Emergency Alert in California Warns of End of the World
An emergency alert surprised some television viewers in Orange County, California, at approximately 11:05 a.m. PST on September 21st, as a man's voice came on air and warned, "Realize this, extremely violent times will come."
Stacy Laflamme of Lake Forest told The Orange County Register that she was watching the HGTV channel via Cox Communications when the emergency alert appeared on her screen.
“It almost sounded like Hitler talking,” she said. “It sounded like a radio broadcast coming through the television.”
Spectrum cable customers also received the alert.
Erin Mireles of Diamond Bar said she saw the alert when it interrupted her viewing of the Bravo Channel.
“I was definitely startled, ’cause the volume increased exponentially,” she said. “I wasn’t alarmed in the sense of thinking something was wrong, ’cause I assumed it was some sort of hack. My channel changed back to Bravo after a couple minutes.”
According to Cox Communications spokesman Joe Camero, the issue was due to a normal test of the emergency broadcast system that went awry.
“With these tests, an emergency tone is sent out to initiate the test,” Camero said. “After the tone is transmitted, another tone is sent to end the message. It appears that the radio station (or stations) did not transmit the end tone to complete the test.”
When the end tone wasn't sent, another audio feed was able to bleed into the alert.
Technicians ended the emergency test as soon as they were aware of the problem.
“We don’t want to alarm anyone with any false emergency alerts,” said Camero.
It is unclear at this time who sent out the false alert, whether it was done intentionally, and from where the audio originated.
“We have confirmed that we were fed an incorrect audio file,” said Dennis Johnson, a spokesman for Spectrum.
Some have speculated that the ominous warning may be related to Christian numerologist David Meade's prediction that the world will end on September 23rd.
According to Meade, verses in Luke 21:25 to 26 point to an imminent apocalypse, based on recent events like August's solar eclipse and this year's strong hurricane season.
“25: There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.'
"'26: Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.'"
Meade's theory hinges on the existence of Planet X, also known as Nibiru, passing by the Earth on September 23rd, which he believes will trigger massive volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and earthquakes.
NASA has consistently derided Nibiru as a hoax, and Meade's theory is not endorsed by any major sect of Christianity.