December 28, 2003: Annual Predictions Show - Open Lines
Callers deliver a wide range of forecasts for 2004, including the detonation of a North Korean nuclear weapon, the Pope's passing during Lent, first contact with alien life, the capture of Osama bin Laden, and the discovery of a pre-Egyptian civilization. One caller predicts a dual currency system in the United States following the dollar's steep decline against the euro. Another foresees a massive explosion of nuclear proportion at a location called Wolf's Head near the Bering Strait, claiming the information came from an entity he has communicated with for a decade.
Art notes that the overwhelming majority of predictions skew negative, reflecting what he describes as a dire national mood heading into the new year. He pauses to share a deeply moving Associated Press account from the Iranian earthquake in Bam, where a young girl kissed her father four times before bed, telling him she might not see him again, suggesting a chilling premonition of the disaster that killed her hours later.
Key Moments
Caller predicts bin Laden capture by September 2004: Caller logs prediction #7: bin Laden will be captured (mostly dead, but Bell records it as 'captured') by at least September 2004 - sick of the caves.
John Lear's haunting warning: don't go to the light: Bell shares the most unsettling thing ever told to him on-air - John Lear's directive that when you die and see the light, don't go to it: it's a trick. Go to the dark instead.
Caller: North Korea-China to attack U.S. soil: A caller predicts North Korea and China will bomb or invade a U.S. territory or state once American troops are pinned down in the Middle East. Bell pushes back that nuclear retaliation makes that impossible.
Dual U.S. currency prediction (#13): Caller Francis from Brooklyn predicts the U.S. will adopt a dual-currency system after June 1, 2004 - one domestic and one for international balance of payments - backed by gold control under the Patriot Act.
Televised execution of bin Laden: Michael from Dallas–Fort Worth predicts a politician will introduce 2004 legislation to televise Osama bin Laden's execution if captured and sentenced to death. Bell calls it 'the first televised execution in all history.'