- [Narrator] Over 30 years ago,
viewers in Chicago were shocked
when the nightly newsfeed cut to black without warning
and was replaced by a video of a mysterious man
in a rubber mask, mugging to camera.
Who was he?
And why did he decide to hijack the airwaves?
Let's find out, in today's episode of--
(cosmos howling)
- [Announcer] "Colossal Mysteries."
- [Narrator] November 22nd, 1987 was a night
just like any other in the Chicago area.
But all of that was about to change
during an otherwise routine nightly
news broadcast at exactly 9.14 p.m.
As channel nine's nine O'Clock News
sportscasters showed highlights.
The transmission suddenly went dark.
The darkness lasted for about 15 seconds,
and most viewers at home likely
assumed it was some sort of problem with the signal,
but they were wrong.
When the screen came back on the news was no longer there.
It had been hijacked by a figure staring
straight into the camera.
The mysterious man was wearing a rubber
Halloween mask and large black sunglasses.
The creepy rubber head was made to look
like Max Headroom of fictional TV
character from the 1980s his distinct,
slicked back blonde hair and bright white
teeth made the hijacker look uncanny.
After 30 long seconds the station switched
frequencies and brought the news back on the air.
The anchors were clearly confused
but continued on with the show.
And with that the bizarre outburst appeared to be over.
Almost instantly the news station employees
began searching every
inch of the studio for the mysterious hijacker
assuming that it had to be an inside job,
but they found no trace and eventually got back to work.
Startled viewers at home
likely assume the incident was all over.
But they were in for a fright just two hours
later when the mask mystery
man managed to hijack another station on channel 11.
The feed suddenly cut to black without warning.
Then came warped VHS footage of our strange
suspect in front of an odd spinning background.
This time the masked man spoke in a garbled,
distorted voice and laughed maniacally
then things got even weirder,
as he began singing in a tone deaf song.
He hummed along to (mumbles) howled gibberish
and started groaning like he was in pain.
Things got crazier and crazier for a full one minute
and 22 seconds before the station was finally
able to kill the signal and blackout the station.
The extraordinary event was recorded by people who
happen to be taping the show at home on their VCRs.
Naturally, the footage made its way to the news
stations who replayed sections of it
and before long the Max Headroom
incident was front page news.
Most people who happen to catch either incident live on TV
were either confused, scared, upset,
amused or some combination of all four.
The government on the other hand was not happy.
Not only had someone managed to hack
two separate TV stations,
but they had done it without leaving any evidence behind.
The FBI got involved and offered a reward to anyone
who gave information that might lead to the masked
man's arrest.
Experts quickly crack the peculiar pranksters method,
which helped them narrow down the area
where the hack could have
happened to somewhere in northwest Chicago.
But the feds couldn't find any info that would
help answer the most important question of all,
who was the man behind the mask?
And what did they want?
Investigators were unable to find any suspects at all,
and only had a handful of leads to follow
before eventually letting the unsolved case
fade into the background.
Nowadays, government regulators are diligent
and punishments are (mumbles).
So just about anyone else who's attempted
to hijack the airwaves have been taught.
But to this day,
the crazed masked man dressed as Max Headroom
remains at large and undiscovered,
Forever etched in television
law as easily one of the most unusual
incidents in TVs long and history.