# Art Bell dead at 72 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [April 14, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412 "2018-04-14T14:44:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/1 "2018-04-14T14:44:34Z")
There is sadness in the Kingdom of Nye today. Long time radio host Art Bell was found dead in his home in the Nevada desert. I haven’t listened to him in years but back when I was working midnights listening to him when I was driving around was a nightly ritual. I don’t believe in the paranormal at all but I found his program endlessly entertaining. Unlike current purveyors of conspiracy he was never manic or obnoxious. He treated all of his callers with respect no matter how far out there they were. On any given night he could be talking to a Guest who’s theory on whatever completely contradicted what the previous Guest said but he treated them all the same. The parade of craziness keep me awake on many a night. > **[Pahrump-based radio host Art Bell dies at 72](https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-nevada/pahrump-based-radio-host-art-bell-dies-at-72/)** > > Art Bell was awake when most of the country was asleep, cultivating a loyal following while sharing his fascination with the unexplained on his nighttime paranormal-themed show. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/2 "2018-04-14T15:20:44Z")
Good riddance to bad rubbush. He helped build the conspiracy theory culture that leads to antivaxxers, pizzagaters, and their ilk today. If I believed that there was a Hell, I would have hoped that he was burning in it. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/3 "2018-04-14T15:27:26Z")
He would love to have us all thinking he was dead. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/4 "2018-04-14T15:36:50Z")
I too became aware of his show while working the midnight shift. I thought his show was harmless and entertaining. He wasn’t one of these forceful lunatics trying to scare, convert, or even convince anyone of dumb shit. Harmless entertainment in the middle of the night. (Although I never have looked a a jet contrail the same way since. They’re a little bit sinister even if 100% innoocuous.) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/5 "2018-04-14T16:14:13Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > I too became aware of his show while working the midnight shift. I thought his show was harmless and entertaining. He wasn’t one of these forceful lunatics trying to scare, convert, or even convince anyone of dumb shit. Harmless entertainment in the middle of the night. (Although I never have looked a a jet contrail the same way since. They’re a little bit sinister even if 100% innoocuous.) That’s how I saw him too. He wasn’t preaching. He wasn’t trying to convince anyone that they are out to get you. He would have someone on Monday who thought ghosts were shadow people from another dimension. Tuesday ghosts were aliens. Wednesday ghosts were your dead relatives. He never tried to convince his guests that they were wrong he was just interested in hearing their ideas. He didn’t build any culture he had an interesting kooky radio show in the middle of the night broadcasting from his home in the middle of the desert. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/6 "2018-04-14T16:16:22Z")
Is this the sign of…a Quickening?! ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/7 "2018-04-14T16:40:10Z")
I first discovered Art when he was still broadcasting from Vegas–great stuff to listen to when I was camping in the middle of nowhere in the desert. I don’t think he bought into everything his guests had to say but he just found their stories and theories interesting, and there was a huge audience for it. I remember he was a huge fan of Crystal Gayle and how she wrote “Midnight in the Desert”, which became the show’s theme for awhile. I also remember him telling the sad story of his wife Ramona’s death–I had never heard anything like that on radio before. I lost interest when the show became more bumper music than talk, but the early years were great. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/8 "2018-04-14T17:07:48Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I first discovered Art when he was still broadcasting from Vegas–great stuff to listen to when I was camping in the middle of nowhere in the desert. I don’t think he bought into everything his guests had to say but he just found their stories and theories interesting, and there was a huge audience for it. I remember he was a huge fan of Crystal Gayle and how she wrote “Midnight in the Desert”, which became the show’s theme for awhile. I also remember him telling the sad story of his wife Ramona’s death–I had never heard anything like that on radio before. > > I lost interest when the show became more bumper music than talk, but the early years were great. I remember the show where he talked about her death. Heartbreaking. His original semi-retirement corresponded to my getting off the overnight shift so I didn’t hear him much after that. He did appear in the video game Prey as himself. I also so he was a medic in Viet Nam which I wasn’t aware of. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/9 "2018-04-14T17:18:18Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Good riddance to bad rubbush. He helped build the conspiracy theory culture that leads to antivaxxers, pizzagaters, and their ilk today. If I believed that there was a Hell, I would have hoped that he was burning in it. :rolleyes: He was retired long before pizzagate and it wasn’t a political show. He was a harmless entertainer who kept people from falling asleep on the drive home. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/10 "2018-04-14T18:17:11Z")
