During Open Lines, George offered a "Bizarre Hotline" for callers with truly strange tales. The stories included two separate demonic encounters, a simultaneous death by a husband and wife, and a chance encounter with the Unabomber.
Danny from Phoenix told of how his church went on a trip to Mexico to spread the word of their faith. While performing a prayer in a town square, he was confronted by a demon that screamed in face. Danny said the experience felt like "all the demon's anger was funneled through me." Jay from San Francisco shared the story of attending a Christmas party as a child and having a Satanic clown paint "666" on his forehead after asking him to pledge himself to the devil. Following the incident, Jay continually had people come up to him and say "you're marked for life."
"There's never a day goes by that I don't think about that," Mark from Missouri said about the bizarre story from his teenage years. Fresh out of high school, he and his friends got a job bailing hay for an old couple. The husband insisted on helping the boys with their work, then suddenly grabbed his chest and fell to the ground. The boys called for help and the dying man's wife ran from the house. She shouted, "Johnny, wait for me," held her husbands hand, laid down and subsequently died beside him.
Later in the evening, a caller recounted how, back in 1990, she and her husband had picked up a man walking along the road in the rain. Unable to find a place for the man to stay, the couple let him spend the night at their home. In the morning, before he went on his way, they chatted with the mysterious stranger, who went by the name of "Teddy." The articulate speaking Teddy told them that he lived on a small piece of property in Montana. A few years later, the caller was shocked to see the news and recognize Teddy being arrested as "The Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski.
The last hour was a replay of Open Lines from 1/27/06.
Scare Tactics
Appearing briefly at the start of the program, producer Scott Hallock discussed the new season of hidden camera program Scare Tactics, premiering July 9th on the Sci Fi Channel. He teased that the premiere episode featured a prank involving an urgent care clinic where a "possessed baby" is delivered.
Space News
During the first hour and a half of the show, space historian Robert Zimmerman reported on Mars & the Phoenix Lander. He was critical of press coverage trumpeting the discovery of water on Mars, saying scientists had "known water was on mars for 100 years." Zimmerman stressed that the truly exciting event on Mars was that a man-made instrument was touching water on another world for the first time. Also, he said that the shallow depth of the ice was of particular interest and surprise to scientists who study the Red Planet.
He also reacted to the news that mercury is shrinking and speculated on what may have caused the Tunguska Event.