Was Orson Wells War of the Worlds the GOAT prank?

Moon landing IMO

They announced at the outset that it was fiction. And the fact that it was Halloween should have been a clue. People are stupid and gullible.

It wasn't really a prank. People just tuned in late and were way more gullible back then. Also, no internets.

quote:

---

They announced at the outset that it was fiction. And the fact that it was Halloween should have been a clue. People are stupid and gullible.

---

That and the story we hear today has been stretched a bit.

quote:

---

Historical research suggests the panic was far less widespread than newspapers had indicated at the time[38]. "[T]he panic and mass hysteria so readily associated with 'The War of the Worlds' did not occur on anything approaching a nationwide dimension", American University media historian W. Joseph Campbell wrote in 2003. He quotes Robert E. Bartholomew, an authority on mass panic outbreaks, as having said that "there is a growing consensus among sociologists that the extent of the panic … was greatly exaggerated".[29]

This position is supported by contemporary accounts. "In the first place, most people didn't hear [the show]," said Frank Stanton, later president of CBS.[3] Of the nearly 2,000 letters mailed to Welles and the Federal Communications Commission after "The War of the Worlds," currently held by the University of Michigan and the National Archives and Records Administration, roughly 27% came from frightened listeners or people who witnessed any panic. After analyzing those letters, A. Brad Schwartz concluded that although the broadcast briefly misled a significant portion of its audience, very few of those listeners fled their homes or otherwise panicked. The total number of protest letters sent to Welles and the FCC is also low in comparison with other controversial radio broadcasts of the period, further suggesting the audience was small and the fright severely limited.

---

quote:

---

That and the story we hear today has been stretched a bit.

---

Here's the original, if anyone wants to listen to a bit of it.

Except it didn’t actually cause “widespread” panic. Only a tiny number of people were actually fooled but the newspapers (as the media does today) greatly exaggerated the supposed “havoc” it caused.

So no not the greatest prank ever also because it wasn’t intentional.

That WotW panic wasn't intentional

Hugh Troy

quote:

---

In 1935, at an exhibition of the works of Vincent van Gogh in New York's Museum of Modern Art, Troy took a piece of corned beef, carved it into a shape of an ear and put it on display with a plaque that declared it was the ear that Van Gogh had cut off in 1888. People flocked to see it until museum authorities removed it

---

quote:

---

During World War II, Troy got fed up with military bureaucracy. He invented a new form for reports on the use of flypaper and sent it to command. The story goes that the Pentagon demanded that other units send theirs as well. Just when Hugh was sure that everyone was wasting time with these flypaper reports, he sent another letter to the Pentagon mentioning that counts might be inaccurate due to the counting of old flies from previous counts. To counter this, he suggested that each fly be daubed with a little ketchup using a toothpick. By doing so, previously counted flies would now have a marking for the next count. This task was then added to the roster.

---

quote:

---

Using a wastebasket made of a rhinoceros foot borrowed from Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Troy made what appeared to be rhinoceros tracks across campus and to the lake that was the source of drinking water for the area, Beebe Lake. This was done during a winter snowstorm. Troy also cut a large hole in the ice on the edge of the lake so it appeared that the animal had fallen in. Reportedly, many people stopped drinking the water until Troy revealed the prank with an anonymous letter.

---

quote:

---

On February 5, 1952, a small ad ran on the theatrical page of the Washington Post offering the services of a company of "ghost artists": "Too busy to paint? Call on the Ghost Artists? We paint it, you sign it." The idea of ghost artists caught the interest of the media, and a report about the company went out over the wire services and appeared in newspapers nationwide.

The ghost artists were said to be earning lucrative fees from executives who wanted to impress their friends. Satisfied clients included military men, government officials, doctors, businessmen, and a Wall Street broker who commissioned an entire exhibition in order to break into "arty circles." The Washington Post devoted an editorial to the organization, concluding, "After some reflection, we can't see anything morally amiss about this proposal. Nobody thinks it scandalous when a Washington hostess invites a few politicians, diplomats, syndicated newspaper columnists and their ladies to dinner and then turns the whole responsibility for feeding them over to a professional caterer... Why then should we shake our heads if a man wants to hire a private gallery and invite his friends to admire pictures painted for him by somebody else?"

Not all were impressed by the concept. One correspondent to the Post's Letters to the Editor declared, "This is a sad commentary indeed on the manners and mores of the Nation's Capital in this year of our Lord!" But when news of the Ghost Artists reached New York, some reporters recognized the name of its spokesman and warned the wire services, who then put out a retraction: "We are withdrawing story on ghost painters... source has reputation of being a practical joker."

The source was the prankster (and professional illustrator) Hugh Troy. It was later reported that he received over fifteen serious offers from clients interested in hiring a ghost artist.

---

yes

quote:

---

Was Orson Wells War of the Worlds the GOAT prank?

---

Some say it was the greatest GOAT of all time.