War Of The Worlds in Brazil

[Bob Norton]

Ten or so years ago, a Brazilian radio station staged a Portugeuse
translation of WOTW. It caused astounding panic, suicides, etc, in the
region that it was broadcast in (it wasn't national). When the listeners
found out they'd been hoaxed, several hundred of them marched on the radio
station and set it on fire. When the employees ran out, they were, to the
last one, beaten to death by the mob. Orson Welles was lucky that he was
not born a Brazilian.
>
>The same sort of reaction occurred when CBS ran what was supposed to be an
>homage to WOTW about two years ago.  Alien ships were seen approaching
>Earth; assuming this was a threat, the US military blew them up.  Then four
>more came in, aiming for major world cities -- this time a definite threat.
>(Of course, "we" nuked those four and managed to celebrate for about 15
>seconds before seeing the 500 now coming in on radar.)