The War of the Worlds

War of the Worlds
by Mercury Theater (103038)

Halloween. October 30, 1938.
Trenton, New Jersey.

I was sitting alone in my room, drinking the finest coffee my parents bought in Brazil. As accustomed, I was waiting for the Mercury Theatre on the Air, a favorite radio program of mine. Good thing, listening to a radio program won’t hurt my feet anymore.

That day, everything seemed normal. The sun was shining brightly. My mom and dad were out for business trip again. Cecilia, my cousin, was playing with her dog like yesteryear. Out of the blue, my neighbors started screaming! What the hell is happening? I turned the radio on and listened to the announcer saying, “Now, nearer home, comes a special bulletin from Trenton, New Jersey. It is reported that at 8:50 P. M. a huge, flaming object, believed to be a meteorite…”

The door opened. “Sir, you need to come down as soon as possible. We are leaving this town immediately,” Cecilia said in trepidation. Can you at least tell me what’s happening? I asked her but too late, she can’t hear me. She was grasping my hand so tight, dragging me downstairs. Cecilia! “Aren’t you listening? A strange explosion was sighted in Mars and a Martian rocket capsule landed near here.” So? I don’t expect a visit from any Martians or the like. I am staying here. Take your hand off my hand! Continuous screaming haunted my ears. Cecilia was not listening to me. How goad she was.

We reached the first street; I did see everyone running. It was my first time to encounter such experience and all my thoughts were on my manor, my pets and my radio. Ouch! Would you walk carefully? These shoes cost me a thousand bucks! “My apology. Lance?” How come this stranger knows my name? I looked at his face, studying every details of it. Antonio? “My friend.” Antonio would you care tell me what’s going on? Cecilia is crazy and… “Martians! Martians… they’re here to take us…” Take us where? In Mars? Haha.  Is this some kind of a joke? Then I should be laughing right now. I sardonically said to him.

No one cared to talk to me normally. After Cecilia, Antonio followed. God! What’s happening?

Cecilia and I stopped by a restaurant to listen to what the radio was saying.

Mr. Wilmuth: Well, as I was sayin', I was listenin' to the radio kinda halfways…

Speaker: Yes, Mr. Wilmuth, and then you saw something?

Mr. Wilmuth: Not first off. I heard something.

Speaker: And what did you hear?

Mr. Wilmuth: A hissing sound. Like this: (HISSES). Kinda like a Fourth of July rocket.

Everyone began to panic again. Cecilia was now running; still dragging me somewhere she only knows. Until now, I don’t know what’s happening. All I know is that I was missing the MTA. Today is Halloween and I had a lot of plans for this day. I even bought a Halloween costume for the Trick and Treat later this evening. However, Cecilia was ruining my day!

“Sir, are you still in one piece?” Cecilia said. Is that supposed to insult me? Oh, yeah. One piece if that’s what you call it. Can you now tell me what’s happening?  “It’s not safe to talk about it here.  Let’s discuss this later.” I want an answer right now!

After I-don’t-know-how-many minutes passed, we found a place to hide and there I fell asleep.

Speaker: Ladies and gent… Am I on? Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, here I am, back of a stone wall that adjoins Mr. Wilmuth's garden. From here I get a sweep of the whole scene. I'll give you every detail as long as I can talk and as long as I can see.

More state police have arrived They're drawing up a cordon in front of the pit, about thirty of them. No need to push the crowd back now. They're willing to keep their distance. 

The captain is conferring with someone. We can't quite see who. Oh yes, I believe it's Professor Pierson. Yes, it is. 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 handkerchief tied to a pole… a flag of truce. If those creatures know what that means… what ANYTHING means…

Wait a minute! Some thing's happening…

Again, people started screaming like freaks! What can I do? Of course, I also did run. But… Something hit my head. I don’t know what is it but when I woke up, I heard Cecilia saying, “Happy Halloween. We should have listened to the program from the start. It was a good run anyway."

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 C. B. S. 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.

Tonight the Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations coast-to-coast have brought you "The War of the Worlds," by H. G. Wells, the seventeenth in its weekly series of dramatic broadcasts featuring Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre on the Air.

Next week we present a dramatization of three famous short stories.

This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.

(Note:  The characters of the story are fictional and any incident of similarity is not intentional.)

Further Reading:
The War of the Worlds (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopdia)
Orsen Welles (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia)