Someone hacked into a Montana television station's Emergency Alert System and broadcasted a warning of an imminent zombie apocolypse, the Associated Press reports.
The emergency alert was transmitted Monday in Great Falls, Montana on local TV station KRTV and its CW station. According to the AP, the alert warned that "dead bodies are rising from their graves," "attacking the living," and warned people not to "approach or apprehend these bodies as they are extremely dangerous."
The alerts inspired a flurry of activity on KRTV's Facebook page. Some users were initially alarmed: "What up with the alert that just went across my TV about bodies rising from their graves and attacking people?!?!?!" one user posted. "Scared the living crap out of my 5 year old," added another.
But most seemed to realize it was a practical joke. "Hahaa, that's so awesome...knew I should [have] bought that zombie ammo," said one user.
KRTV hastily issued a statement assuring locals that the broadcast was a hack, and that there was no emergency. "Our engineers are investigating to determine what happened," they said on their website.
The local Great Falls Tribune reported that a few people called the police department to see if the warnings of a looming zombie apocalypse were real.
"We had four calls checking to see if it was true. And then I thought, 'Wait. What if?'" Lt. Shane Sorenson told the Tribune "with a laugh." "We can report in the city, there have been no sightings of dead bodies rising from the ground."