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Authors: Thomas White
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panther were allegedly caught in a trap a day or two later, but they escaped again.
The dead panther attracted substantial attention from naturalists, who debated the possibility of the animalâs survival after so much time. There was some speculation that the animals may have escaped from a circus performerâs farm just over the border in Ohio, but no definite conclusions were reached. At least one wildlife biologist who examined the case in the 1980s thought that the panther showed some signs of domestication. Occasional panther sightings are still reported throughout Pennsylvania and neighboring states, though no new specimens have been captured.
War of the Worlds CAUSED P ENNSYLVANIA P ANIC
The radio dramatization of War of the Worlds that aired on October 30, 1938, is famous for the panic it caused around the country and especially on the East Coast. Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre group decided to set their version of the story in modern times as opposed to nineteenth-century England, as in the original novel. They selected the small town of Groverâs Mill, New Jersey, to be the invading Martiansâ landing point. Part of the story was told as if it were a series of news reports, so when some listeners tuned in late, they believed that the invasion was real. The reports detailed the defeat of U.S. military forces by the Martians, as well as the arrival and movement of more of the alien invaders.
While the level of the panic was certainly exaggerated by the press, there were many cases of people, some in Pennsylvania, reacting to the broadcast as if it were real. Several students from New York and New Jersey who were studying at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia packed their bags and prepared to hurry home to be with their relatives. City hall and the police were bombarded with calls from anxious people trying to determine the truth.
In Pittsburgh, a man reportedly came home to find his wife ready to drink some type of poison. She had heard the broadcast and the reports of the heat rays that were incinerating anyone in their path. She screamed, âI would rather die like this than like that!â Her husband was able to calm her down. Not far away in Uniontown, a group of women playing cards dropped to their knees and began praying like many others would before they realized the broadcast was fiction.
The Scranton area also had incidents. In the nearby town of Jessup, a dozen families grabbed their most important possessions and prepared to flee. Several men working the evening shifts at various jobs received phone calls from their wives telling them to hurry home. One man stormed into a newspaper office and demanded to know if the Army Reserves had been called out.
One Pennsylvania man was driving back toward the state from the west with his two daughters when they heard the broadcast. Both girls fainted during the fake news reports. He stopped in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to determine if the Martians were really moving into Pennsylvania.
C IRCUS T ENT C OLLAPSED AND B URNED
John Robinsonâs Circus was in Ridgeway, Elk County, on May 23, 1902. During the show, a powerful storm developed with heavy rains and strong winds. Partway into the performance, the wind collapsed the main tent and several others. As the crowd was pinned under the tent, it caught fire. A panic ensued as all the circus-goers fled from the burning tent out into the powerful storm. Luckily, the rain helped extinguish the fire. No one was killed, but almost everyone sustained minor injuries.
T HE H ORNED S KULL
A human skull with a pair of two-inch horns was discovered during an excavation by archaeologists in Syre, Bradford County, during the 1880s. State historian Dr. G.P. Donehoo and A.B. Skinner of the American Investigating Museum in Philadelphia were in charge of the dig. The skull was found in a burial mound with the rest of its seven-foot-long skeleton. The burial was believed to date to
The dead panther attracted substantial attention from naturalists, who debated the possibility of the animalâs survival after so much time. There was some speculation that the animals may have escaped from a circus performerâs farm just over the border in Ohio, but no definite conclusions were reached. At least one wildlife biologist who examined the case in the 1980s thought that the panther showed some signs of domestication. Occasional panther sightings are still reported throughout Pennsylvania and neighboring states, though no new specimens have been captured.
War of the Worlds CAUSED P ENNSYLVANIA P ANIC
The radio dramatization of War of the Worlds that aired on October 30, 1938, is famous for the panic it caused around the country and especially on the East Coast. Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre group decided to set their version of the story in modern times as opposed to nineteenth-century England, as in the original novel. They selected the small town of Groverâs Mill, New Jersey, to be the invading Martiansâ landing point. Part of the story was told as if it were a series of news reports, so when some listeners tuned in late, they believed that the invasion was real. The reports detailed the defeat of U.S. military forces by the Martians, as well as the arrival and movement of more of the alien invaders.
While the level of the panic was certainly exaggerated by the press, there were many cases of people, some in Pennsylvania, reacting to the broadcast as if it were real. Several students from New York and New Jersey who were studying at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia packed their bags and prepared to hurry home to be with their relatives. City hall and the police were bombarded with calls from anxious people trying to determine the truth.
In Pittsburgh, a man reportedly came home to find his wife ready to drink some type of poison. She had heard the broadcast and the reports of the heat rays that were incinerating anyone in their path. She screamed, âI would rather die like this than like that!â Her husband was able to calm her down. Not far away in Uniontown, a group of women playing cards dropped to their knees and began praying like many others would before they realized the broadcast was fiction.
The Scranton area also had incidents. In the nearby town of Jessup, a dozen families grabbed their most important possessions and prepared to flee. Several men working the evening shifts at various jobs received phone calls from their wives telling them to hurry home. One man stormed into a newspaper office and demanded to know if the Army Reserves had been called out.
One Pennsylvania man was driving back toward the state from the west with his two daughters when they heard the broadcast. Both girls fainted during the fake news reports. He stopped in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to determine if the Martians were really moving into Pennsylvania.
C IRCUS T ENT C OLLAPSED AND B URNED
John Robinsonâs Circus was in Ridgeway, Elk County, on May 23, 1902. During the show, a powerful storm developed with heavy rains and strong winds. Partway into the performance, the wind collapsed the main tent and several others. As the crowd was pinned under the tent, it caught fire. A panic ensued as all the circus-goers fled from the burning tent out into the powerful storm. Luckily, the rain helped extinguish the fire. No one was killed, but almost everyone sustained minor injuries.
T HE H ORNED S KULL
A human skull with a pair of two-inch horns was discovered during an excavation by archaeologists in Syre, Bradford County, during the 1880s. State historian Dr. G.P. Donehoo and A.B. Skinner of the American Investigating Museum in Philadelphia were in charge of the dig. The skull was found in a burial mound with the rest of its seven-foot-long skeleton. The burial was believed to date to
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