Iconic Alien Invasion In Grover’s Mill, New Jersey Is Historic

Do you believe in aliens? What if I told you that enough people believed in them in New Jersey to cause absolute hysteria?  What if I told you that the mere mention of an alien landing here sparked gunfire and destruction? It did and it was crazy.

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In case you never knew, your fellow New Jerseyans went bananas back in October of 1938.  Just to set the stage, radio was pretty much everyone’s only form of entertainment at that time. They would gather around as a family to hear the news or to listen to a story.  So when Orson Welles told 12 million listeners during his live news update that we had a martian landing in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey people went absolutely ballistic. Residents sprung into action and went into fight or flight mode. They joined forces and decided to shoot first and ask questions later. In fact, residents started shooting at a water tower that they thought was a UFO. We still have the remnants of that water tower today.

The reality was, the whole thing was actually a radio prank! Us radio people have a weird sense of humor I get it.  They decided to perform a version of H.G. Wells’ novel “The War of the Worlds” on his nightly broadcast and because it was on the radio, everyone thought it was fact!

Local businesses still have fun with this story today and market their goods accordingly. You'll see signs that read, "Aliens land here for our coffee" etc there is also a museum all about this event.   It makes for a fun roadside stop and story! If I were an alien, I would totally land here now because no one is going to fall for it twice and I would be free to enjoy the town!  If you want to take a road trip to the weird head to Grover’s Mill, NJ and they will be happy to tell you all about it!
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