Mercury Theater 38-10-30 (17) War of the Worlds

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Mercury Theater 38-10-30 (17) War of the Worlds
Original Air Date: October 30, 1938 (Rebroadcast October 31, 2025)
Host: Harolds Old Time Radio
Featured Performance: Mercury Theater on the Air, directed by Orson Welles

---

Overview:

This episode is a rebroadcast of the legendary 1938 adaptation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds by Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on the Air. The famed dramatization unfolds as a series of increasingly urgent radio news bulletins and eyewitness accounts, vividly simulating an alien invasion and sparking real-world panic at the time. The episode immerses listeners in an unfolding crisis, blending drama with faux journalism, and concludes with an iconic meta-comment from Orson Welles.

---

Key Points & Insights

Introduction and Setup (01:09–04:41)

• Orson Welles introduces the broadcast, setting an ominous tone regarding humanity's complacency and the vulnerability of civilization.

  • "We know now that in the early years of the 20th century, this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man's..." (01:45–02:10)

• News bulletins interrupt an evening of dance music, reporting unexplained explosions on Mars.

---

The Martian Landing at Grover’s Mill (04:41–19:06)

• News breaks of meteorites and atmospheric disturbances, with suspenseful alternation between news updates and dance music.

• Astronomer Professor Richard Pearson is interviewed, downplaying the possibility of Martian life:

  • "The chances against it are a thousand to one." (08:48–08:51)

• Reports of a fiery object landing near Grovers Mill, New Jersey, prompt a mobile broadcast unit and live remote coverage by reporter Carl Phillips.

Notable Moment:

• Carl Phillips describes the scene at the Wilmoth farm:
  • "It looks more like a huge cylinder... The metal on the sheath is...well, I've never seen anything like it. The color is sort of yellowish white." (12:24–12:53)

• Tension mounts as the object is revealed to be a Martian cylinder. The top unscrews, and the first Martian emerges, horrifying the witnesses:

  • "Good heavens. Something wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now it's another one... They look like tentacles to me." (16:00–16:32)

• The Martians unleash a devastating heat ray, incinerating onlookers and shattering attempts at communication.

---

The Government & Military Respond (19:06–25:35)

• Reports of mass casualties and the onset of martial law in the region surrounding Grovers Mill.

• Professor Pearson offers a tentative explanation of Martian technology, naming the "heat ray."

  • "It's my guess that in some way they are able to generate an intense heat...project in a parallel beam against any object they choose." (21:52–22:44)

• The state militia assembles, encircling the Martian pit and preparing for confrontation.

  • "All cause for alarm, if such cause ever existed, is now entirely unjustified." — Captain Lansing, downplaying fears (23:57–24:35)

---

Catastrophe, Panic, and Escalation (25:35–40:00)

• Science and military efforts are powerless; a single Martian war machine destroys 7,000 troops.
  • "The monster is now in control of the middle section of New Jersey and has effectively cut the state through its center." (25:41–26:40)
• Secretary of the Interior delivers a somber address, urging calm but acknowledging gravity:
  • "Placing our faith in God, we must continue the performance of our duties, each and every one of us..." (27:12–28:17)
• Widespread evacuation as Martian war machines march toward New York City.
  • Radio bulletins detail military efforts, failed bombing runs, the emergence of poisonous black smoke, and chaotic mass flight:
    • "Engines incapacitated by heat ray. All crashed. One enemy machine destroyed. Enemy now discharging heavy black smoke..." (34:32–34:59)
• The perspective narrows as communication breaks down:
  • "2X2L calling CQ. 2X2L calling B New York. Isn't there anyone on the air? Is there anyone on the air?" (39:39–39:57)

---

Aftermath & Personal Narratives (40:53–57:53)

• The format shifts from news bulletins to a survivor's account by Professor Pearson.
  • He wanders the devastated landscape, searching for meaning and encountering other survivors:

Notable Quotes:

"Does time pass when there are no human hands left to wind the clocks? Writing down my daily life, I tell myself I shall preserve human history..." (40:53–44:30)

• Encounters with a militia survivor prompt a bleak meditation on humanity’s future:

  • "We're not going to be exterminated. And I don't mean to be caught either. Tamed and fattened and bred like an ox." (48:37–48:49)
  • The survivor suggests a plan for rebuilding in the sewers and seizing Martian war machines someday (50:35–51:51).

• Pearson journeys to the deserted and ruined New York, eventually discovering the demise of the Martians:

  • "Stark and silent, lay the Martians with the hungry birds pecking and tearing brown shreds of flesh from their dead bodies...they were killed by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared." (53:47–54:33)
  • The message: human frailty was ultimately trumped by nature’s smallest agents.

---

Welles’s Famous Epilogue (Orson Welles, out of character) (56:45–57:46)

• Orson Welles breaks character and addresses the audience:
  • "This is Orson Welles, ladies and gentlemen, out of character, to assure you that The War of the Worlds has no further significance...it was intended to be the Mercury Theater’s own radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying, ‘Boo!’" (56:45–57:21)
• With Halloween humor, Welles reassures listeners the events were fiction:
  • "If your doorbell rings and nobody’s there, that was no Martian – it's Halloween." (57:36–57:46)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------------|--------------| | Welles’ opening narration | 01:45–03:25 | | First news bulletin: Mars explosions | 04:41–05:47 | | Interview with Prof. Pearson | 07:18–10:09 | | Martian cylinder lands and opens | 12:22–16:32 | | Martian heat ray attack | 16:30–19:06 | | Martial law, casualties, and science recap | 19:48–23:47 | | Military encirclement, Martian war machine | 23:57–25:35 | | US government addresses the nation | 27:12–28:17 | | Collapse of military resistance and panic | 34:39–39:57 | | Survivor’s monologue (Prof. Pearson) | 40:53–54:33 | | Human/Martian confrontation and aftermath | 45:38–54:46 | | Orson Welles out-of-character message | 56:45–57:46 |

---

Memorable Moments and Legacy

• The blend of factual-sounding news reporting with dramatic fiction, especially in the early segments, recreated the shock and confusion reported by 1938 listeners—showcasing the power of mass media and storytelling.
• The detailed, immersive descriptions by Carl Phillips and Professor Pearson pull the audience into the chaos and horror, especially during:
  • The first emergence of the Martians (16:00–16:32)
  • Their fatal vulnerability to Earth’s microbes (53:47–54:33)
• Orson Welles' epilogue has become a staple in radio history—a playful, slightly nervous, and utterly iconic breaking of the fourth wall.

