It’s 1938.
Radio is the centerpiece of home entertainment.
No social media, no television. Just voices traveling through the air.
One October night, millions tune in to CBS... and hear this:
“Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program to bring you a special bulletin. A gigantic extraterrestrial spaceship has landed in New Jersey. The Martians are attacking.”
Panic.People fleeing their homes.Churches packed.Phone lines jammed.
The reason?A dramatization of The War of the Worlds, directed by a young Orson Welles.
A radio show, presented as if it were a real news bulletin, that made thousands—maybe millions—of Americans believe they were being invaded by Martians.
But there was no invasion.Just fiction disguised as reality.
And the incredible thing is: even though some knew it wasjust a play, the way it was presented—with interruptions, fake testimonies, sound effects—was so convincing, it caused chaos.
This was one of the first modern misinformation pandemics.
And it didn’t even need artificial intelligence.
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