http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2006/01/05.html#r
Art Bell's beloved wife of fifteen years, Ramona, died unexpectedly last night after an asthma attack. At present, the exact cause of Mrs. Bell's death has not been determined. It apparently took place during her sleep.

Until her death, Art and Ramona Bell had not been apart a day since they were married. Mrs. Bell had suffered from asthma for years, and took her normal steps to control the attack, which occurred sometime last night in Laughlin, Nevada where the Bells were taking a brief vacation. Ramona Bell was 47 years old.

For those who wish to offer their condolences to Art Bell, send cards and letters (no flowers, please) to:

Art Bell
c/o Premiere Radio Networks
15260 Ventura Blvd, 5th Floor
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

This is going to be very hard for him. He may never come back to his show this time.

That's my guess. Or there will be a long time before he does come back. He left for a while before though but I never found out why. Hell, when his cat died sometime last year he came on for a few minutes to explain what happened and that he was going to replay a previous show because he couldn't deal with it. I can't imagine how he's gonna deal with this.

Art is a deep soul and this will fragment him. Whitley Strieber, a co-author with him, has these words:

"While speaking to Art today, I made him aware of the beautiful and heartfelt outpouring of love and sympathy that has appeared in Unknowncountry's email. He was touched and, I believe, felt a sense of support in his grief. If you pray, do pray for Art to have strength and Ramona peace in this difficult period of separation for them."

http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=5103

I haven't listened to him for very long, mostly George Noory, but I do believe that you are correct. This will cut him very very deep and it may well break him. I'll be sending him a note of sympathy and regards. That has got to be very horrible to be so in love with someone and then to wake up with them dead beside you. That happened to my uncle. I don't much care for him but I really liked his wife. She had the very same thing happen to her. Asthma attack that just immediately and silently asphyxiated her to death. That has also got to be scary and disappointing to experience that kind of death. To not be able to do anything to wake up your spouse as you struggle and fade away into death. To not be able to say goodbye or to have them even be aware that you are dying and need their help. That has gotta suck.

Art Bell returns for a live show tomorrow with an interview with the genius Michio Kaku.
I will be listening live and will try to call in.

I'm home now, and awake, so I will be listening as well. Let me know somehow it's you.

If I get through it'll be Wesley from Clarksville, TN. I also am a Streamlink member so I download every show. I'll post a clip.

I couldn't stay awake, but it was Ian last night, but he said Art would start doing Sats and Suns from now on.

Yeah, I said it was going to be tonights show. Ian usually does Saturdays. So he said he wasn't doing Sats anymore? Wonder what days he'll be doing. It sounds like Art wants to bury himself in his work to help with the grief and that sounds like a great plan to me.

He said he would be making an announcement very soon about what he would be doing in the coast to coast family.

Listening now. Poor Art!

I missed the beginning. What is he saying?

She's a "Dominant Extroverted Abstract Thinker"?

The first hour he described every single detail of exactly what happened. They went on a little trip on Tuesday, January 3rd in their camper, drove all night and stopped at an RV park at around 10am in Portsite, AZ. By the time they get there she is already starting to have asthma. They went to sleep and both woke up after dark.

They didn't really like Portsite so that evening they said let's go to Laughlin. Her asthma was getting worse and he said that they could eat at a resteraunt there so she wouldn't have to cook. They got there around midnight and her asthma was really bad.

He sat with her from midnight till 5am. After 15-20 hours of driving they are very very tired and Romana said, "Look, we're both really tired. We have to go to bed."

Art said, "Are you sure?" because people with asthma have to sit upright so that they can breath.

But she said, "Yeah, I think it's a little better. I can lie down." Art was happy that she suggested they lie down he was thinking hallelujah, the asthma is getting better. They got into bed, he put his arms around her and thanked God as he said he does every day and he said, "I love you."

She said, "I love you so much," and they hugged each other for a little bit and promptly fell asleep.

He didn't get up until 1:30 PM and he said, "Hey hon!" as he did every day because she always got up before him. He said he still says that even now. Hey hon. He got no answer so he got up and went into the living room portion of the RV and there she was, in the middle of the couch, dead. No look of pain or suffering on her face at all. It just looked like she was either sleeping when she went or she passed out and went. But she had been gone for a long time because she was very cold and white.

