The Ghost Stories Art Bell Couldn’t Dismiss
An original investigation into the Ghost to Ghost stories Art Bell believed, the details he found persuasive, and what the surviving broadcasts can actually establish.
Read briefingBest Art Bell Open Lines Episodes
Open Lines was where Art Bell handed the show back to the audience and let the night decide what mattered. The format could turn from confession to prophecy to comedy to genuine unease in a single call, which is why many listeners remember these episodes as the purest expression of the program. The five selections show the range of the format: themed caller lines, time travel claims, strange personal encounters, and broadcasts where the unexpected was the whole point. They are built for listeners who want the caller-driven side of the archive first before diving into guest-led shows.
Start listening5 episodes, in listening order
5 shows, 1997–2005
- UFO / Y2K Boom1997–99 · 1
- Post-Millennium Coast2000–09 · 4
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Episodes in this collection
Amazing Open Lines
Feb 6, 2005 · 2h 54m
A strong general-purpose Open Lines entry because the callers drive the show without one narrow theme. It gives new listeners a clean sense of the format's unpredictability.
Art Bell opens the phone lines for a wide-ranging evening that produces some of the most memorable caller stories in the program's history. He reserves one line for anyone who has made a pact with the devil, inspired by the late Father Malachi Martin's discussions on the subject. A caller describes making such a pac...Open Lines | The Prophet Show
Jul 4, 2004 · 2h 52m
The prophecy framing gives callers a reason to go big. It is a useful bridge between Open Lines and the archive's prediction-night tradition.
Art Bell opens the phone lines on Independence Day for a special edition dedicated to listener prophecy. Rather than the usual end-of-year predictions, Art issues a challenge to the genuinely gifted among his audience, seeking short-term visions of events about to unfold. The callers respond with striking specificit...Open Lines | Time Travel
Aug 22, 2004 · 2h 52m
Time travel works especially well as an Open Lines topic because callers can bring theories, memories, and claims directly to Art. This episode belongs with both the Open Lines and time-travel collections.
Art Bell opens the lines for an anything-goes night, dedicating the first-time caller line to anyone claiming to have traveled through time. He begins with a vivid account of a terrifying electrical storm in Pahrump, Nevada, where lightning bombarded the area around his antenna towers for nearly five hours while the...Open Lines with Area 51 Employees Call-in
Sep 11, 1997 · 3h 14m
The alleged Area 51 employee line is one of the archive's defining caller broadcasts. It captures the danger, uncertainty, and live-radio mythology that made Open Lines feel impossible to script.
Art Bell opens a special phone line for current and former Area 51 employees willing to share their secrets. The evening begins with a heartfelt hospital room interview with Dannion Brinkley, who describes his battle with three brain aneurysms and the healing power of prayer and love he received from listeners durin...Open Lines | Alien Encounters
Jan 2, 2005 · 2h 53m
Alien encounter calls make this one of the more searchable and replayable Open Lines shows. It collects firsthand accounts without forcing them into a single guest narrative.
Art Bell dedicates a special phone line to callers who have experienced physical alien contact, setting strict criteria that exclude dreams and secondhand accounts. The first caller, Mary, describes an entity entering her body while she sat watching television with her family present. She reports the being seemed ch...
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5 episodes