Episode 21 - The War of the Worlds Mass Panic

On October 30th, 1938, a young actor by the name of Orson Welles, in collaboration with a number of other radio actors, presented a dramatization of H.G. Wells’ famous novel, War of the Worlds. According to legend, many people, believing that the show was a genuine news broadcast, began to panic. As the story of the mass panic grew, it developed into a much larger and darker narrative. What is the nature of mass hysteria? What can trigger our sense of self-preservation so deeply that we turn on each other? How does mass media and the way we receive information play into what we fear the most? Join us as Drs. Micono and Morelos explore the 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast and the concept of mass panic.