My mom, being from NJ, and having been born in 1925
remembered it from her childhood, and recounted it
as not that big-a-deal as the media made it out to be.

She was the youngest of 4 sisters living with their
parents in Jersey City at the time, She and her
sisters had gone to the movies that evening and
was unaware of any hullabaloo until they'd left the
theater and were walking home.

A lot of people were milling around on the sidewalks
many of them having heard parts of the broadcast,
they came out to discuss it with their neighbors
to see if anyone knew more about exactly what was
going on...

The girls kinda figured out what it was all about,
and rushed home to their parents in a panic, only
to be met by my granddad that said don't be silly,
it was only a radio play. He said they were being
ridiculous, since according to the radio, the
Martians were supposed to be right where they
lived.. and they OBVIOUSLY Were NOT!

Fast forward to 2005:
IMDb War of the Worlds
with Tom cruise (2005)

Paulette lives exactly 7 Blocks from the Church in front
of which the Martians emerge from underground.
In reality, it's the same church...which has the tower,
but in the movie they'd ADDED a Steeple... that snaps-off
in a dramatic fashion just for effect and hits the ground.

In the dialog .. there's a tremor.. and 1 cop says to the
other, "Is that The PATH Train?"
On the Google map, you can see that The PATH Station is
several blocks to the South.

In the description, Tom Cruise is said to be "A Dock Worker
in a New Jersey Port" yeah... he's a crane operator that
unloads the cargo containers in Port Newark.

Google Maps
Davis Memorial Methodist Church
Click the STREET VIEW Guy, and turn him around facing
the other way, and there's the church...
the streets (Harrison Ave & Frank E Rogers Blvd) are the
streets everyone was running down as the Tripods blew
them to powder.


YouTube
War of the Worlds (Official Trailer)


LOL ANYWHO..
...all that just to say...
it's weird seeing a spot I'd walked passed so many times
walking with Paulette to the PATH Station to get to NYCity.
seeing it getting disintergrated on TV is weirder still.

Then again..
How many times has lanovami seen Godzilla stroll thru Tokyo?