The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-10-31
Thousands Are Made
 Hysterical By Radio
tcuntinueel trum Pare D

i ing; The world is coming to an end" l" The congregation was hastily dis- missed.
 tn Toledo, Ohio, three persons tainted at telephones while trying to call police.
 In Chicago, persons ran out of restaurants without finishing their meals.
 In Salt Lake City, residents packed their belongings and were only dis. suaded from fleeing their homes by proof that 1t was all just entertain ment.
 Hysteria Ran Riot
 But in the east, in the country being subjected to the invasion" hysteria ran riot. Several persons came forward to swear they saw the rocket land and strange creatures" climb out of 1t. In Newark, N. l., hundreds fled from two city blocks, carrying what possessions they could snatch up in their flight. Police cars screamed through the streets of a score of towns, responding to frenzied alarms.
 The reaction was bitter and the Columbia Brcadcasting System, on whose network the program--a dramatization of H, G, Wells novel, "The War of the Worlds"-was broadcast, was inundated with pro- test telegrams and telephone calls and its press department was busy with explanations and apologies. Investigation Under Way
 In Washington, Frank R. Me- Ninch, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, an- nounced that he would investigate at once. He said he had received no complaints, but that the commission could investigate without having re- ceived complaints,
 Apparently the broadcast was quiet realistic" he said.
 McNinch spoke before he went to his offices to examine the morning mails and telegrams. Among other officials in the east demanding that the commission do something, was Paul Morton, city manager ot Tren- ton.
 The broadcasting system had talk en every precaution to prevent any one thinking its program was real Program listings in Sunday newSpa- pers had announced that the time time between 8 and 9 p. m. would be taken by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater of the Air in 'The War of the worlds. Welles, the playwright and actor, opened the program with 0 detailed exposition of the series of which the program was part. Then, four times during the hour broadcast, an announcer broke in to inform listeners that it was @ play.
 Play Realistic
 The play was realistic enough that if heard independently of the an nouncements, 1t was Identical with many ordinary news programs. It began with a weather report. An announcer said that the program would continue with dance music from a hotel. Then came Q few minutes of swing music. This was interrupted by e flash reporting that an observatory professor had noted Q series of gas explosions on the planet Mars.
 Then came @ series of bulletins and first hand reporting from the scene One of the first bulletins said 3 meteor had landed near Princeton Killing 1900 persons. Soon, an. other bulletin announced that II hadn't been Q meteor at ell, but 2 metal cylinder containing strange creatures" armed with death rays who were warning on earth's in- habitants. Then an actor, repre- senting the secretary of the interior came on, spoke of the terrible dis. aster. Then other officials urged residents to flee the cities. Thousands Of Calls
 New York Police reported that they handled thousands of calls even while the program was on the air. Newark. Jersey City, Trenton Philadelphia, and other cities with in close range of the focal point of the invasion" were equally swamp ed. Many of the callers wanted to know whether 1t was safer to be m the cellar or on the roof during the gas attack. Others wanted to know the best way to flee. Others wanted merely to be advised that 1t was not real.
 These were the persons least alarmed. The others jumped up and ran out of their houses in wild panic. In New York city approxim- ately 200 persons fled their apart ments in one block of Riverside Drive and ran as fast as they could toward Broadway where pol- ice overlook them, soothed them, and sent them home.
 Eye Witness Dreamed It
 Tn Princeton, an unidentified man ran into the Princeton University Press Club and informed the nnem- bers that he had seen the rocket and had seen the invaders piling out of 1t, each armed with death ray. There were other ''eye-witnesses" who disappeared when 1t became generally known that there had been no invasion at all.
 In Newark, police were called to