October 30, 1938

On This Date in TWISTED-HISTORY! in 1938 – Orson Welles’ “The War of the Worlds” aired on CBS radio. The belief that the realistic radio dramatization was a live news event about a Martian invasion caused panic among many of the listeners. The next day, Orson Welles went back on the air and explained how it was just a ‘radio’ dramatization and how there were no ‘real’ Martians among us. An odd bit of news was discovered years later. The birth certificate of actor Bill Bixby, who has a reported birth date of 22 January 1934, was first entered into California records on November 1, 1938, two days after the Martian Hoax.

About Joel Byers

Born in North Georgia and educated at some very fine public institutions. Real education started after graduating from college and then getting married and raising two boys. Has the ability to see the funny and absurd in most things and will always remark on it, even if it means getting the stink-eye from his victims.
This entry was posted in 20th Century, Historical Facts and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *