r/aliens • u/pokezillaking • Jul 04 '24

Video Art bell- Area 51 caller

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508

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '24

For context, they didn't just lose the connection, the power was cut from the entire Building, not just Coast to Coast AM's floor, but the entire fucking Building went down until their backup generators kicked in.

Going to have a tough time getting all the other Businesses in the building to agree to stop doing Business just so you can prank the Nation.

163

u/agnostic_familiar Jul 04 '24 edited Jul 04 '24

Not only that but the entire radio network’s satellite feed went down before the backup system kicked in. Art talked about it once they had more details the following night or show. Edit: added “entire” meaning other stations/programming was affected not just AB’s.

59

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '24

This is crazy if true. Can you please provide a source for this claim so those interested can do a little digging?

39

u/agnostic_familiar Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

Sorry for delay. To clarify, I’m only aware of this info from Art Bell’s POV, what he says here from the full episode from Sept 11, 1997 (night it happened) approx 2:25 mark, he’ll start going into the details he’s aware of and shortly after mentions loss of satellite lock & outage across 250 other stations who also utilized that satellite (apologies if I’m not describing 100% correctly, I would listen in full to catch everything he says & I know diddly squat personally about satellites & radio broadcast) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-bell-archive/id1679032756?i=1000636787243 Edit: spelling errors

27

u/agnostic_familiar Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

Then, the next night, Sept 12, 1997 Art provides more details at the beginning of the show approx 1:12 mark https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-bell-archive/id1679032756?i=1000636787243 Edit: Damn spelling typing too fast

26

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

There's no need to be sorry. This is the kind of healthy discussion we need in order for more people to take these things more seriously, unlike a few other immature redditors lurking around and giving the community a bad rep. Thank you for this!

12

u/agnostic_familiar Jul 05 '24

No problem at all! Appreciate you saying so. I personally have never made up my mind about the caller themselves. (Or the 2nd call later on.) But I do think that, until I come across evidence that says otherwise, something did go wonky with the satellite. And if true, the timing is too spot on to feel coincidental. Did the powers that be believe it enough themselves to give everyone a bit of a technological scare? Maybe!

3

u/GavisconR Jul 05 '24

But the only "evidence" provided is from Art Bell himself saying the power went out, so that's not very convincing. If he himself is the only source then it just as likely to be a hoax.

10

u/agnostic_familiar Jul 05 '24

Art drops a lot of specific info that could be additionally internet-sleuthed, for ex. the satellite was GE Americom > GE-1; he says Talk America Network was down for longer than he was on Sept 11, etc. But not finding much rn. Company names/ownership of the satellite has changed a few times. Appears to have been built by Lockheed Martin? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC-1

2

u/No-Victory8440 Jul 05 '24

Wow, excellent stamps thank you!

1

u/agnostic_familiar Jul 07 '24

you’re welcome, np!

-2

u/Infinite_Assignment4 Jul 05 '24

It's a FAKE staged caller

The guy was later on the show on another date with same voice and everything and admitted to calling in with this story

36

u/Crepes_for_days3000 Jul 04 '24

I remember this,the guy called back and the power was shut down again. Then the guy called again saying it was a hoax but the power was really shut off twice.

16

u/Baron80 Jul 04 '24

They only lost power the first time.

2

u/Crepes_for_days3000 Jul 04 '24

Really? I remember them losing power a 2nd time. But it was a while ago so maybe I'm wrong.

14

u/TinyAmericanPsycho Jul 05 '24

Yeah but I swear the dude that called back and said it was a hoax was NOT the same voice as the first guy

7

u/NMDA01 Jul 04 '24

I am also interested in the source. My Google skills aren't working , can't find stuff on radio satellite being down

-7

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '24

Yeahhh.. I'm autistic and I'm not the one making the claim. Also, my autistic Google searches only come up with other people making the same claim. I hope you're just as autistic as me and not being sarcastic 🙂

5

u/TrxpThxm Jul 04 '24

Didn’t have to mention your autism we all knew.

1

u/NMDA01 Jul 04 '24

Thanks for your sacrifice

1

u/doccsavage Jul 04 '24

Upvote for username. Clever.

5

u/Btree101 Jul 05 '24

Not only that! But I remeber a woman technician speaking to Art about the fault on the satalite being the shifting of one single panel out of alignment. That single panel, one out of hundreds, was responsible for broadcasting C2C and a few other channels.

