Cliff Smith wrote:

It has often been suggested that if extraterrestrials ever did make a
well-publicised arrival on Earth, the public reaction would be a mass panic
resulting in total anarchy and thousands of deaths. Conspiracy theorists
claim that this is one the reasons that the government keeps the supposed
"alien presence" top secret. The case usually quoted as an example is the
famous 1938 Orson Wells broadcast of War of the Worlds, which supposedly
caused a million people to take to the streets in fear and panic.
However, it seems that reports of the 1938 panic were, to put it mildly,
somewhat exaggerated. Recent studies have found that the initial reports of
rioting crowds were mostly created by the mass media, and that in fact only
a handful of people in a couple of neighbourhoods actually took any action
at all. Subsequent broadcasts of the play caused disturbances in a couple of
South American countries in the 1940s, but at least one of those was a crowd
that burned down the radio station that was responsible for the broadcast.

So my question is this: is there actually any evidence at all to suggest
that the public at large really would panic if aliens showed up? Have there
been any studies carried out that support this notion?
Most people I know would welcome the arrival of extraterrestrials. I know I
would - unless they announced their arrival by blowing up the White House,
or were carrying a book called 'To Serve Man'...

More info:
http://tinyurl.com/gre8
http://tinyurl.com/grgi
http://tinyurl.com/grgm

I want one for a hunting trophy. I would put it on the wall next to the Jackelope.