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Hearing this would give anyone the heebie-jeebies

By Times Staff
Published October 20, 2005

Performed on CBS radio on Oct. 30, 1938, The War of the Worlds mesmerized listeners with its terrifying tale of an alien invasion. American Stage's upcoming production uses language from the radio play, including this excerpt. Sure, it was theater of the mind, but who needs whiz-bang special effects with writing like this, in which radio commentator Carl Phillips describes the horrifying sights unfolding before him at Grovers Mill, N.J.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed ... Wait a minute! Someone's crawling out of the hollow top. Someone or ... something. I can see peering out of that black hole two luminous disks ... are they eyes? It might be a face. It might be ... Good heavens, something's wriggling out of the shadow like a gray snake. Now it's another one, and another one, and another one! They look like tentacles to me. I can see the thing's body now. It's large, large as a bear and it glistens like wet leather. But that face, it ... Ladies and gentlemen, it's indescribable. I can hardly force myself to keep looking at it, so awful. The eyes are black and gleam like a serpent. The mouth is V-shaped with saliva dripping from its rimless lips that seem to quiver and pulsate. The monster or whatever it is can hardly move. It seems weighed down by ... possibly gravity or something. The thing's ... rising up now, and the crowd falls back now. They've seen plenty. This is the most extraordinary experience, ladies and gentlemen. I can't find words ... I'll pull this microphone with me as I talk. I'll have to stop the description until I can take a new position. Hold on, will you please, I'll be right back in a minute ..."

From The War of the Worlds, written by Howard Koch and Orson Welles, based on H.G. Wells' novel.

[Last modified October 19, 2005, 10:43:05]