- 2 years ago
Live TV has captured its share of unsettling and inexplicable moments that defy explanation. The haunted dolly incident, where a supposedly haunted doll caused disruption during a live news segment, remains a chilling reminder of the unexpected.
The Los Angeles EBS incident rattled viewers when a televised emergency broadcast signal was hijacked by an unknown source, broadcasting eerie messages and unsettling imagery that left many puzzled and unnerved.
Gary Stollman's live interview on a talk show, where he claimed to be a victim of mind control and government surveillance, added an unsettling layer to the realm of live television as viewers witnessed his erratic behavior and paranoid claims unfold in real time.
These moments, while rare, underscore the unpredictable nature of live broadcasts and the potential for unexplained phenomena to manifest on-screen. Have you witnessed any bizarre or creepy incidents on live TV that left an impression on you? Share your experiences or thoughts in the comments below!
The Los Angeles EBS incident rattled viewers when a televised emergency broadcast signal was hijacked by an unknown source, broadcasting eerie messages and unsettling imagery that left many puzzled and unnerved.
Gary Stollman's live interview on a talk show, where he claimed to be a victim of mind control and government surveillance, added an unsettling layer to the realm of live television as viewers witnessed his erratic behavior and paranoid claims unfold in real time.
These moments, while rare, underscore the unpredictable nature of live broadcasts and the potential for unexplained phenomena to manifest on-screen. Have you witnessed any bizarre or creepy incidents on live TV that left an impression on you? Share your experiences or thoughts in the comments below!
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NewsTranscript
00:00Don't adjust your sets. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we're counting down our picks
00:06for the top 20 creepiest things that were caught on live TV.
00:10For this list, we'll be looking at moments broadcast live on television that caused a
00:13stir or otherwise concerned viewers at home, disregarding on-screen death and gore, as
00:19well as creepypastas and fake news, like the infamous Wyoming incident.
00:34Number 20. Zombie Emergency Alert.
00:37Back in 2013, a handful of Americans were tricked into thinking that Armageddon was
00:42finally at the door by a prankster who seemed to have been taking notes from Orson Welles.
00:50The unnamed joker found a way to hack into a Montana TV station's emergency broadcast
01:00system and sent out a newsflash detailing the rise of the undead from their graves,
01:05along with a warning not to engage. The hoax announcement played over airings of the Steve
01:10Wilkos show, and despite its illegitimacy, the message sounded real enough to turn a
01:14few heads, stirring concern among viewers across parts of the United States.
01:23Fortunately, it wasn't long before the truth was made known and the perpetrator was apprehended.
01:28Number 19. The Haunted Dolly.
01:31Here's one that'll rock the boat. On ITV's This Morning, a couple were being interviewed
01:36about alleged strange activity surrounding a China doll they'd gotten from a thrift
01:40store.
01:45This included scratches on the husband and sporadic fire alarm bursts. Whilst the hosts
01:50were rightly skeptical, viewers were more convinced. They observed the doll start to
01:55rock in its chair during the interview, seemingly of its own volition.
02:03The doll was on the show again just a few weeks later, but this time with a new owner.
02:15It's no surprise the toy changed hands so quickly. We've all seen enough movies to
02:21know that keeping possessed dolls around is a big no-no.
02:31Number 18. Wrestlemania Chokeout.
02:34It's well known that pro wrestling is a staged but nonetheless dangerous sport that
02:39can inflict some serious injury. Richard Belzer learned this when he was choked out by Hulk
02:43Hogan on his talk show in 1985. The Hulkster, who was on the show with Mr. T promoting the
02:49very first Wrestlemania, was asked by Belzer to demonstrate some wrestling moves in keeping
02:54with the promotion. Hogan responded with a headlock that sent him straight to sleep.
02:58Mr. T quickly tried to ease the shocked crowd during Belzer's blackout with a few reassuring
03:03quips. And Belzer fortunately regained consciousness along with a few stitches and one heck of
03:11an anecdote some moments later.
03:20Number 17. The Vietnam War Draft Lottery.
03:23Who wants to be a veteran? In 1969 at the peak of the war in Vietnam, CBS televised
03:29a draft lottery to determine individuals for military service and aired live from Washington's
03:35Selective Service Headquarters.
