Top 10 Strangest Broadcast Interruptions

What is widely considered the creepiest TV hack of all time occurred twice in Chicago, Illinois in 1987. The first time was during the WGN TV station's broadcast. During a sports report about the Chicago Bears, the screen went black for 15 seconds before showing a person wearing a Max Headroom mask.

Later that same day, WTTW experienced a similar fate. During their broadcast of Doctor Who, the show was interrupted by the same Max Headroom hacker. He began doing all sorts of random acts, like holding up a Pepsi can or being spanked by a person in a French maid outfit holding a flyswatter. The hijacking went on for about a minute and a half due to no engineers being on duty at the time of the incident. Once they found out, they quickly got on the case and managed to shut it down. What makes this hijacking even scarier is that no one knows who did it.

In 1977, the Southern Television broadcast station was interrupted for a total of 6 minutes by someone who claimed to be a representative of an "intergalactic association." The station was airing its regular evening news bulletin with host Andrew Gardner reading the news. Suddenly, Andrew's voice began to distort, and a buzzing deep voice began to speak. The speaker called himself Vrillon and warned viewers with an ominous message:

"This is the voice of Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command, speaking to you. For many years, you have seen us as lights in the skies. We speak to you now in peace and wisdom as we have to your brothers and sisters all over this, your planet Earth."

The message ended with the station's regular broadcasting of a Looney Tunes cartoon. Later that evening, the station apologized for what they described as a breakthrough in sound. None of the staff were aware of their broadcast being hijacked. Families all around South East England were stunned. Many panicked over the idea that aliens were communicating through television. As of now, the message is considered to be a hoax, though the hijacker's identity remains unknown.

In 2007, in Lincroft, New Jersey, a broadcast of the preschool show Handy Manny was interrupted with hardcore pornography. Comcast vowed to investigate and ensure it would never happen again.

However, in 2009, a similar interruption occurred in Tucson, Arizona, during Super Bowl XLIII. This time, the broadcast was replaced with soft-core pornography.

In 1997, while the popular talk show Coast to Coast AM was airing, the show's creator and host, Art Bell, received a call from a man claiming to have worked at Area 51. The caller spoke in a frenzied voice and seemed quite terrified as he spoke of extradimensional beings and government plots that would have horrific effects on our world.

Although this wasn't exactly a hacking like the others on the list, it was incredibly unexpected and caused a strange, unexplained disruption to the transmission. As the caller became more and more upset, the show temporarily went off the air. This was reportedly caused by a mysterious satellite failure in the transmitter that was carrying the show, leading many to believe the government shut it down to prevent him from revealing too much information.

The next year, Art Bell received another call supposedly from the same man, claiming that the first call was all a hoax. Well, not really. People believed he had been silenced, saying that something just didn't sound right with the way he was talking. Some even say it's not the same guy. There is a lot of debate surrounding the authenticity of both calls. Some reports suggest the caller is comic book writer Bryan J. L. Glass, although this has never been confirmed.

In 2006, Hezbollah soldiers infiltrated Israel and abducted two Israeli soldiers. Their leader offered to release the prisoners through indirect negotiations and trade, though most Israelis were against the idea of negotiating with terrorists. A war broke out between the two sides, leading to attacks and invasions.

In the midst of the conflict, Hezbollah's TV station, Al-Manar TV, was hacked by Israel. They broadcast anti-Hezbollah propaganda, such as showing their leader with crosshairs on his image and three gunshot sounds. A voice then stated, "Your day is coming," followed by footage of the Israeli Air Force destroying targets in Lebanon.

In 1986, HBO was airing its regular broadcasts. At about 12:32 a.m., a man named John R. MacDougall, also known as Captain Midnight, transmitted a signal onto the satellite that carried HBO. The message was in protest of their service rates and read:

"GOOD EVENING HBO FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT $12.95/MONTH? NO WAY! [SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE!]"

John MacDougall was an electrical engineer who was outraged at the network for overcharging its satellite customers. A week before the hijacking, MacDougall successfully transmitted a color bar test pattern that overrode HBO's signal. HBO didn't mind too much. It only lasted for a few seconds and was played overnight when very few people were watching. As a result, the Hughes Communications Company threatened to shut down HBO's satellite signal after assuming the hijacking was some kind of terrorist attack.

The FCC announced that the hijacker would face prosecution, and even the FBI was called in to investigate. Nowadays, MacDougall says he has no regrets about what he did, although he wishes his motivations were better understood rather than being interpreted as some sort of terrorist attack.

In 2013, residents of Montana were startled by an emergency broadcast that interrupted The Steve Wilkos Show. It reported dead bodies rising from their graves. The message said:

"Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living. Follow the messages onscreen that will be updated as information becomes available. Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies as they are considered extremely dangerous."

Later that night, similar messages were broadcast in Michigan and New Mexico, warning viewers of zombie attacks. It was reported that the hacker found a back door to the emergency alert system security, allowing them to display the messages. The hacker was eventually found and arrested.

Solidarity was a Polish trade union that arose in the 1980s, advocating for workers' rights and social change through civil resistance. Workers would go on strike, locking themselves into yards and dispatching emissaries throughout Poland to ask for support. In 1985, four astronomers at Poland's University of Toruń used a home computer, a synchronizing circuit, and a transmitter to superimpose messages in support of the labor movement. The two slogans read:

"Enough price increases, lies, and repressions. Solidarity Toruń."

And

"It is our duty to boycott the election."

The four men were caught and charged with possession of an unlicensed radio transmitter and the publication of materials that could cause public unrest.

In 2007, an Australian TV network had their broadcast interrupted by a chilling message. During the airing of the TV show Mayday, an audio loop of a man saying, "Jesus Christ, help us all, Lord," started playing. The audio looped for six minutes.

A spokesman for Channel 7 said it was not known how the section of audio came to be aired during the documentary but denied it being a prank or a security breach. Later investigations revealed the audio was from a videotaped news broadcast. It remains unknown whether the invading transmission was due to a glitch or something intentional.

During the 70s and 80s, the USSR experienced numerous broadcast hijackings due to the absence of non-government broadcasting. In 1986, residents of Kaluga were listening to a radio program featuring jazz music when suddenly a voice interrupted the broadcast. The voice falsely announced that the United States had fired rockets armed with nuclear warheads towards Soviet cities. Citizens were angered when it was revealed that the alarm was a prank caused by an 18-year-old man. Court officials confiscated the man's transmitter and made him pledge to abandon amateur broadcasting.