January 24, 2002: The Mothman Prophecies - John A. Keel

Art Bell interviews John A. Keel, author of The Mothman Prophecies, as the major motion picture starring Richard Gere opens in theaters. Art admits he has somehow never learned about the Mothman despite decades in paranormal broadcasting. Keel recounts traveling to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in 1966 to investigate reports of a seven-to-eight-foot-tall winged creature with enormous red eyes that could launch straight upward and chase automobiles.

Over the course of that year, Keel collected more than a hundred eyewitness reports and personally observed luminous objects moving along the Ohio River, some of which responded when he signaled them with a flashlight. He describes mysterious phone calls featuring mechanical voices that accurately predicted events including the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The calls also warned of an impending tragedy on the Ohio River.

The 13-month wave of phenomena culminated in the December 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge, killing 47 people during Christmas rush hour traffic. Keel explains his theory of "window areas" where paranormal activity clusters across generations. Two men in unusual clothing were spotted climbing the bridge days before the disaster. Art and Keel discuss whether such entities represent interdimensional visitors emerging through temporary openings between realities.