The War of the Worlds: The Fall of Boston

Mankind has ruled the Earth too long! From the distant planet Mars, strange beings lust for our verdant world. They launch an invasion fleet to conquer us with fire, smoke and indestructable walking engines. Even while our cities fall and our armies are crushed by the alien menace, our last hope lies in the thieves and mob men who hide in the rubble—clever, disciplined and stalwart as any military force. They plan and scheme to reclaim our nations. They succeed in battle through underhanded tactics. But will their villainous ways ruin them, or will they triumph in unity against the enemy who seeks to enslave us all?

The details of the invasion are indelibly etched in our memories. On the night of October 30th, 1938, rocket-cylinders from our neighboring planet, Mars, land in New Jersey, carrying the first units of their invasion force equipped with devastating heat-rays and unstoppable fighting-machines. While their reign of destruction spreads into Massachusetts, local radio station WPM keeps the citizens of Boston informed of all events as they occur; the first encounter with a rocket-cylinder at Whip Hill and the defeat of the 101st Artillery Regiment, the laying of the black smoke cutting Boston from the rest of the state, the charge of the USS Wyoming in Boston Harbor, and the Fall of Boston itself.

But all is not lost. A North End mobster, an MIT scientist, and the remnants of the Massachusetts National Guard have allied themselves to carry out one final strike against the Martians. They will surely succeed. They must! For all our sakes.

Come and hear their fantastic tale of determination, treachery and redemption.

In homage to Howard Koch’s documentary radio script about the invasion of New York, which he wrote for Orson Welles and The Mercury Theatre on the Air, we present this tale in the form of a radio drama, using news bulletins and field reports—as given by the actual announcers, political and historical figures and military personnel at the time—to recount the actual invasion, and dramatic recreations to depict the events that occurred during the weeks that followed.