Grovers Mill is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

located within West Windsor Township, in Mercer County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

History

The community was made famous in

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

' 1938 radio broadcast of ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...

,'' where it was depicted as the first landing site of a

Martian Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pr ...

invasion, on October 30 of that year. In October 2019, the Historical Society of West Windsor started an online museum exploring the history of West Windsor - including that of Grovers Mill.

In popular culture

There have been numerous references in fiction, including ''

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension ''The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension'', often shortened to ''Buckaroo Banzai'', is a 1984 American science fiction film produced and directed by W. D. Richter and written by Earl Mac Rauch. It stars Peter Weller in the ti ...

'', the ''

Wild Cards ''Wild Cards'' is a series of science fiction superhero shared universe anthologies, mosaic novels, and solo novels. They are written by a collection of more than forty authors (referred to as the "Wild Cards Trust") and are edited by George R. ...

'' book series, and a town called Miller's Grove in ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation ...

'' episode "

War of the Coprophages "War of the Coprophages" is the twelfth episode of the third season of the science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. It premiered on the Fox network on January 5, 1996. It was written by Darin Morgan, and directed by Kim Manners. The epis ...

". In issue 11 of DC Comics' ''The Shadow Strikes'' (1989),

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...

teams up with a radio announcer named Grover Mills, a character based on the young

, who has been impersonating The Shadow on the radio. Welles played the Shadow on radio prior to the ''War of the Worlds'' broadcast. An episode of the ''War of the Worlds'' TV series takes place in Grovers Mill on the 50th anniversary of the Welles radio drama, and expands on the town's ties to the infamous broadcast. An episode of the show '' Ben 10: Alien Force'' also takes place in a farm called Grovers Mill. The video game '' Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions'' has Grovers Mill as the location where the villain Hammerhead finds a fragment of the Tablet of Order and Chaos. ''Grovers Mill'' is also a 2006 film shot in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Canada. 2018 saw the release of the black comedy audio series ''Grovers Mill'', a true-crime satire about a forensic psychic investigating the moon landing conspiracy.

References

External links

Mars Attacks! 75 years ago, 'War of the Worlds' broadcast put nation in a panic
The War of the Worlds West Windsor, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in Mercer County, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in New Jersey {{MercerCountyNJ-geo-stub