The War of the Worlds' was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theater on the Air.
It aired as a Halloween special on October 30, 1938 over the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS Network) by Orson Welles.
The broadcast consisted of simulated news bulletins, which suggested an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress.
The public was in a extreme panic as they really believed the world was being invaded by aliens.
Legend has it that some of the radio audience may have been listening to Edgar Bergen and tuned in to "The War of the Worlds" during a musical interlude.
This means they missed the opening of the show which stated it was just a story.
But recent research suggests this only happened in rare instances.