03:42The lottery worked by drawing birth dates at random, followed by a second drawing of
03:47letters of the alphabet to decide which men would be sent overseas first. This controversial
03:52method had not been used since 1942 during World War II. Though we thankfully live in
03:57a time where such a lottery is neither necessary nor permitted, watching this broadcast today
04:02is a chilling reminder that the futures of hundreds of men were decided by a simple sheet
04:07of paper that they watched pulled at random on television.
04:11September 14th.
04:15September 14, 001.
04:21Number 16. San Francisco Earthquake News Flash.
04:25California is no stranger to the occasional rumble, but the cameras happened to be rolling
04:29during a big one in 1989. During the World Series that saw the San Francisco Giants take
04:35out the Oakland Athletics, an enormous earthquake struck the Bay Area and was caught live on
04:40television. With a magnitude of 6.9, the Loma Prieta quake was large enough to interrupt
04:46the broadcast of the game. Though it can easily be misinterpreted as crowd jubilation, screams
04:51can actually be heard just before the game feed is cut and the picture switches to the
04:56news.
04:57Candy Maldonado with the hesitation, allowing Jose Canseco to score and he fails to get
05:03Dave Parker at second base. So the Oakland A's take.
05:12Though the stadium was able to withstand the tremors, the rest of the city was subjected
05:16to major power disruptions, blackouts and property damage.
05:20The downtown section of Santa Cruz is basically gone. All the old brick, unreinforced buildings
05:26have collapsed. This is a department store called Ford's. It collapsed. The second store,
05:31a second story came down into the first floor, trapping several people inside.
05:39What a bombshell to drop. In 2007, as viewers of Czech television's program Panorama were
05:45treated to a beautiful shot of the mountain, the tranquility was soon ruined by a blinding
05:50white light and the unmistakable sight of a mushroom cloud.
05:53The bombing was quickly and fortunately revealed as a hoax, masterminded by the guerrilla art
06:05pranksters known collectively as Zotovan. The group had apparently hacked the show's
06:10live camera feed, where they could then overwrite the footage with a CGI render they'd prepared.
06:15Zotovan explained that the prank illustrated how easy it can be for the media to manipulate
06:20and influence its consumers with false information. The length some artists will go to get their
06:25work shown on TV.
06:30Luggage goes missing all the time at terminals, but human beings, not so much. Yet that's
06:35what appeared to happen during an interview for Danish network's TV2 Sports Center.
06:39At an airport baggage claim, just behind the gentleman on camera, a blonde woman seemed
06:44to vanish into thin air as another traveler passed in front of her. Freaky stuff for viewers
06:49who saw it live, but a logical explanation does exist. The ghost lady was identified
06:54as Danish handball player Trina Jensen. Under close analysis, she can be assumed to have
06:59walked in tandem with the passing woman, creating an optical illusion. In the moment, however,
07:04it seemed like a paranormal phenomena right out of the X-Files.
07:09Number 13. Talk Show Possession
07:18There's certainly more to this girl than meets the eye. On a talk show in 2016, Thai
07:23model Tipawa Chafupuang made an appearance and claimed to have been possessed by an evil
07:27bloodthirsty ghost while holidaying. This entity, known as Pop, was said to hunger for
07:32animal blood and human flesh. The confused hosts then watched as Chafupuang began to
07:38exhibit strange behavior, muttering to herself and screaming.
07:47Most viewers were disturbed by her behavior, but not so much sold on it. Many called it
07:53suspiciously convenient that Pop took hold on live television. Regardless, it hardly
07:58made for comfortable viewing.
08:00Number 12. Prayer Phone-In Possession
08:03Chafupuang's live actions may have been uneasy to the eyes, but this next example
08:08of on-air possession proved to be an assault on the ears.
08:22This religious live show encourages viewers to call in and receive advice and guidance
08:26from a holy sheik. One such phone call was made by a woman in 2011, claiming to have
08:31been overtaken by a demonic entity known colloquially as a djinn.
08:49The woman then supposedly underwent a sudden change in personality while staying on the
08:53line, laughing sinisterly as she mocked the Islamic host.
09:01The sheik proceeded to banish the demon with an impromptu exorcism, and the bizarre episode
09:06was done. Whether it was fake or genuine, it was certainly creepy.
09:10Number 11. Los Angeles EBS
09:131992 was the year Los Angeles descended into chaos as riots erupted following the acquittal
09:19of the officers behind Rodney King's heavily publicized abuse.
