The Garden State — which lies entirely within the combined statistical areas of New York City and Philadelphia — is the second-wealthiest U.S. state by median household income and home to more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere else in the world.

But it remains a mixed bag. Springsteen on one side and the cast from Jersey Shore on the other.

But Jersey can get attention in ways no other place can. One example came on Oct. 30, 1938, when the nation panicked because of a radio broadcast depicting an alien invasion in tiny Grover’s Mill, an unincorporated community not far from the campus of Princeton University.

Of course, the CBS broadcast of the Martian takeover was adapted from the H.G. Wells’ novel “War of the Worlds” and narrated by Orson Welles.

News reports of the day detailed everything from widespread panic and even suicides. Welles was publicly taken to task, despite numerous announcements regarding the ficticious account.

Researchers would later claim that the reports of the day were erroneous and that there was no national outcry. Sounds remarkably similar to today.