The Pope versus the Martians!

Hi again, so the summer ended and so did my internship, but in the interest of ultimately working for the WWHPS, I've decided to keep this blog up and running for any interested readers. Right now I'm back in New York and going to school, and man is it good to  be back and taking classes again. Funny how you reach a certain age and all the things you thought were boring as a kid become fun again.

I don't have access to the WWHPS's physical archives anymore, but no one changed the password for the digital archives that someone so thoughtfully put online and as a result, I can still pull things to put up. Objectively, by the time I graduate I can put all this on my resume; fingers crossed. Perhaps tie it into my social media and networking course? If you have any thoughts just leave em in the comments section.

Anyhow, without further rambling on my part, here is the first of a continued series of historical updates: The Papacy and the Martians. I mean, in all the terror and the havoc of the war, it was inevitable that many  would turn to the Church for guidance and hope. Also, as far the church was concerned, the only life in all the universe existed on planet earth (Got a Karl Sagan feel to it) and so it has to be expected that the Pope should have something to say about it.

 Pope Leo XIII

And here it is, an article about Pope Leo XIII's address to all Catholics everywhere, explaining how to make sense of the Martian invaders:

So yeah, it was kind of a big deal for the pope to condemn an entire species and call his flock to war. Being considered a holy cause placed cast the War of the Worlds in a whole different light. Fast-forward to more recent times, and you get this:

This was from a newspaper published in 2001, and it shows just how far we've come since those terrible days, how much the wounds have, in time, begun to heal.

Pope John Paul II

Martians, Nazis, and Beer (but seriously, its got Nazis)

Hello everyone! So due to eh, creative differences, I haven't been allowed near the WWHPS blog for a while. Apparently someone WAS reading this at the office so, sorry about that. Anyways though, while I was away they had me digging around in the archives to find some documents for an upcoming exhibition and I made a pretty cool discovery; a newspaper clipping from 1923 (same year as the train attack) about the infamous Beer Hall Putsch in Germany. It was the first time the world had heard of "Adolf Hitler."

Of course everyone knows about Hitler and the notorious segregation of Munich that led to his ultimate downfall, but seeing this is like a ghost from the past back when he was just another revolutionary instead of, you know, a monster. Fed up with the national government, Hitler believed he and his cronies could run things more smoothly and people wanted to believe it. Little did they know.

Here's the article:

Thought you guys might find that interesting! Stay tuned, you never know what I'll dig up next in this crazy place. Oh! Also some REALLY exciting news, apparently the Martian Ambassador is coming in May; something about a new trade deal so that should be pretty interesting!

Dear Tesla, I Love You. Signed, Planet Earth (also a really cool exhibit)

Hi everybody! Week two of the blog is finally here! (I couldn't wait, could you?) So, like I said last week, DO NOT forget to go (if you can) to the War of the Worlds exhibit at the Smithsonian here in D.C. It's going to be awesome; I'd know because I helped set it up! And here's the best part: the centerpiece of the whole thing is nothing less than an ACTUAL intact Martian Tripod that saw real combat during the war!

And just so you know, I'm sort of not supposed to mention too many details about the exhibit, but we're also going to be showcasing the first Tesla Cannon ever used in battle! (I'm pretty sure I brought it up last time actually) The reason I mention it again is first, this stuff is right out of the history books; and second, I actually dug up an old article the WWHPS had copied when I was doing research for the museum's display card and it's all about this thing!

According to the date of the article, the original cannon is almost a hundred years old! It was designed to overload the Martian's defense shields so that artillery and small arms fire could be more effective against them. Anyway it was in service until 1916 all up and down the Californian front. Impressive considering it was just a prototype; I mean it had something like 27 assisted kills in all that time! Thing's a beast! Funny too how it was the best one ever made; they started downsizing pretty quickly after that for the sake of expense.

We're actually lucky this one survived at all, most outdated or defunct technology at the time was recycled to conserve resources but this baby was preserved for posterity! Until twenty years later that is...people sort of stopped caring. But it was kept safe in a warehouse by a wealthy private benefactor who gave it back to the people in the mid-seventies, and ever since then it's been with us (the WWHPS)!

Here's the article:

Alright, that's all there is this time! On behalf of myself and the people here at the WWHPS, thanks for reading. The Smithsonian exhibit started yesterday! If you you're in the area check it out, it's open until March 1st, and I promise you'll enjoy it. Tune in next week for more awesomeness! I've got some pretty good stuff lined up for ya!

WINtern (also a train attacked by martians)

Hey everybody! Well it's been a busy week moving into my new apartment in D.C. In the middle of winter no less. So I'm an intern now, working with the WWHPS! Ok, so...not immediately clear what that is maybe? Why is this important? Why should I care?

WWHPS stands for the "War of the Worlds Historical Preservation Society" That means maybe, just maybe, I get to meet a real, live Martian! (childhood dream). But more importantly, this is the place where everything that's happened since the beginning of the war up until now gets stored! We're talking original documents, Tesla machines, and left over martian junk that's over a hundred years old! I'm not really allowed to see the most important stuff yet (figures, because it's also the coolest). But all good things in time. (So excited to be here!!!)

Ok, so I was asked by my boss to put together this blog because everybody here is, well, kinda...not internet literate. Or tech literate for that matter, which I kinda think is ironic (don't worry none of them can actually access this to read it or anything). So I've got pretty much complete directional freedom as long as I throw in an old article or some letter written by a general a hundred years ago.

Speaking of which, did you know that in the early 20th Century, when the war was in full swing, almost all train lines were still above ground (by the 30s that was different) because it was too expensive otherwise? Martians were always attacking them and repair crews would have to go out and fix them with some help from the military. Every once in a while, a train would get attacked traveling between cities. I guess this happened in 1907 when a passenger train was heading from Munich to Berlin. It was pretty ugly:

It was apparently a really bid deal because this kind of thing kept happening, but nobody did anything about it for the longest time. The League of Nations, established only a few years earlier to deal with these kinds of problems, wasn't even really helping! A lot of governments at the time were really upset that most trains still only had machine guns to protect them, but a lot of Tesla tech hadn't even been invented yet so that really couldn't be helped. But I really shouldn't spoil the article, here it is:

 Well, that's all this week folks! On behalf of the WWHPS, thanks for reading!

And don't forget to visit the society's special showcase at the Smithsonian Museum going on from February 6th until March 1st! It's going to feature the very first Tesla cannon ever built, how freakin' cool is that?!