Skip to content
DRAFT ARCHIVE · every story is an AI draft not yet checked by a personHow they are made →
October 30, 1993 (verified)·Caller's story·2 min·at 2:17:37 in the broadcast

Metallic sounds, a figure by the partition, and a moving bed in a Taiwan apartment

A caller who says they once lived in Taiwan tells Art Bell about a night in a one-bedroom apartment they shared with a friend, divided by a wood partition. The caller reports metallic noises like BBs thrown at a refrigerator. They also report a figure they took to be their friend moving around the partition in the dark. Then, they say, after they realized their friend was in bed, their own bed seemed to move [quote withheld] The story ends with the friend checking the door and windows and finding no one.

Story statusAI draft, not yet checked
Start and end pointsNot yet checked · confidence 0.85
How it was toldFirsthand · Live call
0:00 / 2:14
Play
0:08 · The caller says they and a friend were moving into a one-bedroom apartment in Taiwan and had a wood partition put in the middle so each had a bed.0:21 · They came home late one night and got ready to sleep, each in their own bed with the lights out.0:27 · They heard strange metallic noises, which the caller likens to somebody throwing BBs at a refrigerator.0:43 · Each accused the other of making the noise.0:43 · The caller saw what they took to be the friend sneaking around the wood partition in the dark and planned to scare the friend when the figure reached the bed.1:13 · The caller threw back the covers and screamed, and heard the friend's voice from the friend's own bed saying “cut it out.”1:17 · The caller says they broke into a cold sweat and lay back on the bed, which then began to move. They describe it as like being on the ocean.1:31 · The caller asked the friend to turn on the lights. The friend checked the front door and windows, and there was nobody there.1:45 · The caller says they had friends stay over for the next week or so.
clip start● reported events: click one to jump thereclip end

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 2:17:37). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.

The story as told

The caller tells Art Bell they [quote withheld] and that the caller and a friend were moving into a one-bedroom apartment. Because there were two of them, they had a wood partition put in the middle. One night they came home late and got ready for bed, each in their own bed with the lights out. The caller says they heard strange metallic noises, [quote withheld] and each told the other to cut it out, blaming one another. The caller says they then saw what they took to be the friend sneaking around the wood partition in the dark. They decided that when the figure reached the bed, they would throw back the covers and scream to frighten the friend. When they did, they say, they heard the friend's voice from the friend's own bed saying, [quote withheld] The caller says they broke into a cold sweat and lay back on the bed, and the bed “started to move.” The caller describes it as like being on the ocean, the whole bed floating. The caller asked the friend to turn on the lights. The friend checked the front door and the windows, and the caller says there was nobody there. The caller adds that they had friends stay over for the next week or so. The host closes the call by saying that sort of thing bothers him, and he thanks the caller. The caller never offers an explanation of a cause.

Reported events, in order

  1. 0:08

    The caller says they and a friend were moving into a one-bedroom apartment in Taiwan and had a wood partition put in the middle so each had a bed.

  2. 0:21

    They came home late one night and got ready to sleep, each in their own bed with the lights out.

  3. 0:27

    They heard strange metallic noises, which the caller likens to somebody throwing BBs at a refrigerator.

  4. 0:43

    Each accused the other of making the noise.

  5. 0:43

    The caller saw what they took to be the friend sneaking around the wood partition in the dark and planned to scare the friend when the figure reached the bed.

  6. 1:13

    The caller threw back the covers and screamed, and heard the friend's voice from the friend's own bed saying “cut it out.”

  7. 1:17

    The caller says they broke into a cold sweat and lay back on the bed, which then began to move. They describe it as like being on the ocean.

  8. 1:31

    The caller asked the friend to turn on the lights. The friend checked the front door and windows, and there was nobody there.

  9. 1:45

    The caller says they had friends stay over for the next week or so.

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· 0:02

    The caller says they once lived in Taiwan.

  • observation· 0:14

    The caller and a friend were moving into a one-bedroom apartment and had a wood partition installed in the middle.

  • observation· 0:27

    Late at night, with both of them in bed and the lights out, they heard strange metallic noises like BBs thrown at a refrigerator.

  • observation· 0:43

    Each of them blamed the other for making the noise.

  • observation· 0:43

    The caller saw what they took to be the friend moving around the wood partition in the dark.

  • observation· 1:13

    When the caller threw back the covers and screamed at the figure, they heard the friend's voice from the friend's own bed telling them to cut it out.

  • observation· 1:17

    The caller broke into a cold sweat.

  • observation· 1:17

    After the caller lay back, the bed began to move, which they describe as like being on the ocean.

  • observation· 1:31

    With the lights on, the friend checked the front door and windows, and there was nobody there.

  • observation· 1:45

    The caller had friends stay over for the next week or so.

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.

Believability
A rough guide to how credible the story is as told
62

This is a firsthand story with a clear, ordered sequence and a few concrete details. But it has no names, dates, or checkable specifics, no stated consideration of ordinary causes, and only a claimed second witness. It sits just above the [quote withheld] range of the scoring guide.

