Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder
Ep. 33 | The Most DISTURBING LIVE TV Moments In History
Mon, 03 Feb 2025
In today's episode, we see where spontaneity meets unpredictability in the TV world. Let's dive in and re-witness these moments together.
Chapter 1: What are the most disturbing live TV moments covered in this episode?
Live television, a place where spontaneity meets unpredictability. It's a place where human error creates bloopers and unscripted moments that sometimes make us laugh. But occasionally, the unspeakable unfolds. From hostage situations caught on camera to tragic accidents and shocking revelations, these live moments remind us that reality can be far more disturbing than fiction.
These are the most chilling moments ever broadcasted on live television. Crime, conspiracy, cults, serial killers, and murder. All things that I love to consume and I know you do too, you sweet little munchkin, beautiful, intellectually minded freak. In this video, we're diving into some of the most disturbing events ever captured on live television.
Stories that left audiences frozen in fear and forever changed those who lived through them. So viewer discretion is advised. But without further ado, let's unbuckle our seat belts, go Mach 5 down the highway, slam on the brakes, and let's bust through this windshield into these disturbing live television moments together. So first up we have the KNBC TV hostage TV moment.
Chapter 2: What happened during the KNBC hostage situation on live TV?
So one evening on the KNBC Channel 4 news station, something horrible unfolded that shocked viewers and those in the studio alike. On August 19th, 1987, it was a normal day in the studio on the news. And it wasn't until 4 p.m. that day when a man would walk into the studio under the guise of a guest and walk up to one of the live television reporters and put a gun to his back.
And that man was named Gary Stolman. And the reporter was David Horowitz. So for some background on Gary Stolman, he was the son of a former employee named Max Stolman, who had talked about his son's mental health struggles and how he frequently got in and out of mental hospitals. Due to his... Delusions, if you will.
Max Stolman said, I do have a sick son. He has been hospitalized a number of times.
Therefore, he had used his connection with his father to get himself on live television that night. So as David, the reporter, was reporting the news, as you do, he would hear Gary's footsteps behind him and naturally would kind of look behind him to see what was going on because he was live on television at the moment. And when he looked down, he would see a gun pressed up against his back.
Things about shopping by mail order. Pardon me?
And it is kind of crazy how calm David was during this whole interaction. And as soon as he saw the gun, Gary would hand him a piece of paper to read on live television. What is this?
Let me see what it says.
All right.
All right, well, let me read this.
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Chapter 3: How did the Tommy Cooper incident unfold on live television?
He called me to get in. You can't just walk in here. He called me and said that he was Max Dolman's son and he lived in the East and that he had never had the opportunity to see his dad while he was on our air. And could he come down and watch the show?
So obviously she didn't know any better. And after this realization, they realized the danger of the gunman walking into the news station to force reporters to share her. his message.
He had a pass. I noticed the pass on his chest and nobody noticed anything out of the ordinary until David is on. He's standing behind David and at first we thought it was just someone who was mixed up, confused, didn't realize he was in the way.
So the security was then corrected to make sure that this incident would never happen again. And the decision to cut the cameras to ensure those who have malicious intentions couldn't share their viewpoints and messages on air and disturb the peace was very, very quick thinking.
So Gary Stolman would be charged after this, obviously, but then would be later dismissed of the two charges and instead put in two years of probation and he would then be sent to an undisclosed mental facility where he supposedly still is to this day. But that is it for the KNBC live TV moment and we move on to Tommy Cooper.
So Tommy Cooper was a renowned comedian and magician and he would get his debut and start of his career after showing up on the BBC show New to You in March 1948.
And I went into a chemist, see, and I said to the man behind the counter, he was right there behind, I couldn't see him, I said, excuse me, I said, have you got anything for hiccups? I said, excuse me! That was a bit harsh. I said, have you got anything for hiccups? I said, have you got anything for hiccups? And he jumped up and he hit me right across the face with a clock.
I said, what did he do that for? He said, oh, you haven't got hiccups now, have you? I said, I've never had them, it was from my wife at the car.
And he was best known for his mix of magic and comedy. Two of my favorite things. Usually doing tricks that looked like they had failed, but were revealed, in fact, they had not.
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Chapter 4: What caused the Bradford Stadium fire and its impact on live TV?
And they would decide to go to commercial while the orchestra played music to hide the fact that there was a now dead man on the floor behind the curtain that had dropped. And two people, Dustin Gree and Les Dennis, had to do their act immediately after the commercial break had ended, hiding the fact that something was wrong altogether.
And behind the curtain, they did try to revive Cooper till the ambulance could arrive. But unfortunately, they couldn't do anything and his death would be announced the next day. And the horrible end of Tommy Cooper in front of not only a live studio audience, but with many people watching on live television was just so incredibly disturbing.
So the next live TV chilling moment is the Bradford, England fire. So May 11th, 1985 was a day like any other. A match between two soccer or... football teams, if you're in England. Sorry, that's a terrible accent. Anyway, the teams were playing on a spring afternoon and the two teams were the home team, which was Bradford City versus Lincoln City and was the final game of the season.
And the match was held in the Valley Parade Stadium, a stadium with a sitting capacity of over 5,000 and standing capacity as well. However, in the afternoon, a horrific fire would break out that would kill over 50 people and injure over 200. So the stadium itself was built in 1886. In 1911, it was finished and changed to support the Bradford City Association Football Club.
And years after its construction and use, a county councilman mentioned several times that it was in need of repair, even mentioning that a loose cigarette could catch a blaze. And if destiny isn't more cruel than that, I don't know what is, because that's exactly what happened. So in the match mentioned before against Bradford City and Lincoln City, they were currently tied 0-0 or 0-0.
And at 3.44 p.m., five minutes before halftime would start, a small glow was spotted three rows from the back of Block B. And a story after the whole thing went down would explain how the fire really began. And ironically, like I said before, a lit cigarette would start it.
According to an interview reported by John Helm, who was the television commentator, he would personally describe how the story went down in the Express newspaper. Quote unquote, a man over from Australia visiting his son got two tickets to the game. He lit a cigarette and when it was coming to the end, he put it out onto the floorboard and tried to put his foot on it to put it out.
It slipped through a hole in the floorboard. A minute later, he saw a small plume of smoke, so he poured his coffee on it and so did his son. It seemed to put it out, but a minute or so later, it was suddenly a bigger whoosh of smoke, so they went to get a steward. By the time they got back, the whole thing had taken off.
So when the cigarette was dropped down between the floorboards, there was years and years of just garbage and food wrappers and all this stuff that had accumulated underneath and like chips of wood and everything. Literally like the perfect kindling, basically. So when that cigarette hit it, and on a dry day especially, it just lit up.
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