He touched her and said, "Oh my God...". He ran and got dressed and ran down to the main office of the RV park and told them to call the police and the coronor because his wife was dead. From that moment on he said he went into serious shock. He didn't cry except for when he called her mother and then he didn't cry for 36 hours. He didn't sleep for 36 hours.

The RV park got him a hotel room and he waited for the coronor to arrive from Los Vegas because Laughlin didn't have one so that took some time.

He went on to talk about how he's an emotional person and gave the example of when his cat Abby had a stroke and he held him while Romona drove and he cried like a baby and when Abby died he cried like a baby and how with Romona dying it all seemed so damned final. There was nothing he could do. No last minute rush to the emergency room. Nothing. Nothing to do. She was gone.

After 36 hours he got some sleep and then he went to the funeral home and there, he lost it and had lost it many times after. Over the course of that week he lost 8 pounds. He didn't eat anything except a hamburger and a bowl of cereal.

What happened was that when he went to sleep she got back up pretty quickly. She went into the living room and got out her nebulizer and had used 2 or 3 vials of albuteral. The coronor said that the only remarkable thing about the autopsy was that she had hyper-inflated lungs. The lungs were so large there could be no exchange for air and co2. He also said that it didnt appear that she suffered because she had a relaxed look on her face.

Art asked, "Why in God's name didn't she wake me up!?" and the doctor said that maybe she couldn't. Then he said, "Why didn't she wake me up when she realized she had to get up to get the nebulizer?" But he would never know the answer to that question. But he's having all sorts of tests and screenings done because he wants answers. He wants to know exactly what happened to her.

Then he went on talking about how he's been reacting to her being dead. He said he has dark periods off and on but that the most important thing is that those dark periods don't last forever. The first dark period he went through he didn't think it would even go away. So he got a bottle of vallium and he sat there with it and was very close to swallowing every single pill. The only thing that made him stop was a memory of his wife telling him "You have to play the hand that you're dealt." She was a Catholic and she believed that suicide was a sin so that stopped him.

He talked about how lost he is without her. She did everything. She paid all the bills, did all the shopping, handled all the finances. He said he hadn't written a check in 15 years, he didn't know his own pin numbers, she had paid up on all the bills by over several thousand dollars and he doesn't know if she always did that or if she knew she was going to die and wanted to make it easier on him with the bills.

He said he walks around his property of which he's got two houses and various out-buildings and he talks to her. He said they both have so many keys, they're like janitors. So many remote entry things and so many keys for their security alarms and such. And he told a story how she would go shopping and come through the door with her arms full of bags and she would always drop her keys. He said he would always ride her about that. "Why can't you hold on to your keys? One broken remote entry and we're screwed." So he said he went shopping for the first time in 15 years, came in with his arms full and...drops his keys. He looked up to the sky and said, "Laugh it up."

He said that when they first met they were in debt and broke but they loved each other and that's all they needed. Now they are rich. His radio career has been very very successful, especially with Coast To Coast AM. He said that with that kind of money it allows you to buy yourself just about whatever you want and that they have alot of stuff. They both enjoyed all of that stuff together. But he said that without her he doesn't enjoy any of it anymore. He said that you can sit there looking at a high-def TV together and marvel at how beautiful and neat it looks but now he just stares at it and doesn't care.

The bottom line is that Ramona was his soul-mate by every definition of the word. They were never apart for one single day of their marriage. They were one. Now he's half. He's lost. He's stuck. He said he is determined to carry on and that he needs to stay busy. So as a result he is going to be doing C2C on Saturdays and Sundays from now on. He said that it'll be good to occupy his mind with other things for the duration of a 4 hour show. It'll force his brain to think of the interviews and subjects he talks about on the show instead of wallowing over her. That is exactly what he needs.