Evidence for and against
For
  • A firsthand story of what the caller says they heard and felt (metallic noises, the bed moving).
  • Concrete setting and objects: a one-bedroom apartment in Taiwan, a wood partition, and two beds.
  • An ordered sequence that answers the host's questions and keeps to what the caller perceived rather than asserting a cause.
Against
  • No date, no city, no name for the friend, and nothing checkable in principle.
  • The caller does not address ordinary explanations for the bed or the sounds, and the event happens with both people in bed late at night with the lights out.
  • The second witness's agreement is claimed, not heard.
  • Choppy automatic transcription makes parts of the middle of the story uncertain.
Uncertain or missing
  • The transcript does not make clear whether “tony” is the caller or the friend.
  • Several fragments in this part of the broadcast are badly broken, so the exact words of the scare are uncertain.
Passages cited
  • 0:27
  • 1:17
  • 1:31

What the model inferred (not said on air): The score reflects my judgment of closeness to the source, specificity, consistency, how well ordinary explanations fit, and calibration. The caller's tone and the host's reactions were not used.

Evidence strength
Support in the story that others could check
12

Only the caller's word is present. The caller says a second person in the room experienced it, but that person does not speak on air. No photograph, recording, document, or mark is offered.

Evidence for and against
For
  • Details that could in principle be checked are few (a country, an apartment, a wood partition), but nothing was checked.
  • A second person is said to have been present, to have replied, and to have checked the door and windows, but only in the caller's telling.
Against
  • No physical evidence is claimed to exist.
  • No on-air confirmation from the second witness.
  • No outside check is recorded.
Uncertain or missing
  • It is unknown, and not stated, whether the friend would describe the events the same way.
Passages cited
  • 1:13
  • 1:31

What the model inferred (not said on air): The placement in the 11 to 25 range rests on checkable details that were not verified and a second witness who is only claimed, not on any examined object.

Creepiness
How unsettling the story is, for entertainment
58

The story is unsettling: unexplained noises in a dark bedroom, a figure at the bedside that should not be there because the person it seemed to be is answering from the other bed, and then the caller's own bed seeming to float. It stops short of threat, harm, or a haunting that lasts several nights.

Evidence for and against
For
  • An intrusion into the bedroom with the lights out, in the space where the caller is lying.
  • The planned scare is turned around: the figure is at the bed while the friend's voice comes from the other bed.
  • The bed moving beneath the caller, described as floating, like on the ocean.
  • It ends unresolved, with nobody found at the door or windows.
Against
  • No reported injury, contact, or ill will.
  • The caller's own telling mixes fright with the comic plan to scare the friend.
  • Short duration: one night is described.
Uncertain or missing
  • Broken transcription in the seconds around the scare limits how vividly it can be reconstructed.
Passages cited
  • 0:43
  • 1:55

What the model inferred (not said on air): The score is a judgment of how unsettling the story is as entertainment, not a claim about whether anything happened.

Originality
How different it is from familiar recurring details
57

The basic setup, unexplained noises in a dark bedroom and a bed that moves, is familiar. But the specific details are distinctive: metallic sounds likened to BBs thrown at a refrigerator, and a scare turned around by the friend answering from the friend's own bed.

Evidence for and against
For
  • Unusual sound description: BBs on a refrigerator rather than footsteps or knocking.
  • The apparent double presence: a figure by the partition while the friend speaks from the friend's bed.
  • Bed motion described as floating or ocean-like rather than shaking or thumping.
Against
  • Bedroom noises and a moving bed are common ghost-story elements.
  • No resolution, research, or identification element that would set it apart structurally.
Uncertain or missing
  • Originality compared with the rest of the archive cannot be assessed here. This is a provisional judgment based on the content.
Passages cited
  • 0:27
  • 1:13

What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a provisional estimate based on motifs, placed in the [quote withheld] range of the scoring guide. The published value compared with the rest of the archive would require the archive-wide calculation.

Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.75 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: the caller's firsthand story; claimed presence of a second person in the room, not speaking on air; no physical evidence, documentation, or recordings offered. The originality score blends the model's score (52) 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.

  • Something seen or felt on the edge of sleep (images while falling asleep, or a dreamlike state) as the caller lay in bed shortly after coming home late, with the lights out. · The caller says they had [quote withheld] All the events reported happen in bed with the lights off.
  • Ordinary building or appliance noise (pipes, refrigeration, settling, neighbors) blamed on an unseen source, and a shape in an unlit room taken for something it was not. · The caller likens the noise to metal on a refrigerator, and says the “lights are out” when they see the figure moving around the partition.
  • Expectation and mutual suggestion between the two people in the apartment, who were each accusing the other of making the noise. · The caller says, [quote withheld]

What stands out

The scare the caller planned for the friend is turned around. While the caller watched the figure at the bedside, the friend's voice answered from the other bed, so what the caller took to be one person was apparently in two places. The caller describes the bed movement that followed in a specific way, as a floating, ocean-like motion, rather than as shaking or thumping.

Related stories

Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.