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UFO Hoaxes 111 investigators still believe in the case, pointing out that there is still no proof of a hoax. Thus the controversy continues.** The dangers of hoaxing a UFO encounter are illustrated perfectly by what happened in 1938, in Grovers Mill, New Jersey. On the evening of October 31, 1938, a young radio director named Orson Welles presented the fictional sci-fi story War of the Worlds (about aliens landing on Earth) as if it were an actual news broadcast. Welles gave a documentary-style report, saying that aliens had landed at the small town of Grovers Mills, and that the police, the U.S. Army, and other officials had arrived and were being overtaken by the more powerful E.T:s. Despite the fact that the broadcast was interrupted by frequent station breaks declaring that the invasion was only a “dramatization,” many people believed the reports to be true. Across New Jersey and parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and other nearby states, panic allegedly ensued as citizens prepared for an alien invasion. Some reacted by fleeing their homes and heading for the hills, while others armed themselves with weapons and sup- plies and prepared to fight the encroaching E.T.s. The radio station and local police were swamped with angry and frightened callers, demanding more information. The dramatic response of the citizens of New Jersey and New York stunned the world, and Orson Welles became famous overnight for having pulled off a UFO hoax that fooled an estimated one million people. The Federal Communications Commission forced Welles to make a public apology, which he did. However, the broadcast made his career, and Welles went on to became one of the leading filmmakers of all time. Welles, however, was the exception. Most people who hoax a UFO event soon learn to regret their mistake. the film was a fake. And there the case ends. However, even now, some THE GREATEST UFO HOAX IN HISTORY