Did an Alien Called Vrillon Hack Into English TV?

It’s usually remarked upon that when a better being makes an attempt to contact humanity, it chooses quiet backwater areas as a substitute of going straight to the highest. So it was when, on Saturday, Nov. 26, 1977, a consultant of the Ashtar Galactic Command took over TV airwaves to warn the world of the chance of its destruction, he spoke through a regional broadcaster with a most viewers of about 500,000 households within the south of England.

Southern TV’s standard Day by Day night information bulletin was being aired stay simply after 5 p.m. when the comforting tones of broadcaster Andrew Gardner have been heard to fade, and the image dissolved. “This is the voice of Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command,” got here the phrases of a seemingly computer-generated speaker. “For many years you have seen us as lights in the skies. We speak to you now in peace and wisdom, as we have done to your brothers and sisters all over this, your planet Earth.”

Vrillon went on to explain the rising of a brand new Age of Aquarius – a widely known hippie reference from the ‘60s, based on a vague and ill-defined astrological concept. But, he continued, “We come to warn you of the destiny of your race and your world so that you may communicate to your fellow beings the course you must take to avoid the disaster which threatens your world and the beings on our worlds around you. This is in order that you may share in the great awakening.” He urged listeners to make political leaders aware of “evil forces that can overshadow their judgments,” adding, “Be still now and listen, for your chance may not come again. All your weapons of evil must be removed.”

Promising that “higher stages” of existence were available to humanity if it was “worthy,” he advised that there wasn’t a lot time to show it. “Only those who learn to live in peace will pass to the higher realms of spiritual evolution,” he stated. “Hear now the voice of Vrillon. … You know now that we are here, and that there are more beings on and around your Earth than your scientists admit.”

The hack ended with, “Have no fear, seek only to know yourselves, and live in harmony with the ways of your planet Earth. We here at the Ashtar Galactic Command, thank you for your attention. We are now leaving the planes of your existence. May you be blessed by the supreme love and truth of the cosmos.”

Within moments, Gardner was again on the air, telling the viewers, “We understand that viewers in some parts of the region are receiving a breakthrough in sound. We’re sorry about this and are doing our best to rectify the fault.”

Watch the Vrillon TV Hack

Media reviews spoke of an “intergalactic prankster,” who did not impress the authorities and confronted a superb of as much as £200 ($363 on the time) if he was discovered. An area newspaper stated “thousands” of viewers had been scared by the hack; one man described the expertise as “very eerie indeed” and stated it “sounded very authentic.” A girl reported she needed to name her mates to verify she wasn’t “hearing things,” including that “it sounded like a genuine voice from outer space and was quite frightening.”

A number of days later, Southern TV introduced they established how the hack was achieved however wouldn’t reveal particulars so to keep away from a repeat episode. “But we are taking steps to ensure it will not happen again and viewers [are] not frightened,” a spokesperson famous. It was later theorized that Vrillion and his helpers had taken benefit of the truth that one in all Southern’s transmitters was primarily based in a distant location on the Isle of Wight, making it simpler to hack into the system.

It’s value noting that, in contrast to among the world’s best-known TV hacks, Vrillon’s was completely different in that it appeared to hold no ingredient of humor. In the ‘70s Cold War environment, many genuinely lived in fear of looming nuclear destruction.

Those who recall the British government’s Protect and Survive PSAs achieve this with a shudder, so the Ashtar announcement’s format lent a deeper really feel to its message. People wished reassurance, and Vrillon’s promise was rather more constructive than the contents of many Day by Day bulletins. (Gardner was reporting on the extraordinarily violent civil struggle in Rhodesia, later Zimbabwe, when the hack passed off.) One letter to the Sunday Times demanded to understand how the authorities might “be sure that the broadcast was a hoax.”

Watch a Sample ‘Protect and Survive’ PSA

Perhaps a few of these listening on that night took the message to coronary heart and at the moment are residing in one other dimension below the auspices of the Ashtar Galactic Command. Perhaps humanity’s persevering with struggles with the problems which have plagued us for the reason that begin of the commercial revolution meant we’ve failed the ultimate check. Either means, Vrillon by no means spoke to the world once more – except he used an even quieter backwater stunt.