He retired shortly after an article was published online about him, about his eldest son and his eldest daughter from his very first marriage, long ago, to a Japanese woman.
Originally published in the Philadelphia Weekly
Lost in Space
The unacknowledged son of one of America's most popular talk show hosts works in the mailroom at Philadelphia magazine.
by Steve Volk (Philadlphia Weekly)
As a kid Vincent Pontius [Bell's son] watched In Search of religiously, reveling in the show's mixture of myth and mystery. Did the lost city of Atlantis ever exist? How were the pyramids of Egypt built? Were growing reports of UFO-related abductions real? What about unknown animals, like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster? What happens to us when we die?
Pontius ate it all up and asked for seconds. He read fantasy novels and later, as an adult, followed The X-Files right down to the final, almost universally unwatched episodes.
Exploring the fantastic offered refuge to a kid whose life was always overly complicated.
He and his younger sister [Lisa Bell] grew up without knowing their birth father, a man who left when Pontius was just 3 years old. His mother remarried about two years later but that man left when Pontius was around 13.
Issues? Pontius had them. Trust issues. Abandonment issues. He always needed to be in a relationship. He just couldn't maintain one. Both he and his sister say they were sexually abused in the years after their birth father left. (The person they allege preyed upon them isn't named anywhere in this article because no criminal charges have been filed.) Only the last few years have brought him any peace.
Two years ago he discovered he had a 12-year-old daughter of his own. He's now 41, married, the father of a little girl he didn't know existed until recently, and he and his wife are expecting a child of their own in January. He supervises the mailroom at Philadelphia magazine, tucked away in a windowless office on the 36th floor of a sleek city office tower that boasts views stretching miles.
His interest in the paranormal continues unabated. In some ways that facet of his personality may seem more important now than it did when he was a child. Because about 10 years ago his sister made contact with their birth father, who was by then the king of the paranormalradio talk show legend Art Bell.
Bell founded the Coast to Coast radio show, specializing in paranormal topics, in the '90s, tapping into an interest in UFOs and ghosts that few before knew existed on quite this scale. Though he's been in a kind of semiretirement for.....
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Predictions for 2010, Part 1
Art Bell hosted Part I of his Annual Predictions Show, asking callers to tap into their “psychic center” and share one event they see coming in 2010. Here are some of the predictions Coast listeners made for the new year:
The biggest one-year drop in the finance market will be caused by state defaults.
A man from North Carolina predicted that Israel will attack Iran’s nuclear capability.
A Detroit “prophetess” foresees a terrorist attack on the New York subway, possibly in March.
There will be an interracial double hand transplant, stated one caller.
An international military force will stage an attack on Somali pirates.
Lori foresees a huge tidal wave/tsunami hitting the entire West Coast.
A caller from Salinas, CA said Obama will appear on national TV announcing that aliens exist, and then one of the ETs will talk on camera.
Marsha suggested a new living species will be discovered that will cause a lot of excitement.
During the Spring, a tornado outbreak in the US will surpass the super outbreak of 1974, said Bill in upstate New York.
Scott from Charlottesville, VA believes a specific reason for the bee die-off will be announced.
Steve declared that the Hall of Records will be found in the Grand Canyon.
The River Ganges will slow to a trickle, and there will be a high amount of sterility in India predicted Jenessa in Modesto.
California will see a 7.3 earthquake.
A caller from Pahrump, NV foresees the rediscovery of the Hollow Earth/North Pole entrance.
A new group of “honest” politicians will volunteer to take lie detector tests, and be elected into office, said Richard in Santa Barbara.
Volcanoes will erupt in the Mojave Desert in the fall predicted a caller from Costa Mesa.
Orion from Indiana said Planet X will become visible for all to see.
Boston will be hit by a big hurricane predicted Simon.
Developments in nanotechnology will improve the lives of paralysis victims said Steve in Kentucky.
A major power blackout will occur in the Southwest, possibly Las Vegas.
Pete in North Carolina predicts the stock market will rise to a new high, 14,500.
Because of terrorism, the government will reveal a top secret form of transportation that will eliminate the need for air travel said Bakker in Toronto.
The headline “Obama Gets Osama” will appear in American newspapers.
Art also reviewed callers’ predictions made for 2009. Here are some of the hits and misses.
Hits (Dings):
Obama ‘honeymoon’ over by October.
Stock market falls under 7,000.
Commercial real estate falters.
Pandemic by September 15th.
Auto production cut in half.
Misses (Bonks):
New monarch on English throne.
Proof that Bigfoot exists.
SETI signal detected.
Government takes gold back.
Russia flexes military might.
A blimp will crash.
Obama brings peace to Middle East.