---

Tone and Style

• The adaptation is serious and urgent in tone during the "news" segments, building an atmosphere of anxiety and realism.
• The survivor narrative is reflective and philosophical, inviting listeners to consider themes of civilization, nature, and resilience.
• Welles’ coda is witty and self-aware, diffusing tension with a wink and nod to the holiday.

---

Conclusion

This legendary radio re-enactment remains a masterpiece of dramatic illusion, exemplifying the power of radio to inform, terrify, and entertain. The episode tracks humanity’s hubris and vulnerability—from scientific skepticism, to panic, to existential introspection—concluding with humble triumph over the Martian threat and a reminder of the enduring resilience, and folly, of mankind.

---

Transcript

[Commercial Announcer]

Looking for your next Go to Smoke Shop. Stop scrolling. I've got you. Headshop.com is the number one online smoke shop, already trusted by over 100,000 happy smokers just like you. They've got it all. Dab rigs, vaporizers, glass bongs, smoking pipes, even thca flour all in one place. Need a new daily driver? Grab a smooth glass bong or a classic smoking pipe. More of a concentrate fan. Their dab rigs, E rigs and wax accessories are designed for smoother, harder hitting sessions. And yes, they've even got legal THC flour. Best part? Every order ships fast and discreet, which is why thousands of smokers keep coming back. So don't waste time hopping between shops. Shop the best in dab rigs, vaporizers, glass bongs, smoking pipes and THC flower right [e-mail] the number one online smoke shop, headshop.com has what you need. Check it out today. Oh, and because you're listening right now, you get 10% off your next order when you use the coupon code HSHOP at checkout. Go to headshop.com now and smoke smarter.

[Radio Announcer]

The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations present Orson Welles and the Mercury.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Theater on the air in the War.

[Carl Phillips]

Of the World by H.G.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Wells.

[Radio Announcer]

Ladies and gentlemen, the director of the Mercury Theatre and star of these broadcasts, Orson Welles.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

We know now that in the early years of the 20th century, this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own. We know now that as human beings busied themselves about their various concerns, they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacence, people went to and fro of the earth about their little affairs, serene in the assurance of their dominion over this small spinning fragment of solar driftwood which, by chance or design, man has inherited out of the dark mystery of time and space. Yet across an immense ethereal gulf, minds that are to our minds as ours are to the beasts in the jungle, intellects vast, cool, and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. In the 39th year of the 20th century came the great disillusionment. Near the end of October, business was better. The war scare was over. More men were back at work. Sales were picking up. On this particular evening, October 30, the Crosley service estimated that 32 million people were listening in on radios.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

Not much change in temperature. A slight atmospheric disturbance of undetermined origin is reported over Nova Scotia, causing a low pressure area to move down rather rapidly over the northeastern states, bringing a forecast of rain accompanied by winds of light gale force, maximum temperature 66 minimum. 48. This weather report comes to you from the Government Weather Bureau. We take you now to the Meridian Room in the Hotel Park Plaza in downtown New York, where you will be entertained by the music of Raymond Raquello and his orchestra.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. From the Meridian Room in the Park Plaza Hotel in New York City, we bring you the music of Raymond Raquello and his orchestra. With a touch of the Spanish, Raymond Raquello leads off with La Compensita.

[Radio Announcer]

Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin from the Intercontinental radio news. At 20 minutes before 8 Central Time, Professor Farrell of the Mount Jennings Observatory, Chicago, Illinois, reports observing several explosions of incandescent gas occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars. The spectroscope indicates the gas to be hydrogen and moving toward the Earth with enormous velocity. Professor Pearson of the observatory at Princeton confirms Farrell's observation and describes the phenomenon as, quote, like a jet of blue flame shot from a gun, unquote. We now return you to the music of Ramon Raelo, playing for you in the Meridian Room of the Park Plaza Hotel, situated in downtown New.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

And now, a tune that never loses favor, the ever popular Stardust, Raymond Raquello and his orchestra.

[Radio Announcer]

Ladies and gentlemen, following on the news given in our bulletin a moment ago, the Government Meteorological Bureau has requested the large observatories of the country to keep an astronomical watch on any further disturbances occurring on the planet Mars. Due to the unusual nature of this occurrence, we have arranged an interview with a noted astronomer, Professor Pearson, who will give us his views on this event. In a few moments, we will take you to the Princeton Observatory at Princeton, New Jersey. We return you until then to the music of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra. We are ready now to take you to the Princeton Observatory at Princeton, where Carl Phillips, our commentator, will interview Professor Richard Pearson, famous astronomer. We take you now to Princeton, New Jersey.

[Carl Phillips]

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is Carl Phillips speaking to you from the Observatory of Princeton. I'm standing in a large semicircular room, pitch black, except for an oblong spread in the ceiling. Through this opening I can see a sprinkling of stars that cast a kind of frosty glow over the intricate mechanism of the huge telescope. The ticking sound you hear is the vibration of the clockwork. Professor Pearson stands directly above me on a small platform, peering through the giant lens. I ask you to be patient, ladies and gentlemen, during any delay that may arise during our interview. Besides his ceaseless watch of the heavens, Professor Pearson may be interrupted by telephone or other communications. During this period, he is in constant touch with the astronomical centers of the world. Professor, may I begin our questions?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

At any time, Mr. Phillips.

[Carl Phillips]

Professor, would you please tell our radio audience exactly what you see as you observe the planet Mars through your telescope?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Nothing unusual at the moment, Mr. Phillips. A red disk swimming in a blue sea. Transverse stripes across the disc, quite distinct now because Mars happens to be at the point nearest the Earth in opposition, as we call it.

