What better way to spend the night before Halloween than by reliving the night that many Americans thought the world was being invaded by alien life forms?
The St. Joseph/Maud Preston Palenske Memorial Library is offering just that this October 30 with a presentation of “American Experience: War of the Worlds,” a PBS documentary that delves into the famous War of the Worlds broadcast from Orson Wells on October 30, 1938.
Library Assistant Director Zack North tells us the story is so interesting because of the contrast between 1938 and the world of today. Back then, people had no internet, Google, or cell phones, and they relied on the radio for information.
“And then to have this almost hour-long fictional broadcast that really caused quite a stir for people, because in the middle of the Great Depression, there was potential war in Europe,” North said. “Then to have this broadcast posing as news, saying that something is happening and that the world is being invaded, was huge and massive to people at the time.”
And people believed it when they heard the drama about an extraterrestrial attack.
PBS Program Manager Kate Mosher will be present at the library for the documentary screening, and North says they’re going to try to recreate the atmosphere many radio listeners would have been in when they heard the legendary War of the Worlds broadcast.
“We’re also going to be doing a small exhibit as well. We’re going to try and recreate a 1938 living room.”
North says everyone’s invited to come out for the presentation on the most famous invasion that never happened and ask themselves, “Would I have been a believer?”
The presentation at the library will be Thursday, October 30 at 6 p.m. and it will be free to attend.
