When unidentified flying objects, supposedly identified as drones, appeared over New Jersey, many people asked “Why there?” Pundits advanced various theories. Many rich New Yorkers lived there. Many media executives lived there. It was close to New York, but the airspace was not so restricted as New York City. New Yorkers were perhaps more trigger happy since 9/11. And so on. But none of these theories was convincing.

But then an idea occurred to me. The Orson Welles radio drama “War of the Worlds” was set in New Jersey. The 1938 science fiction drama described a terrifying invasion by hostile space aliens. Some people tuned in after the introduction, and were not aware the “news reports” were fictitious. A panic resulted.

The drama was based on a novel of the same name by H.G. Wells (note similar names). It was set in Great Britain. Later films of the same name were screened, the 1953 version set in California and the 2005 version in Boston. But the 1938 radio show, and the resulting panic, fixed New Jersey in people’s minds as associated with alien invasions.

Is it conceivable that the 1938 radio show, traveling at the speed of light, recently reached an alien planet or ship? The aliens thought,”Well (pun intended), this appears to be a good place to land. It sent the local creatures into an ineffectual panic.”

Just an amusing thought.