[Carl Phillips]

In your opinion, what do these transverse stripes signify, Professor Peter?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Not canals, I can assure you, Mr. Phillips, although that's the popular conjecture of those who imagine Mars to be inhabited, from a scientific viewpoint, the stripes are merely the result of atmospheric conditions peculiar to the planet.

[Carl Phillips]

Then you're quite convinced as a scientist that living intelligence as we know it, does not exist on Mars.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

I say the chances against it are a thousand to one.

[Carl Phillips]

And yet how do you account for these gas eruptions occurring on the surface of the planet at regular intervals, Phillips?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

I cannot account for it.

[Carl Phillips]

By the way, professor, for the benefit of our listeners, how far is Mars from the Earth?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Approximately 40 million miles.

[Carl Phillips]

Well, that seems a safe enough distance. Just a moment, ladies and gentlemen. Someone has just handed Professor Pearson a message. While he reads it, let me remind you that we we are speaking to you from the observatory in Princeton, New Jersey, where we are interviewing the world famous astronomer, Professor Pearson. One moment, please. Professor Pearson has passed me a message which he has just received. Professor, may I read the message to the listening audience?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Certainly.

[Carl Phillips]

Ladies and gentlemen, I should read you a wire addressed to Professor Pearson from Dr. Gray of the Natural History Museum, New York, quote 9:15pm Eastern Standard Time. Seismograph registered shock of almost earthquake intensity occurring within a radius of 20 miles of Princeton. Please investigate. Signed Lloyd Gray, Chief of Astronomical Division, unquote. Professor Pearson, could this occurrence possibly have something to do with the disturbances observed on the planet Mars?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Hardly, Mr. Phillips. This is probably a meteorite of unusual size and its arrival at this particular time is merely a coincidence. However, we shall conduct a search as soon as daylight permits.

[Carl Phillips]

Thank you, Professor. Ladies and gentlemen, for the past 10 minutes we've been speaking to you from the observatory at Princeton, bringing you a special interview with Professor Pearson, noted astronomer. This is Carl Phillips speaking. We are Returning you now to our New York studio.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

Ladies and gentlemen, here is the latest bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News, Toronto, Canada. Professor Morse of Macmillan University reports observing a total of three explosions on the planet Mars between the hours of 7:45pm and 9:20pm Eastern Standard Time. This confirms earlier reports received from American observatories. Now nearer home comes a special bulletin from Trenton, New Jersey. It is reported that at 8:50pm a huge flaming object, believed to be a meteorite fell on a farm in the neighborhood of Grovers Mill, New Jersey, 22 miles from Trenton. The flash in the sky was visible within a radius of several hundred miles and the noise of the impact was heard as far north as Elizabeth. We have dispatched a special mobile unit to the scene and we'll have our commentator, Carl Phillips give you a word picture of the scene as soon as he can reach there from Princeton. In the meantime, we take you to the Hotel Martinet in Brooklyn where Bobby Millet and his orchestra are offering a program of dance music. We take you now to Grover's Mill, New Jersey.

[Carl Phillips]

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Carl Phillips again out at the Wilmeth Farm, Grovers Mill, New Jersey. Professor Pearson and myself made the 11 miles from Princeton in 10 minutes. Well, I hardly know where to begin to paint for you a word picture of a strange scene before my eyes. Like nothing out of a modern Arabian night. Well, I just got here. I haven't had a chance to look around.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

Jed.

[Carl Phillips]

I guess that's it. Yes, I guess that's the thing directly in front of me. Half buried in a vast pit. Must have struck with terrific force. The ground is covered with splinters of a tree. It must have struck on its way down. But I can see the object itself doesn't look very much like a meteor. At least not the meteors I've seen. It looks more like a huge cylinder. Has a diameter of. What would you say, Professor Pearson?

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

What's that?

[Carl Phillips]

What would you say? What's the diameter of the.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

About 30 yards.

[Carl Phillips]

About 30 yards. The metal on the sheath is. Well, I've never seen anything like it. The color is sort of yellowish white. It's curious. Spectators now are pressing close to the object in spite of the efforts of the police to keep them back. Getting in front of my line of. Would you mind standing one side, please, pushing the crowd back. Here's Mr. Wilmoth, owner of the farm here. He may have some interesting fact to work. Mr. Wilmot, would you please tell the radio audience as much as you remember of this rather unusual visitor that dropped in your backyard. Step closer, please. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Mr. Wilmot.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

I was listening to the radio.

[Carl Phillips]

Closer and louder, please.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

Pardon me?

[Survivor / Civilian]

Louder, please.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Close it.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

Yes, I was listening to the radio.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

And kind of drowsy.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

That professor fellow was talking about Mars, so I was half chosen.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

Yes.

[Carl Phillips]

Yes, Mr. Romans. And then what happened?

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

Well, as I was saying, I was listening to the radio kind of halfway.

[Carl Phillips]

Yes, Mr. Wilmot. And then you saw something?

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

Not first off. I heard something.

[Carl Phillips]

And what did you hear?

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

A hissing sound.

[Carl Phillips]

Like this. Kind of like a Fourth of July rocket. Yes.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

Then what?

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

I turned my head out the window.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

And would have sworn I was asleep and dreaming.

[Carl Phillips]

Yes, I seen a kind of greenish streak.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

And then Zingo. Something smacked the ground.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Knocked me clear out of my chair.

[Carl Phillips]

Well, were you frightened, Mr. Wilmoth? Well, I ain't quite sure. I reckon I was kind of riled. Well, thank you, Mr. Wilmoth. Thank you very much. No, that's quite all right. That's planning. Ladies and gentlemen, you've just heard Mr. Wilmoth, owner of the farm where this thing has fallen. I wish I could convey the atmosphere, the background of this fantastic scene. Hundreds of cars are parked in a field in back of us. And the police are trying to rope off the roadway leading into the farm. But it's no use. They're breaking right through. Car's headlights throw an enormous spotlight on the pit where the object's half buried. Now, some of the more daring shows now are venturing near the edge. The silhouette stand out against the metal chains. One man wants to touch the thing. He's having an argument with a policeman. Now the policeman wins. Now, ladies and gentlemen, there's something I haven't mentioned in all this excitement, but it's becoming more distinct. Perhaps you've caught it already on your radio. Listen, please. Do you hear it? It's a curious humming sound that seems to come from inside the object. I'll move the microphone nearer here. Now, we're not more than 25ft away. Can you hear it now, Professor Pearson?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Yes.

