In the state where an airplane got damaged by an alligator, a woman shoplifted dressed as a turkey, and a local politician claimed they were abducted by (and still speak regularly with) extraterrestrial life, anything is bound to happen. Well it’s time to add zombies (back) into the fold of crazy Florida news stories.
This week the town of Lake Worth, Florida blasted out a text message to its citizens warning them of a “power outage and zombies” for the residents of “Lake Worth and Terminus” (Terminus obviously referring to the villainous murder town featured in Season 4 and 5 of The Walking Dead). The message goes on to say that there are far fewer residents now due to “extreme zombie activity.” The Palm Beach Post tweeted a picture of the message, which you can see below:
BREAKING: Lake Worth falsely sends out ‘zombie’ alert during power outage https://t.co/LJOVesWFVU pic.twitter.com/7D5HPQovga
— The Palm Beach Post (@pbpost) May 21, 2018
For clarity, this wasn’t a practical joke the town was playing on its public – it was the result of a hack. And this isn’t the first time residents were warned of an impending zombie apocalypse. Lake Worth Public Information Officer Ben Kerr told Gizmodo, “We first became aware of the zombie messages during Hurricane Irma,” adding, “The actual power systems were not in any way compromised. This is a separate messaging system that at some point has been compromised. They just added a zombie fantasy.”
Kerr promises that all zombie-themed messages have been eradicated from the system. And although messing with public alert systems can be dangerous, most of the residents and people who saw the tweet found the humor in the situation:
— andie (@andie__b) May 22, 2018
?? Just find the nearest Costco. Plenty of food and they can’t get in without a membership. LOL
— Richard McVicker (@AppleMcVicker) May 22, 2018
False #zombie alarms like these will come back to haunt us when a real zombie attack happens. Someone needs to be banished outside the walls of our enclave.
— Dino (@dmmead) May 22, 2018
It’s true, false reports like this can lead to an even more dangerous Boy Who Cried Wolf situation for future walker attacks. Thankfully, Ben Kerr is fully prepared for such an event, telling Gizmodo, “Hopefully the next time there is a zombie invasion alert, it will be a real zombie invasion.”
