Don't even think about sharing this article.

While everyone was worried the world was going to end on September 23, some people in California thought it actually might be true when their morning broadcasts were interrupted on Sept. 21 with some very creepy end-of-the-world warnings. It happened around 11 a.m.

TV broadcasts in Orange County were interrupted for about a minute with a dark, foreboding message warning about the end of the world, the OC Register reported. Messages included happy, warm-hearted broadcasts like:

Realize this, extremely violent times will come.”

Here’s one of the weird broadcasts:

The video above says:

The space program made contact with… They are not what they claim to be. They have infiltrated a lot of, uh, a lot of aspects of military establishment, particularly Area 51. The disasters that are coming—the military—I’m sorry the government knows about them…

Gizmodo reported that the bizarre message was audio from a 1997 interview with a guy claiming to be from Area 51, broadcast on Coast to Coast AM, a conspiracy-theory radio show.

Cox and Spectrum customers reported the problem. Residents said the volume increased and the worrisome message interrupted shows on channels like HGTV and Bravo.

According to OC Register, this happened because radio stations were conducting an emergency test and cable systems picked up the alert. Joe Camero, a Cox spokesman, told OC Register that residents should have just heard an emergency tone. But “it appears the radio station did not transmit the end tone to complete the test.” Because the end tone wasn’t transmitted, the cable systems picked up an audio feed as part of the alert. As soon as technicians realized what was happening, they shut down the test. Spectrum also confirmed with OC Register that an incorrect audio file was transmitted.

Here’s a CBS report about what happened:

The alerts definitely weren’t comforting to people who were already a little worried about September 23.

Like what you read? Join our email list to stay updated by clicking here and be sure to follow us on Twitter.

Stephanie

Stephanie Dwilson started Post Apocalyptic Media with her husband Derek. She's a licensed attorney and has a master's in science and technology journalism. You can reach her at [email protected].

Don't even think about sharing this article.