[Carl Phillips]

Can you tell us the meaning of that scraping noise inside the thing?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Possibly the unequal cooling of its surface.

[Carl Phillips]

I say, do you still think it's a meteor, Professor?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

I don't know what to think. The metal casing is definitely extraterrestrial, not found on this earth. Friction with the Earth's atmosphere usually tears holes in a meteorite. This thing is smooth and you can see it's cylindrical.

[Carl Phillips]

Something's happening. Ladies and gentlemen, this is terrific. This end of the thing is Beginning to flake off the steam. Cop is beginning to rotate like a screw. And this thing must be hollow. He's moving.

[Radio Announcer]

Back.

[Carl Phillips]

Keep that back. Keep those idiots back. The top, blue. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed. Wait a minute. Someone's calling out something. I can see coming out of that black hole. Two luminous discs for the eyes. It might be a face. Might be almost. Good heavens. Something wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now it's another one.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

And another one.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

And another one.

[Carl Phillips]

They look like tentacles to me. I can see the thing's body now. It's large, as large as a bear. It drizzles like wet leather. But that face, ladies and gentlemen, it's indescribable. I can hardly. I force myself to keep looking at it. So awful. The eyes are black and they gleam like a serpent. The mouth is kind of V shaped with saliva dripping from its limbless lips. It seemed to quiver and pulsate. And the monster, or whatever it is, can hardly move. It seems weighed down by possibly gravity or something. The thing's rising up now and the crowd falls back. They've seen plenty. The most extraordinary experience, ladies and gentlemen. I find words and. Well, pull this microphone with me as I talk. Them have to stop the description till I can take a new position. Hold on, will you, please? I'll be right back in a minute.

[Radio Announcer]

We are bringing you an eyewitness account of what's happening on the Wilmeth farm, Grovers Mill, New Jersey. We now return you to Carl Phillips at Grover's Mill.

[Carl Phillips]

Ladies and gentlemen, my aunt. Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, here I am, back of a stone wall that adjoins Mr. Wilmer's garden. From here I get a sweep of the whole scene. I'll give you every detail as long as I can talk, as long as I can. Save it. More state police have arrived. They're drawing up a cordon in front of the pit. About 30 of them. No need to push the crowd back now. They're willing to keep their distance. The captain's conferring with someone. Can't quite see who. Oh, yes, I believe it's Professor Pearson. Yes, it is. Now. Now they've parted and the professor moves around one side, studying the object while the captain and two policemen advance with something in their hands. I can see it now. It's a white hacksif tied to a pole. Flag of truce. If those creatures know what that means. What anything means. Wait a minute. Something's happening. Humped Shape is rising out of the pit. I can make out a small beam of light against a mirror.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

What's that?

[Carl Phillips]

There's a jet of flame springing from the mirror. And it leaps right at the advancing men. It strikes them head on. Lords are turning into flames. Out of hay field. Caught up by the woods of flies. The gas tank. Tank for the automobiles spreading everywhere. Coming this way now about 20 yards to my right.

[Radio Announcer]

Ladies and gentlemen, due to circumstances beyond our control. We are unable to continue the broadcast from Grover's Mill. Evidently there's some difficulty with our field transmission. However, we will return to that point at the earliest opportunity. In the meantime, we have a late bulletin from San Diego, California. Professor Indelkofer, speaking at a dinner of the California Astronomical Society. Expressed the opinion that the explosions on Mars are undoubtedly nothing more than severe volcanic disturbances on the surface of the planet. We continue now with our piano interlude.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

Ladies and gentlemen, I've just been handed a message that came in from Grover's Mill by telephone. Just one moment, please. At least 40 people, including six state troopers, lie dead in a field east of the village of Grover's Mill. Their bodies burned and distorted beyond all possible recognition. The next voice you hear will be that of Brigadier General Montgomery Smith. Commander of the state militia at Trenton, New Jersey.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

I have been requested by the governor of New Jersey. To place the counties of Mercer and.

[Carl Phillips]

Middlesex as as far west as Princeton.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

And east to Jamesburg.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

Under martial law, no one will be permitted to enter this area. Except by special pass issued by state or military authorities. Four companies of state militia are proceeding from Trenton to Grover's Mill.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

And will aid in the evacuation of.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

Homes within the range of military operations.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Thank you.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

You have just been listening to General Montgomery Smith, Commanding the state militia at Trenton. In the meantime, further details of the catastrophe at Grover's Mill are coming in. The strange creatures, after unleashing their deadly assault, crawled back in their pit and made no attempt to prevent the efforts of the firemen to recover the bodies and extinguish the fire. The combined fire departments of Mercer county are fighting the flames which menace the entire countryside. We have been unable to establish any contact with our mobile unit at Grover's Mill. But we hope to be able to return you there at the earliest possible moment. In the meantime, we take you to. Just one moment, please. Ladies and gentlemen, I have just been informed that we have finally established communication with an eyewitness of the tragedy. Professor Pearson has been located at a farmhouse near Grover's Mill. And where he has established an emergency observation Post. As a scientist, he will give you his explanation of the calamity. The next voice you hear will be that of Professor Pearson. Brought to you by direct wire. Professor Pearson.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Of the creatures in the rocket cylinder at Grover's Mill. I can give you no authoritative information. Either as to their nature, their origin, or their purposes here on Earth. Of their destructive instrument. I might venture some conjectural explanation. For want of a better term. I shall refer to the mysterious weapon as a heat ray. It's all too evident that these creatures have scientific knowledge far in advance of our own. It's my guess that in some way they are able to generate an intense heat. In a chamber of practically absolute non conductivity. This intense heat they project in a parallel beam against any object they choose. By means of a polished parabolic mirror of unknown composition. Much as the mirror of a lighthouse projects a beam of light. That is my conjecture of the origin of the heat ray.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

