22nd of November 1987. you're sitting at Home watching an innocent episode of Doctor Who when one of the most Mysterious and strange moments in Television history takes place right Before you I'll get you a hot drink man [Music] For a period of approximately 90 seconds Two TV stations located in the U.S city Of Chicago were hijacked on screen was a Poorly recorded video of Mel laughing And fidgeting whilst ring a Max Headroom Mask Max Headroom was a British AI TV Character in the 1980s and was most Notably the face of coke the hijacking Displayed a true vulnerability in TV Stations sparked international news and Is still widely spoken about today but Even 40 years later neither wannabe Max Headroom nor his accomplice have ever Been identified and the case while the Case has been marked as an mystery Before the Max Headroom takeover would Take place two other incidents would Pave the way for its possibility on the 26th of November nine years before the Max hedrum incident audio would be Interrupted on the southern television Broadcast with a distorted alien voice Claiming to be an extraterrestrial being Called brilliant this Interruption Lasted a period of six minutes These include stopping the execution of
All captured prisoners of War [Music] S [Music] Nine years later another incident would Occur a frustrated TV salesman and Cellular engineer known as Captain Midnight jammed the signal to spread a Message of anger regarding the price of Cable TV the hijacker was initially a Suspect but he became riddled with guilt And turned himself into authorities not Only did this event raise awareness of The overpriced cable TV but it also Revealed the Achilles heel of Television A weakness allowing anybody to have the Ability to take control and display a Message to thousands of onlookers with a Low probability of being caught when Done correctly with a Captain Midnight Knew it or not his crime would Ultimately serve as a blueprint for any Wannabe hijacker out there looking to Cause a little Mayhem which brings us to November the 22nd 1987. Chicago Sportscaster Dan Rowan is covering the Highlights of the Bears recent victory Over the Detroit Lions it is his usual Spot during the Channel 9's nine o'clock News segment one he has been doing for Years always the same with a little Deviation from day to day on this Particular night however it would be Much much different and 9 14 PM genre
Disappears from this screen in fact Everything disappeared from the screen As it flickered into complete darkness Then 15 seconds later a figure appeared Who certainly wasn't a part of the Normal broadcast It wasn't your regular Max Headroom Played by Matt frua it was a man wearing A latex Max Headroom mask behind there Being a background to replicate Max Headroom's classic neon background there Was hardly any recognizable audio but The image was beyond frightening to the Unsuspecting viewers the figure bobbed Around in front of the spinning Background as an eerie buzzing noise Played in the background adding further Mysteriousness who was this guy what was The purpose of this segment had the TV Station accidentally changed to another Channel after almost 30 seconds the Channel 9 tv station Engineers switched Over to another transmitter bringing Dan Rowan back to the audience's screens Dan Rowan as perplexed as the audience would State well if you're wondering what's Happened so am I actually this first Hijacking instilled confidence in the Minds of the perpetrators that they Could perhaps pull off an even riskier Hijacking at a later time and only two Hours later the fake Max Headroom would Reappear on the television screen once Again at 11 15 PM Channel 11 was airing
A Doctor Who episode titled the horror Of fang Rock when the max header Impersonator took over the signal once Again skin lines appeared like those at The beginning of a VHS recording Followed by the Max Headroom figure once Again the figure bobbed in front of the Rotating background as before with the Same mask covering his face however Unlike the 915 recording this one had Some meaningful audio which would later Come handy when attempting to solve the Case that does it the figure said his Voice using a filter to stay Anonymous He's a freaking nerd likely referring to The audience who's watching Doctor Who The Max Headroom impersonator once again Laughed as insanely as he did on the First hijacking while mocking the real Max Headroom by picking up a can of Pepsi and seeing the Coca-Cola slogan While the audience was sitting there as Perplexed as the individuals from the First broadcast the madness continued to Escalate the figure put up his middle Finger towards the camera while singing A song in his distorted voice he hum Tunelessly he mudded phrases from Television shows he screamed some Inaudible words and then began to moan After a moment he posted a claim that he Had quote made a giant Masterpiece for All the greatest World newspaper nerds [Music]
Impersonator continue to ramble a plane From the camera until the Max Headroom Mask was removed the man screamed and Suddenly a female voice responded and Finally after full 1 minute 20 the Max Headroom hijacking came to an end as the TV producers changed the signal of the Stream with the nation completely Confused by what they had just seen There's only one question on everyone's Mind who was the man behind the Hijacking The FCC an agency that regulates the Airwaves began to dedicate all its Efforts to find the mysterious masked Figure offering a reward to anyone with Information and FCC spokesman by the Name of Phil Bradford would State I Would like to inform anybody involved in This kind of thing that there's a Maximum penalty of 100 000 when you're a Jail or both the government cracked down On this case and hired many Knowledgeable Engineers from various Radio stations in attempt to figure out How this instant took place and what was Required to make it possible it was Ruled that the perpetrator must have Been an employee for the radio station Due to the fact that the equipment Needed to do such a hijacking was simply Unavailable to the public at the time There's limited information on who is Investigated for the incident but
There's one thing for sure the Government was unable to solve the case However the footage has gone an Extremely long way across all parts of The internet and with no conclusion from Officials many have had to launch their Own investigations in order to figure Out who did the hijacking during which There have been no shortage of suspects A user on Reddit bpoag will be calling BP he has spent years taking the Max Headroom investigation into his own Hands and even created a podcast Discussing it BP has been posting about The incident for over 11 years now and Thinks he knows exactly who it is that Committed the crime his prime suspect is A person who goes by the initial J J was Someone who BP knows spoke in an Extremely similar Cadence to the Max Headroom impersonator Jay worked at the Radio station at a time and had hacking Skills which meant Jay had all he needed To commit the hijacking when BP Mentioned Jay being a suspect a group of Redditors assisted him going on a deep Investigation searching for some of the Traces of this person existing after Months of searching the relatives Managed to scrape the internet deep Enough to find a legitimate Facebook Account proving Jay's existence however Contacting Jay was extremely difficult BP sent numerous friend requests to the
Individual however all of them were Either declined or ignored following This BP and the team would escalate the Investigation by contacting the local Police hoping to start a formal Investigation with the goal of finding An answer however months into the police Investigation on Jay they realized it Was simply impossible for them to have Committed this hijacking this means due To the fact that the equipment needed to Commit such a crime was simply Unavailable to a single individual in 1987 deeming Jay himself to be excluded As a suspect overall this was a rather Upsetting end to investigation Especially given how promising the Suspect was despite the case's infamy Discovering who was behind the Max Headroom incident has clearly been more Difficult than initially suspected the Main conclusion of the investigations is That the hijacking must have been a job Done with corporate assistance the motor For which we may never know as time Progresses the probability of solving The case is steadily decreasing and Whether or not an individual will be Convicted is a question that might only Be answered at a later date