Deceased girlfriend reported in a mirror and a window at a Halloween party
A caller from Seattle tells Art Bell that about eleven years earlier their girlfriend, [name withheld], was killed by a drunk driver. On the following Halloween night her former roommates held a party in the house where she had lived. The caller reports that the band’s lead singer, who they say knew nothing about [name withheld], screamed in the bathroom after seeing a different face in the mirror. She then described the face as [name withheld]’s. Later that night, the caller says, they themselves saw [name withheld]’s reflection in a window and heard her voice asking them to leave. The caller says they believe she came back because she did not want people sitting there getting drunk.
This clip comes from the source recording. AI chose where it starts and ends, so it may start or end a little early or late. The word-for-word transcript is not published. You can hear the source recording on the Internet Archive (file “Ghost to Ghost 1993.mp3”, starting at 1:53:35). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
A caller from Seattle tells Art Bell that about eleven years earlier their girlfriend, [name withheld], was killed by a drunk driver. She was in the accident on August 18 and pronounced dead on August 20, two months before her twentieth birthday. The caller says that on Halloween night her former roommates held a party at the house where she had lived, to help them through their grieving. The caller was at the house to let in a band hired out of Everett, and says nobody in the band knew about [name withheld].
According to the caller, the band’s lead singer, a dark-haired woman ([name withheld] had red hair), went into the bathroom near [name withheld]’s bedroom to comb her hair and screamed. The caller says they ran back and found her [quote withheld] She said [quote withheld] that she had looked into the mirror and it “wasn’t my face,” and described [name withheld] [quote withheld] Then she walked out, looked at [name withheld]’s bedroom, and said “that’s her room.” The caller says their first thought was that people were playing [quote withheld] The caller discussed it with a couple of other people. The caller says the singer kept wanting to leave even though she had been excited about the gig beforehand.
The caller says that later that evening, while standing in [name withheld]’s bedroom talking to someone, they looked into the window, saw her reflection behind them, and heard her voice asking them to leave. They left the party. The caller says that later that night over $10,000 of damage was done to the house by people getting out of hand. The caller says they believe [name withheld] came back because she did not want people sitting there getting drunk.
Asked how the night affected their beliefs, the caller says they are now convinced there is another life. The caller recalls that as a child their parents told them their mobile home was haunted and that they had not believed it until this happened. The caller says that recalling it still makes them shake.
Reported events, in order
- 0:00
The host takes a first-time caller, who says they are calling from Seattle, KVI.
- 0:09
The caller says that about eleven years earlier their girlfriend was killed by a drunk driver. She was in the accident on August 18 and pronounced dead on August 20, two months before her twentieth birthday.
- 0:26
The caller says that on Halloween night her former roommates held a party at the house where she had lived, to get through their grieving, and that they were there to let in a band hired out of Everett.
- 0:47
The caller says nobody in the band knew about [name withheld].
- 0:53
The caller says the band’s lead singer, a dark-haired woman ([name withheld] had red hair), went into the bathroom near [name withheld]’s bedroom to comb her hair and screamed.
- 1:10
The caller says they ran back and found her standing at the mirror [quote withheld] She said [quote withheld]
- 1:20
The caller relays that she said she looked into the mirror and it was not her face. She then described [name withheld] [quote withheld] walked out, and said “that’s her room.”
- 1:37
The caller says they first thought it was a sick joke and discussed it with a couple of other people. The singer kept wanting to leave although she had been excited about the gig beforehand.
- 1:57
The caller says that later that evening, standing in [name withheld]’s bedroom, they looked into the window, saw her reflection behind them, and heard her voice asking them to leave.
- 2:11
The caller says they left the party, and that later that night over $10,000 of damage was done to the house by people getting out of hand.
- 2:22
The caller says they believe she came back because she did not want people sitting there getting drunk, and that recalling it still makes them shake.
- 2:33
Asked how it affected their beliefs, the caller says they are convinced there is another life. The caller recalls that their parents told them as a child that their mobile home was haunted and that they had not believed it until this happened.
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· 0:09
The caller says their girlfriend [name withheld] was killed by a drunk driver, in an accident on August 18 and pronounced dead on August 20, two months before her twentieth birthday.
- observation· 1:03
The caller says the band’s lead singer, a dark-haired woman, went into the bathroom near [name withheld]’s bedroom, and that [name withheld] had had red hair.
- hearsay· 1:10
The caller says they ran back and found the singer [quote withheld] and that she told them somebody had died there.
- hearsay· 1:20
The caller relays the singer’s statement that when she looked into the mirror it was not her own face.
- hearsay· 1:29
The caller says the singer described [name withheld] [quote withheld] walked out, and identified [name withheld]’s room, though they say nobody in the band knew about [name withheld].
- observation· 1:37
The caller says their first thought was that people were playing a sick joke, and that they talked it over with a couple of other people.
- observation· 1:57
The caller says that later that evening, standing in [name withheld]’s bedroom, they looked into the window, saw her reflection behind them, and heard her voice asking them to leave.
- observation· 2:15
The caller says that after they left the party, more than $10,000 of damage was done to the house that night by people getting out of hand.
- interpretation· 2:22
The caller says they believe [name withheld] came back because she did not want people sitting there getting drunk.
