Spooked: Chapters 8–11

by Gail Jarrow
In 1938, Orson Welles performed a radio version of H.G. Wells's science fiction novel The War of the Worlds — and inadvertently sparked panic among listeners who believed they were tuned in to a real news broadcast about an alien invasion. This award-winning book tells the story behind the broadcast and explores the effects of false information in the media.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–2, Chapters 3–4, Chapters 5–7, Chapters 8–11, Dear Mr. Welles–Chapter 12, Dear FCC–Hoaxes
30 words 111 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. casualty
    someone injured or killed in a military engagement
    As the broadcast continued, the inquiries became more fearful and mentioned Martian heat-ray attacks, explosions, and mass casualties.
  2. fraternity
    a social club for male undergraduates
    In Oregon, university fraternity brothers gathered around a radio, "spellbound” and "scared to death.”
  3. dire
    fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless
    As John listened, the situation became more dire. The country was in danger.
  4. dismay
    fear resulting from the awareness of danger
    Remembering the Lindbergh kidnapping and the Hindenburg catastrophe, she thought with dismay, “So much has happened in N.J.”
  5. reluctantly
    with a certain degree of unwillingness
    Reluctantly, Taylor agreed to hold off until the station break.
  6. artillery
    large but transportable armament
    The audience is patched in to the direct reports from a field artillery battery in New Jersey’s Watchung Mountains.
  7. engagement
    a hostile meeting of opposing military forces
    Then a ham-radio operator from Bayonne, New Jersey, breaks the silence: "Eight army bombers in engagement with enemy tripod machines....Engines incapacitated by heat ray. All crashed.”
  8. incapacitated
    lacking in or deprived of strength or power
    Then a ham-radio operator from Bayonne, New Jersey, breaks the silence: "Eight army bombers in engagement with enemy tripod machines....Engines incapacitated by heat ray. All crashed.”
  9. toll
    ring slowly
    In the background, church bells toll, warning the public to evacuate because the Martians are coming.
  10. somber
    serious and gloomy in character
    Herrmann’s orchestra plays somber music.
  11. evade
    escape, either physically or mentally
    He moves north, trying to evade the tripods.
  12. unnerve
    disturb the composure of
    As the newsflashes continued, she became more unnerved.
  13. petrify
    cause to become stunned or immobile, as with fear or awe
    Petrified, George’s wife cried, "I bet thats [sic] something from Germany.”
  14. dramatization
    a representation intended for performance
    When they learned it had been a dramatization, the family was thankful.
  15. unhinged
    affected or as if affected with madness or insanity
    Two of their friends decided to play a trick on the unhinged group.
  16. harrowing
    causing extreme distress
    In Theodore’s words, they were all “very much irritated by the harrowing experience.”
  17. inundate
    overwhelm or fill quickly beyond capacity
    For two hours—even after the program ended—the department was inundated with about two thousand calls.
  18. clamor
    make loud demands
    Then CBS officials allowed in the reporters who had been clamoring to interview the two men.
  19. fictitious
    formed or conceived by the imagination
    CBS continued making on-air announcements until midnight, assuring listeners that there had not been a Martian invasion and that the program was "entirely fictitious.”
  20. indignant
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    But according to the network, their telephone switchboards stayed "jammed with indignant listeners, some of them threatening to sue.”
  21. perplexed
    full of difficulty or confusion or bewilderment
    A bold headline ran across the front page: "Nation in Panic from Martian Radio Broadcast.” Underneath was a photograph of a perplexed Orson Welles.
  22. hysteria
    excessive or uncontrollable fear
    That Monday morning, the world awoke to news about "the wave of mass hysteria that swept the United States from coast to coast.”
  23. borough
    one of the administrative divisions of a large city
    A man phoned his local police station in the Bronx, a New York City borough, certain the invaders were bombing New Jersey because he saw the smoke from his roof.
  24. sensational
    causing intense interest, curiosity, or emotion
    The press had good reason to play up the event. Sensational stories sell newspapers.
  25. embellish
    add details to
    Although newspapers had embellished incidents and inflated the numbers of panicked people, their stories weren’t totally wrong.
  26. mesmerized
    having your attention fixated as though witchcraft
    Mesmerized by the astonishing news on CBS, they didn’t go back to Charlie McCarthy.
  27. retraction
    a disavowal or taking back of a previous assertion
    He and Wells were "deeply concerned” and wanted a retraction from CBS and Orson Welles.
  28. furrow
    make or become wrinkled or creased
    With furrowed brow, Welles explained that since the broadcast, he hadn’t read the newspapers or slept much.
  29. bewilderment
    confusion resulting from failure to understand
    He expressed bewilderment that anyone believed the broadcast was a real news event.
  30. profound
    far-reaching and thoroughgoing in effect
    “It came rather as a great surprise to us that a story...,” Welles gazed directly into the newsreel camera, "the original for so many succeeding comic strips and adventure stories and novels about a mythical invasion by monsters from the planet Mars, should have had so profound an effect upon radio listeners.”
Created on Wed May 01 13:28:00 EDT 2019 (updated Wed May 01 13:53:00 EDT 2019)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.