January 18, 2002: Bizarre Open Lines
The calls range widely. A state trooper from the 1960s recounts watching a stranded motorist walk toward a gas station during a blizzard and never arrive, his car abandoned and unclaimed to this day. A woman in Las Cruces describes seeing a cat walk along a steel I-beam, step off into midair, and simply vanish. Listeners attempt to coax their dogs into saying words on air with mixed results. Others propose miracles including healing the deaf, granting universal clarity, and lifting the oceans to reveal what lies beneath.
Art also reports on a BBC story about 9,500-year-old man-made structures found off the coast of India, a double-peaked solar cycle confirmed by NASA, and the discovery of flesh-eating pet lizards found feeding on their deceased owner in Delaware. He announces that Monday's replay will feature the complete saga of Mel Waters and his bottomless hole.
Key Moments
Limbaugh's miraculous cochlear implant recovery: Art reads a fresh Drudge Report bulletin that Rush Limbaugh has regained 80% of his hearing and is already talking on cell phones weeks after cochlear implant surgery, and openly wonders whether the audience's collective 'searing white light' mind-blast experiment played a role.
Pet Nile monitors found feeding on dead owner: Art reads a story from Newark, Delaware, where police found a man's body on the floor with his seven pet Nile monitor lizards, the largest six feet long and 25 pounds, feeding on his flesh. He ties it back to Penelope Smith's line that we all eventually become food.
Dying Denver columnist sees strangers: Art reports that a popular Denver newspaper columnist, dying and writing columns about the experience, has now described seeing glimpses of people he doesn't know. His hospice nurse calls it typical, and Art argues this is evidence consciousness survives death.
Phaedra and the unseen earth-killer asteroid: Art jokes that playing 'Some Velvet Morning' on the show is creating a wave of babies named Phaedra, then takes a caller proposing an amateur scope network to spot earth-killer asteroids. Art counters that an inbound rock heading straight at us would just slowly brighten and would likely be missed without a satellite reference point.
The Baker Triangle and the family that woke from death: Consuela from Roswell tells two near-death stories: her mother left her body during surgery and watched from the ceiling, and her uncle, pronounced dead, woke up five hours later asking for food. Art uses it to riff on a Mojave 'Baker Triangle' where strange things happen to travelers.