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From the High Desert book cover

From the High Desert

A Cultural History of Art Bell

Thumbnail for March 28, 2004: Open Lines | Poltergeist - Sarah James

March 28, 2004: Open Lines | Poltergeist - Sarah James

Mar 28, 2004
2h 53m
0:00 / 0:00
Art Bell opens with a tribute to Elena's haunting motorcycle photo tour through the abandoned zones around Chernobyl, urging every listener to view the images. He covers news ranging from the Madrid bombing suspects' suicide standoff to NASA's scramjet reaching 5,000 miles per hour, then launches into open lines with a passionate segment opposing broadband over power lines, warning it will cripple emergency communications nationwide.

The highlight of the evening is a live interview with Florida ham radio operator Tom, callsign KN4LF, who describes ongoing poltergeist activity in his home. Objects fly across rooms, his wife gets trapped in a locked bathroom with the lights going out, and shadowy figures appear in peripheral vision. Tom reveals that the entity has written her name on a notepad: Sarah James. He describes seeing her materialize as a solid, four-foot-tall girl in 19th-century clothing with an expression of admiration.

Tom's wife Ann corroborates the experiences on air, describing a heavy antique soap dish launching across the bathtub. Art also fields calls on topics including feral humans, six-fingered people, a police officer's account of unidentifiable blood found at a crime scene, and Billy the Kid's possible exhumation.

Key Moments

  1. It started on his wife's birthday: Tom, a Florida ham and self-described scientist, describes the August 22, 2002 morning his wallet appeared atop a candle sconce and his watch on a tube of cream - the first paranormal event in his ranch house outside Tampa.

  2. Wife trapped in the bathroom: Tom recounts how, twice, his wife was locked in the master bathroom while he fought an unseen force on the doorknob from the other side; the lights were also turned off on her.

  3. Sarah James writes her name on a notepad: Following EVP investigators' advice, Tom left a notepad and pen on his bed; the entity wrote 'boo' the first time, then over multiple sessions revealed her name as Sarah James.

  4. Sarah materializes in the bedroom: Tom describes Sarah waking him by running her hands through his hair, then appearing fully solid - a four-foot brown-haired girl in 19th-century clothing - looking at him with admiration for five or six seconds before vanishing.

  5. Caller's paranormal sexual assault: A woman caller describes being held down on her bed, unable to call out, with her legs forced open and severe ovary cramping - possibly an extraction or implantation - while her husband was in the next room. Her teenage daughter in Utah was also followed by men in black.