- hearsay· 2:51
The caller says their parents told them as a child that their mobile home was haunted and that they did not believe it until this happened.
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.
This is a fairly specific, coherent firsthand account. But the key event is relayed from a witness who never speaks on air, and the caller’s own first thought was a prank or prior knowledge. This places it just above the middle of the scale.
Evidence for and against
- The caller was present at the events and personally reports one of them ([quote withheld]).
- Concrete anchors are given: dates (August 18, August 20), [quote withheld] Halloween night, a band “out of Everett,” a named girlfriend, red hair versus the singer’s dark hair, “$10,000 damage.”
- The sequence is coherent, and the caller’s answers to the host’s follow-up about their beliefs fit the story.
- The central mirror incident is relayed from the singer, who does not speak on air. The caller’s own stated worry is that people had [quote withheld] and were “talking about it,” which is an easy ordinary explanation.
- Both reported perceptions involve mirrors or glass at night in a crowded party house, where reflections and voices are easily misread.
- The identity of the presence rests entirely on description ([quote withheld]), not on anything that can be checked in the transcript.
- The transcript’s labels showing who is speaking are unreliable here (the location answer is labeled as the host’s, and the mirror line is split between the host and the caller), so which person said an individual sentence is not certain.
- The transcript does not say whether the Halloween party was in the same year as the death.
- 1:37
- 0:26
What the model inferred (not said on air): The weighting of components is mine: roughly 20/25 for source proximity (firsthand but the core event is secondhand), 14/20 for specificity, 15/20 for internal consistency, 8/20 for alternative explanations (a prank fits moderately well and is not ruled out by evidence), and 8/15 for calibration (the caller states belief separately from perception).
This is essentially one person’s word plus a claimed witness, with some incidental details that could be checked but were not. That falls in the [quote withheld] range, near the lower end.
Evidence for and against
- Details that could be checked are given: a first name, a city, a station call sign, two August dates, a band’s hometown, and a dollar figure for the damage.
- A second person is claimed to have had an experience the same night.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is claimed.
- The second witness (the singer) never speaks on air.
- Nothing suggested in the transcript has actually been verified.
- Names are first names only ([name withheld]), and the band, the singer, and the caller are unnamed, so no one can trace them independently from the transcript alone.
- 0:47
- 2:15
What the model inferred (not said on air): The range is my assignment. The caller’s shaking and the host’s reactions are not counted as evidence.
The image of a different face in the mirror and the direct spoken instruction in the bedroom are unsettling, but the encounter is not described as menacing and no harm is reported, so it sits around the middle of the scale.
Evidence for and against
- A scream [quote withheld] and a woman found [quote withheld]
- A familiar face replaced by another in a mirror, and a voice in a bedroom speaking to the caller directly.
- The setup is a young woman two months short of her twentieth birthday, dead after a drunk-driving crash, returning on Halloween.
- The reported aim is protective or disapproving rather than hostile. The voice asks the caller to leave rather than threatening them.
- No physical harm, attack, or threatening being is reported. The $10,000 damage is blamed on partygoers, not on anything unnatural.
- Whether the voice felt frightening or comforting is not described beyond the caller’s shaking when they recall it.
- 1:10
- 1:57
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment of the story’s effect on a listener. It is not drawn from any single transcript line.
A familiar ghost-story pattern carrying one unusual, fairly specific detail (the different face in the mirror, followed by the singer’s unprompted description). That puts it modestly above stock elements.
Evidence for and against
- The distinctive element is the substitution in the mirror: an uninformed band singer sees someone else’s face, then describes the dead woman [quote withheld] and identifies her room.
- The dead woman’s reported message is an objection to a party in her former home rather than a warning or a plea for help.
- The pattern is a common one: a young woman dies tragically and is reportedly met in the house where she lived, on Halloween.
- Mirrors and a voice asking someone to leave are familiar ghost-story parts.
- The comparison with the rest of the archive is provisional and carries little weight with a small number of stories.
- 1:20
- 1:29
What the model inferred (not said on air): A model estimate from the content only. The published score is provisionally this value because the archive used for the comparison is small.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand account of their own perceptions (a reflection in the window and a voice asking them to leave); A second person’s experience (the band singer in the bathroom mirror), relayed secondhand by the caller. That person does not speak on air; No photographs, recordings, documents, or other physical evidence are claimed or examined. The originality score blends the model's score (60) 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.
- A planned prank, or suggestion passed around among those at the party, rather than anything strange. · The caller says their first thought was [quote withheld] and that they discussed it with a couple of other people. A prank, or knowledge spreading among partygoers before the band arrived, is a possible explanation for the singer’s reaction.
- Misreading of reflections and voices in a dark, noisy, crowded house: a face in a mirror seen in poor light, a reflection caught in a window, and a voice heard against party noise. · A crowded Halloween party in a house the caller describes as a drinking party. Both reported perceptions involve mirrors or glass (bathroom mirror, bedroom window) at night.
What stands out
The story turns on a mirror rather than a room. A band singer who is said to know nothing about the dead woman reportedly sees another face in her own reflection. She then describes the dead woman accurately and points out her room from the doorway. The reported message is also unusual in being an objection to a party in her former home rather than a warning, a request for help, or a threat.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.