My favourite is the story that there was mass panic over a radio broadcast of War of the Worlds where everyone thought a real alien invasion was happening. I heard this story as a kid and really thought this was a cruel prank played by the radio station.
In reality, they made it clear at the beginning of the broadcast, and twice during, that it was fictional. Not that many people were listening and most of the people who were, were aware it wasn’t real. A few idiots freaked out and it somehow turned into a story of mass panic. It was propaganda by newspapers to discredit radio.
I remember hearing about it back in the 70’s. Mentioned to my dad and he said he heard about the invasion part (most people did not hear the warning part at beginning of the show as they tuned in late). My dad and his 2 brothers took off for a week to the bush (they lived in northern Ontario) saying let’s see what’s happening after that week. Take the story as you wish, could have been true or they liked spinning stories. Was easy to believe as when they were younger they did go to the bush fairly often.