Fascinated, we tracked down the whole story. Incredibly, neither we nor Norma Yvonne, who is Ecuadorian, had ever heard anything about it before. It In a novel Latin twist, they had voice impersonators When informed it was all a hoax, instead of heading Whew, and all this time we thought of Ecuadorians The article on SF Museum from the We were reading an article in our aggregator about the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, which didn’t quite break the threshold of blogability in these busy times, until we came across a reference to a 1949 … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/warworlds.jpg\")
We
\n were reading an
\n article<\/a> in our aggregator about
\n the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, which didn’t
\n quite break the threshold of blogability in these busy times, until
\n we came across a reference to a 1949 broadcast of an adaptation of
\n H.G. Wells, "War of the World" by Radio Quito which reportedly caused
\n multiple deaths.<\/p>\n
\n seems a couple of DJ jokers, trying to pump up interest in their young
\n station, came up with the idea of doing an Ecuadorian version of the
\n CBS radio broadcast ten earlier. In Ecuador, the Martians landed in Latacunga,
\n an almost entirely indigenous province high in the Andes, and were advancing
\n on Quito in the form of a dark cloud.<\/p>\n
\n (a popular form of radio jollies in LA) come on as the Minister of the
\n Interior and the Archbishop of Quito leading prayers on the air. They even had
\n the "Mayor" of Quito announce that women and children should abandon
\n the city so that the men folk could defend it without distractions. People
\n were running through the streets in their pajamas, ransacking liquor
\n stores and pharmacies and fornicating in the parks. Actually, we
\n got carried away and made that last phrase up, but the rest is history.<\/p>\n
\n sheepishly home to sleep it off, the enraged populace surrounded the station and burned
\n it to the ground, along with El Commercio, the Dean of Ecuadorian newspapers, which owned the station. Several people were burned to death, and more
\n were shot by police. <\/p>\n
\n as peaceful, non-violent people. Come to think of it, one of the reasons we have always
\n liked it there is that EVERYONE believes in extraterrestrials, and most
\n people have seen UFO’s first hand. They seem to like to hang out
\n around the Equator, probably for navigational reasons. Even the Dowbrigade
\n has seen them. So it’s probably not too surprising that if anything could
\n set off these placid Pacific people, it would be messing with their ETs….<\/p>\n
\n Day the Martians Landed<\/a> in Ecuador by Bob Moore<\/p>\n
\n New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"