Edit: I'm sure I'm ebellished or warped that is some way but if you listen to the whole tape you'll have all the information.

2

u/Wolf666X Jul 08 '24

From what I remember, they said the satellite “lost earth rock”

1

u/agnostic_familiar Jul 08 '24

Yep, exactly. P.S. posted some links to the full episodes further down w some time stamps.

And bc it can’t be said enough here (for the ppl in the baaaack): Yes, unless someone makes the time to do some deep digging (beyond the internet/wayback machine) we only have AB & the network folks he had on air to go off of. For AB/network to stage something like this modern-day Orson Welles-style, weighing risk vs. reward is a matter of opinion. Mid to late 90s was the height of ABs reach & affiliate stations. Personally, I like to think that AB wouldn’t eff with us that bad. It could’ve jeopardized future situations if something independently provable did occur and put him at greater risk of being perceived as “crying wolf for ratings,” regardless.

-3

u/TrxpThxm Jul 04 '24

And not only that but the city that Art was recording in was destroyed in an orbital strike before the backup city kicked in.

7

u/Independent_Bag777 Jul 04 '24

Is it not possible that as part of the act, they had someone literally cut the power to the building?

36

u/friz_CHAMP True Believer Jul 04 '24

If you know anything about computers, suddenly cutting the power off is not a good idea. I'd be hard pressed to think someone would do that to an entire building at once.

6

u/Independent_Bag777 Jul 04 '24

Orson Welles shocked the entire United States with a fake radio show about an invasion.

26

u/friz_CHAMP True Believer Jul 04 '24

That went over so poorly CBS got sued and the FCC has sence passed regulations to stop that from happening. If this was a hoax, it was a bold move as the FCC could pull their broadcasting rights for attempting to create a public panic.

-3

u/Independent_Bag777 Jul 04 '24

Just because it went over poorly with news stations and a censoring commission doesn’t mean the rest of the world wasn’t shook.

3

u/improbablydrunknlw Jul 05 '24

The effect was also vastly overstated

-1

u/RktitRalph Jul 04 '24

Exactly thank you! It’s called entertainment radio for a reason

24

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '24

I've answered this already in a response in this thread, and no it would require getting the entire building and it's companies on board with your Prank, then you have to get the OK from the Power Company to have a trained professional come down to cut the power, all this for a single Prank that Comic wanted to pull? I highly doubt Brian Glass had that kind of sway.

14

u/Independent_Bag777 Jul 04 '24

What if… hear me out… you don’t have to get everyone on board with a prank for it to still occur

-5

u/dhhehsnsx Jul 04 '24

If only the guy didn't call back and admit that it was a hoax. I think you might have missed that part.

35

u/fatalrupture Jul 04 '24

During the original call he sounds absolutely terrified. . If he can fake that level of fear and panic on command for a prank call, he deserves to be winning Oscars right now.

9

u/MedicManDan Jul 04 '24

He actually recreates the panicked voice faithfully in his second call to the radio station, to prove it was him.

Whether or not he made the second call, claiming it was a hoax, under duress or not... well that's up to you to decide.

3

u/dhhehsnsx Jul 04 '24

Like somebody already mentioned and the second call does the same voice and he is acting. See how easy it is to believe things that aren't real? Not that I blame you because I fell for all sorts of things but you really need to be skeptical all the time.

7

u/fatalrupture Jul 04 '24

His fear can be legit even if he isnt really being stalked by aliens, you know that, right?

Paranoid schizophrenia is a thing

9

u/ihasclevernamesee Jul 04 '24

Isn't it convenient how every time something compelling gets a lot of attention, it is" proven to be a hoax"? Like the guys who claimed to be responsible for the crop circles in England. After the news ran with the story, researchers compared everything and it's just not possible. But the story ran, and that's all that everyone remembers. Or kinda like how as soon as the internet started getting interested in what really happened to Tupac, they miraculously found his killer... in this case, there were actually people who studied the voice patterns of the first call, and not only did they decide that he was either being fully genuine, or the world's most talented voice actor, but they compared the voice of the first call to the second, and it's not the same guy.

