There is an online-edition of the book by H.G.Wells, but I actually wanted to show you the way to this site which deals with the nation-wide panic which was caused by the broadcast of Orson Welles' radio-adaption in 1938. People were running away because they thought the Martians were coming to get them. "Everyone in my house was agitated by the press", some guy said to the reporters.

The site has the original newsclips from the New York Times. Here's another transcript which is easier to read. And here's another good article on the hoax at greatnorthernaudio.com.

You can probably find the original recording as an MP3 in some "Old Time Radio"-section on the web (contact me if you can't find it, I got it) or you can order a copy at amazon or at Radio Spirits

WAV-Files of the original-recording war-of-the-worlds.org has a guide to audio-streams on the web Odd, a similar story happened in Ecuador in 1949.