Mr. Paranormal

One of the strangest phone calls George Noory has ever received on his radio program was from a doctor who claimed he once delivered a fully formed 10-pound clown.\nBut right up there is the woman who says she makes love to reptiles. And the guy who every now and then gets picked up by aliens and taken for a quick joyride to Saturn.\nNoory, 56, is the week night host of the nationally syndicated late-night radio show "Coast to Coast AM," a program that regularly deals with tales of the paranormal, conspiracy theories and the occasional story of clown pregnancy.\n"I can't say I blanketly believe everything," Noory says. "I used to be a skeptic. I think some of it is true, and some of it is pretty far-fetched. The magic of 'Coast to Coast' is you don't know which is real and which is not."\nNoory started his career in broadcasting at the age of 19 as a production assistant for a TV station in Detroit before moving into radio reporting two years later. From the very start, he says, he was interested in the more unusual stories.\nHis interest in the paranormal was piqued as a child when he had a brief out-of-body experience.\n"I didn't understand it at the start, but it evolved later on into investigating weird experiences," he says.\nNoory doesn't claim to be psychic or possess paranormal powers like some of his guests, but he says he is very "intuitive" in some situations.\n"I'm very tuned in," he says. "In the old days, I wouldn't listen to it. There was one time I stopped at a four way intersection and the light turned green, but I didn't go because I felt something was wrong. Then some car went screeching through. It's been happening all my life."\nNoory recently co-authored a book with William J. Birnes titled "Worker in the Light," which is part memoir, part self-help book on how people can unlock their psychic potential.\n"There's something in the universe I think we're able to tap into, and once you incorporate it, you can use your mind power to do things you never thought possible," he says. "It's a message to help people."\nIn the late '90s, Noory took his interest into the paranormal to the airwaves for the first time with a show out of St. Louis for which he was known as "The Nighthawk." From time to time, he would guest host " Coast to Coast" until January 2003. That was when he took it over full-time from legendary broadcaster Art Bell, who still hosts on the weekends, according to www.coasttocoastam.com.\n"I decided you can't do anything to replace Art Bell," Noory says. "You have to be who you are."\nMillions of people from around the world tune into the program each night either on one of more than 500 U.S. affiliates, XM radio or the Internet. The fan base is especially rabid, Noory says.\n"It's a huge, almost cult-like following," he says. "They need their fix every night. \n"I love it. I need the fix as much as they do."\nShows typically open with Noory reading the news of the day and then taking a few calls from listeners before talking to a guest on such topics as UFOs, ghosts, the Illuminati, chemtrails, shadow people, Sept. 11 conspiracy theories, ancient prophecies, the Antichrist or a myriad of other topics. Noory says listeners are a mix of people looking to be entertained and informed.\n"The core listens for entertainment," he says. "They like the unusual, the strange theories. Others like the conspiracy theories... I try to give everyone a little bit of everything to whet their appetite."\nNoory doesn't think the world is getting stranger, but he has noticed an increase in the number of odd stories people have called in with over the years.\n"I would say it's more deliberate," he says. "There's more of them than there used to be. \n"There's something going on on this planet affecting people in such a way that people are tuning into something."\nOne theory often presented on "Coast to Coast" is that a day of apocalyptic change will take place on or about Dec. 21, 2012, which is the day the Mayan calendar comes to an end. Noory has stated many times on the air that he will stay as host of the show at least until then, and will be on the air live with what, if anything, happens that day. But now he says he will probably remain on even longer.\n"I'll keep going until they cart me out of here," he says. "I think it's a day of enlightenment. I don't think the world will perish. I think it will be a new day for all of us. I think it's something to look forward to"