Night of panic

Post by **Loredoctor** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 3:50 am

www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/cult/2005/06/10/19898.shtml

Why do people believe in this myth? Media? Simply urban myth? Truth of the story (and follow the research, as some people have done) is that there was no panic.

Post by **Avatar** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 3:56 am

You got a link to that research?

Anyway, it's possibly that this way simply makes a better story. Like the cherry tree, old Walter Raleigh, things like that. People prefer stories.

--A

Post by **Loredoctor** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:03 am

I have a book, sorry - though I can easily quote the findings and counter any claims.

Post by **Avatar** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:12 am

Not making any claims Mr Defensive.

Actually, I've never heard that it was all a big story.

(Wait, wasn't there some movie about it? Could be wrong though.)

--A

Post by **Loredoctor** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:17 am

Oh no sorry! I wasn't countering you (someone is being defensive

). Just stating that I am prepared to back up my claims if you need it.

Post by **Avatar** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 5:03 am

Aah, you kill me dude. I'll see if I can find anything, otherwise I'm gonna make you quote huge chunks of that book.

--A

Post by **Damelon** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 5:09 am

There was a bit of overreaction to it.

members.aol.com/jeff1070/wotw.html

Post by **Avatar** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 5:35 am

Thanks Damelon.

--A

Post by **High Lord Tolkien** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 2:11 pm

I feel sorry for Leonard Nimoy.
Unless he did his commentary *dressed* as Spock was there any real need to use that pick?

Don't get me wrong, Spock is great, but...

Post by **Damelon** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 10:46 pm

That is a little odd using Spock in that context.

Post by **ChoChiyo** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 12:40 am

Leonard Nimoy will ALWAYS be Spock. It is inescapable...

I read his books--"I am not Spock" (I didn't believe it) and later, when he accepted the inevitable, "I AM Spock."

heh heh heh

Post by **Loredoctor** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:14 am

1. The broadcast mentioned on three separate times that it was simply a play.

2. The broadcast covers a period of a couple of days (or a day). For instance, at one point the cylinder lands and then several hours later it opens. Time is moved along and the narrator is running away. As the broadcast did last for hours, assuming that people would have been believed it is ridiculous.

3. The segment was advertised days before hand as a special - did people really think that Welles would have known Martians would invade at the time slot?

4. Radio plays were common form of entertainment back then; people knew they were listening to plays. It would be like broadcasting a tv 'documentary' about alien invasion today and expecting people to believe it. We wouldn't, and nor were people more gullible in Welle's story.

5. The effect of the play - the panic - has been distorted grossly. Some people say the city panicked, then others claim most of america panicked. There was no mass panic.

6. You don't interrupt a story of invasion of aliens with orchestral music. It would be like interrupting the invasion of america by terrorists with music video clips.

7. NONE of the hopsitals that night reported any victims of panic or had extra people coming in.

8. There are no police records of panic that night. Traffic records do not show extra traffic on the roads.

9. A witness who worked on a major bridge the night of the panic claimed that there was no extra traffic either. An interesting side note: there are no witnesses to a panic; strangely it is only the media.

10. Welles himself stated to the media there was a panic - that is the source of the story.

Post by **Loredoctor** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:29 am

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/203924.stm

www.mssv.net/realityart/wotwarticle.html

Post by **Avatar** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:56 am

Very interesting, and good points LM.

Perhaps he started the rumour himself to improve publicity?

--A

Post by **Loredoctor** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 6:03 am

Avatar wrote:Very interesting, and good points LM.

Perhaps he started the rumour himself to improve publicity?

--A

That's EXACTLY what one expert said.

Post by **matrixman** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 6:09 am

So, if I may put it this way: I'm basically being forced to decide which is more credible -- that there was a conspiracy to start a panic, or there was a conspiracy to create the illusion of a panic.

Post by **Avatar** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 6:11 am

ROTFLMAO!

Astute observation MatrixMan.

--A

Post by **Loredoctor** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 6:12 am

Matrixman wrote:So, if I may put it this way: I'm basically being forced to decide which is more credible -- that there was a conspiracy to start a panic, or there was a conspiracy to create the illusion of a panic.

Oh come on, MM! It was simply sensationalist reporting. No conspiracy there.

Post by **Myste** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 10:25 pm

I remember reading about WotW in one of my English textbooks in elementary school. It was a sidebar, with a grainy b&w photo of Orson Welles. The title read "BOO!" and told all about how people tuning in in the middle of the broadcast thought it was real. Hardly the first thing a textbook has gotten completely wrong.

More interesting are modern incarnations of this sort of hoax. The feedback page at political parody website www.whitehouse.org (don't go if you're easily offended) is absolutely hilarious--not to mention frightening.

Post by **taraswizard** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 6:20 pm

Well, maybe there was not a panic and maybe there was. Regardless, it had a profound effect... for example, my mother would never watch another movie with Orson Welles in it because of WotW radio play. (for comparison, she never, knowingly, watched another movie with Spencer Tracy after he mad Inherit the wind)

Kevin's Watch

Kevin's Watch

Night of panic

Night of panic

Was there a panic or not