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GREAT FALLS, Mont. (WACH/AP) -- A Montana television station's regular programming was interrupted by news of a zombie apocalypse.

The Montana Television Network says hackers broke into the Emergency Alert System of Great Falls affiliate KRTV and its CW station Monday.

KRTV says on its website the hackers broadcast that "dead bodies are rising from their graves" in several Montana counties.

The alert claimed the bodies were "attacking the living" and warned people not to "approach or apprehend these bodies as they are extremely dangerous."

The network says there is no emergency and its engineers are investigating.

A call to KRTV was referred to a Montana Television Network executive in Bozeman. Jon Saunders didn't immediately return a call for comment.

The Great Falls Tribune reports the hoax alert generated at least four calls to police to see if it was true.

TV shows like AMC's The Walking Dead have helped bring Zombies more mainstream in recent years. The University of South Carolina offered a course in zombie movies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention even has a page on Zombie Preparedness.  The CDC notes their page started as a tongue in cheek campaign to engage new audiences with preparedness messages. CDC Director Dr. Ali Khan notes, "If you are generally well equipped to deal with a zombie apocalypse you will be prepared for a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake, or terrorist attack."

Cliff Courtney, EVP and chief strategy officer for Zimmerman Advertising, recently told Fox Business that America as a society loves to “resurrect the dead.” The zombie and vampire craze that has been sweeping the country for the past several years now is just one example.

“Zombies were movie staples in the 1950s and 1960s, and basically everything old is new again,” Courtney said. “We milk something to death and move on.”