The Stretched Page · ages 9-14

The Night of the Martians

The idea: how big was the 1938 radio panic, and who said so.

Read it

Who is in this book

Danya a child of the Green Asks "how do we know?"
Tara a child of the Green Listens longest, speaks last
Trace Follow a story back to where it started; copies are not sources from TruthQuest
Claim Before you check a story, say exactly what it claims from TruthQuest
Weigh Ask who was in a position to know, and when they said it from TruthQuest
Inkling a child of the Green Names what she notices
Beto a child of the Green Takes things apart
Lan a child of the Green Goes first; makes a friend in a minute

Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.

The Honest Page

Which parts are true, stretched or made up — and what does nobody know?

True

On 30 October 1938 the CBS radio network broadcast a play of The War of the Worlds, with news bulletins about Martians landing in New Jersey. Source
The broadcast said it was a play four times: at the beginning, at the middle break, after the break and at the end. Source
The next day's newspapers told of panic, and published at least 12,500 articles about it in three weeks. Radio had been taking advertising money from newspapers during the Depression. Source
That night, C. E. Hooper's ratings survey found that 2 per cent of the 5,000 households it asked were listening to the play. Source
In 1940 Hadley Cantril estimated that six million people heard the play and 1.2 million were frightened or disturbed. In 2013 the historians Jefferson Pooley and Michael Socolow wrote that his estimates were more than twice as high as any other at the time. Source

Stretched

The whole country panicked and fled their homes. What we simplified: Some listeners were frightened and some telephoned the police. Nothing like a nationwide flight happened.

Made up

The drying room, the corridor of doors, Claim, Trace and Weigh as people in it, the Friday Paper and the notes in the box are made up. The broadcast, the newspapers, Hooper, Cantril, Pooley and Socolow are real.

Nobody knows

Exactly how many people were frightened that night. The best surveys disagree, and nobody counted at the time. Source

Tell it back

Tell the story in your own words: who was there, what went wrong, and what they found out. Then the fourth page of Danya's two-column notebook goes on your belt.

Ring the hammer for someone

Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.

Across the Table → For the grown-up: the story in three lines, one question to ask, and one thing to do together.