1. On October 30, 1938, the infamous radio broadcast of "The War of the Worlds" by Orson Welles caused panic in parts of Alabama, as listeners believed the fictional story of a Martian invasion to be true.

2. In 1953, the Alabama State Legislature officially designated the Pecan as the official state nut on October 30, recognizing the importance of the crop to the state's economy.

3. On October 30, 1974, Alabama Governor George Wallace was shot and paralyzed while campaigning for President in Maryland. The assassination attempt ultimately ended his political career.

4. The University of Alabama football team has played several important games on October 30, including a victory over Tennessee in 1943 and a defeat of LSU in 2010.

5. In 2002, voters in Birmingham, Alabama approved a $1.2 billion plan to build a new airport on October 30, despite concerns about the environmental impact and cost of the project. The Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport later opened in 2011.