It scared the daylights out of our nation once, and it's going to happen again tonight.
Be warned: An invasion is coming.
Tune your radios to any of several local stations at 8 p.m. and you'll hear news bulletins graphically describing Martian attacks.
It's been exactly 70 years since the first invasion. The same story travels over the airwaves year after year, so let's try not to be quite so scared this time around.
Let's just be excited.
"The War of the Worlds" was adapted from H.G. Wells' novel to a radio broadcast Oct. 30, 1938. The story plays out through a series of fictional news reports interrupting a musical performance to warn Americans about hostile alien invaders.
Millions of radio listeners who had missed announcements about the special program believed Martians were really attacking the country. Some fled their homes, and police telephone lines were flooded with calls.
The broadcast has lived on as one of the most powerful moments in media history, demonstrating the power of radio. It is re-enacted around the country each Halloween eve, and this year, it comes to Ball State University.
The Department of Telecommunications is producing its own adaptation of the classic radio drama, and the students and faculty involved are trying to keep the performance as authentic as possible to the original.
The Ball State Symphony Orchestra and actors doing voices will work together in the live broadcast, and a crew of workers will even manually produce sound effects just like in the 1938 performance.
Not only will the community be able to listen to the production on WCRD and other local stations, but it will also have the chance to do something few radio audiences can: watch the performance.
The whole production will be done on the stage at Pruis Hall so people can see what it takes to pull this event together and be a part of the historic anniversary.
A half-hour pre-program will feature discussions about "The War of the Worlds" and the interesting impact the first broadcast had on the nation.
U.S. media consumption in 1938 was nowhere near the levels we are used to, so people were far more likely at the time to believe what they heard on the radio.
Contemporary culture has trained us to doubt whether what we hear in the media is true, but at the time of the first broadcast that wasn't the case. This re-enactment commemorates more than the 70th birthday of "The War of the Worlds"; it is also a milestone in the evolution of American broadcasting.
Tune in tonight or, better yet, head to Pruis to be a part of this rare and fun opportunity.
But don't get too freaked out - it's all just fiction.
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