February 27, 1997: Open Lines
Callers range across wildly diverse territory. A Gulf War veteran from Maine reveals he was told never to give blood again after service and has spent five years unable to obtain his medical records. A Seattle caller describes her roommate's uncanny ability to predict earthquakes weeks in advance. Art reads a Washington Post article on scientists discovering that intuition plays a measurable role in decision-making. A Peoria listener reports severe Illinois River flooding while another recounts a ghost encounter complete with an audible boo.
Art addresses the persistent internet rumor of his own death, fielding panicked calls from affiliates and reading bewildered emails from fans. He caps the night with an audience game, asking listeners to finish the sentence "If I were a dictator, I would..." with answers ranging from eliminating animal cruelty to commanding an army of chupacabras.
Key Moments
Cloning is the biggest news since the splitting of the atom: Days after Dolly the sheep is announced, Art frames cloning as the biggest news since the splitting of the atom and reveals he's booked Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald of Loyola - a Jesuit priest, geneticist, and bioethicist - for the next night.
Chupacabra reportedly captured near San Antonio: Art reads a fax from a TV-news contact 'Derek' detailing a rancher's account near Poteet, Texas: ranch hands found a creature in a coyote trap with two more nearby jumping nearly into flight. It had eyes that swiveled 360 degrees, a horn protruding from its mouth, and a screech. Three days later it was dead in the trap; 'men in suits took it away' - supposedly to Austin or Houston.
Independent corroboration of Mel's Hole from Yakima: Art reads a listener letter from Lance in Yakima: his father-in-law, motorcycling years earlier through the sagebrush near Ellensburg, had to swerve around an 8-to-10-foot-wide hole 'so deep he could not see the bottom' - and a local newspaper reported the military barricaded it.