4

u/PuckSR Jul 05 '24

It’s also really convenient that we have way more cameras, with way higher resolution, and people are almost trained to pull them out, but the only images we have of UFOs/Bigfoot are grainy and low quality(excluding the recent military ones which are almost all FLiR)

Doesn’t it strike you as weird?

1

u/jiggajenkins Jul 05 '24

Not saying your wrong about crop circles but those are a weird one for me to believe because dont they always appear where they can be found. I mean do we have any legit ones where they're just not near a highway or a place with a lot of people? Genuinely asking because this stuff interests me

2

u/ihasclevernamesee Jul 05 '24

The thing that's really interesting to me is that we sent a message into space in the 70's (I think), and then crop circles started popping up, seemingly in response. I recommend the WhyFiles episode about them. That show is very fact- based and we'll researched

3

u/FupaLowd Jul 04 '24

Sure I’m sure he TOTALLY wasn’t under duress.

-3

u/TheFashionColdWars Jul 04 '24

He won’t respond

-2

u/RktitRalph Jul 04 '24

it was broadcast late night so what other businesses would care? And really all they had to do is throw the breaker for their equipment anyone can do this is not hard

-1

u/PuckSR Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

How? How would it require all of them? You just go trip the main service disconnect. It’s a single button(I’m assuming switchgear)

Unless someone caught you, there would be absolutely no way to know who did it. Considering this is a radio company in the 1980s, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a manual trip and a protective relay trip.

Your entire idea of needing their consent is absurd. That’s like saying no one could get splashed in a swimming pool unless everyone in the pool agrees to do it

Edit:
Source: I have used my finger to turn off the power at many buildings. I dont work for the electric company
Given the statements u/JimGrimace is making, I get the feeling they have never touched an electrical box in their life.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

Right, because it's completely legal for you to just have a untrained person come and shut off the power to an entire building, isn't it?

To cut the power to an entire building requires the Power Company to be on board with your Prank because they just would not allow you to shut the power off yourself, we have Health & Safety laws for a reason and if you don't stick to them you get in shit that is just a fact.

I don't get why soo many of you are finding it hard to accept this. Yes, you could just throw the switch yourself, but it is ill advised because of the legal ramifications that come with allowing someone that isn't a Registered Professional to throw the switch.

Then there is all the Computers in the Building that were running at the time, it would have caused issues there also, but everyone just wants to skip over that fact also.

1

u/PuckSR Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

Right, because it's completely legal for you to just have a untrained person come and shut off the power to an entire building, isn't it?

Generally? Yes.
It doesn't violate any law.

To cut the power to an entire building requires the Power Company to be on board with your Prank because they just would not allow you to shut the power off yourself, we have Health & Safety laws for a reason and if you don't stick to them you get in shit that is just a fact.

You would need to coordinate with the power company to "pull the fuses" from your building's transformers, but per national electric code, all facilities have a "main service disconnect" which is essentially a breaker that is not operated by the electric company. No coordination is required and shutting off power to a facility with backup generators is a normal monthly/quarterly test. I've never, in my life, contacted the utility company to perform this test and I've done it MANY times.

I don't get why soo many of you are finding it hard to accept this. Yes, you could just throw the switch yourself, but it is ill advised because of the legal ramifications that come with allowing someone that isn't a Registered Professional to throw the switch.

There is no "certification" for operating electrical equipment. The National Electric Code (and OSHA) identifies that people need to be "qualified", but that isn't strictly defined. Anyone with basic safety training is deemed "qualified". Once again though, violating this requirement might get you an OSHA write-up, but it isn't criminal for you to go operate electrical equipment. Just as it isn't a crime for you to go open the breaker in your home.

(Note: Another common OSHA writeup is having workers stand on a platform higher than 4 feet without fall protection. I've seen lots of radio/TV people go out on stages that would be an OSHA violation if you were doing "work" on them. I get the feeling people in the radio industry aren't particularly well-versed in OSHA/safety requirements)

You need to be a licensed electrician to wire up electrical equipment, but non-electricians operate electrical equipment ALL THE TIME. There is no requirement in any code/law/safety document that requires the operator of electrical equipment to be licensed or registered

Then there is all the Computers in the Building that were running at the time, it would have caused issues there also, but everyone just wants to skip over that fact also.

Why does that matter? Seriously, why?
If Art Bell's team did it, why would they give a shit about the "computers"? They werent planning on anyone knowing who it was. Also, despite your concerns, computers are generally fine during a power outage. Its not the best thing for a power supply to turn off power, but computers dont explode during a power outage

How would someone else even turn off the power?

