Orson Welles aired his War of the Worlds radio drama as a 1938 Halloween special on the Mercury Theatre on the Air show. Delivered like a news program in the days before World War II, some people believed the drama was real, some even leaving their homes and claiming to smell toxic gas and seeing flashing lights in the distance. History and overly dramatic news reports helped exaggerate the panic from the War of the Worlds drama, but the fallout remains. Fictional programs on radio from then on regularly had to be interrupted with the station’s call letters showing the events weren’t real. This will only last until the real Martians come to take us over.