Southern Television broadcast intrusion (lost real-time footage of television hijack; 1977)

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Revision as of 18:28, 17 April 2021 by Shoelost (talk | contribs) (On reflection I don't think it's necessary to include a lengthy, wholly unverified quote from such a... questionable source, to put it mildly. A simple summary gets the point across just as well.)
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Hanningtontransmitter.jpg

The Hannington transmitter, which was hijacked in 1977

Status: Lost

The Southern Television hijacking was a television intrusion incident that occurred on 26 November 1977, at 5:10 p.m. The hijack managed to override the UHF audio signal transmitted by the Hannington transmitter, while distorting the UHF video signal that was transmitting ITN News with news reporter Andrew Gardner.

Details

There is no agreed-upon version of the pirate broadcast's content, save that it involved an individual claiming to be an alien - variously remembered as "Gillon", "Vrillon" or "Asteron" - calling himself a representative of an "Intergalactic Association" and briefly warning viewers that they only had a short time to either learn to live in peace and remove all “weapons of evil”, or end up leaving the galaxy altogether.[1][2][3] However, in his 2009 book 2012 A Family Brief: The Science is all in, Robert Horton claims that "Vrillon"'s message was much longer and (coincidentally or not) referenced several core tenets of the New Age spiritual movement, claiming that mankind was on the verge of entering a new Age of Aquarius if only they would open their hearts and minds to the universe's 'cosmic truth and love.' [4]

The speech lasted somewhere between two and six minutes, with the audio returning to normal during an episode of Looney Tunes. The hijacker’s identity remains unknown.

Availability

Although recreations of the hijacking can be easily found on YouTube, the actual audio and footage of the event are lost[5][6]. One recording of the actual event may exist, however. During an interview with Sir John Whitmore on LBC in December 1977, Whitmore claimed to have viewed a recording of the complete hijacking.[7] However, the recording, if it still exists, has never been accessible for public viewing.

Gallery

Recreation of the hijack, utilising Horton's transcript

See Also

References

  1. ↑ 'Galatic' hoax startles viewers
  2. ↑ Mysterious broadcast from 'outer space'
  3. ↑ British viewers hear 'message'
  4. ↑ Horton, Robert L. (2009). 2012 A Family Brief: The Science is all in
  5. ↑ Who was "Vrillon"? - The Southern Television Broadcast Intrusion
  6. ↑ this the original Vrillon audio recording from 1977?
  7. ↑ Space message on Southern TV
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