On Halloween Eve in 1938, Americans tuning in to CBS radio programming got an eerie interruption: “Martians have invaded New Jersey!” At the time, the pre-Halloween allusion to extraterrestrials caused mass hysteria for thousands of listeners around the country.

Although it was simply a radio play by Orson Welles titled “War of the Worlds,” most listeners didn’t realize this. In fact, according to NPR, “about 12 million people were listening when Welles’ broadcast came on the air and ‘about 1 in every 12 people listening thought it was true. Imagine that and the fact that a percentage of that 1 million people ran out of their homes in panic, afraid of an Alien Invasion.

I suppose history does repeat itself,  there is in this country now a great number of people who believe a man, ungodly and evil believed to be the “one sent to save us” destroying our country, casting us into division, and shattering the world we know into broken shards. Lies now rule where truth once stood proud, and kindness and empathy are being seen as weakness and buried in the darkness. Vile hate and racism, intolerance and righteousness are being dredged from a pit and fed to us as we slip slowly away from the life we knew.

History is fascinating and yet frightening when the reality of the evil it holds is remembered… Imagine, a broadcast on a radio station sending people into a panic in one night, we have lived with the rise of hate and taunting lies for 10 years now… I suppose historically the present terror and idocracy will be remembered in the future… for now I feel its weight, its heaviness a sad and disturbing reminder that ignorance and hate are powerful, even in a present that is more informed and capable of truth. That’s spooky…