War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast

We listened to the radio broadcast of War of the Worlds today. My birth mother, who is a very cultured woman and exposed my brother and I to many wonderful experiences, shared this unique program with us when we were children. We were a bit too young to fully understand all that was happening in the program, but we both enjoyed it and found it fascinating that people were frightened by it because they thought it was really happening.

Today I downloaded copyright-free books on my sons computer so he can read them at his leisure. When he discovered that War of the Worlds was in his file he excitedly told my father that he had heard of this before and that Judy (his new grandma) and mom (me) told him that this was played on the radio a long time ago and people panicked and thought it was really happening. After a short conversation he asked if there was any way we could listen to it.

We quickly found a very easy to use site that allowed us to listen online without downloading it. This same site has the entire script of the actual radio broadcast. We are a very visual family and often wander off in daydreams with no visual reminders to help us remain focused, no matter how interesting the subject matter is, so we appreciate that option.

A little trivia:

We learned that the War of the Worlds was performed as a Halloween episode on October 30, 1938.

The rumored panic that this broadcast caused may have been false. Careful research has shown that people were frightened but there is no evidence that people fled their homes. (I was always told that people fled their homes and such things.)

It has also been suggested that this broadcast was a "psychological warfare experiment" or part of a "crowd psychology" experiment.

At some point during the broadcast my son left his computer, and the script on it, to come sit near his brother and I.

When it was finished I asked what they thought. My older son said that his mind wandered off and he barely heard it and laughed at himself saying that it is hard to stay focused. My younger son said that he did not enjoy it much because he did not understand some of the words and the sound quality was poor so it was difficult to figure them out within the context of the story.

Maybe, like my brother and I, they will appreciate it when they are older. They are happy that we all sat and listened together even though they did not enjoy the actual program. I think that falls under the philosophy that "It's the journey that matters, not the destination."