"Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance music to bring you a special bulletin . . ." On Halloween eve 50 years ago, Orson Welles' broadcast of H.G. Wells' classic The War of the Worlds panicked citizens on the U.S. East Coast who believed Martians were invading. Last week when a radio station in northern Portugal re-created the celebrated 1938 drama, people again reacted in terror.
Minutes after the anniversary broadcast began in Braga (pop. 125,000), a mini-panic was on. Said Antonio Costa Guimares, one of the show's producers: "It was total chaos." While some residents fled, others rushed...