An end-of-the-world prediction message interrupted some Southern California cable television programming on Thursday, quickly becoming a hot topic on social media.
The spooky message, which Cox Communications blamed on one or two radio stations conducting an emergency test that morning, per the Orange County Register, came almost on the eve of a well-publicized end-of-the-world as predicted by author David Meade.
Meade has said, per The Washington Post, that the world would begin to face catastrophic events leading to its eventual end, starting Saturday, based on the Bible's Book of Revelation.
"Realize this, extremely violent times will come," a man's voice boomed in Southern California, according to a video of the alert, per the Register.
Cox and Spectrum cable customers in Orange County also received the alert, the newspaper said.
"It almost sounded like Hitler talking," Stacy Laflamme told the Register, adding that she was watching HGTV on Cox about 11:05 a.m. when the emergency alert flashed across her screen followed by a voice. "It sounded like a radio broadcast coming through the television."
Cox Communications spokesman Joe Camero told the Register that the blame rested with a foul-up of the emergency test system.
"With these tests, an emergency tone is sent out to initiate the test," Camero told the newspaper. "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."
The message spread faster than cable on Twitter and Reddit as Cox customers tried to figure out what was going on.