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"More than two years ago," Bell says, "my son was bound in chains by one of his schoolteachers, who was HIV-positive, and taken across state lines, where he was molested. There was an arrest and a trial. The man is now serving life in prison for that. We filed a lawsuit against the school district here using John Does. Then my son became 18." As such, the lad was obliged to emerge from anonymity. "Within hours, boom, the news was everywhere." Art IV has, so far, tested HIV-negative. "But psychologically," Bell says, "it slammed him into the ground. He sat in his empty room and wrote poems about death. He failed in school and dropped out. I got him a job, but he couldn't hold it. He's not doing well, but maybe time will heal. I hope."
It gets worse. Two men, broadcasting on international shortwave out of Nashville, Tenn., heard that someone named Art Bell was involved in child molestation. "Don't ask me how they did it," Bell says, "but they converted it and said on the air that Art Bell has molested children and was indicted for it, and paid officials in Nye County, Nev., to cover it up. That's why I filed a lawsuit." Two other men, both former guests on Coast to Coast, also spread unsubstantiated rumors about Bell.
"My own son had been molested," Bell says, "and then I was accused of child molestation. I couldn't open my mouth because that would reveal my son's situation. The impact on me was profound. I couldn't sleep; sometimes I couldn't breathe. I had fits of alternating anger and depression. My private life was falling apart while I was going on the air every night. It was a living hell."
Between lawyer consultations, Bell is doing Coast to Coast three nights a week, in addition to a Sunday show, Dreamland. "I wish I was back full time," he says. "I have a deep love for doing my show." It could also be therapy for someone facing down a real-life horror story. To Bell, talk about an alien in a freezer or the end of the world on Dec. 31, 1999, could be the most comforting science fiction.
--Reported by Jeffrey Ressner/Los Angeles