A bull-shaped figure at the bedroom door and a sensation of being smothered
A caller describes an event they say happened when they were about seven years old. The caller says they woke at night to see a bull, which they call a demon, standing at their open bedroom door, and then struggled in bed, unable to scream or breathe. The caller reports praying for it to be taken away, after which they say it let go and never returned. The caller says their father, who came in after they screamed, did not believe them.
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 1994.mp3”, starting at 33:48). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller says the events happened when they were [quote withheld] after their father had remarried. The caller says their father's wife had started dabbling in the occult, though the caller says they did not know what the occult was. The caller says the family was going to church and that their brother went to the altar and committed himself to Jesus Christ. The caller did not, but says they told the Lord on a Sunday morning that they were going to commit themselves, and that this took place on a Friday. The caller says they went to bed excited about going to church. Their own door was open, and their parents' door was closed. The caller says they woke and there was a bull standing at the front of their door, which the caller calls a demon, about four and a half feet tall. The caller says they asked God to help them go to sleep and thought that if they did not move, it might not hurt them. The caller says they then had a strange dream unrelated to what was in front of them, and that when they woke, the bull was still there, with horns. The caller says it suddenly disappeared and that it had attacked them: they were struggling in bed, trying to scream with nothing coming out, unable to breathe, feeling smothered. The caller says they thought they were going to die. The caller then told God that they would have to take it away because they could do nothing, and says it let go, faded away, and never showed up again. The caller says it ran out of the room, that they screamed, and that their father came running in. The caller told their parents a monster was trying to kill them, but says nobody really believed it. The host suggested it may have been a last attempt by the dark force before the planned commitment on Sunday.
Reported events, in order
- 0:03
The caller says the events happened when they were about seven, after their father had been remarried about a year and their father's wife had started dabbling in the occult (which, the caller says, they did not understand).
- 0:20
The caller says the family was attending church and that their brother went up to the altar and committed himself to Jesus Christ. The caller did not, they say, because they did not understand it.
- 0:35
The caller says they said their prayers and told the Lord on a Sunday morning that they were going to commit themselves, and that this happened on a Friday.
- 0:55
The caller says they went to bed excited about going to church. Their bedroom door was open as always, and their parents' door was closed.
- 1:15
The caller says they woke and saw a bull standing at the front of their door, which the caller describes as a demon and as about four and a half feet tall.
- 1:34
The caller says they asked God to help them go to sleep and thought that if they did not move, it might not hurt them.
- 1:46
The caller says they then had a strange dream that was unrelated to what was in front of them.
- 1:55
The caller says that when they woke, the bull was still standing there, with horns, and that it then disappeared and had attacked them.
- 2:18
The caller says they were struggling in bed trying to scream with nothing coming out, could not breathe, and felt like they were being smothered. The caller says they thought they were going to die.
- 2:41
The caller says they told God that they would have to take it away because they could do nothing, and that it let go, faded away, and never showed up again.
- 2:54
The caller says that when it let go, it ran out of the room and they screamed. Their father came running in, and the caller told their parents a monster was trying to kill them, but says nobody really believed it.
- 3:15
The host suggests it may have been a last attempt by the dark force ahead of the caller's planned commitment on Sunday.
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· 1:15
The caller says they woke in the night and saw a bull standing at the front of their bedroom door.
- interpretation· 1:23
The caller says the figure was a demon in the shape of a bull.
- observation· 1:30
The caller says the figure was about four and a half feet tall.
- observation· 2:03
The caller says that after a dream they woke and the bull was still there, and that it had horns.
- interpretation· 2:10
The caller says the figure disappeared and that it had attacked them.
- observation· 2:18
The caller says they were struggling in bed and trying to scream and nothing came out of them.
- observation· 2:26
The caller says they could not breathe and felt as if they were being smothered.
- observation· 2:41
The caller says they asked God to take it away because they could do nothing, and that it let go.
- observation· 2:53
The caller says the figure never appeared again after that night.
- observation· 3:09
The caller says they told their family a monster was trying to kill them and that nobody really believed it.
- host statement· 3:15
The host suggests the event was a last attempt by a dark force before the caller's planned commitment on Sunday.
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 firsthand story with a clear sequence and some concrete detail (the caller's age, the size of the figure, its position at the door). But it is recalled from childhood, with no place, date, or independent witness, and sleep-related explanations fit the core experience readily.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand: the caller describes waking and seeing the figure themselves.
- Concrete details: the figure is described as about four and a half feet tall and standing at the front of the door.