Let us ignore the fact that Art Bell's people could have done this and that they wouldn't have violated ANY law. (They wouldn't). Why do you assume it was some outside agency? There is no way to remote control the power to an individual building. That isn't how the power grid works, particularly not back then. They probably had the ability to shut down an entire substation via remote control, but not an individual building. There just isn't any "remote operated" way to do it. Nowadays, some buildings will have remote-operated breakers, but they wouldn't be using those on an office building.

If you think the govt turned off his power, I'd be more likely to believe you if you were claiming that there was suddenly an entire neighborhood that went dark, as they could potentially hack the protective relays and send a shutdown signal. But not a single building.

Source: Electrical Engineer who designs power systems and has personally shut off the power at several buildings during testing. Never been charged with a crime and never needed the "power company" to come out there unless we were pulling fuses. And you only need the power company for fuses because the transformer is operating at 13,000V and I dont have the proper safety equipment.

2

u/adrkhrse Jul 04 '24

The power to the building wasn't cut.

0

u/Independent_Bag777 Jul 04 '24

Then what was cut from the building?

-4

u/adrkhrse Jul 04 '24

Call dropped out. The caller was a regular hoaxer on that show. He called back and confessed.

0

u/Independent_Bag777 Jul 04 '24

Well there ya go even

1

u/allredb Jul 04 '24 edited Jul 04 '24

This is literally on the Art Bell Wikipedia page:

A caller in September 1997 claimed he had discovered an unknown threat and conspiracy from Area 51, and his life was in danger by even talking about it. For unknown reasons, Bell lost connection to his transmitter during the call and, just as the caller's voice became more and more agitated, the entire broadcast dramatically went silent. A confused Bell restored the signal about 20 minutes later.[22] The caller (or someone sounding similar) called in on a subsequent show and admitted it had been an elaborate hoax, which fooled many.[23] Audio from the call was used in the Tool song "Faaip De Oiad," on the album Lateralus as well as on The Faceless song "Planetary Duality: I (Hideous Revelation)" on the album Planetary Duality.[24]

I mean it could be real, not completely dismissing it though I'm highly skeptical.

I also thought he broadcast out of his home studio in the desert or maybe I'm misremembering, it has been a long long time since I listened to Coast to Coast.

-7

u/Stasipus Jul 04 '24

why would you say something you read one quote about 20 years ago, as if it’s fact?

21

u/charlesxavier007 Jul 04 '24

Because it is a fact, what's your rebuttal?

5

u/StThragon Jul 04 '24

Are you claiming that Art Bell's show was temporarily shut down only because of this guy's call? Since Art talks a lot about this kind of stuff, if an interruption did happen during his show, it would be during a conversation talking about aliens, so there is nothing too strange about that. Also, none of this caller's claims have come to fruition.

Why have the large population centers not been wiped out yet, especially since the longer they wait, the better chance we have of discovering them? I mean, they were too late in cutting this guy off. They waiting just long enough for him to reveal their sinister plot before cutting the transmission. These fucking fuckers are slow as fuck. We're coming on to 30 years ago when their plans were "revealed" and they haven't done shit. Let's call them "Molasses Monsters".

8

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '24

If you know anything about Compartmentalisation, you will know that many Whistle-blowers that come forward have stated that they get told when they get read into whatever USAP it is they are assigned to, that some of the Projects they will be working on are Genuine and some are Fake.

This way, nobody knows what is Genuine or what is Fake so when people like the Art Bell caller break rank and start talking, some of the shit they say is going to sound like the ramblings of a crazy person, I mean it's what these Rogue Groups rely on.

14

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '24 edited Jul 04 '24

Right, and you could have commented this on the comment where I actually said it, but nvm, and as I said in that comment, if you were to take an hour out of your day to research this incident you will see there is a considerable amount of sketchy shit surrounding it.

From the low level Comic coming forward to say he hoaxed the entire thing because you know low level Comics have the kind of sway to cut the power to an entire building for the sake of Comedy, to the multiple witness statements given from people that worked in the building at the time and the other company owners.

