"Lisa the Skeptic"
908 5F05
Original Airdate: 11/23/97

During an archeological dig in Sabertooth Meadow, the students of Springfield Elementary School unearth a strange skeleton of what appears to be a winged human. Everyone in town believes that it's an angel's skeleton, but Lisa Simpson tries to convince them otherwise. Homer steals the angel and sells tickets for people to visit it in his garage while Lisa chips off a tiny piece of bone and brings it to Harvard Professor Stephen Jay Gould for examination. The tests are inconclusive, but Lisa is still convinced that the skeleton is not an angel's. When the angel disappears from Homer's garage and reappears on a hill over Springfield with the words "The End Will Come at Sundown" chiseled into its base, everyone is convinced that it's a sign from God. The entire town gathers on the hill to witness "the end," but Lisa remains skeptical. When the angel begins to speak, everyone--including Lisa--shudders in awe. That awe soon disappears when it is revealed that the "angel" is merely a promotional stunt for the Heavenly Hills Mall, a new shopping center. Lisa was right, but as Marge points out, she did get awfully scared when it seemed like the angel was real.

Guest Star: Stephen Jay Gould as himself