Weird Los Angeles: The Night They Came

Paranoia was rife in Los Angeles County during the Second World War. Military Aircraft were constantly on the defense from the German's as well as the Japanese after the Pearl Harbor assaults, so rumor that another foreign invasion was on the horizon caused mass hysteria.

At 2:25 on the morning of February 25, 1942 thousands of residents didn't wake to the morning glare, but to the wail of sirens, warning that an attack on Southern California was in progress. Strange lights had been seen in the skies over Los Angeles and intelligence officials were under the firm belief that Hollywood, Long Beach and significant defense points at Santa Monica were to be targeted by an enemy they couldn't identify.

As the morning shifted into the next tense hour, AA batteries were fired at the peculiar glowing objects in the sky, lighting the Heavens, which did not cease until 4:14 a.m. The lights continued to buzz the skies of Los Angeles, causing three people to die of heart attacks and property in the area to be blitzed...but whether this obliteration was down to the odd lights we'll never know.