Thank you, Professor Pearson. Ladies and gentlemen, here is a bulletin from Trenton. It is a brief statement informing us that the charred body of Carl Phillips has been identified in a Trenton hospital. Now here's another bulletin from Washington, D.C. the Office of the director of the National Red Cross reports 10 units of red Cross emergency workers. Have been assigned to the headquarters of the state militia stationed outside of Grovers Mill, New Jersey. Here's a bulletin from State Police, Princeton Junction. The fires at Grover's Mill and vicinity are now under control. Scouts report all quiet in the pit. And there is no sign of life appearing from the mouth of the cylinder. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we have a special statement from Mr. Harry MacDonald, Vice President in charge of operations.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

We have received a request from the.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

State militia of Trenton. To place at their disposal our entire broadcasting facilities. In view of the gravity of the situation. And believing that radio has a responsibility to serve in the public interest at all times. We are turning over our facilities to the state militia.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

Tratton.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

We take you now to the field headquarters of the state militia near Grovers Mill, New Jersey.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

This is Captain Lansing of the Signal Corps. Attached to the state militia. Now engaged in military operations in the vicinity of Grover's Mill. Situation arising from the reported presence of certain individuals of unidentified nature. Is now under complete control. The cylindrical object, which lies in a pit directly below our position. Surrounded on all sides by eight battalions of infantry without heavy field pieces. But adequately armed with rifles and machine guns. All cause for alarm, if such cause ever existed. Is now entirely unjustified things. Whatever they are, do not even venture to poke their heads above the pit. I can see their hiding place plainly in the glare of the searchlights. Here, with all their reported resources, these creatures can scarcely stand up against heavy machine gun fire. Anyway, it's an interesting outing for the troops. I can make out their cocky uniforms crossing back and forth in front of the lights. Looks almost like a real war. There appears to be some slight smoke in the woods bordering the Millstone River. Probably fire started by campers. Well, we ought to see some action soon. One of the companies is deploying on the left flank. A quick thrust and it'll all be over. Wait a minute, I. I see something on top of the cylinder. No, no, it's nothing but a shadow. Now the troops are on the edge of the Wilmoth farm. Seven thousand armed men closing in on an old metal tube. A tub, rather. Well, wait, that wasn't a shadow. It's something moving. Solid metal, kind of a shield like affair, rising up out of the cylinder. It's going higher and higher. It's standing on legs, actually rearing up on a sort of metal framework. Now it's reaching above the trees and the searchlights are on it.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Hold on.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a grave announcement to make. Incredible as it may seem, both the observations of science and the evidence of our eyes lead to the inescapable assumption that those strange beings who landed in the Jersey farmlands tonight are the vanguard of an invading army from the planet Mars. The battle which took place tonight at Grover Mills has ended in one of the most startling defeats ever suffered by an army in modern times. 7,000 men armed with rifles and machine guns pitted against a single fighting machine. Of the invaders from Mars, 120 known survivors, the rest strewn over the battle area from Grover's Mill to Plainsboro, crushed and trampled to death under the metal feet of the monster, are burned to cinders by its heat ray. The monster is now in control of the middle section of New Jersey and has effectively cut the state through its center. Communication lines are down from Pennsylvania to the Atlantic Ocean. Railroad tracks are torn and service from New York to Philadelphia discontinued, except routing some of the trains through Allerton and Phoenixville. Highways to the north, south and west are clogged with frantic human traffic. Police and army reserves are unable to control the mad flight. By morning the fugitives will have swelled Philadelphia, Camden and Trenton. It is estimated to twice their normal population. Martial law prevails throughout New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. At this time we take you to Washington for a special broadcast on the national emergency. The Secretary of the Interior.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

Citizens of the Nation. I shall not try to conceal the gravity of the situation that confronts the country. Nor the concern of your government in protecting the lives and property of its people.

[Carl Phillips]

However, I wish to impress upon you.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

Private citizens and public officials, all of you, the urgent need of calm and resourceful action. Fortunately, this formidable enemy is still confined to a comparatively small area. And we may place our faith in the military forces to keep them there. In the meantime, placing our faith in God. We must continue the performance of our duties, each and every one of us, so that we may confront this destructive adversary With a nation united, courageous and consecrated to the preservation of human supremacy on this earth. I thank you.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

You have just heard the Secretary of the Interior speaking from Washington. Bulletins too numerous to read are piling up in the studio here. We're informed that the central portion of New Jersey is blacked out from radio communication due to the effect of the heat ray upon power lines and electrical equipment. Here is a special bullet. In New York, cables have been received from English, French and German scientific bodies offering assistance. Astronomers report continued gas outbursts at regular intervals. And the planet Mars. The majority voiced the opinion that the enemy will be reinforced by additional rocket machines. There have been several attempts made to locate Professor Pearson of Princeton who has observed Martians at close range. It is feared he was lost in the recent battle. Langham Field, Virginia. Scouting planes report three Martian machines visible above treetops, moving north toward Somerville with population fleeing ahead of them. The heat ray is not in use. Although advancing at expression train speed, invaders pick their way carefully. They seem to be making a conscious effort to avoid destruction of cities and countryside. However, they stop to uproot power lines, bridges and railroad tracks. Their apparent objective is to crush resistance, paralyze communication and disorganize human society. Here is a bulletin from Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Coon hunters have stumbled on a second cylinder similar to the first, embedded in the Great Swamp 20 miles south of Marstown. Army field pieces are proceeding from Newark to blow up the second invading unit. Before the cylinder can be opened and the fighting machine rigged, they are taking up a position in the foothills of watching mountains. Another. Another. Another Bolton. From Langham Field, Virginia, scouting planes report enemy machines, now three in number, increasing speed northward, kicking over houses and trees in their evident haste to form a conjunction with their allies. South of Marstown. Machines also sighted by telephone operated east of Middlesex, within 10 miles of Plainfield. Here's a bulletin from Winston Field, Long Island. A fleet of army bombers carrying heavy explosives flying north in pursuit of enemy scouting planes act as Guides. They keep the speeding enemy in sight. Just a moment please. Ladies and gentlemen.

