The Art Bell Archive

Art Bell welcomes filmmaker and researcher David Sereda for a Christmas Eve discussion about UFOs, extraterrestrial contact, and the future of humanity. Sereda describes his own close encounter with a triangular craft in Berkeley in 1968 and outlines a theory connecting the Phoenix Lights to Pythagorean mathematics and the Great Pyramids, noting that the massive triangle hovered near the Estrella Mountain Range, whose name traces back to the Greek for star child.

The conversation turns to whether extraterrestrial visitors are benevolent or hostile. Sereda divides alien encounters into categories, from spiritually evolved beings who travel through what he calls the singularity to more troubling entities associated with abductions and implants. Art presses him on the contradiction between claims of helpful aliens and the forcible nature of most abduction accounts. Sereda acknowledges the darker side but points to religious apparitions and luminous phenomena as evidence of higher contact.

Sereda also addresses the environmental crisis, citing a professor who believes humanity has only five to ten years to transform its energy infrastructure or face extinction. He argues that zero-point energy and anti-gravity technology may already exist in classified programs and that withholding them represents a profound crime against the planet.

Art Bell welcomes investigator Wm. Louis McDonald for an alarming discussion about the explosive rise in autism rates. McDonald presents statistics showing autism went from 1 in 10,000 births in 1996 to 1 in 166 by 2006, numbers confirmed by the Autism Society of America. Speaking as both a researcher and father of an autistic child, he shares his experience navigating the challenges of pervasive developmental disorder.

McDonald traces autism through his own family, revealing that his father, a top government scientist who worked on classified satellite imaging, was likely an undiagnosed autistic savant. He argues that electromagnetic bombardment from modern telecommunications has driven genetic changes responsible for the surge, pushing back against the popular myth that mercury in vaccines causes autism. He explains that autistic children simply lack the ability to metabolize heavy metals as efficiently as other children.

The conversation takes a provocative turn when McDonald connects autism to alien abduction research. Drawing on 248 credible abductee interviews over 14 years, he theorizes that gray aliens may represent a future branch of humanity that evolved from autistic populations, lost the ability to reproduce, and now travels back in time seeking to repair their genetic line.

Art Bell opens the phone lines for a special Christmas edition of Open Lines, asking callers to share the best and worst days of their lives, inspired by Dean Koontz's novel Life Expectancy. Broadcasting from Manila, Art shares his own story of a military doctor who falsely told him he had six months to live before revealing a tumor was benign.

Callers deliver deeply personal accounts that range from heartbreaking to strange. A terminal cancer patient in Idaho describes finding peace through her answered novena prayers. A woman in California recounts discovering her Vietnam veteran husband dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, then years later experiencing a three-day spiritual transformation after standing up to her emotionally abusive father. A caller in Kansas claims his best day involved a late-night gas station encounter with someone he identified as Jim Morrison.

Other callers describe harrowing near-death experiences, including a woman whose brakes failed on a steep Arizona highway and who was guided to safety by a mysterious voice. Art also deals with a painful tongue injury throughout the broadcast, prompting a nurse to call in with treatment advice. The evening captures the full spectrum of human experience during the holiday season.

Art Bell welcomes astrophysicist Dr. Bernard Haisch for a thought-provoking exploration of the intersection between science and spirituality. Haisch, who has over 130 scientific publications and led multiple NASA research projects, presents his theory that the universe was created by a transcendent intelligence whose thoughts became the laws of physics. He argues this view occupies a middle ground between religious fundamentalism and the materialist claim that existence is purely accidental.

Haisch draws on the work of autistic savants to support his case that the brain functions as a filter of consciousness rather than its source. He cites extraordinary examples including Leslie Lemke playing Tchaikovsky after a single listen and Daniel Tammett reciting pi to over 21,000 decimal places. These abilities, he suggests, point to a universal consciousness that most humans can only access in fragments.

The discussion extends into reincarnation, the zero-point energy field, and the crisis facing modern physics through its overreliance on unverifiable string theory. Art challenges Haisch on the social consequences of abandoning organized religion, while Haisch maintains that a scientifically grounded concept of God could unite humanity without the divisiveness that traditional religions often produce.

Art Bell welcomes Dr. Nick Begich for a wide-ranging discussion on electromagnetic technologies and their potential for misuse. Begich details his years of research into HAARP, revealing that the project went dark around 2003 when it transferred to DARPA, cutting off public access and outside scrutiny. He describes testifying before the European Parliament, which subsequently passed a resolution calling for a global ban on weapons capable of manipulating human behavior.

The conversation shifts to modern surveillance capabilities, including the ability of law enforcement to remotely activate cell phones as listening devices through roving wiretaps. Art and Begich wrestle with the tension between national security needs in a post-9/11 world and the erosion of Fourth Amendment protections. Begich argues that existing legal frameworks already provide sufficient latitude for intelligence gathering without mass surveillance of ordinary citizens.

Begich also examines RFID technology and its growing integration into consumer goods and potentially currency itself. He explains how cell phones could serve as activators for RFID tags, creating a comprehensive tracking system that monitors every purchase and movement. The discussion raises urgent questions about where convenience ends and total surveillance begins.