A pirate broadcast interrupted Southern Television in 1977, replacing audio with an alien-impersonation message reaching thousands of viewers in southern England.
Key Facts
- Date
- 26 November 1977
- Duration of interruption
- Five and a half minutes
- Transmitter exploited
- Hannington IBA transmitter
- Claimed organisation
- Ashtar Galactic Command
- Affected region
- Parts of southern England, UK
- Public response
- Hundreds of telephone calls from concerned viewers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
An unauthorised transmitter situated near the Hannington Independent Broadcasting Authority transmitter was used to hijack the signal. Instead of relaying the intended feed from Rowridge transmitting station, the Hannington transmitter rebroadcast the rogue signal, enabling the intrusion to reach viewers across parts of southern England.
On 26 November 1977, the audio portion of a Southern Television broadcast was overridden by a voice claiming to represent the 'Ashtar Galactic Command'. The speaker delivered a message urging humanity to surrender its weapons and embrace peace as a prerequisite for spiritual evolution and a 'future awakening', before the scheduled programme resumed after roughly five and a half minutes.
The interruption prompted hundreds of calls from alarmed viewers and was covered extensively in both British and American newspapers. Subsequent reports proved inconsistent, with contradictory accounts of the speaker's name, the organisation cited, and the precise wording of the message, leaving the identity of those responsible unconfirmed.