[Carl Phillips]

We've.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

We've run special wires to the artillery line in adjacent villages to give you direct reports in the zone of the advancing enemy. First we take you to the Battery of the 22nd Field Artillery located in the Watching Mountains.

[Carl Phillips]

Range 32 meters.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

32 meters.

[Carl Phillips]

Protection 39 degrees.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

39 degrees.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Fire.

[Carl Phillips]

140 yards to the right, sir. Shift. Range 31 meters.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

31 meters.

[Carl Phillips]

Projection 37 degrees.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

37 degrees.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

Fire.

[Carl Phillips]

It's that got the tripod of one of them.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

They're stopped.

[Carl Phillips]

The others are trying to repair it. Get the range. Shift 50. 30 meters. 30 meters. Projection 27 degrees. 27 degrees.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

Fire.

[Carl Phillips]

Can see the fell answer. Letting off a smoke. What is it?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Black smoke, sir.

[Carl Phillips]

Moving this way.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

Flying close to the ground.

[Carl Phillips]

Moving fast. Put on gas masks. Get ready to fire. Shift to 24 meters. 24 meters. Projection 24 degrees. 24 degrees. Fire. 10ft, sir. Smoke's coming nearer. Get the rain. 30ft meters. 23 meters. 23 meters. Please. 22.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Please.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

Army bombing plane V843 off Bayonne, New Jersey. Lt. Boat commanding eight bombers reporting to Commander Fairfax, Langham Field. This is Volt, reporting to Commander Fairfax, Langham Field. Enemy tripod machines now in sight. Reinforced by three machines from the Morristown cylinder. Six altogether. One machine partially crippled. Believed hit by shell from army gun in Watchung Mountains. Guns now appear silent. A heavy black fog hanging close to the earth of extreme density. Nature unknown. No sign of heat ray. Enemy now turns east, crossing Passaic river into the Jersey marshes. Another straddles the Pulaski skyway. Evident objective is New York City. They're pushing down a high tension power station. Machines are close together now and we're ready to attack. Plane circling, ready to strike. A thousand yards and we'll be over the first.

[Carl Phillips]

800 yards.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

600. 400. 200. There they go.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

The giant arm raised.

[Carl Phillips]

Green flash.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

Spraying us with flame.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

2,000Ft.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

Engines are giving out. No chance to release bombs. Only one thing left drop on them.

[Radio Announcer]

Plain and all.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

We're diving on the first one.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

Now the engine's gone. Eight.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

This is Bayonne, New Jersey calling Langham Field. This is Bayonne, New Jersey, calling Langham Field. Come in, please.

[Carl Phillips]

This is Langham Field. Go ahead.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

Eight army bombers and engagement with enemy tripod machines over Jersey Platts. Engines incapacitated by heat ray. All crashed. One enemy machine destroyed. Enemy now discharging heavy black smoke in direction of.

[Carl Phillips]

This is Newark, New Jersey. This is Newark, New Jersey. Warning. Poisonous black smoke pouring in from Jersey marshes. Breach at South Street. Gas masks useless. Urge population to move into open spaces. Automobiles use Route 7, 23, 24. Avoid congested areas. Smoke now spreading over. Over Raymond Boulevard. 2X2L calling CQ. 2X2L calling Cq. 2X2L calling 8X3R. Come in, please. This is 8X3R coming back at 2X2L isoception. How's reception? Okay.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

Please.

[Carl Phillips]

Where are you? 8X3R? What's the matter? Where are you?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

I'm speaking from the NOA Broadcasting building.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

I'm speaking from the roof of Broadcasting building. New York City. The bells you hear are ringing to warn the people to evacuate the city as Martians approach. Estimated in last two hours, 3 million people have moved out along the roads to the north. Hutchinson River Parkway still kept open for motor traffic. Avoid bridges to Long Island. Hopelessly jam all communication with Jersey Shore. Closed 10 minutes ago. No more defenses. Our army is wiped out.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Artillery.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

Air Force, out. This may be the last broadcast. We'll stay here to the end. People are holding service here below us in the cathedral. Now I look down the harbor.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

All.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

All manner of boats overloaded with fleeing population pulling out from docks. Streets are all jammed. Noise and crowds. Like New Year's Eve in city.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Wait a minute.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

The. The enemy is now in sight above the Palisades.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Five.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

Five great machines. First one is crossing the river. I can see it from here. Wading. Wading the Hudson. Like a man wading through a brook. A bulletin is handed me. Martian cylinders are falling all over the country. One outside of Buffalo, one in Chicago. St. Louis seemed to be time and space. Now the first machine reaches the shore.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

He.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

Stands watching, looking over the city. His steel cowlish head is even with the skyscrapers. He waits for the others. They rise like a line of new towers on the city's west side. Now they're lifting their metal hands. This is the end. Now smoke comes out. Black smoke drifting over the city. People in the streets see it now. They're running toward the East River. Thousands of them, dropping in like rats.

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

Now the smoke's spreading faster.

[Orchestra Leader / Radio Reporter]

It's reached Times Square. People are trying to run away from it, but it's no use. They're falling like flies. Now the smoke's crossing 6th Avenue.

[Carl Phillips]

5Th Avenue, a hundred yards away.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

It's 50ft. 2x2L calling CQ.

[Carl Phillips]

2X2L calling Cq. 2x2L calling CQB New York. Isn't there anyone on the air? Is there anyone on the air?

[Government Weather Bureau / News Reporter]

Isn't there anyone.

[Carl Phillips]

Who acts well?

[Radio Announcer]

You are listening to a CBS presentation of Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on the air in an original dramatization of the War of the Worlds by H.G.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Wells.

[Radio Announcer]

The performance will continue after a brief intermission. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.

[Carl Phillips]

The War of the Worlds by H.G.

