It was 70 years ago Thursday night that some people were freaking out, hearing Orson Welles declare in fake news bulletins on the radio that Martians had landed in New Jersey and New York City.

It was "War of the Worlds," of course, adapted from the H.G. Wells novel and written for a CBS radio show by the same writer who wrote "Casablanca."

Welles was both director and narrator along with a cast of actors pretending to be reporters on the scene.

The show sent a lot of people into a panic on the evening before Halloween, 1938, as Welles said: "Now they're lifting their metal hands. This is the end now. Smoke comes out, black smoke, drifting over the city. People in the streets see it now. They're running towards the East River, thousands of them, dropping in like rats."

The radio play has since been adapted into feature films and television movies – the most recent of which was directed by Stephen Spielberg and starred Tom Cruise.

The radio version of "War of the Worlds" is being honored Thursday night by Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.

Indiana Public Radio General Manager Marcus Jackman said the live broadcast will be a treat for attentive, creative listeners.

Organizers said that it's safe to assume no one will be fooled by the actors' performance into thinking that Martians are invading the Earth.