Enjoy the chilling terrors of these classic old-time radio productions. These are some of the tales that people used to spend their evenings listening to back in the day. What a treat for a stormy spooky night!
The War of the Worlds
The announcer said, “The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater On The Air in ‘The War of the Worlds’ by H.G. Wells.” This segued into the Mercury Theater’s theme music and an introduction by Orson Welles. What followed in the next hour, a dramatization of the science fiction classic presented as special news bulletins interrupting a make-believe music program, panicked the nation and created the most famous single episode of Old Time Radio in history.Between 9 PM Easter Standard Time and dawn of the next day men, women and children in scores of towns and cities across the nation were in flight from objects that only existed in their imaginations. Estimates are that six million Americans heard that broadcast and of that one million panicked. Many wonder how such a thing was possible. After all, the show started with the aforementioned announcement, followed by Orson Welles orating about how Mankind has been watched since the beginning of the 20th Century.
