June 3, 1997: Open Lines 'Witch Hunt'
The night takes a dramatic turn when a caller named Jim, recently fired from the NSA after 21 years, reveals that a glowing sphere once hovered over the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, disabling all electronics, radar, communications, and even aircraft engines for approximately 20 minutes. Art also reports on a possible chupacabra attack in Ocoee, Florida, where three horses were mauled and drained of blood. Ramona Bell makes a studio appearance to recount how she neutralized a cursed doll sent by a listener, using salt before disposing of it.
From webcam technology and UFOs over Navy warships to witch hunts and blood-drained livestock, this open lines episode captures Art Bell at his most playful and unpredictable, welcoming new affiliates while embracing the strange and unexplained.
Key Moments
Art declares the witch hunt - broom-riding required: Art opens his 'witch hunt': he doesn't want a Wiccan, herbalist or psychic - he wants 'a real broom-riding, spell-casting, magic-dispensing witch.' The framing sets up the entire night and becomes the defining premise listeners would call back to for years.
Canadian psychic energy worker who won't hex the bagger: A West Vancouver caller calls herself a psychic energy worker who 'changes reality' with angelic help and only acts in alignment with the divine plan. Art tests her: if a bag boy at the grocery store throws your shopping bag and curses at you, could you give him a corn on his foot? Her answer - 'I'm sure I could, but I would never do that. I'm very compassionate' - becomes the night's signature exchange.
Kane the gray ACDC witch - practices both magics: Kane from Minneapolis identifies as an Asia-True 'gray' witch who practices both white and black magic - the only caller of the night to claim the dark side. He says he can make people sick or 'beyond that,' give them bad luck, or compel them to act against their will, and that the threefold karmic return doesn't apply when it's justice - eye for an eye.
Janine the Pictish kitchen witch from Oklahoma: Janine from Oklahoma City calls herself a Pictish solitary practitioner and 'kitchen witch' - married, with a child, an herb garden, observing the moon and the four festivals. She estimates hundreds of thousands of practicing witches in the U.S. and notes Catholicism with the Virgin Mary 'isn't that much of a leap' to her practice.