March 23, 2001: Antichrist & Time Traveler Lines
The time traveler calls prove equally memorable. One caller claims to be reaching the show from 2008 via the internet, predicting Bush will win a second term and that mad cow fears will reduce beef consumption by 30 to 40 percent. He fades out mid-sentence in a way Art finds genuinely unsettling. Another caller from 2008 warns of nationwide rolling blackouts and claims 90 percent of the population carries a variant of mad cow disease.
Between calls, Art covers headlines including another school shooting near San Diego, a massive crack forming in Antarctic ice, stock market declines, and growing fears about mad cow and foot-and-mouth disease. The atmosphere of mounting real-world crises gives the stranger calls an eerie resonance.
Key Moments
The Antichrist Line and Time Traveler Line Are Born: Art opens the show by establishing two restricted call-in lines for the night: one reserved exclusively for self-identified Antichrists, the other for time travelers, with a third line of regular open calls for everyone else.
Caller from 2008 Predicts Bush Second Term and Mad Cow Scare: A caller claims to be reaching Art via the internet from seven years in the future, predicts George W. Bush will win a second term, says mad cow disease will drop U.S. beef consumption 30-40 percent based on perception rather than deaths, and the connection cuts out before he can deliver bad news.
Antichrist Declares There Is No Afterlife: A self-identified Antichrist tells Art's audience the message he wants to deliver: there is no continuance after death, just lights out, worms in, worms out, and traces his lineage to a tribe described in the final chapters of the Book of Judges.
Time Traveler from 2050 Warns the Antichrist Will Soon Reveal Himself: A caller claiming to live in 2050 says the very Antichrist Art has been searching for is on the line tonight, that he is bound to Earth and unable to follow humanity beyond it, and that within three years he will openly reveal himself.
The Devil-in-Politics Photograph: Art directs listeners to artbell.com to see what he insists is an unretouched network grab from the 2000 Bradley-Gore Harlem debate showing a skeletal evil face appearing between the two candidates, calling it a glimpse of our future.