On this day in 1806, believing that he was facing a much larger force, Prussian Lieutenant General Friedrich von Romberg surrendered his garrison fortress of Stettin containing 5,300 men and 280 cannons to 800 French soldiers commanded by General Lassalle.
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On this day in 1938, American actor and director Orson Welles would broadcast his radio play adaptation of H. G. Wells's science fiction novel about an alien invasion, The War of the Worlds, resulting in a panic.
The broadcast, which aired on a radio station that did not have commercials, was done as a series of simulated news bulletins, describing the landing of aliens. There were realistic news reports from State Militias, Army officers and the Secretary of Defense. Those cruising the radio channels that night and happened to tune in to the program believed they were listening to real news reports.
Local police and news stations were flooded with calls from radio listeners asking if they would soon be under attack and what should they do. There was much confusion, since many officials did not know where these reports of alien invasion were coming from. It became the most talked about radio program of all time.
In the months following the broadcast, there would be over 12,500 articles published about the broadcast, the confusion and the impact. In the end, it was a huge marketing coup by Orson Welles and it made his career.
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In keeping with Halloween Week:
In our April 17th post "How not to Handle Alien Remains" we featured the Alien Brain Hemorrhage Shot, (if you have not read that post I suggest you do so now - here is the link) which is a great holiday drink.
Ingredients:
1oz Peach Schnapps
1 tsp Bailey's Irish Cream
Grenadine
Step 1 Pour the Peach Schnapps into a large shot glass.
Step 2 Slowly add the Bailey's so it looks like a brain.
Step 3 Top with the grenadine so it looks like blood
Step 4 Eat Bloody Brains
Check out their site for other halloween drinks!
http://blog.friendseat.com/halloween-cocktail-recipes
To hear "War of the Worlds" (it starts out very slow -a musical program interrupted by news reports)
