Top 10 Scariest Times TV Broadcasts Were Interrupted
#10: 2002 Falun Gong Hijackings
Falun Gong is an alternative spirituality movement that originated in China in the early 1990s. Led by Li Hongzhi, the new religious group has faced intense persecution from the Chinese government, which has since declared it a “heretical organization”. In 2002, state TV broadcasts were hijacked by members of the Falun Gong to air a clip of Hongzhi, with most reports stating the event lasted almost an hour. It was also accompanied by a film that accused the Chinese government of oppression. The film addressed the 2001 Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident involving some of their alleged members, which they claimed was staged by the government. These hijackings actually occurred multiple times throughout 2002, and resulted in the arrest and conviction of 15 members of the group.
#9: Al-Manar TV Broadcast Hijack
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The 2006 Lebanon War was a conflict primarily between Israeli Defense forces and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. As the war raged on in mid-2006, Israel launched physical and psychological warfare on the Hezbollah TV station Al-Manar. In addition to striking the station’s headquarters, they also intercepted their satellite transmission to broadcast messages of their own. One particularly terrifying video included images of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, with crosshairs on his face and a series of gunshots. This was followed by images of dead people meant to represent Hezbollah soldiers and a clip of Israeli forces raiding buildings in Lebanon. The war came to an end in August 2006 after a ceasefire was brokered by the UN.
#8: Art Bell & the Frantic Area 51 Caller
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As the host of the paranormal radio show “Coast to Coast AM,” Art Bell’s voice was heard in over 400 radio stations around the U.S. On September 11th 1997, Bell received a call from a distraught man claiming to be a former employee of the nearby Area 51. The caller then details a reported contact with aliens, and a conspiracy by the government to wipe out heavily populated areas. Suddenly, the call goes off and the show loses its transmission signal. This abrupt disconnection raised questions about possible interference from the government. Months later, another person phoned in claiming that he was the Area 51 caller, and that it was all a prank. But the authenticity of this claim is still disputed.
#7: “Mayday” Interruption
On January 3rd 2007, an episode of the Canadian docuseries “Mayday” was airing on Australia’s Seven Network when the audio feed was suddenly interrupted by a terrifying message. For about six minutes, a voice, in what appears to be an American accent, is heard saying “Jesus Christ, help us all Lord” repeatedly. A representative for the Seven Network refuted claims of a signal intrusion and chalked it up to a technical glitch. According to them, the audio was part of the episode and actually said “Jesus Christ, one of the Nazarenes”. It was later discovered that the audio came from an old videotaped broadcast from the Iraq War. However, it remains unclear how the disturbing clip made its way into the “Mayday” episode.
#6: Iranian State TV Hacked
The death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022 after her arrest by Iran’s morality police sparked nationwide protests calling for an end to the country’s regime, among other things. On October 8th 2022, some protesters took their cause to the airwaves when they apparently hacked into the live broadcast of the state-run TV channel. A group called Adalat Ali interrupted the feed to display a message against Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. In the clip, a target is placed on an image of Khamenei, along with statements that claim he has blood on his hands. It also contained pictures of Amini and three other women who lost their lives during the protests.
#5: Southern Television Broadcast Interruption
Could this be the work of aliens or just a hoax perpetrated by some mischievous humans? You be the judge. On November 26th 1977, an evening news broadcast on the UK’s Southern Television was hijacked and overridden by an unknown source. For approximately six minutes, a distorted voice claiming to be Vrillon, a “spokesperson” of the Ashtar Galactic Command, delivered a bizarre message. The cryptic figure warned humanity about the dangers of war and the importance of living together in peace and harmony. After the lengthy message was passed, the source terminated the transmission and all was back to normal. The UK’s Independent Broadcasting Authority has since labeled the incident a hoax, but the supposed perpetrator has never been identified.
#4: Kaluga Broadcast Intrusion
In the 1960s, two of the world’s most powerful nations came very close to nuclear war. Regarded as the Cuban Missile Crisis, this 13-day period in 1962 marked a tense confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the deployment of Soviet nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba. This served as the backdrop for a particularly dangerous broadcast intrusion in the city of Kaluga, Russia. In 1966, a radio broadcast was suddenly interrupted with news that the U.S. had engaged the Soviet Union in nuclear war. Judging by the volatility of that period, this easily could have set off a catastrophic conflict between both countries. Thankfully, authorities ultimately learned that it was a hoax carried out by an 18-year-old. However, other broadcast signal intrusions did continue in the Soviet Union over the next 2 decades.
#3: Zombie Apocalypse Warning
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In 2013, TV viewers in Montana must have thought that a zombie apocalypse was finally upon us. During the airing of an episode of “The Steve Wilkos Show” on the local station KRTV, a cryptic emergency alert began flashing across the screen. This was accompanied by a distorted voice warning viewers of a horde of dead bodies rising and attacking people. The station quickly followed this up with a statement confirming that they were hacked and that the claims were false. Similar hijacks occurred on other stations, including in other states like Michigan. In this case, however, the hacker responsible for the incidents was found and arrested by law enforcement.
#2: KNBC Hostage Situation
This terrifying incident occurred on August 19th, 1987 when a man named Gary Stollman entered the KNBC-TV studio in Los Angeles and took a journalist hostage. Stollman pointed what looked like a gun at consumer reporter David Horowitz and demanded that he read a handwritten statement live on air. At that moment, then-KNBC news director Tom Capra immediately cut off the broadcast feed. Once the statement had been read, Stollman revealed that he had been holding an air gun and placed it on the news desk. Stollman, who was said to have been suffering mental health problems, was swiftly arrested on felony charges. After about a seven-minute interruption, the broadcast was restored.
#1: The Max Headroom Incident
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This is sure to go down as the most disturbing hijacking in broadcast history. On November 22nd 1987, two local TV stations in the Chicago area were disrupted by an unknown individual wearing a Max Headroom mask and costume. The first interruption occurred for about 17 seconds, during the evening news on WGN-TV, before the normal broadcast was restored. Later that night, while an episode of “Doctor Who” aired on PBS affiliate WTTW, an individual in the same mask appeared on screen and engaged in bizarre behavior for about 1 minute and a half. Despite an extensive investigation into the hijackings, the masked individual (or individuals) was never identified and the motives behind the incident remain unclear.