[Radio Announcer]

Wells starring Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on the air.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

As I set down these notes on paper, I'm obsessed by the thought that I may be the last living man on Earth. I've been hiding in this empty house near Grover's Mill, a small island of daylight cut off. All that happened before the arrival of the world now seems part of another life, a life that has no continuity with the present furtive existence of the lonely derelict who pencils these words on the back of some astronomical notes bearing the signature of Richard Pearson. I look down at my blackened hand and I try to connect them with a professor who lives at Princeton and who, on the night of October 20, glimpsed through his telescope an orange splash of light on a distant planet. My wife, my colleagues, my students, my books. My observatory, my. My world. Where are they? Did they ever exist? Am I Richard Pearson? What day is it? Do days exist without calendars? Does time pass when there are no human hands left to wind the clocks? Writing down my daily life, I tell myself I shall preserve human history between the dark covers of this little book that was meant to record the movements of the stars. But to write I must live. And to live I must eat. Find moldy bread in the kitchen and an orange not too spoiled to swallow. Keep watch at the window. Time to time, I catch sight of a Martian above the black smoke. The smoke still holds the house in its black coil, but at length there's a hissing smoke and suddenly I see a Martian mounted on his machine, spraying the air with a jet of steam as if to dissipate the smoke. I watch in a corner as his huge metal legs nearly brush against the house. Exhausted by terror, I fall asleep. Morning. Morning. Sun streams in the window. Black cloud of gas is lifted, and the scorched meadows to the north look as though a black snowstorm had passed over them. I venture from the house. I make my way to a road. No traffic here in their wrecked car, baggage overturned, a blackened skeleton. Push on north. Some reason, I feel safer trailing these monsters than running away from them, and I keep a careful watch. I've seen the Martians feed should one of their machines appear over the top of trees. I'm ready to fling myself flat on the Earth. Come to a chestnut tree. October chestnuts are ripe. Fill my pockets. Just keep alive. Two days I wander in a vague northerly direction through a desolate world. Finally, I noticed a living creature, a small red squirrel in a beech tree. I stare at him in wonder. He stares back at me. I believe at that moment, the animal and I shared the same emotion. The joy of finding another living being. Bush on north. I find dead cows in a brackish field. And beyond, the charred ruins of a dairy silo remains standing guard over the wasteland like a lighthouse deserted by the sea. Astride the silo perches a weathercock. The arrow points north. North. Next day, I come to a city. City vaguely familiar in its contours, yet its building strangely dwarfed and leveled off as if if a giant had sliced off its highest towers with a capricious sweep of his hand. Reached the outskirts, I found Newark. Newark undemolished, but humbled by some whim of the advancing Martians. Presently, with an odd feeling of being watched, I caught sight of something crouching in a doorway. I made a step towards it, rose up and became a man. A man armed with a large knife.

[Carl Phillips]

Stop. Where did he come from?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

I come from many places. A long time ago. From Princeton.

[Survivor / Civilian]

Princeton, huh? That's near Grover's Mill.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Yes, Grover's Mill.

[Survivor / Civilian]

There's no food here. This is my country. All this end of town, down the river. There's only food for one. Which way are you going?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

I don't know. I guess I'm looking for people.

[Survivor / Civilian]

Hey, what was that? Did you hear something just then?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

No, only a bird. A live bird.

[Survivor / Civilian]

You get to know that birds have shadows these days. Say, we're in the open here. Let's crawl in this doorway here and talk.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Have you seen any Martians? No.

[Survivor / Civilian]

They've gone over to New York tonight. The sky's alive with their lights. Just as if people were still living in it by daylight. You can't see them. Five days ago, a couple of them carried something big across the flats from the airport. I think they're learning how to fly.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Fly? Yeah, fly. Then it's all over. With humanity, stranger, there's still you and I. Two of us left.

[Survivor / Civilian]

They got themselves in solid. They wrecked the greatest country in the world. Those green stars, they're probably falling somewhere every night. They've only lost one machine. There isn't anything to do.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

We're done.

[Survivor / Civilian]

We're licked.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Where were you? You're in a uniform. Yeah, what's left of it.

[Survivor / Civilian]

I was in the militia. National Guard.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

That's good.

[Survivor / Civilian]

There wasn't any war any more than there's war between men and ants.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Yes, but where? Eatable ants. I found that out. What'll they do to us?

[Survivor / Civilian]

I fill it all out. Right now we're caught as we're wanted. A Martian only has to go a few miles to get a crowd on the run. But they won't keep on doing that. They'll begin catching us systematic, like keeping the best and storing us in cages and things.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

They have not begun.

[Survivor / Civilian]

All that's happened so far is because we don't have sense enough to keep quiet. Bothering them with guns and such stuff and losing our heads and rushing off in crowds. Ah, instead of our rushing around blind. We gotta fix ourselves up. Fix ourselves up according to the way things are now. Cities, nations, civilization, progress.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Yes, but if that's so, what is there to live for?

[Survivor / Civilian]

Well, there won't be any more concerts for a million years or so. And no nice little dinners at restaurants. If it's amusement you're after, I guess the game's up.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

What is there left?

[Carl Phillips]

Life. That's what I want to live.

[Survivor / Civilian]

And so do you. We're not going to be exterminated. And I don't mean to be caught either. Tamed and fattened and bred like an ox.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

What are you going to do?

[Survivor / Civilian]

I'm going on right under their feet. I got a plan. We men as men, we're finished. We don't know enough. We got to learn plenty before we get a chance. We've got to live and keep what we learned, see? I've thought it all out, see?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Tell me the rest.

[Survivor / Civilian]

Well, it isn't all of us that are made for wild beasts.

[Carl Phillips]

That's what it got. That's what it gotta be. That's why I watched you. Watched you.

[Survivor / Civilian]

All those little office workers that used to live in these houses. They be no good. They haven't any stuff in them.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

Run.

[Survivor / Civilian]

Run off to work. I've seen hundreds of them running to catch their commuter's train in the morning. Afraid that you can if they didn't. Running back at night. Afraid they wouldn't be in time for dinner. Lives insured and a little invested in case of accidents. And on Sundays, worried about the hereafter. The Martians, they'll be a godsend for those guys. Nice roomy cages, good food, careful breeding.

