👽 THE NIGHT AMERICANS THOUGHT ALIENS WERE INVADING EARTH! 🎃 October 30, 1938. Americans listening to their radios suddenly heard alarming news bulletins. Explosions on Mars. A mysterious spacecraft in New Jersey. Alien creatures attacking Earth. And then came reports of deadly poisonous gas. 📻 Some listeners had tuned in late, missing the announcement that this was a fictional radio drama. People reportedly fled their homes, covered their faces with wet towels, and flooded police switchboards with calls. THERE WAS JUST ONE PROBLEM. 🤣 THERE WERE NO ALIENS! The entire thing was a Halloween radio performance of The War of the Worlds, directed by 23-year-old Orson Welles. And here’s the wildest twist: Newspapers may have exaggerated the nationwide panic to make their biggest competitor, RADIO, look irresponsible! One fictional invasion. Real fear. And a media frenzy that became part of American history.

He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly stealing a poster. He would never recover from what happened next. This one always gets me when I watch it. March 16, 2016. Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old American college student, stood before a North Korean court. His trial lasted just ONE HOUR. He was accused of stealing a political propaganda poster from his hotel. In a government-arranged confession, he broke down in tears and begged for forgiveness. The judge sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor. This original news report captures the moment the sentence was announced, when there was still hope that diplomatic negotiations could bring him home. After 17 months in North Korean custody, Otto was finally returned to the United States on June 13, 2017. He had suffered catastrophic brain damage and was unresponsive. Six days later, he died. He was just 22 years old. He never got to tell the world what happened to him inside that prison.