A wireless dramatisation of Mr. H. G. Wells's fantasy, "The War of the Worlds" - a work that was written at the end of last century - caused a remarkable wave of panic in the United States during and immediately after its broadcast last night at eight o'clock.

Listeners throughout the country believed that it was an account of an actual invasion of the earth by warriors from Mars. The play, presented by Mr. Orson Welles, a successful theatrical producer and actor, gave a vivid account of the Martian invasion just as the wireless would if Mr. Wells's dream came true.

The programme began with music by a New York City hotel dance band, which was interrupted suddenly by a Columbia news announcer who reported that violent flashes on Mars had been observed by Princeton University astronomers. The music was resumed, but was soon interrupted again for a report that a meteor had struck New Jersey. Then there was an account of how the meteor opened and Martian warriors emerged and began killing local citizens with mysterious death-rays. Martians were also observed moving towards New York with the intention of destroying the city.

Many people tuning in to the middle of the broadcast jumped to the conclusion that there was a real invasion. Thousands of telephone calls poured into the wireless station and police headquarters. Residents of New Jersey covered their faces with wet cloths as a protection against poisonous gases and fled from their homes carrying with them their most valuable possessions. Roads leading to a village where a Martian ship was supposed to have landed were jammed with motorists prepared to repel attackers.

Federal inquiry

A wireless audience of the entire nation was fooled to a considerable extent in spite of repeated announcements during the broadcast that the drama was purely fictional. The Federal Communications Commission has begun an inquiry into the broadcast with a view to preventing the repetition of such a terrifying event. A senator from Iowa said to-day that he has prepared a bill for the next session of Congress with the same purpose.

Mr. Wells "deeply concerned"

"Unwarranted" rewriting of his novel

Reports of a gas attack spread so quickly in New Jersey because of the broadcast that doctors and nurses offered their services and hospitals treated many people for "shock."

A man burst into a cinema at Orange, New Jersey, shouting warnings. The entire audience leapt to its feet and the cinema emptied within a few minutes. Panic evacuations were also reported in some sections around the New York area. In some cases people told the police and newspapers that they had seen the "invasion."

In parts of Atlanta, Georgia, the inhabitants thought the end of the world had arrived. A man ran into an Indianapolis church screaming, "New York is destroyed. It's the end of the world. We might as well go home to die. I've just heard it on the radio." The service was immediately stopped and the congregation dismissed.

Mr. Jacques Chambrun, Mr. H. G. Wells's representative here, stated to-day that Mr. Wells was "deeply concerned" that last night's wireless dramatisation of his book should have caused such alarm.

Mr. Chambrun said that Mr. Wells had cabled to him declaring that the "Columbia Broadcasting System and Mr. Orson Welles have far overstepped their rights in the matter....and should make a full retraction." Mr. Wells added that the dramatisation was made "with a liberty that amounts to complete rewriting and made the novel an entirely different story." The author considered this "totally unwarranted," Mr. Chambrun said.

To-day nerves are steadier and it is recalled that in England some years ago there was a similar reaction, though not such a violent one, to the famous "spoof broadcast" by Father Ronald Knox. Many listeners took his parodied description of a riot in London seriously.