- A coherent sequence of going to bed, waking, praying, dreaming, waking again, and the figure leaving.
- The caller separates the dream from what they say was in front of them.
- The caller is recalling an event from about age seven, reported years later, with no date or location given.
- No second witness is said to have seen anything; the caller says [quote withheld]
- Features often linked to sleep-related episodes are present throughout: waking at night, being unable to scream or breathe, a smothering feeling, and a figure in the doorway.
- The story jumps from seeing a figure to being attacked without describing the change, beyond the figure disappearing.
- No place, year, or names are given, so nothing in the story can be checked.
- The automatic transcript is garbled at points, including the caller's opening statement about where they are calling from and the description of the figure's shape.
- The labels showing who is speaking appear to be wrong where the host's label carries the caller's continuing speech.
- 0:03
- 2:18
- 2:28
What the model inferred (not said on air): The scores for closeness to the source and for consistency rest on what the caller says. The low score for alternative explanations is my judgment that the sensations and setting the caller describes closely match a common sleep-related experience, which the caller does not address.
The story rests entirely on the caller's own word, with no documents, objects, or second witness on air. The only other person mentioned is said not to have believed the caller.
Evidence for and against
- A witness the caller mentions, their father, entered the room after the event.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is offered.
- The father is not reported as having seen the figure, and the caller says nobody really believed it.
- No names, dates, or locations are given that could be checked.
- It is unknown whether the caller gave the host any further details outside this part of the broadcast.
- 3:02
- 3:09
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score is in the lowest range because every element is the caller's claim and nothing in the story can be checked independently. The father, whom the caller mentions, is a reported witness, not someone who backs up the story.
The setting is frightening: a child alone in bed at night, a horned figure at the open door, then being unable to scream or breathe and feeling sure they would die. But the story resolves with the figure leaving rather than escalating.
Evidence for and against
- A child wakes to a horned, animal-like figure standing at their bedroom door.
- The caller reports struggling in bed, unable to scream, unable to breathe, and feeling smothered.
- The caller reports thinking [quote withheld] and praying to be freed.
- The episode ends: the figure lets go and fades away, and the caller says it never returned.
- The story ends with an ordinary aftermath, in which the caller screams, their father comes in, and they are not believed, rather than with lasting dread.
- The automatic transcript of how the figure looked is partly garbled, which limits how vividly it can be judged.
- 1:34
- 2:18
- 2:34
What the model inferred (not said on air): Creepiness is my judgment of the story's effect on a listener, drawing on the childhood bedroom setting and the reported inability to breathe.
The frame of a nighttime bedroom visit with paralysis and an inability to cry out is familiar. But the horned bull shape, presented as a demon at the open door, is a distinctive detail.
Evidence for and against
- The intruder the caller reports is an animal-shaped figure, described as a bull standing on its feet at the door.
- The experience is placed on the Friday night before a planned Sunday church commitment, a framing the host introduces.
- Waking at night, being unable to scream or breathe, and a smothering feeling are widely reported elements.
- A figure at a bedroom doorway is a common motif.
- Novelty compared with the rest of the archive cannot be judged from this story alone; the score is a provisional judgment based on content.
- 1:15
- 2:03
What the model inferred (not said on air): The originality score is my rating of familiar versus distinctive elements, based on the story's content. No comparison with the rest of the archive was done for this analysis.
Scoring confidence 0.55 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's firsthand story (a childhood memory told live on air); The caller's father, who is said to have come in after the event but is not reported to have seen anything; No physical evidence, documents, photograph, or recording offered. The originality score blends the model's score (55) 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 sleep-related episode (sleep paralysis with a dreamlike hallucination while falling asleep or waking up) could explain waking in bed, being unable to scream or breathe, the smothering feeling, and a vivid figure seen at the doorway. · The caller reports waking at night, struggling in bed, being unable to make a sound, not being able to breathe, and feeling smothered, with the figure vanishing afterward.
- A dream carrying over into a brief waking state could explain why the figure seemed to stay in place across the dream and the moment of waking. · The caller says they had a strange dream that was unrelated to the figure and that when they woke the bull was still standing there, and then it disappeared.
- Anticipation about the planned commitment at church that weekend may have shaped the content and timing of the experience. · The caller says the event occurred on the Friday night after they had told the Lord they would commit themselves on Sunday morning, and the host openly links the two.
What stands out
The intruder the caller reports is a horned, bull-shaped figure rather than a human or shadow form. The story places it on the Friday night before a planned Sunday church commitment, a link the host raises rather than the caller.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.