09:35King's ruthless assault at the hands of the LAPD was videotaped and broadcast a year
09:40earlier to massive outcry. During the riots, as angered citizens looted stores and destroyed
09:46public property, an emergency broadcast was sent out across all of L.A. County's biggest
09:51TV stations to inform the public of the carnage. In the message, an emergency curfew was announced
09:57to be in effect from 6.45 p.m. onward.
10:00This is the activation of the emergency broadcast system for L.A. County. Effective at 6.45
10:06p.m. this date, the Los Angeles County Emergency Operations Center has announced expanded boundaries
10:13for the emergency curfew.
10:15This chilling yet formal announcement heralded a rise in tension for the citizens of Los
10:19Angeles as they watched the collapse of their social order unfold on screen.
10:24Number 10. Alien lights over Milwaukee
10:27It was only a matter of time until aliens came up. During a live Fox 6 news broadcast,
10:32a group of mysterious lights were seen floating above the Milwaukee night sky. The news team
10:37was understandably alarmed and quickly began to speculate as to the cause, with explanations
10:42ranging from fireworks to shooting stars and finally, aliens. It's a strange sight at
10:48first glance, certainly enough to cause some confusion and maybe even a little concern.
10:53But it only took about a half an hour to shoot down ET expectations.
11:04An alternative angle closer to the activity shows it to be nothing more than a flock of
11:08seagulls reflecting the bright lights of the city. That's right, close encounters of the
11:13bird kind.
11:14Now that the sun's up, you can see no aliens here in Milwaukee, just a lot of seagulls.
11:21Number 9. The Australian Mayday Incident
11:24While not technically a live event, these issues with broadcasting happened in real
11:28time. During the airing of an episode of the documentary series Mayday, the audio from
11:33a previous news broadcast somehow replaced some of the original show's audio. This eerie
11:38new soundtrack was a looping soundbite of a Halliburton truck driver reacting to his
11:43convoy being ambushed in Iraq. For six freaky minutes, everyone at home watching was subjected
11:48to the driver repeating, Jesus Christ, help us all Lord, over and over.
12:02The fact that this was coinciding with footage relating to a passenger train crash made a
12:07deeply unsettling end result. The creepiest part is, nobody knows exactly how it happened.
12:12Mayday, indeed.
12:14Number 8. Jamaican Ghost Attack
12:17In 2010, a Jamaican news crew investigated reports of an alleged poltergeist attack on
12:22a young boy in Spanish Town. The boy claimed he was being pestered by a poltergeist, known
12:27in Jamaican folklore as a duppy, and that this specter was a recently deceased friend
12:31who was now haunting him post-mortem.
12:37The news crew were astonished during the interview, when he was seemingly grabbed and dragged
12:41around like a rag doll, whilst onlookers desperately attempted to intervene.
12:46Unsettling as it seems, the case should be taken with a grain of salt. Most cases involving
12:51children who report being bothered by spirits are usually attributed to a neglected or traumatized
12:56child lashing out.
13:12In this case, lashing out is putting it lightly.
13:17Number 7. The Running Shadow
13:19So, we've gone through aliens. Now how about moving shadows?
13:23During the broadcast of a soccer game at the Hernando Siles Stadium in 2014, cameras caught
13:28a glimpse of what appeared to be a moving dark figure. Although it was running at full
13:32speed, people in the crowd didn't seem to notice. What made this incident all the more
13:37creepy was the fact that the figure can be seen moving through fans and even a barrier.
13:41While some theorized that the figure was in fact a soccer player double exposed on camera,
13:46to this day, the cause of this mysterious apparition remains unknown.
13:50Number 6. The UFO Summoner
13:53Is seeing really believing?
13:55He's a Las Vegas man who claims he can summon UFOs on command. Pretty wild. So we sent action
14:01news reporter Mike Delistrito to get the real story. But what he found shocked everyone.
14:06In 2005, Ramon Watkins, a man from Las Vegas who called himself Yahweh, claimed to have
14:12learned from the Old Testament how to summon UFOs. In a news report meant to expose him
14:17as a fraud, an ABC news reporter was left baffled when Watkins proceeded to seemingly
14:22manifest mysterious orbs of light floating in the sky.
14:25I could see it clear as day. In fact, it's bright.
14:29I can't believe this.
14:30It's moving pretty fast.
14:32It's going to Nellis Air Force Base. It wants to be seen.
14:36The orange lights danced above their heads momentarily before disappearing. Many who
14:40saw this demonstration hailed it as evidence of the Almighty, referring to the fact that
14:44it had been the news team who had picked the location, day and time to conduct the interview.