It's going to be a long bumpy road for him filled with many dark patches. He already broke down several times during the first hour. There were many long pauses and there was one time that he slammed his fist down on his desk and said, "IT'S ALL SO DAMNED UNFAIR!" I really feel for him and I respect him even more for coming out with this all and being so honest with his grieving process. He's a strong man and it's going to be a rough road for him but he's got a family of litterally millions across the world that listen to the show and we'll all be there for him.

What was funny was that during the 2nd hour he was talking with Michio Kaku and an alarm in his house went off so he told Michio to keep talking while he checked it out. He was gone for a few minutes and I kept waiting for the sound of an attack or something. Turns out it was the cops.

It seems that during the 1st hour when he said he was struggling with finding a reason to not join his wife in death (and that the reason he didn't was because of his five kitties and his wife telling him that he has to play the hand that he's dealt) someone called the Parhump, AZ police and told them that Art was in a bad way and needed checking in on. So the cops came by and set off an alarm. So during a radio interview and away from his mic he had to tell the cops that he's fine and in the middle of a radio show. He told this when he came back to the mic and said "PLEASE don't do that again. I am fine."

Wow, thanks Wesley. I was wondering if he would talk about it. I think it's good that he does. I hope during the week that he finds things to make him smile. I know I will be listening this weekend to see what state he is in.

Did you ever call in?

No. I fell asleep way before the call in section. I'll try to call in either next saturday or sunday. I want to remind him of the new years show he had. Every new years eve and new years night he has shows where people call in and make predictions for the next year. Then he logs them down and next year goes through them to see how many came true.

One guy called in this year and told Art that this year would be a good year for him. That he sees Art with a big smile on his face. I want to remind him that even though this happened a mere four days after that show that the year isn't over yet and there may be many ways to take his prediction. The smile could be on his face every time he is reminded of something she did or every time he finds something hidden in the house that she put there. With all the stuff he has and the size of his property that there will be many nooks and crannies where she has something personal that he'll stumble upon and sit down with and reminisce. But like he said last night, he will survive.

A amazing show last night. I listened to about a hour between 2 and 3 am coming home from the gig. Art told the story about how he is certain he has gotten contact from Ramona. The similarities described to him from the gal who was the medium for him were unmistakable.

Apparently Ramona left so suddenly that she didn't even know what was going on at first. Her heart just stopped. When she found out she threw a massive fit, and is still really mad about it. But it was planned this way. She's still around and their cat, Yeti, is sensitive to her. So Art is watching and getting clues.

Wow. Downloading it right now. By the way, if anyone here that likes Coast To Coast AM and hasn't listened to Art Bells hour of talking about how his wife died I can email it to you.

I listened to that show and it turns out that some woman in Germany who is a medium of sorts who doesn't do any of this for money or notoriety was contacted by Ramona and knew things about her that nobody knew such as that she used to go into large fits of anger that she was taking Zoloft for and that she was a practitioner of magic and that one of their cats was her familiar. Art was told to be mindful of that cat because it misses her very much and Art said that he acts like he sees her sometimes. Art contacted this woman several times and is convinced based on the things she said that she was indeed contacted. This is for Art to believe as he wishes but at least the woman isn't taking advantage of his loss for any gain on her part.

Just for a lighter note:

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2006/02/03.html#y

That was good. I think I am just so geeky!

How about adding this to the list: When you have an out of body experience you spend it in an exotic location while listening to Coast to Coast.

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page1405.html?theme=light
News about Art Bell...He got remarried last month. He had been emailed by a young Filopina woman a couple of weeks after Ramona died, offering condolences. This was on his personal and private email addy. They started emailing back and forth which later turned into video conferencing for hours a day. After a while they started falling in love but she didn't know what he did for a living. Didn't know that he created the highest rated late night radio talk show in the world. Didn't know that he wrote four books, one of which turned into the movie Day After Tomorrow.

He finally asked her how she knew about his wife's death and got his addy and she said that a friend of his who is a HAM radio operator is engaged to a Filipina woman and he told her about Ramona's death and asked her to have her sister, his now wife, to email him and try to cheer him up. It did the trick apparently.

He is very very happy and very much in love once again. He was on vacation for three weeks in April and all he would say is that he was going East and that he is turning his world upside down. He went there to meet her and get married. As a thank you, he paid for his HAM friend to go with him and they had a dual wedding together.