He wasn’t as bad as George Noory, but both had/have the problem of presenting this stuff with no skepticism whatsoever. He would at least call someone out on their bullshit occasionally, unlike the current guy. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/11 "2018-04-14T18:19:06Z")
> [@caligulathegod](#): > > He wasn’t as bad as George Noory, but both had/have the problem of presenting this stuff with no skepticism whatsoever. He would at least call someone out on their bullshit occasionally, unlike the current guy. I found that to be part of his charm. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/12 "2018-04-14T19:13:54Z")
Obviously killed by the Greys before he could spill the beans on Planet X. Wake up sheeple! ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/13 "2018-04-14T19:35:23Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Is this the sign of…a Quickening?! what happened at the end of his count ? did he just start over or jusr shrug hos shoulders with a sheepish grin and say well I could be wrong ? But I remember him getting played everywhere after larry king quit his radio show and jim bohannon commited career suicide He was amusing at first but after a while when the same guests and such started over the third time … .But he was there when things like the x-files and scifi had things like sightings hell even the history channel got in on it like “the men who killed kennedy” ancient aliens and all that CRN had “ufo weekly” and such One thing I’m glad he didn’t do was let people spout off about tragedies like 9/11 and things like that tho But I don’t think hes totally responsible for current "everythings a conspiracy " climate people live in today ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/14 "2018-04-14T20:07:51Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Good riddance to bad rubbush. He helped build the conspiracy theory culture that leads to antivaxxers, pizzagaters, and their ilk today. If I believed that there was a Hell, I would have hoped that he was burning in it. Conspiracy theory culture was a direct result of the unholy alliance between American libertarians and the left that came because of 9/11. 9/11 conspiracy theories were one of the few conspiracy theories anti-government people on the left and right could both agree on and helped make people like Alex Jones a thing, back when even Michael Moore had nice things to say about him due to his extreme Anti-Bush views. Both sides hated Bush so much they were willingly to let people like Alex Jones profit on it and expand. When Rolling Stone gave Alex Jones a full article that painted him in a favorable light you know things were fucked. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/15 "2018-04-14T20:20:33Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > :rolleyes: He was retired long before pizzagate and it wasn’t a political show. Read my statment more carefully–I said that he was part of building a culture that led to things like Pizzagate, not that he was part of it. He was a popularizer and inabler of pyschosises, the spiritual father of Alex Jones. He was the diometric opposition of fighting ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/16 "2018-04-14T23:13:42Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > what happened at the end of his count ? did he just start over or jusr shrug hos shoulders with a sheepish grin and say well I could be wrong ? He was in the habit of quitting when things looked like he might face some consequences. In the 90’s he was very much a radical right talk show host, only with a much greater libertarian bent. When the OK City bombing happened a few fingers were pointed at him and he changed the format to the woowoo nonsense that he covered for the rest of his career. When he ramped up a massive hype train over Y2K he quit his show when the writing on the wall was that nothing bad was going to happen. He returned and then quit again, perhaps over the whole ‘Quickening’ nonsense getting old, but he might have had an actual family issue. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/17 "2018-04-14T23:17:38Z")
I look at Art Bell v. Alex Jones the same way I look at George W Bush v. Donald J Trump. They all pretty much suck, but one of the pair knew there were limits. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/18 "2018-04-15T00:04:43Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Read my statment more carefully–I said that he was part of building a culture that led to things like Pizzagate, not that he was part of it. > > He was a popularizer and inabler of pyschosises, the spiritual father of Alex Jones. He was the diometric opposition of fighting ignorance. Believe it or not everything I do for entertainment is not about fighting ignorance. Strange I know. I disagree with all of this. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/19 "2018-04-15T01:17:41Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Believe it or not everything I do for entertainment is not about fighting ignorance. Strange I know. I disagree with all of this. It isn’t about you–it is about the people that actually believe in the shit he peddled. Conspiracy theories are all good fun as long as you are in on the joke. These conspiracy theory peddlers cause real harm to real people and are among the most worthless scum on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/20 "2018-04-15T03:27:26Z")
Ah - Coast to Coast. Glorious entertainment for night shift workers everywhere. You didn’t have to believe it to be entertained by it. Art can come and haunt me if he wants. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412.md?page=2)