiting for a book a bulletin has handed me martian cylinders are falling all over the country one outside of buffalo one in chicago st louis seemed to be timed in space now the first machine reaches the shore he stands watching looking over the city steel cowley's head is even with the skyscrapers he waits for the others they rise like a line of new towers on the city's west side now they're lifting their metal hands this is the end now smoke comes out black smoke drifting over the city people in the streets see it now they're running for the east river thousands of them dropping in like rats now the smoke spreading faster each time square people are trying to run away from it but it's no use they're falling like flies now the smoke's crossing sixth avenue fifth avenue uh a hundred yards away just compete in the original dramatization of the war of the worlds by hg wells the performance will continue after a brief intermission this is the columbia broadcasting system the war of the worlds by hg wells starring orson wells and the mercury theater on the air we'll continue with hg wells war of the worlds as presented by mercury theater in just a moment thought that i may be the last living man on earth and hiding in this empty house near grover's mill the end of daylight cut off by the black smoke happened before the arrival of these monstrous creatures in the world now seems part of another life life that has no continuity with the present virtue of existence the lone made derelict to pencils these words on the back of some astronomical notes bearing the signature of richard pierce look down at my blackened hand try to connect them with a professor who lives at princeton and who on the night of october 20th glimpse through his telescope an orange splash of light on a distant planet my wife my colleagues my students my books my observatory where are they did they ever exist am i richard pierce what day is it do days exist without calendars this time pass when i know human hands left to wind the clock writing down my daily life i tell myself i shall preserve human history between the dark cover of this little book that was meant to record the movements of the stars but to write i must live and to live on the feet find moldy bread in the kitchen and an orange not to spoil to swallow keep watch at the window time to time i kept sight of a martian above the black smoke smoke still holds the house in its black coil but thanks there's a kissing sound and suddenly i see a martian mounted on his machine spraying the air with a jet of steam as if to dissipate the smoke i watch in a corner is this huge metal legs nearly brush against the house dusted by terror i fall asleep morning sun streams in the window black cloud of gas is lifted and the scorched meadows to the north look as though a black snowstorm at that time i venture from the house i make my way to a road no traffic in their wreck car baggage overturned with black and skeleton push on north some reason i feel safer trailing these monsters and running with them and i keep a careful watch i've seen the martians feed said one of their machines appear over the top of trees i'm ready to fling myself flat on the earth come to a chestnut tree october chestnuts are right all my pockets just keep alive two days i wander in a vague northerly direction through a desolate world finally i noticed a living creature all red squirrel in the beach tree i stared him and wonder he stares back at me i believe it's that moment the animal and i shared the same emotion joy of finding another living being push on north i find dead cows in a brackish field beyond the charred ruins of a dairy and silo made standing guard over the wasteland like a lighthouse deserted by the sea purges a weathercock the arrow points north air come to a city city vaguely familiar in its contours yet it's building strangely dwarfed and leveled off as if the giant had sliced off its highest towers of the capricious sweep of the sand reached the outskirts i found new work new work undamaged but humbled by some whim of the advancing martians presently with an odd feeling of being watched i got sight of something crouching in a doorway i mean a step towards it rose up and became a man man armed with a large knife stop i come from many places a long time ago from princeton princeton that's near grover's mill yes grover's mill there's no food here this is my country all this and the town down the river there's only food for one which way are you going i don't know i guess i'm looking for people what was that should we hear something just then no only a bird a live bird you get to know the birds have shadows these days hey we're in the open here let's call in this doorway here and talk have you seen any martians no they're going over to new york night the sky is alive with their lights just as if people were still living in a daylight you can't see in five days ago a couple of them carried something big across the flats from the airport i think they're learning how to fly fly yeah fly then it's all over with humanity strange of us still you and i two of us left they got themselves in solid they wrecked the greatest country in the world those green stars they're probably falling somewhere every night they've only lost one machine there isn't anything to do we're done we're licked where were you you're in a uniform yeah what's left of it i was in the militia national guard that's good there wasn't any war anymore than there's war between men and ants yes but we're eatable ants and i found that out what'll they do to us i felt it all out right now we're caught as we're wanted a martian only has to go a few miles to get a crowd on the run but they won't keep on doing that they'll begin catching a systematic like keeping the best and storing us in cages and things they haven't begun on us yet begun not begun all that's happened so far is because we don't have sense enough to keep quiet bothering them with guns and such stuff and losing our heads and rushing off in crowds now instead of our rushing around blind we got to fix ourselves up fix ourselves up according to the way things are now cities nation civilization progress but if that's so what is there to live for well there won't be any more concerts for a million years or so and no nice little dinners at restaurants if it's amusement you're after i guess the game's up what if they're left life that's what i want to live and so do you we're not going to be exterminated and i don't mean to be caught either tamed and fattened and bred like an ox you're gonna do i'm going on right under their feet i got a plan we men as men we're finished we don't know enough we got to learn plenty before we got a chance we've got to live and keep free while we learn see i've thought it all out see i don't tell me the risk well it isn't all of us that are made for wild beasts that's what it got it that's what it got to be that's why i watched you watched you all those little office workers that used to live in these houses they'd be no good they haven't any stuff in them run run off to work i've seen hundreds of them running to catch their commuters train in the morning afraid that you can if they didn't run them back at night afraid they wouldn't be in time for dinner lives insured and a little invested in case of accidents and on sundays worried about the hereafter the martians they'll be a godsend for those guys nice roomy cages good food careful breeding no worries yeah after a week or so of chasing around the field on empty stomachs they'll