May 29, 1997: Open Lines
Callers bring a diverse mix of subjects throughout the night. A Texan reports that the Jarrell tornado has been upgraded to a devastating F5, reinforcing Art's warnings about accelerating weather change. A caller from Pasco, Washington, raises alarm about mandatory home inspections. Others discuss pyramid-shaped milk cartons from European flights, the Oklahoma City bombing trial heading to jury, and the discovery of what may be the oldest known European fossil. Art also addresses the FBI's response to Keith Rowland's April Fool's joke on the website and promotes his book The Quickening.
The episode paints a vivid portrait of late-night America in 1997, where listeners grapple with faith, government overreach, extreme weather, and the mysteries of human history, all filtered through Art Bell's singular perspective from the high desert.
Key Moments
Art's revenge confession - 'count me out as a Christian': Responding to a fax from Mike in Campbell, California, Art declares on-air that he is by his own admission a 'revengeful person' - that if someone comes after him or his family he comes back harder, and that if turning the other cheek is the mark of a Christian, then 'count me out.'
Ontario judge accepts Bear Walker self-defense: Art reads the AP story from Gore Bay, Ontario: a 19-year-old First Nations defendant, Leon Jocko, was acquitted of manslaughter after a judge accepted that the slain man Ron Thompson was an evil spirit called the Bear Walker, ruling the killing - done with a ceremonial walrus bone - was self-defense.
Christian from St. Louis: Jesus and the moneylenders: A caller named Christian from St. Louis defends Art's revenge stance by citing Jesus running through the temple trashing the moneylenders' tables - arguing that even Christ understood circumstances requiring more than turning the other cheek.