On October 25th, 2003, Channel 4 aired its Halloween special, 100 Greatest Scary Moments. The special was a countdown of chilling clips from documentaries, nuclear war simulations, unsettling animations of monkeys with human faces, the infamous Ghostwatch episode, and harrowing soap storylines from EastEnders and Coronation Street. The air was thick with excitement and apprehension as millions tuned in, eager to relive the most terrifying moments ever broadcast.
As Part 1 and 2 aired over the weekend, viewers were glued to their screens. But something about the special felt wrong, deeply wrong. By the time the final credits rolled on October 26th, a strange and heavy silence had settled over many homes. The usual post-show chatter was absent, replaced by a quiet, creeping dread.
Reports started trickling in. People who had watched both parts began experiencing severe anxiety and PTSD-like symptoms. The scenes they had seen replayed endlessly in their minds, making sleep impossible. Some were too frightened to step outside their homes, their once-familiar world now cloaked in a veil of terror.
Calls and letters flooded Channel 4's offices, but they were sparse and hesitant. Many viewers were too scared to articulate their distress, their words stifled by the fear that had taken root within them.
Then, on October 27th, a tragic accident shook the town. A bus driver, distracted by the haunting images that looped in his head, lost control of his vehicle. It crashed into a large tree, killing him and all the passengers but one. Martha McGuinness, the sole survivor, later recounted to BBC News how the other passengers had seemed equally haunted. It wasn't just the bus driver; the fear had spread like a contagion.
The anxiety attacks and meltdowns escalated. Public spaces became ghost towns as people isolated themselves, haunted by the spectral clips they had watched. The nation seemed to be teetering on the brink of collective hysteria.
On October 28th, a Channel 4 executive, sorting through tapes, found the one for Part 1 of 100 Greatest Scary Moments. It was covered in mould and stains, and blood was oozing from the reel. Horror-struck, he called his colleagues. Together, they decided to watch it, hoping to understand what was happening.
The tape began with 30 seconds of static, then morphed into the countdown. But this was not the same special they had aired. The clips were warped and distorted, painted in shades of blood red, with a background of relentless screaming. Halfway through, the screen cut to black, leaving the room in a deathly silence.
Suddenly, the host, Jimmy Carr, appeared on screen. He sat in a dark, mouldy version of the set, crying. Guns surrounded him, and when he looked up, his eyes were bloodshot. His voice, strained and desperate, revealed that the scary moments had been part of a sinister plot to brainwash viewers. Apologising profusely, he raised a gun to his head and, with a final, haunting scream, pulled the trigger. The screen faded to black again, the echo of his scream lingering.
The executives were frozen in shock, but before they could react, the tape began to ooze blood. The room filled with the hot, red liquid, igniting anything it touched. The executives fled in terror as the building was engulfed in flames. One executive managed to save a colleague from falling debris, dragging her to safety just in time.
Outside, they watched in stunned silence as fire engines and ambulances arrived. The building burned fiercely, its structure collapsing under the inferno. Bodies were carried out in black bags, and one executive, tears streaming down his face, whispered, "Channel 4 is dead."
The haunting special had left its mark on the nation, a scar that would never fully heal. Channel 4's 100 Greatest Scary Moments had become the stuff of nightmares, a real-life horror story that no one would ever forget.
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