- Joined
- Sep 17, 2001
- Messages
- 2,011
The "Chanell 4's 100 Scariest Moments" thread left me thinking about something I've always been a little skeptical about. Whether the Lumiere Brother's train pulling into a station (there's a strikingly similar story about US cinema, except it's a cowboy with a six-shooter pointing it at the camera) ["people screamed, women fainted!"], Orson Welle's War of the Worlds broadcast ["millions of people freaked out! There was mayhem in the streets!"] or every last blessed time there's a solar eclipse ["in days past the simple natives were terrified that the sun would never come back'] we all sort of chuckle at how sophisticated we are now that we understand these things. There are undoubtedly other examples.
How many of these things have what one might call reasonable documentation attatched to them. I see the same stories repeated over and over, but precious little source material provided as a footnote. I mean, I'm not doubting that a few people (same with a bright meteor) called the cops when listening not-too-carefully to Welle's radio program, but these really strike me as being overblown to the degree, if any, they actually took place.
Anybody?
How many of these things have what one might call reasonable documentation attatched to them. I see the same stories repeated over and over, but precious little source material provided as a footnote. I mean, I'm not doubting that a few people (same with a bright meteor) called the cops when listening not-too-carefully to Welle's radio program, but these really strike me as being overblown to the degree, if any, they actually took place.
Anybody?