The story of the mass panic caused by Welles’s War of the Worlds remains popular, but recent research has suggested that the extent of the commotion is far more limited than the myth allows. Newspapers at the time greatly exaggerated listeners’ panic - most of the show’s audience understood the play was fictitious - as a way to discredit radio, which was emerging as a serious competition to newspapers.
Via Impudence [1], “This Day In History | October 30th 1938: ‘War of the Worlds’ broadcast… [2]”
Ah, the more things change, the more they stay the same [3].
Anyway, I remember my Great Aunt Freddie (she was my mom's father's sister, and yes, Freddie really was her name) telling stories about this radio broadcast. As a kid, she was attending an evening church service that Sunday when a frantic guy burst in claiming that Martians had landed in New Jersey. Sadly, I don't recall more of the story other than that. I would have liked to have known the pastor's reaction to that.
[1] http://violetimpudence.tumblr.com/post/132223823595/todayinhistory-
[2] http://todayinhistory.tumblr.com/post/132208168060/october-30th-1938-