Massale paniek!

March 14th, 2010 by freek

In Georgië brak zaterdag kortstondig massaal paniek uit na een nepbericht op het tv-journaal over een nieuwe Russische inval waarbij president Michail Saakasjvili zou zijn gedood. Het mobiele netwerk raakte overbelast en er ontstond een run op benzine. Verscheidene mensen zouden een hartaanval hebben gekregen.
Sounds familiar…

“Ladies and gentlemen, I have a grave announcement to make. Incredible as it may seem … those strange beings who landed in the Jersey farmlands tonight are the vanguard of an invading army from the planet Mars!”

Orsonwelles.co.uk: “Still one of the most legendary pieces of radio and one of the most talked about episodes in Welles’ career was the 1938 Halloween night Mercury broadcast of Welles’ adaptation of H G Wells’ War of the Worlds. It was the night when Orson Welles tapped into the subconscious fears of a nation and convinced nearly two million people that martians were invading the United States. Television was in its infancy and commercial radio was only a decade old, still a fresh exciting medium. In addition, the world was in the process of sliding inexorably towards war, and sales of radios had trebled in the month leading up to the broadcast.”

Dat legendarische hoorspel is gelukkig bewaard: War of the Worlds (1938).