Caller reports ex-husband's pre-death visits and a vision of a small plane
A caller, [name withheld] of Toppenish, Washington, tells Art Bell that their ex-husband would get sudden impulses to visit relatives, who died just before he arrived. They say they once had a vision of a tiny airplane with three angels and a passenger in a gray jacket. They say the vision matched their husband's later arrival by chartered plane around the time their foster father died. The host cuts the call short.
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The story as told
[name withheld], who says they are from Toppenish, Washington, tells Art Bell they were married in 1977 to a man whose family had a “long book” dating back years. [name withheld] says they did not pay much attention to what was happening in his life at the time, and that both of them had [quote withheld] happening. According to [name withheld], their then-husband would announce that he had to go and see Uncle [name withheld], or an aunt, an uncle, or a teacher, and [quote withheld] The host asks whether these were sudden, rare impulses after which someone did die, and [name withheld] agrees. [name withheld] says they now fear that if they ever see their ex-husband again, it will be right before they die.
[name withheld] then describes their foster father, who was terminally ill with cancer on Whidbey Island. [name withheld] says they threw their things together and went, and that they had a vision, [quote withheld] of a tiny, toy-like airplane with three huge angels behind it and passengers inside. One passenger, whose face they could not see, wore a gray jacket. Their husband said he had to work overtime and could not come. Later there was a knock at the door, and he was there. [name withheld] says they felt [quote withheld] when they opened the door, and their foster brother, a nurse, ran down the hall. [name withheld] took their husband across the street to see the children. Halfway through the clearing, [name withheld] says, they felt their father die and his spirit leave. Back at the house, [name withheld]'s mother, who was drinking wine, looked at [name withheld]'s husband and said “he's dead.” [name withheld] says they then remembered the vision, saw their husband wearing the gray jacket, and concluded [quote withheld] [name withheld] adds that he had chartered a small plane and taken a taxi to the house. The host cuts the call short.
Reported events, in order
- 0:04
The caller gives their name as [name withheld] from Toppenish, Washington.
- 0:28
The caller says they were married in 1977 to a man whose family had a long book dating back years.
- 1:14
The caller describes their then-husband announcing that he had to go and see relatives or teachers, who had died before he arrived.
- 1:50
The caller describes their foster father, terminally ill with cancer on Whidbey Island.
- 2:06
The caller says they threw their things together and went, and had a vision of a tiny, toy-like airplane with three huge angels and a passenger in a gray jacket whose face they could not see.
- 2:29
The caller's husband said he had to work overtime and could not come.
- 2:37
There was a knock at the door and the caller's husband was there.
- 2:43
On opening the door, the caller felt [quote withheld] The caller's foster brother, a nurse, ran down the hall.
- 3:06
Crossing to the neighbors with their husband, the caller felt their father die and his spirit leave.
- 3:18
Back home, the caller's mother, drinking wine, looked at the caller's husband and said “he's dead.”
- 3:39
The caller recalled the vision, saw their husband's gray jacket, and concluded it was him, coming in the tiny plane.
- 3:45
The caller adds that he had flown on a chartered small plane and taken a taxi to the house.
Claims
Each claim is labeled as something the person telling the story noticed (observation), what they made of it (interpretation), something others told them (hearsay), or something the host said (host statement).
- observation· 1:28
The caller's then-husband would get announcements or impulses to go and see a relative or teacher, and they had already died before he arrived.
- interpretation· 1:06
The caller now fears that if they ever see their ex-husband again, it will be right before they die.
- observation· 2:11
The caller had a vision of a tiny, toy-like airplane with three huge angels behind it.
- observation· 2:43
On opening the door to their husband, the caller felt a feeling of death pass through them.
- observation· 3:06
Halfway across the clearing the caller felt their father die and his spirit leave.
- interpretation· 3:39
The caller concluded that their husband, in the gray jacket, was the passenger they had seen in the tiny plane in their vision.
- observation· 3:45
The caller's husband had flown there on a chartered small plane and taken a taxi to the house.
Scores, with reasons
An AI model gave these scores using a fixed set of scoring rules (scoring-v1). They are editorial judgments and rough guides, not the odds that anything paranormal happened. How scoring works.
A clear, specific, consistent firsthand story with a coherent sequence and several place names that sound checkable. But no one backs it up, coincidence or expectation fits easily (the death was already anticipated), and the confirmation rests on a common clothing detail.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story of events they say they experienced themselves.
