Shawn Kinnear said he was ‘disturbed’ by his Amazon Echo’s unprompted declaration about seeing dead people (Picture: Shawn Kinnear/Facebook)

An Amazon Echo left its owner feeling ‘disturbed’ after Alexa declared: ‘Every time I close my eyes all I see is people dying.’

Shawn Kinnear, 30, said the smart device made the outburst unprompted and out of the blue at his home Monday.

Coronavirus news live: Rishi Sunak announces furlough scheme replacement

Kinnear, from San Francisco, added that it was ‘followed by the uncomfortable silence I have ever felt.’

He told Metro US: ‘Alexa is in the living room.


‘I had Amazon Prime on TV but it was paused.

An Amazon Echo, similar to the one which declared that it was seeing dead people (File Photo)

‘I walked back in from the kitchen and she made her statement.

‘It was a long statement so I listened then was like, WTF, it said nothing else.



‘I then asked Alexa to repeat the statement and she said she did not understand.’

Kinnear said that the device spoke in its normal voice – but that Alexa’s outburst was so unexpected he did not have time to record it.

It was given to his partner Paul as a work Christmas present in 2016, with Kinnear unable to remember the last time he asked it to do something.

He said that Paul occasionally uses it for weather reports and sports scores – but that he is now considering disconnecting the device after the unpleasant surprise.

Asked if the incident had put him off using other so-called smart-technology, Kinnear said: ‘I don’t use much integrated home tech.

‘I have a lot of other tech stuff. Computers, gaming, so on. But my house is about 80 years old so a lot of the integration doesn’t work.

‘With lathe and plaster walls wifi is difficult.’

Alexa’s latest outburst comes three months after the cylindrical device – which can be used to order products from Amazon – spooked owners by bursting into an eerie, spontaneous cackle.

And in May, a family from Portland, Oregon, said their Echo had recorded private conversations and sent them to a random person in their contacts book.

Metro US have contacted Amazon for a comment.