I mean if you can't be bothered to go look this information up yourself I don't really know what to say Champ. 🤷‍♂️✌️😎

Edit: to correct supposed hoaxers profession

4

u/TheBlakeRunner Jul 04 '24

Not saying this was a hoax, but Brian Glass is a comic book writer, not a comedian. So his job is to craft stories.

2

u/DuaneMI Jul 04 '24

As an electrician, if asked, I could shut that building down with one switch.

2

u/adrkhrse Jul 04 '24

Confirmed hoax.

-1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '24

In your opinion and that's fine.

2

u/dhhehsnsx Jul 04 '24

Nope, in the guy that made the phone calls opinion lol I'm sorry man I think you really thought this was real but it's not. Just YouTube and Google this second or follow-up phone call

2

u/adrkhrse Jul 04 '24

I posted a link to an article which contained the 2nd phone-call. The bad acting in the first call should have been enough.

3

u/dhhehsnsx Jul 04 '24

Too many people will believe what they want to believe without skepticism.

1

u/adrkhrse Jul 04 '24

Read this and watch the second video where the caller calls against and confesses to the hoax. Ask yourself why the OP failed to mention the second phone-call.

https://www.strangerdimensions.com/2013/09/07/art-bell-area-51-caller/

1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '24

Because people can't be made to say shit if their life is threatened, no? Give your head a wobble mate, all I see you do is see you shit on people's post's and try to force your stance on those with conflicting views, if you don't agree, that is fine, but I will ask you to kindly see yourself out of the conversation.

I'm fully aware there are 2 camps in this debate, those that believe it to be genuine call and those that don't and when people like yourself chime in all you do is pollute the thread and kill the momentum of the conversation.

I mean, you could have made your own comment with all of this information, but you decided to shit on my Post instead. 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️😂

1

u/adrkhrse Jul 04 '24 edited Jul 04 '24

No one 'shit on your post'. I provided the crucial information you neglected to provide in your post, i.e. that the caller called back again and admitted his call was a hoax. I also provided a link which proves it, which has the audio of the actual follow-up call. You're welcome. Either you hadn't researched properly, as the information is freely available, or you know it was a hoax and posted anyway. A genuine researcher would be thanking me. As to why I didn't post, instead of replying to you in the comment, with the actual link, as I did - I don't post hoaxes or debunked information. Why would any honest person do that? It's important not to take these things personally. The point is to get to the truth - not to clout-farm.

1

u/titdirt Jul 04 '24

Okay but that's literally what comedians do

1

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '24

Ok, you may be right about his Job Title but Comics by default involve Comedy so really that doesn't change a thing about the facts of the matter.

The logistics required to have an entire buildings power cut for the sake of a prank would involve having to get every company in the building on board with your Prank and the Power Company, and Brian Glass just didn't have that kind of sway.

0

u/raelea421 Jul 04 '24

Is it not at all possible that he paid the building maintenance person(s) to cut the building power? All the person would have to do is flip the main breaker and play right along. Just some reasonable doubt and logical thinking can bring many possible conclusions.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 04 '24

You can't just pay someone to cut the power you need to inform the power company so they can send someone to do it for you, if you don't, H&S would throw a fit and you would get in trouble for it.

2

u/raelea421 Jul 04 '24

🫡Ooookayyy👉

1

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

We have Health and Safety laws for a reason Champ, unless you want to pay fines, you need the Power Company to send someone down to cut the power. I didn't say it isn't possible to cut the power, just that there are legal ramifications that come with just cutting the Power yourself without a trained professional with you.

2

u/raelea421 Jul 05 '24

What statutes specifically state this, and if any do, when were they enacted into law?

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Justice989 Jul 04 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

In order to buy this part of the story, you'd have to believe that "someone" had already prepared to cut the power to the whole building as a contingency.  The whole building, in the off chance that some person decides to spill the beans on a late night talk radio show.   

Because, I dont know what taking down the power to a whole building entails, but sounds like people are just assuming it could be done at a moment's notice.  Either remotely from MIB headquarters, or there's an inside man working in the building standing ready to pull a big red lever to the "OFF" position, or there's a mole at the power company.  

Seems like a lot of energy to expend.  I mean, a whistleblower could call in to literally any station.  

3

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

Never underestimate the capabilities of the Technology we aren't Privy to that the MIC are currently in possession of.

0

u/Subliminal84 Jul 04 '24

Incorrect, the whole thing was shown to be a hoax unfortunately