The link above has some pics of their wedding and his beautiful new bride. He was very proud about this and kept asking every caller if they looked at the pics of her and what they thought of her. He is bubbling over for sure.

He has also moved to the Philippines to be with her and will be doing the show from there for now on. He gave a friend of his power-of-attorney to sell of his big possessions but may keep the house.

I'm a month behind on listening to the shows and was shocked as hell to hear this. Way to go Art!

It sounds just a little fishy!

I hope not.

I agree with chicken , it does sound too conveniant to believe

By the way, thanks for the update on Art

Wild stuff!

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/gen/page1482.html?theme=light
Art has posted about his move. He says that, to all those who thought he was making a mistake, he has not. He is very happy and things are going very well for him and he will be back on the air soon.

Well, Art has been back on the air for a few months now and has been very happy with his new life in Manilla. Last weekend he announced that his wife Airin is pregnant so he's going to be a daddy once again. He is very happy about all of this and I'm glad because the year started out very badly for him. So badly that if it wasn't for all of this he said he more than likely would've ended his own life.

Congrats to Art, he deserves some happiness.

Ho boy! Or girl!

Hey, for the past month I've been able to listen a little coming home from gigs, and Art has been broadcasting from the Nevada desert again. Does anyone know why he's back in the states? He mentioned the all the hurricanes he weathered through last night but no explanation of why he's not in the Philippines.

He took his new wife Erin to America and she's on her way to becoming an American citizen. They wanted to have their child here in America, which by the way it's going to be a girl. They still have their condo in Manilla as well as all of Art's HAM equipment and other stuff that was used to broadcast his show. And they plan on going back to Manilla shortly after their child is born so that Erin's family can see her. They will go back and forth once a year I think he said. Not any more than that because it's a long trip and he has gotten majorly sick after every trip.

I gotta tell you, he is a much happier man since hooking up with Erin. He said sometime last month that if he hadn't found Erin he would've killed himself by now. He isn't the kind of man that can live without a female companion. He still loves his exwife Ramona and fortunately Erin understands that she was the life of his and isn't jealous of her at all.

But yeah, they're back in the states now and she's gonna become an American citizen.

Isn't that something... I like the idea of him in the middle of the desert talking about freaky things all night anyway!

For some reason, having him in Manilla changed the show in some way. I like having him within stone's throw of Area 51 and being happy because the really reflects on the show.

Yeah, it must be that place. He's happy there, and the influence from 51 adds flavor. I remember one night when his perimeter security motion sensors kept going off during the show and neither him nor Ramona could figure it out. That was a fun night of listening!

I thought art bell fans may like this
http://www.scifi.com/georgenoory/

Bravely, Unexplained with George Noory, steps out of the light and into the darkness. From executive producers George Noory, Carol Sherman and Jeff Androsky of Natural 9 Entertainment, Unexplained explores the realm of paranormal phenomena, time travel, alien abductions, conspiracies and other facets of the unexplainable.

George Noory is the host of the radio program Coast to Coast AM. His show is the most listened to overnight radio program in North America, heard by nearly three million listeners each week on approximately 500 stations in the U.S. and Canada.

And now, the well-known radio host joins the SCI FI Late Night lineup with five new episodes of his TV show Unexplained with George Noory. Each half-hour show will feature one-on-one interviews with experts on compelling subjects such as reincarnation, witchcraft and alien abduction, seeking new insights into the domain of the unknown.

Tune in for the walk towards the unfamiliar. There's no telling who you'll meet on the other side.

Very cool, I'll have to check that out!

I know that sometimes if you're stringing a line of BS, you can't hear it in the words but you can see it in the face. I often thought a lot of Coast guests should be on camera just to see. The ethos of the show is give the guest enough rope to either lasso the listener or hang themselves. That might be easier to see than hear...

Art's Mother has died at age 90.

http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20081229/ARTICLES/812291008/1081/NEWS02?Title=_No_heading_

90 wow, that was a nice long life; not sure I would want to live THAT long.

I'm thinking I'd rather check out before then