Ecuador Mob Kills 6 After Radio Fright

Herald-Journal – Feb 14, 1949

Ecuador Mob Kills 6 After Radio Fright

QUITO, Ecuador, (AP),—An enraged mob that hurl gasoline and flaming balls of paper took bloody vengeance for a panic caused by an Orson Welles-type radio dramatization of an “Invasion FromMars.”

The mob attacked and burned the building of the newspaper El Comercio, which housed the radio station, and killed at least 6 persons and injured 15 others.

Army troops were called out. They used tanks and tear gas to restore order.

THE MOB wrecked the newspaper building, its equipment and the radio station. Damage was estimated at more than $350,000.

Indictments were drawn against Leonardo Paez, director of art at the station, known as Radio Quito, and Eduardo Alcaras, a Chilean who is the station’s dramatic director.

Heads of the station said the 2 men prepared and directed the dramatication without their knowledge.

Police detained 10 suspects and arrests of several more were ordered.

The populace had been terrified by a radio dramatization of H. G. Wells’ fantastic novel. “The War of Worlds,” localized to describe strange creatures from Mars landing nearby and heading for Quito.

It was carried out much after the fashion of Orson Welles’ famous “Martian Invasion” broadcast in 1938 which caused panic in some parts of the United States.

Hysteria drove most of the population of Quinto into the streets before the program directors learned how much consternation they had caused.

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