Editing Extraterrestrial UFO hypothesis (section)

===Early science fiction===
[[H. G. Wells]], ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'', published April 1897,<ref>{{cite web |date=April 1897 |title=The War of the Worlds H.G. Wells |url=https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/cosmopolitan-april-1897-first-ptg-war-1473079638 |website=www.worthpoint.com |trans-title= |format= |magazine= |language= |location=[[Irvington, New York|Irvington-on-the-Hudson]] |publisher=John Brisben Walker [[Cosmopolitan (magazine)#History|The Cosmopolitan Press]] |access-date=3 May 2025 |via=blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2022/12/h-g-wells-fighters-from-mars/: M. Queen |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250503082759/https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/cosmopolitan-april-1897-first-ptg-war-1473079638 |archive-date=2025-05-03}}</ref> is a story of alien invasion by craft from Mars.<ref>{{cite web|author=James Welsh|url=http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/135/the-war-of-the-worlds/|website=etc.usf.edu|title=Lit2Go|publisher=Florida Center for Instructional Technology,  College of Education, [[University of South Florida]]|access-date=3 May 2025|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160913032938/http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/135/the-war-of-the-worlds/|archive-date=13 September 2016}}</ref> From the 1920s, the idea of alien visitation in space ships was commonplace in popular comic strips and radio and movie serials, such as [[Buck Rogers]] and [[Flash Gordon]]. In particular, the Flash Gordon serials have the Earth being attacked from space by alien meteors, ray beams, and biological weapons. In 1938, a radio broadcast version of ''[[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)|The War of the Worlds]]'' by [[Orson Welles]], using a contemporary setting for H.&nbsp;G. Wells' Martian invasion, created some public panic in the United States.