October 21, 1997: Open Lines - Weird Person Line

Art Bell opens the phone lines with a twist, dedicating a special "weird person line" to finding the strangest caller in America. The idea comes after Strange Universe invites him to judge their upcoming weird person contest, and Art wastes no time testing the waters with his own audience.

The results do not disappoint. Callers include a man who manufactures and sells orgasm machines as a legitimate business, a collector who keeps a coffee can full of celebrity toenails and once followed a single ant for five hours, and a listener who claims he can control the wind within a fifteen-mile radius. A caller with the ultra-rare blood type "RH equal" says he never catches colds or the flu, prompting Art to joke that science needs his blood.

Between calls, Art plays exclusive audio recordings from his recent trip to Egypt, capturing Zahi Hawass splitting a five-ton granite block and dismissing claims that anything significant lies beneath the Sphinx. Art also discusses global warming, the finite supply of fossil fuels, and the profitable industry built around the common cold.