April 16, 1996: Bizarre Stories - Open Lines
Apr 16, 1996
2h 55m
0:00 / 0:00
Art Bell delivers an open lines night packed with bizarre news, from an Ebola outbreak at a Texas quarantine facility to Marines being court-martialed for refusing to submit DNA samples. He raises urgent concerns about the approaching anniversary of April 19th, wondering aloud whether domestic terrorism will mark the date again.
The evening takes a dramatic turn when the mysterious faxer known as "Bugs," who previously claimed to have shot and buried two Bigfoot creatures in 1973, calls in live. In riveting detail, he describes spotlighting a massive bipedal creature in an open field, tracking the wounded male to a plum thicket the next morning, and encountering a charging female inside. His account of the creatures' near-human anatomy and the trio's panicked decision to bury the bodies grips the audience for a full half hour.
Hunters and skeptics alike call to dissect every detail of Bugs' story, from bullet calibers to the absence of any reported stench. Art finds himself squarely in the middle of one of the most memorable Bigfoot accounts in the show's history, leaning toward belief at roughly sixty percent.
The evening takes a dramatic turn when the mysterious faxer known as "Bugs," who previously claimed to have shot and buried two Bigfoot creatures in 1973, calls in live. In riveting detail, he describes spotlighting a massive bipedal creature in an open field, tracking the wounded male to a plum thicket the next morning, and encountering a charging female inside. His account of the creatures' near-human anatomy and the trio's panicked decision to bury the bodies grips the audience for a full half hour.
Hunters and skeptics alike call to dissect every detail of Bugs' story, from bullet calibers to the absence of any reported stench. Art finds himself squarely in the middle of one of the most memorable Bigfoot accounts in the show's history, leaning toward belief at roughly sixty percent.
Key Moments
Texas Ebola scare and the cynical question of whether we'd be told: Art opens on the Alice, Texas quarantine - three more infected monkeys, eight of 35 workers exposed - and walks through the official line that humans can't catch this strain, then voices the deeper question: under no circumstances does he believe authorities would tell us if humans were at risk.
Marines court-martialed for refusing to give DNA: Art lays out the case of two Marines being court-martialed for refusing to provide DNA samples to the military - the modern dog tag - and walks through the implications: insurance redlining, propensity-for-violence flagging, and a permanent master file no one controls.