come and be glad to be caught you've thought it all out haven't you sure you better have that isn't all these martians are gonna make pets of them train them to do tricks who knows get sentimental over the pet boy who grew up and had to be killed yeah and some maybe they'll train to hunt us impossible yes they will there's men who do it gladly what comes after me by the meantime you and i and others like us what are we to live when the martians own the earth i thought it all figured out to live underground i've been thinking about the sewers under new york they're miles and miles of them the main ones are big enough for anybody and their sellers vaults underground storerooms railway tunnels subways you begin to see her we've got a bunch of strong men to get it no weekends that rubbish out as you met me to go if you were chance didn't you won't quarrel about them go on you got to make safe places for us to stay and see that all the books we can science books that's where men like you come in see we raid the museums we'll even spy on the martians may not be so much we have to learn before just imagine this four or five of their own fighting machines suddenly start off heat rays right and left not a martian in them not a martian in them see but men men who've learned the way how may even in our time see imagine having one of them lovely things with a heat ray wide and free we turn it on martians we turn it on men we bring everybody down on their knees that's your plan you me you marks read on the world I see hey hey what's the next where are you going not to your world with the artillery man I came at last the holland tunnel handed that silent tube anxious to know the fate of the great city on the other side of the hudson cautiously I came out of the tunnel made my way up canal street reached 14th street and there again were black powder and several bodies and an evil ominous smell from the gratings of the sellers of some of the houses are wandered up through the 30s and 40s alone on time square got side of a lean dog running down 7th avenue with a piece of dark brown meat in his jaws and pack of starving mongrels as he was made a wide circle around this though he feared I might prove a fresh competitor walked up Broadway in the direction of that that strange powder past silent shop windows displaying their mute wares to empty sidewalks past the capital theater silent dark the shooting gallery where a row of empty guns faced an arrested line of wooden ducks near Columbus circle I noticed models of 1939 motor cars in the showrooms facing empty streets over the top of the general motors building I watched a flock of black birds circling the sky hurried on suddenly I caught sight of the hood of a martian machine standing somewhere in central park bleeding in the late afternoon sun insane idea I rushed recklessly across Columbus circle and into the park I I climbed a small hill above the pond at 60th street and from there I could see standing in a silent row along the mall 19 of those great metal titans their cows empty their steel arms hanging listlessly by their sides I looked in vain for the monsters that inhabit those machines suddenly my eyes were attracted to the immense flock of black birds hovered directly below me they circled to the ground and there before my eyes stark and silent they the Martians with the hungry birds pecking and tearing brown shreds of flesh in their dead bodies radar when their bodies were examined in laboratories it was found that they were killed by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared plain after all man's defences had failed I have a humblest thing that God has wisdoms put upon the surf before the cylinder fell there was a general persuasion that through all the deep of space no life existed beyond the petty surface of our minute sphere now we see further dim and wonderful as the vision I conjured up in my mind of life spreading slowly from this little seed bed of the solar system throughout the inanimate vastnesses of sidereal space but a remote dream maybe maybe that the destruction of the Martians is only a reprieve to them and not to us the future are dangerous strange it now seems to sit in my peaceful study Princeton writing down this last chapter of the record begun at a deserted farm in Grover's Mill strange to watch children playing in the streets strange to see young people strolling on the green where the new spring grass heals the last black scars of a bruised earth strange to watch the sightseers enter the museum where the dissembled parts of a Martian machine are kept on public view strange when I recall the time when I first saw it bright and clean, cut hard and silent under the dawn of that last great day 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 the Mercury Theater's own radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying boo starting now we couldn't soap all your windows and steal all your garden gates by tomorrow night so we did the best next thing 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's there that was no martian it's halloween tonight the columbia broadcasting system and its affiliated stations coast to coast has brought you the war of the world by hg welles the 17th in its weekly series of dramatic broadcast featuring Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on the air next week we present a dramatization of three famous short stories this is the columbia broadcasting thanks for listening if you like what you heard please share it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories true crime monsters or unsolved mysteries like you do and please leave a rating and review of the show in the podcast app you listen from you can email me anytime with your questions or comments at darren at weirddarkness.com darren is d a r r e n weirddarkness.com is also where you can find all of my social media listen to audio books i've narrated shop the weirddarkness store sign up for monthly contests find other podcasts that i host and find the hope in the darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts and please consider giving towards our overcoming the darkness fundraiser where every dollar you give will be donated to organizations that help people who struggle with depression the fundraiser ends halloween night after the live scream that's tomorrow night so please give today visit the hope in the darkness page at weirddarkness.com for more information also on weirddarkness.com if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell of your own you can click on tell your story you can find all of that and more at weirddarkness.com war of the worlds was written by hg wells radio adaptation by orson wells produced by mercury radio theater the introductory section war of the worlds the greatest halloween prank ever was written by troy taylor weirddarkness is a production and trademark of marlar house productions copyright weirddarkness 2023 and now that we're coming out of the dark i'll leave you with a little light and i searched for a verse i thought might fit with the theme of tonight's episode is equal one verse four as i looked the whole they stormy wind came out of the north and a great cloud with brightness around it and fire flashing forth continually and in the midst of the fire as it were gleaming metal and a final thought i prefer people who rock the boat than people who jump out orson wells and a final final thought what matters is what you do with what you already have hg wells i'm darren marlar thanks for joining me in the weirddarkness