[Military Officer / Captain Lansing]

No worries.

[Survivor / Civilian]

After a week or so of chasing around the fields on empty stomachs, they'll come and be glad to be caught.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

You've thought it all out, haven't you? Sure.

[Survivor / Civilian]

You bet I have. That isn't all. These Martians are going to make pets of some of them. Train them to do tricks. Who knows? Get sentimental over the pet boy who grew up and had to be killed. Yeah, and some. Maybe they'll train to hunt us.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Yes, they will.

[Survivor / Civilian]

There's men who do it gladly. One of them ever comes after me.

[Carl Phillips]

By.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Meantime, you and I and others like us, where are we to live when the Martians own the Earth?

[Carl Phillips]

I got it all figured out.

[Survivor / Civilian]

We live underground. I've been thinking about the sewers under New York. There are miles and miles of them. The main ones, they're big enough for anybody. And there's cellars, vaults, underground storerooms, railway tunnels, subways. You begin to see, huh? We'll get a bunch of strong men together, no weakness.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

That rubbish out as you meant me to go? All right.

[Survivor / Civilian]

Give you a chance, didn't I?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Won't quarrel about that. Go on.

[Survivor / Civilian]

Well, we gotta make safe places for us to stay in, see? Get all the books we can, science books. That's where men like you come in, see? We raid the museums. We'll even spy on the Martians. May not be so much we have to learn before. Listen, just imagine this. Four or five of their own fighting machines suddenly start off heat rays right and left.

[Carl Phillips]

Not a Martian in them.

[Survivor / Civilian]

Not a Martian in them, see?

[Carl Phillips]

But men, men who've learned the way.

[Survivor / Civilian]

How may even in our time. Gee, imagine having one of them lovely.

[Carl Phillips]

Things with its heat ray wide and free.

[Survivor / Civilian]

We'd turn it on Martians.

[Carl Phillips]

We'd turn it on men. We'd bring everybody down on their knees.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

That's your plan? You, me, a few more of us.

[Survivor / Civilian]

We don't own the world.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

I see.

[Carl Phillips]

Hey, hey, what's the matter?

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Where you going? Not to your world. Bye, stranger. Well, after parting with the artilleryman, I came at last. The Holland Tunnel entered that silent tube, anxious to know the fate of the great city on the other side of the Hudson. Cautiously, I came out of the tunnel and made my way up Canal street, reached 14th street, and there again were black powder and several bodies and an evil, ominous smell from the gratings of the cellars of some of the houses. I wandered up through the 30s and 40s, stood alone on Times Square. Caught sight of a lean dog running down 7th Avenue with a piece of dark brown meat in his jaws and a pack of starving mongrels at his heels. Made a wide circle around me as though he feared I might prove a fresh competitor. Walked up Broadway in the direction of that. That strange powder. Past silent shop windows displaying their mute wares to empty sidewalks. Past the Capitol theater. Silence dark. Past a shooting gallery where a row of empty guns faced an arrested line of wooden ducks. Near Columbus Circle, I noticed Models of 1939 Motor cars in the showrooms facing empty streets. Over the top of the General Motors building, I watched a flock of black birds circling in the sky. Hurried on. Suddenly I caught sight of the hood of a Martian machine standing somewhere in Central park, gleaming in the late afternoon sun. An insane idea. I rushed recklessly across Columbus Circle and into the park. I. I climbed a small hill above the pond at 60th street, and from there I could see, standing in a silent row along the mall, 19 of those great metal titans, their cowls empty, their steel arms hanging listlessly by their sides. I looked in vain for the monsters that inhabit those machines. Suddenly my eyes were attracted to the immense flock of black birds that hovered directly below me. They circled to the ground. And there before my eyes, stark and silent, lay the Martians with the hungry birds, pecking and tearing brown shreds of flesh from their dead bodies. Later, when their bodies were examined in laboratories, it was found that they were killed by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared. Plain after all, man's defenses had failed by the humblest thing that God, his wisdom has put upon this earth. Before the cylinder fell, there was a general persuasion that through all the deep of space no life existed beyond the petty surface of our minute sphere. Now we see further. Dim and wonderful is the vision I've conjured up in my mind of life spreading slowly from this little seedbed of the solar system throughout the inanimate vastnesses of sidereal space. But a remote dream. Maybe. Maybe that the destruction of the Martians is only a reprieve to them and not to us. The future ordained, perhaps. Strange it now seems to sit in my peaceful study, Princeton, writing down this last chapter of the record. Begun at a deserted farm in Grover's Mill. Strange to watch children playing in the streets. Strange to see young people strolling on the green where the new spring grass heals the last black scars of a bruised. Strange to watch the sightseers enter the museum where the dissembled parts of a Martian machine are kept on public view. Strange when I recall the time when I first saw it, bright, clean cut, hard and silent under the dawn of that last great day. This is Orson Welles, ladies and gentlemen, out of character to assure you that the War of the Worlds has no further significance. And as the holiday offering, it was intended to be the Mercury Theater's own radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying, boo. Starting now, we couldn't soap all your windows and steal all your garden gates by tomorrow night. So we did the best. Next thing, we annihilated the world before your very ears and utterly destroyed the cbs. You will be relieved. I hope to learn that we didn't mean it and that both institutions are still open for business. So goodbye, everybody, and remember, please, for the next day or so, the terrible lesson you learned tonight. That grinning, glowing, globular invader of your living room is an inhabitant of the pumpkin patch. And if your doorbell rings and nobody's there, that was no Martian. It's Halloween.

[Radio Announcer]

Tonight, the Columbia Broadcasting Station System and its affiliated stations coast to coast has brought you the War of the World by H.G.

[Narrator / Professor Richard Pearson]

Wells.

[Radio Announcer]

The 17th in its weekly series of dramatic broadcasts featuring Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater on the air. Next week we present a dramatization of three famous short stories. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.