War of the Worlds - Interviews with Orson Welles

Anyone tuning in late to Mercury Theatre on the Air - the night of October 30, 1938 - would have missed the episode's introduction. Those late-arriving listeners would not have realized they were about to hear a reworking of The War of the Worlds, a novel by H.G. Wells.

The reworked story, and the way it was presented by Orson Welles and his team, was so dramatically effective that millions of people believed they were listening to real-time events. The next day Welles held a press conference, to tell everyone what he was up to. Twenty years later, he admitted to additional motives.

In this clip, people who were impacted by the radio broadcast explain how it affected them (and their families) - and - Orson Welles fills-in some important details.

See, also:

The Night that Panicked America, Part 1

The Night that Panicked America, Part 2

The Night that Panicked America, Part 3

The Night that Panicked America, Part 4

The Night that Panicked America, Part 5

The Night that Panicked America, Part 6

The Night that Panicked America, Part 7

The Night that Panicked America, Part 8

The Night that Panicked America, Part 9