On October 30, 1938, Americans became so totally captivated by an Orson Welles' radio drama that they actually believed that if wasn't just theater, but a real news broadcast. Throughout New York state families fled their homes in a panic. Phone lines were overloaded as thousands called the police, radio stations and newspapers trying to find out if their loved ones had been killed. Hospitals were on the alert with scores of people requiring medical treatment for shock.

That a media event could cause such hysteria in the United States was unthinkable, but far worse was just around the corner - the real horrors of World War II and the rise of the Third Reich.

This radio drama is presented without interruption.