14:50Leaving practically no room for Watkins to have feasibly staged the summoning. Divine
14:55power or complex misdirection?
14:57How's that for a magic trick?
15:02Across the pond in 1977, something even more bizarre occurred. The UK's Southern Television
15:07had their evening news interrupted by a six-minute audio message of apparent extraterrestrial
15:12origin. The unsettling, booming voice coming through claimed to represent the Ashtar Galactic
15:18Command.
15:37These aliens offered humanity a peaceful alliance if they renounced their corrupt ways and weapons
15:43of war, speaking cultishly of new ages and promises of transcendence.
15:57The channel apologized for the outlandish signal intrusion, chalking it up to a hoax.
16:02It would indeed be strange if aliens broadcast a message to just one channel. Those responsible
16:07have never come forward. Dare we look up to the sky and wonder?
16:14May you be blessed by the supreme love of men to the bone.
16:23Slimeball Justin Sebeck was frequently overly confrontational with other contestants during
16:28his tenure on Big Brother.
16:34But the act that finally got him kicked off the series went way beyond typical reality
16:38show conflicts. Justin famously, and quite rightly, got evicted for disturbing behavior
16:44involving fellow housemate Krista. After some drinks, the two began kissing and flirting
16:50when Justin suddenly held up a knife and threatened her.
16:55The drama didn't end there. A year after being kicked out of the house, Justin was
16:58arrested and charged with assaulting his girlfriend. To say Krista and the other housemates dodged
17:03a bullet is a massive understatement.
17:09I'm sorry he did it to himself. You know, he got warned and warned and warned and warned.
17:17Not quite your Mr. Right. On a 1978 episode of The Dating Game, Bachelorette Cheryl Bradshaw
17:23chose contestant Rodney Alcala as her man.
17:26Well, let's see. Bachelor number one is a successful photographer who got his start
17:30when his father found him in the dark room at the age of 13, fully developed.
17:35Though he was a successful photographer, Alcala was later turned down by Bradshaw for his
17:40creepy behavior.
17:41Why do you say that?
17:42Because that's the only time there is.
17:44The only time? What's wrong with morning, afternoon?
17:48Well, they're okay, but nighttime's when it really gets good.
17:51Bradshaw may have escaped with her life. It turns out that Alcala was a repeated offender
17:55of serious crimes, including a string of killings he committed throughout the 70s,
18:00and his rejection on the show may have been a contributing factor in the murder of a further
18:04three women.
18:06Alcala is serving life in prison to this day, and his final kill count remains ambiguous.
18:11We're going to have a great time together, Cheryl.
18:13Serial killers are tremendous actors.
18:17The lengths people will go to to make themselves heard.
18:20He saw us arriving. He put the gun down and said, I don't want to hurt anybody.
18:25And that was it.
18:26In the middle of a 1987 broadcast, Gary Stolman walked onto the KNBC set behind TV reporter
18:32David Horowitz and pointed a gun at his back, ordering him to read a statement concerning
18:37paranoid theories that the CIA cloned Stolman's father.
18:40The blindsided presenters were clearly horrified, but Horowitz was able to keep us cool throughout.
18:46The statement ended with the admission that the firearm was a BB-firing replica,
18:50before Stolman calmly placed the toy on the desk, apparently having never intended to harm anyone.
18:56The gunman placed the gun on the desk, and anchorman John Beard grabbed it.
19:00Burbank police wrestled a man to the floor.
19:03He has been identified as Gary Stolman, and he said he never intended to harm anyone.
19:07Indeed, the gun proved a fake.
19:09This incident resulted in Horowitz spearheading a campaign to ban realistic toy firearms.
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19:25If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
19:311. The Max Headroom Hijack
19:34In 1987, two television stations in Chicago were hijacked in perhaps the most surreal act of video piracy ever recorded.
19:46Both instances featured an unidentified man, dressed as obscure TV personality Max Headroom, dancing to distorted audio.
19:56The second video, significantly longer, saw the man rambling incoherently in a distorted voice.
20:02Oh, and being spotted on the behind by an off-screen accomplice.
20:16Responses to the rubber-grinned menace ranged from bemused to horrified, and the perpetrators of this seemingly random act were never identified.
20:24The segments lasted no more than a couple of minutes, but have gone down as among the most notorious incidents in television history.
20:31That face is not an easy one to forget.
20:40Do you agree with our picks?
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