The last two hours of Friday's program featured Open Lines. Jim from Ventura County recalled having a dream about a 70-foot tide hitting southern California. Jim indicated the rising tide was caused by a shifting of the planet, which, after it receded, left the water level two to four feet higher than before. Another caller from California, James, said he experiences night terrors and sleep paralysis every night. As a potential cure for people suffering from sleep paralysis or "Old Hag" syndrome, James recommended keeping a piece of metal by the bedside.
Daniel from Texas claims to have witnessed strange lights at night, which he believes could be the ghosts of famous bank robbers the Newton Boys. According to Daniel, the Newton's phantom car prowls the night looking for lost money. A caller from Cypress, California remembered the time he visited his grandmother's house when he was five years old. He said he'd been given a clown doll that later came to life and ran around his room.
George also offered a "Scared of the Dark" special topic line. One caller said she developed her fear of the dark as a sixth grader, after seeing a ghostly figure. Mike from Connecticut said he leaves his lights on to avoid having nightmares and OBEs. A caller from Oklahoma City said she was afraid of dark bathrooms, crediting the fear to the Bloody Mary game, in which children dare each other to stand before a bathroom mirror and chant "Bloody Mary" to summon Mary's evil spirit.
Exploding Toads
During the first two hours, investigative reporter, Linda Moulton Howe discussed the mysterious exploding cane toad phenomenon in Germany. More than 1,000 cane toads exploded to death at a lake near Hamburg, Germany between April 3 and April 7, 2005, Linda reported. According to an eye witness she interviewed, the toads swell to four times their regular size, then explode with enough force to send intestines flying a distance of one meter. A few explanations have been put forth, including crows plucking the livers out of the toads and human experimentation, but Linda said the case "remains baffling." Read more here.
Linda also talked about how changes in the Greenland Sea and Arctic will eventually cool Britain's climate, as well as provided an update on global crop formations. Linda said there have been 16 crop patterns in six countries so far in 2005, including unusual "randomly downed" crop formations in Oregon, North Carolina, and Arizona. Read more here.