Thursday, August 29, 2013

A letter I received from a resident who purchased a print of my War Of The Worlds painting that I created, and who lived in the home next to the Mill. He lived in the home with the famous water tower that some say was shot at by locals in Grovers Mill NJ thinking it was a Martian after listening to the broadcast on the radio.

Dear Mr. Hummel, I would like to order two prints as gifts for my now grown children of the "Attack On Grovers Mill" from your original mural that hangs at the Grovers Mill Cafe. My family lived in the 18th century farmhouse in Grovers Mill, N.J. next to the red barn featured in your painting for 25 years beginning in 1963. Our one acre property featured a well topped by a 50 ft high water tower with a large wooden barrel near the top, beneath the metal blades that turned with the wind drawing water up into the barrel. This tower is depicted in your beautiful and visually exciting picture that you created and is shown at the front of our property facing the pond. During the tumult caused by the Orson Wells 1938 radio broadcast---the War of the Worlds---local farmers not realizing the program was a dramatic reenactment of the book, took it as breaking news and raced around in cars or on foot intending to flee the area. Some, it was said, fired their shotguns in the direction of the tower thinking it was one of the alien space ships. In the 70s, one of my sons climed the small ladder attached to the tower and examined the wooden barrel. He reported finding several small pellet holes. The climb was too high for any of the rest of the family to verify. Believe it or not.! The Bruno Family

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