BOGOTA, Colombia - When the green men from Mars landed in the center of Cotocollao, Ecuador, 65 years ago, a stunned nation listened in. One of the country's most famous radio hosts was turned to dust by a death-ray. Firefighters and police rushed to the small village to face the aliens.

The radio announcer was still alive, in fact. But by the end of the night, at least six others would be dead as furious mobs discovered they had fallen for a stunt.

When Orson Welles produced his version of "The War of the Worlds" in 1938, it generated a firestorm in the United States. Thousands of people believed the realistic radio show that described an alien invasion in New Jersey. The program was based on H.G. Wells' famous novel.

The program spread throughout Latin America, where radio shows tried to copy it.

Broadcasts Blamed For Panic

In 1944, in Chile, a version of the radio show was blamed for panicking thousands of people. One man died of a heart attack.

But in the tiny nation of Ecuador, the stunt was pulled off so convincingly that even the authorities seem to have fallen for the story.

Jorge Ribadeneira was 19 when Radio Quito staged its fake alien attack. It was Saturday night, and the station interrupted its broadcast to announce that an enormous spaceship had crashed in Cotocollao, which was located north of Quito, the capital.

Moments later, Leonardo Paez was rushed to the scene. He was one of Quito's best known radio personalities. As Paez broadcast "live" from Cotocollao, a long "green arm" emerged from the alien ship, and Paez was fried by a bolt of light.

The radio reported that the alien clash with the armed forces might release a toxic cloud. People in Quito panicked and tried to escape the city.

"There were people running around all over the streets and the army and police were heading toward Cotocollao," said Ribadeneira, now 83.

A Crowd Enraged

The original "War of the Worlds" script had been translated into Spanish for Chilean broadcasters. Later, Eduardo Alcaraz took the Chilean script to Ecuador and there he found Paez.

Paez was a poet, playwright, reporter, radio actor and songwriter who composed some of Ecuador's most famous music.

Paez received much of the blame for the tragedy. He was accused of creating panic by planting stories in the local newspaper and failing to warn the audience that the show was fake.

"There are so many stories about him, but most of them are just legends," said Ximena Paez, 63, the broadcaster's daughter.

What is known is that on the night of Feb. 12, 1949, the city was seized by panic as the show kept upping the stakes. Radio Quito patched in other broadcasters who were also "reporting" the arrival of alien ships. Police and firefighters were sent to Cotocollao.

The radio station soon realized that it had gone too far. But, when it shut down the show and tried to reassure the audience it was fake, it only enraged the crowd. A mob surrounded the radio station in Quito and set it ablaze.

"We saw an enormous fire," remembers Ribadeneira. "And we could hear the announcer, whose name was Luis Beltran, calling for help. He was saying 'Please let the firefighters through,' but the people wouldn't let them pass."

Other reports say that the police couldn't respond because they were in Cotocollao.

"People Died"

Ximena Paez said her father believed that police didn't react because they were embarrassed over having fallen for the trick. Paez, Alcaraz and Beltran survived. But at least six people died, including Paez's girlfriend, says Ribadeneira. He wrote a brief history of the event.

For Orson Welles, "The War of the Worlds" was a turning point. The event turned him into an international sensation. He spun his fame into a movie career that included the making of the classic "Citizen Kane."

The outcome for Alcaraz and Paez is more complicated. Ecuador investigated the event, so Alcaraz fled to Mexico. He stayed there until his death, says Ribadeneira and others.

Paez's daughter said that after going into hiding for about three months, Paez was found to be innocent. He worked for six more years in Ecuador, winning national theater awards. In 1955 he moved to Venezuela and died there in 1991.

Ximena said "The War of the Worlds" was a bittersweet memory for him.

"He was proud of it because it was such a good artistic production that people believed it," she said. "But it was a tragedy because people died."