A radio broadcast of H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds," narrated by Orson Welles, supposedly sparks a worldwide panic in 1938.
A deep dive into one of the most contentious events in broadcasting history: Orson Welles' 1938 radio drama about Martians invading New Jersey." According to Radiolab, when Welles' broadcast went on the air, "roughly 1 in every 12... felt it was genuine and... some fraction of that 1 million individuals raced out of their houses."
Related On This Day
Vasco da Gama returns to Calicut, India, for the second time in 1502.
The Statue of Unity, the world's largest statue of Indian independence leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, was unveiled in Gujarat state in 2018 at a height of 182 meters.
Homi J. Bhabha, an Indian nuclear physicist, was born in Bombay, British India, in 1909.
On his 37th birthday in 1997, Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona announces his retirement from the game.
Vallabhbhai Patel, an Indian independence warrior and statesman, was born in Gujarat, India, in 1875.
In 2019, Kashmir formally loses its autonomous status, flag, and constitution as India reasserts federal sovereignty over the region, thus abolishing its statehood.
Diego Maradona, an Argentine soccer forward, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1960.
Rajiv Gandhi becomes India's sixth Prime Minister in 1984, succeeding his mother Indira Gandhi, who was killed.
Sir Sean Connery, a Scottish actor and producer, died in 2020 at the age of 90.
"Dil To Pagal Hai" the blockbuster, hit cinemas on 30th October 1997
In 1926, magician Harry Houdini [Erich Weisz] dies in Detroit from gangrene and peritonitis caused by a burst appendix.
Christopher Columbus, the Italian adventurer and navigator who found the "New World" for Spain and launched European colonialism, was born in the Republic of Genoa on or around this day in 1451.
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia provides civil rights and approves the first Duma in the "October Manifesto" of 1905. (Parliament)
In 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is killed at her residence in New Delhi by her bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh.
Laura Aime, a Ted Bundy victim, goes missing in Utah in 1974.