Felt presence in the downstairs of a Santa Barbara church building
A caller who gives no name tells Art Bell about the church building in Santa Barbara where their family lived while their father was a part-time pastor. The caller says they and others felt something present in the downstairs when it was dark. The caller says they later learned of a suicide in the building and of a former resident who killed his parents. They describe going back and finding the building had become an occult-themed coffee house, whose upstairs tenant would not stay at night.
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 2:13:45). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who gives no name, tells Art Bell they have a ghost story they are [quote withheld] and are [quote withheld] The caller says their father was a part-time pastor at a small Santa Barbara church that could not afford to pay him. Part of his compensation, the caller says, was that the family lived in apartments on the second story of the church. They say the building went up in the late nineteenth century and had about ninety years on it when they lived there. They call it [quote withheld] They say everyone they knew who lived there was [quote withheld] They say it was their job to turn on the lights on Sunday mornings, and their father later told them he had not wanted their sisters doing that. They say that going down in the dark, they knew [quote withheld] They say a family who lived there afterward also refused to go downstairs in the dark. They say they later learned someone had committed suicide in the church many years earlier. They also say that a man who had lived there at the same time as their family later “flipped out” and knifed his mother and father. They say this made the local news, and they are unsure whether it is connected. They say the church was sold to a military prep school whose cadets were said to have murdered a homeless person. After that, the academy was closed. They say that when they went back with a friend who still lived in Santa Barbara, the building had become an occult-themed coffee house. A man whose studio was in what had been their apartment told the caller he would not stay there at night.
Reported events, in order
- 0:02
The caller says they have a ghost story they are still trying to resolve and want to find out who the ghost is.
- 0:20
They say the family lived in second-story apartments in a small Santa Barbara church where their father was an unpaid part-time pastor.
- 0:36
They describe the building as built in the late nineteenth century, about ninety years old, and “very oppressive.”
- 0:51
They say everyone they knew who lived there was terrified to go downstairs when it was dark.
- 1:01
They say it was their job to turn on the lights on Sunday mornings and that their father later said he had not wanted the sisters doing it.
- 1:14
They say that going down in the dark, they knew there was something there.
- 1:26
They say a family who lived there after them also refused to go downstairs in the dark.
- 1:40
They say they later found out someone had committed suicide in the church many years earlier.
- 2:00
They say a man who had lived there at the same time later killed his mother and father, which made the local news. They say they do not know if it is connected.
- 2:25
They say the church was sold to a military prep school whose cadets were said to have murdered a homeless person. They say the academy was closed.
- 2:45
They say they returned with a friend who used to live there and found the building was now an occult-themed coffee house.
- 3:11
They say a man with a studio in what had been their apartment told them he would not stay there at night.
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· 1:14
The caller says that when they went down into the dark, they knew something was there.
- observation· 0:51
The caller says everyone they knew who lived in the building was terrified to go downstairs in the dark.
- interpretation· 0:07
The caller says they are still trying to identify the ghost.
- hearsay· 1:40
The caller says they later learned someone had committed suicide in the church many years earlier.
- hearsay· 2:00
The caller says a man who had lived there at the same time later killed his mother and father.
- interpretation· 2:00
The caller says they do not know whether the murder is connected to the presence.
- hearsay· 2:34
The caller says cadets at the military prep school that bought the church were said to have murdered a homeless person, and the academy was closed.
- hearsay· 3:16
The caller says the man with a studio in their former apartment told them he would not stay there at night.
- host statement· 3:33
Art Bell says such events seem to stay within buildings where things have 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 firsthand story of living in the building, with a clear sequence and several concrete but unnamed details. The central claim is a personal sense of a presence, and ordinary explanations (darkness, an oppressive old building, shared expectation) fit reasonably well.
Evidence for and against
- The caller describes their own home and their own task of going downstairs in the dark.
- Concrete details of the setting: Santa Barbara, a church, second-story apartments, a late-nineteenth-century building, and Sunday-morning lights.
- The caller separates what they perceived from what they concluded, saying of the murders, [quote withheld]
- The core experience is a felt presence rather than anything seen, heard, or recorded.
- No names, dates, or checkable records are given for the building or the people.
- An old, dark, “oppressive” building and shared fear among residents would easily produce such impressions.
- It is unclear whether the caller's opening reference to a ghost [quote withheld] is the same story or a separate one.
- The labels showing who is speaking switch between the host and the caller in ways that may assign some lines to the wrong person.
- 1:14
- 0:51
- 2:09
What the model inferred (not said on air): The points for closeness to the source and consistency are my reading of the transcript. The low score for alternative explanations reflects my judgment that darkness and shared expectation in an old building fit the impressions they report.
Only the caller's word supports the presence. The caller claims other witnesses, but none speaks on air. The one item that could in principle be checked, a local murder case said to have made the news, is not produced or examined.
Evidence for and against
- The caller mentions details that could in principle be checked (a Santa Barbara church building, a local murder case reported in the news).
- The caller claims other witnesses (family, later residents, the studio tenant).
- No names, dates, addresses, or documents are given.
- No second witness speaks on air.
- No photograph, recording, or physical trace is offered.
- The claimed news coverage and the identity of the building cannot be verified from the transcript.
- 2:16
- 3:16
What the model inferred (not said on air): A score of 11 to 25 is used because there are checkable details and claimed witnesses, but none is verified. The subjective core of the claim would not support a higher score.
The story is eerie rather than openly frightening: a presence felt only in the dark, an oppressive old building, and a background of suicide and multiple murders. It ends with a tenant who refuses to stay after dark.
Evidence for and against
- A recurring dread of the unlit downstairs, shared by residents
- Reports of a suicide in the building and of a former resident killing his parents
- The building's later tenant refusing to stay at night
- The caller calls it [quote withheld] and says the ghost “doesn't bother anyone.”
- No physical contact, threat, or vivid visual horror is reported.
- The caller ties the violent events only loosely to the felt presence.
- 0:55
- 3:22
What the model inferred (not said on air): The creepiness score reflects the mood of the story and its violent background, not any direct threat to the caller.
The setup, a felt presence in a haunted old building, is a familiar one. But the building's later life adds distinctive details: a church residence turned military prep school and then an occult-themed coffee house.
Evidence for and against
- A church building with apartments above, later a coffee house, is an unusual setting.
- The sequence of a suicide, the murder of a mother and father, and cadets killing a homeless person is an uncommon combination.
- The core element, an uneasy presence in a dark old building, is a stock motif.
- No figure, ghost, or strange object sets the central experience apart.
- It is unclear whether the details about the school and coffee house belong to the same claimed haunting.
- 2:51
- 2:40
What the model inferred (not said on air): The provisional score is a judgment of the content. The comparison with the rest of the archive is not available to me in this run.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.65 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: the caller's firsthand story; claimed additional witnesses, none of whom speaks on air; claimed local news coverage of a murder, not produced or examined. The originality score blends the model's score (50) 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.
- Nervousness and shared expectation in a dark, old, “oppressive” building, with residents primed by each other's stories. · The caller calls it [quote withheld] and says everyone they knew there was terrified of the dark downstairs.
- Ordinary noises and darkness in a late-nineteenth-century building, causing a sense of presence on the way down unlit stairs. · The caller describes going down alone in the dark to turn on lights on Sunday mornings.
- The suicide and the later murder may be unrelated news events that were linked to the felt presence afterward. · The caller says of the murders, [quote withheld]
What stands out
The story rests almost entirely on a felt presence rather than a figure anyone saw. The building's later life is also unusual. The caller says the church residence became a military prep school and then an occult-themed coffee house, whose upstairs tenant reportedly refused to stay after dark.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.