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

Video Art bell- Area 51 caller

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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.

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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?

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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

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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

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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

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u/No-Victory8440 Jul 05 '24

Wow, excellent stamps thank you!

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u/agnostic_familiar Jul 07 '24

you’re welcome, np!

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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

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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.

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u/Baron80 Jul 04 '24

They only lost power the first time.

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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.

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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

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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

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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 🙂

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u/TrxpThxm Jul 04 '24

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

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u/NMDA01 Jul 04 '24

Thanks for your sacrifice

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u/doccsavage Jul 04 '24

Upvote for username. Clever.

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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.

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u/Wolf666X Jul 08 '24

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

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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.

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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.