Yes eighty years ago, War of the Worlds Broadcast. It was done well enough that some people believed it was true. Here is the complete broadcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs0K4ApWl4g

The moral of the story is not to believe doom-mongering just because you hear it from the pulpit, the radio or television. We have more recent examples and are still paying for the consequences.

While I partially agree with you (we do tend to believe what we want to believe regardless of the facts), I should point out that at the time of the original broadcast, there were no radios in cars and no portable radios. In other words, those who fled their homes because of the "Martian invasion" had no way of hearing the end of the story once they jumped into their cars and headed for cover.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_audio

In 1904, well before commercially viable technology for mobile radio was in place, American inventor and self-described "Father of Radio" Lee de Forest demonstrated a car radio at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.[1]

Around 1920, vacuum tube technology had matured to the point where the availability of radio receivers made radio broadcasting viable.[2] A technical challenge was that the vacuum tubes in the radio receivers required 50 to 250 volt direct current, but car batteries ran at 6V. Voltage was stepped up with a vibrator that provided a pulsating DC which could be converted to a higher voltage with a transformer, rectified, and filtered to create higher-voltage DC.

In 1924, Kelly's Motors in NSW, Australia, installed its first car radio.[3][4][5]

In 1930, the American Galvin Manufacturing Corporation marketed a Motorola-branded radio receiver for $130.[6] It was expensive: the contemporary Ford Model A cost $540. A Plymouth sedan, "wired for Philco Transitone radio without extra cost," was advertised in Ladies' Home Journal in 1931. In 1932 in Germany the Blaupunkt AS 5 medium wave and longwave radio was marketed for 465 Reichsmark, about one third of the price of a small car. Because it took nearly 10 litres of space, it could not be located near the driver, and was operated via a steering wheel remote control.[7] In 1933 Crossley Motors offered a factory fitted car radio for £35.[8] By the late 1930s, push button AM radios were considered a standard feature. In 1946, there were an estimated 9 million AM car radios in use.[9]

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...though it's clear from the source that car radios, while available, were not widespread in the U.S. at the time of the first airing of "War Of The Worlds."

“2X2L calling CQ...2X2L calling CQ...2X2L calling CQ New York... Isn’t there anyone on the air? Isn’t there anyone on the air? Isn’t there anyone...? 2X2L...”


Listen every year on the night before Halloween :0)