Newspaper clipping titled: "Invasion from Mars on Radio Terrifies Listeners Over U.S.: H.G. Well's Book and Orson Welles's Acting Bring Prayers, Tears, Flight, and the Police" with a photograph of Orson Welles.

Radio Broadcast of a “Catastrophe” Results In “Very Grave And Serious Situation” In Trenton, New Jersey

On October 30th, 1938 a “Very grave and serious situation” occurred in Trenton, New Jersey that, according to city manager Paul Morton, “crippled the communication facilities” of their police department. According to Morton, 2000 phone calls were received in 2 hours with many callers concerned that relatives had been killed in the “catastrophe” that was broadcast over WABC radio. 

Image of tower and other buildings with clouds in the background

Building a Radio Tower atop Mount Washington

Today’s post is written by Daniel Dancis, an Archivist in the Textual Processing Branch at the National Archives in College Park, MD. “Believing that the development of experimental facilities on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, is an undertaking that is difficult of verbal description there are attached, hereto, a brief photographic record. The pictures submitted only … Continue reading Building a Radio Tower atop Mount Washington