‘Zombie Apocalypse’ warning broadcast on U.S. Emergency Alert System

This USA Today article landed in my inbox today:

A false alert that aired on two local TV stationswent through the same channels on which true emergencies are aired, raising questions and concerns of how the hoax occurred.

The hoax reached around 10 stations in Montana, Michigan, California, Utah and New Mexico, said Greg MacDonald, the CEO of Montana Broadcasters Association.

The alert featured a scrolling warning for various Montana counties and a voice-over claimed there were “dead bodies rising from the grave and attacking the living” and urged people to use caution.

“Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies as they are extremely dangerous,” it said.

MacDonald said the FBI and the FCC are investigating the cases, and initial findings have officials believing the hoax originated somewhere overseas.

The Emergency Alert System is a national public warning system that requires broadcasters to provide the communications capability to the president to address the American public during a national emergency, according to the Federal Communication Commission’s website. It’s also used by state and local authorities to deliver important emergency information, such as AMBER alerts and weather information to specific areas.

Montana Television Network executive Jon Saunders has been telling inquiring journalists that Montana TV station

“KRTV along with several other stations across the country was subject to a cyber attack that intruded into our EAS system. We’re still investigating what happened.”

Whoever was behind this was apparently particular about which TV stations would broadcast the messages. Have a listen to them for yourself. I should warn you – they’re pretty darn freaky!

The USA Today article continues:

Skip Walters, operations manager for Great Falls’ Cherry Creek Radio, found it odd that no one else rebroadcast the message. It never went through his radio station or any of the other Great Falls TV or radio stations.

“This all works on radio waves. How were they able to hack into KRTV with radio waves but only yards away, they couldn’t hack into KFBB?” asked Steve Keller, the radio program director.

The EAS message that struck KRTV and the Michigan stations also had the look and sound of a true alert. Each incident had a crawl on the TV alerting counties and a mechanically altered voice warning of “zombies attacking the living.”

As SOTT.net pointed out yesterday, it is not easy to access the Emergency Alert System, which is managed by the Dept. of Homeland Security. Yes, the same Dept. of Homeland Security that recently urged citizens to prepare for a ‘Zombie Apocalypse’. This was just tongue-in-cheek, they reassured us, but coming as it did on top of all the other ‘just-joking-around’ messages from governments about the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’, I have to wonder if this ‘Zombie’ meme is being spread deliberately – in both subtle and not so subtle ways…

Note that the EAS, until this ‘cyber-attack’, had never before been activated on a national scale.

Perhaps this then was a test?

For someone or some group to have done this and piped the message to particular stations across the country suggests to me that very high-level clearance, planning or access was required.

They’re now blaming ‘a foreign source’ for this ‘cyber-attack’, but whoever did it, this is another example of flicking the paranoia switch and inducing yet more hysteria in the U.S. population.

SOTT Talk Radio, Upcoming show – Hysterical America: Terrorized by Guns and Tobacco

Show cancelled due to technical errors; stay tuned for update re scheduling it for next Sunday 17th February 2013!

Fear is a perfectly healthy and normal human response that comes in handy when reading the environment for clues and successfully navigating reality. But just casting an eye over some of the crazy stories making the news these days, it’s clear that as a society our fear response is completely out of whack with reality.

Reports this week from the U.S. about a ten year old Alexandria boy being arrested and taken into custody for bringing a toy gun to school, a Philadelphia fifth-grader threatened with same for making a ‘paper gun’ in class, a Bronx school sent into full panic station mode because a 12-year-old student was overheard talking about his toy gun, and a 7-year-old suspended from his Denver school for throwing an ‘imaginary grenade’ during class recess are but a tiny sample of hysterical reactions to non-existent threats that indicate society is seriously on edge.

These over-the-top reactions in turn cause real trauma and fear-based responses. As one commentator put it, “administrators are terrorizing and traumatizing students because of a national media panic and their own incompetence.” It’s not just happening in schools; it’s happening all across society. We’ve come to accept that smoking is banned on all commercial aircraft, but does that make it in any way reasonable? Smoking is now banned in many public places, ‘mandatory licenses’ for smoking are under consideration and ‘Obamacare’ and other legislation will covertly and heavily penalize smokers.

Why is it that society has quietly surrendered its rights, one step at a time? The authorities tell us it is to protect us from the scourge of terrorism, guns and tobacco. Then why is it that the more heavily they clamp down on these ‘evils’, the more hysterical and terrified people become? With people feeling less safe, less secure and more stressed than ever, it seems that the very things the authorities claim to be doing ‘for the good of all’ are in fact detrimental to all.

Joining us this week to discuss the hystericization of society and examine the roots causes of the problem are Jason Martin, software programmer, martial arts student and artist, and Laura Knight-Jadczyk, SOTT.net editor and author of Comets and the Horns of Moses. We also want to hear from YOU about your ‘Twilight Zone’ experiences and your take on TSA ‘pat-downs’, government overreach and societal madness.

We go live on air from 7-9pm UTC this Sunday (11am-1pm PST ~ 2-4pm EST ~ 8-10pm CET), so join us then!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/sottnet

In case you missed last week’s SOTT Talk Radio show, Joe and I were again joined by Jason Martin, along with special guests Laura Knight-Jadczyk, author and historian, and Harrison Koehli, editor of Red Pill Press, which published the underground classic, Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil, Adjusted for Political Purposes. Together we discussed arguably the most important topic of our time: psychopaths and their influence in our world. Check it out:

SOTT Talk Radio – Upcoming show: Are Psychopaths Cool? Uncovering the predators among us

The term ‘psychopath’ is trending these days. We hear reports about the virtues of psychopathic qualities in all walks of life, from CEOs and political leaders to heart surgeons and soldiers. Popular references to psychopaths in TV shows like Dexter and movies like Seven Psychopaths would seem to suggest that psychopaths are not only generally known about and understood, but are also appealing to ordinary people.

But are psychopaths really cool? And what is a psychopath anyway? How many of them are out there and how long have they been around us? Everyone has an opinion about psychopaths, but are we all talking about the same thing? Bestselling books like Kevin Dutton’s Wisdom of Psychopaths encourage people to ‘unlock their inner psychopath’; does that mean we are all potentially psychopaths?

Joe and myself will again be joined this week by the indomitable Jason Martin to discuss these questions and more with our special guest, Harrison Koehli, expert on the study of ponerology and editor of Red Pill Press, which published the underground classic Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil, Adjusted for Political Purposes.

Join us live on air this Sunday 3rd February 2013, from 7-9pm UTC (11am-1pm PST, 2-4pm EST, and 8-10pm CET).

Callers welcome! The call-in number from the USA is 718 508-9499 (international callers add 00 1 to the beginning of that number).