- Concrete details: places (Toppenish, Whidbey Island), the year 1977, clothing, a chartered plane, and a taxi.
- A coherent, ordered sequence that matches the host's clarifying questions.
- No second witness to the vision or the sensed death speaks on air. The story rests on the caller's word.
- The father's death was already expected ([quote withheld]).
- The confirmation of the vision turns on a common detail, a gray jacket, and on a face they could not see.
- The place name “Woodville” is uncertain in the transcript.
- The host cuts off the caller's final sentence.
- The ex-husband's “pattern” rests partly on their description of his behavior rather than on anything checkable.
- 0:28
- 1:50
- 3:39
What the model inferred (not said on air): The estimated parts of the score are my editorial judgment: closeness to the source 20, specific detail 15, consistency 15, other explanations 8, and care with claims 8, for a total of 66. This was lowered to 60 because the vision was matched after the fact and the death was expected.
This is mostly the caller's word, with some named places and a year that could in principle be checked, and with witnesses who are claimed but do not speak. Under the scoring guide, this falls in the range for scores of 11 to 25. No evidence is examined on air, so the limit of 50 does not come into play.
Evidence for and against
- Details that sound checkable are given but not checked: Toppenish, Washington; Whidbey Island; the year 1977.
- Other participants are claimed (ex-husband, foster brother, mother).
- No physical evidence, recording, document, or photograph is offered anywhere in the story.
- No second witness speaks on air. The foster brother and mother are only mentioned.
- Whether any of the named people or places could be verified is unknown from the transcript.
- 0:04
- 1:56
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placing it in the range of 11 to 25 (details given but not checked; other witnesses claimed) is my judgment.
The story builds a growing dread: a feeling of death, a vision of angels and a plane, and a sensed death, along with an unresolved fear about the caller's own death. But it has no violence, threat, or intrusion into a bedroom, so it sits in the lower middle of the scale.
Evidence for and against
- The image of a tiny plane with three huge angels and a faceless passenger is eerie.
- A [quote withheld] at the door and a death sensed across a clearing are unsettling.
- The lingering fear that seeing their ex again would come right before their own death is ominous and left unresolved.
- The core event is a death that was already expected, and the story is told conversationally in a late-night call.
- The host ends on a joke about grabbing a passport.
- The story does not say whether the vision came while they were awake or in a dream.
- 2:43
- 1:06
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment of how unsettling the story is, not a claim about probability.
A familiar death-omen frame with at least one unusual image (a toy-sized plane with three angels and a faceless passenger) and an oddly specific confirming detail. The model's estimate sits above the scoring guide's [quote withheld] example.
Evidence for and against
- The specific pairing of a tiny, toy-like airplane, three huge angels, and a faceless passenger in a gray jacket is distinctive.
- The confirmation by a chartered small plane and a matching gray jacket is an unusual combination.
- The ex-husband's repeated visits just before a death are a recurring motif given a personal twist.
- A sensed death that coincides with a relative's death is a familiar frame.
- Originality compared with the rest of the archive is provisional (pilot archive).
- 2:11
- 2:19
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is the model's provisional estimate based on content. The value compared with the rest of the archive has not yet been calculated.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: the caller's firsthand story (their vision and their sensing of their father's death); participants who are claimed but do not speak (ex-husband, foster brother, mother), mentioned in the story; no documents, recording, or photograph; no witness on air backing up the story. The originality score blends the model's score (70) with how rare the story's details are across the archive. This method is still provisional.
Ordinary explanations to consider
These are possibilities only. None is a finding about what happened.
- Expectation around a death that was already anticipated. · The caller says their foster father [quote withheld] so a sense of his death at that time could reflect expecting the event rather than strange foreknowledge.
- Fitting an unclear vision to ordinary later events after the fact. · The caller says they [quote withheld] in the vision and that the matching detail was a gray jacket. A general image could be matched afterward to a common clothing detail and to a plane journey they later learned about.
- Coincidental timing of visits with deaths among elderly relatives. · The caller notes that his relatives “were older,” so occasional deaths around visits to elderly relatives could be coincidence.
What stands out
The story pairs a recurring motif of visits just before a death with a distinctive vision: a toy-sized airplane with three huge angels and a passenger in a gray jacket. The caller then matches the vision to their husband's arrival by chartered plane. The caller frames the pattern as a lasting omen about their own death.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.