A silver figure, footprints on a sleeping mother's arm, and a “vortex” in Long Beach
A caller on the wild-card line, who says they are in Long Beach, describes what they say happened when they were 15. The caller and their mother were staying at a friend's house when their mother woke up saying a little silver man had been crawling on her arm. She then woke the household to show them small footprints left on her arm. The caller says they looked at the marks and agreed they were footprints. The host ends the call and, to the audience, offers an explanation based on dreaming.
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 38:45). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who gives no name and says [quote withheld] tells Art Bell they want to describe what happened to them when they were 15. The caller says they and their mother were staying at a friend's house [quote withheld] The caller says that at certain times of the year the neighborhood around Broadway in Long Beach is “like a vortex,” a “main doorway” through which [quote withheld] As their example, the caller says their mother [quote withheld] and woke up. The caller says the figure was “all silver” and [quote withheld] According to the caller, she woke them up to look at [quote withheld] and they looked and said, [quote withheld] The caller adds a remark about something weighing around 40 pounds leaving such deep footprints. The caller then says, [quote withheld] Who “she” is in that line is unclear in the automatic transcript. Art Bell ends the call: [quote withheld] Speaking to the audience, Bell says [quote withheld] and that the mental power of a vivid dream could have caused the physical evidence. He then muses that the difference between a dream and a waking experience is small. The caller does not speak again, and no documents are mentioned.
Reported events, in order
- 0:12
The caller says they want to describe what happened to them at age 15.
- 0:17
The caller says they and their mother were staying at a friend's house until they found a new place to live.
- 0:26
The caller gives their location as Long Beach.
- 0:29
The caller describes the neighborhood near Broadway in Long Beach as “like a vortex,” a “main doorway” through which things come.
- 0:47
The caller says their mother seemed to have a little man crawling on her arm and woke up.
- 1:00
The caller says the figure was all silver and left deep footprints.
- 1:04
The caller says their mother woke them up to show the little footprints on her arm.
- 1:08
The caller says they looked and agreed they were footprints.
- 1:11
The caller says she thought it was a joke and went back to sleep.
- 1:14
The caller remarks on the weight needed to leave such deep footprints.
- 1:33
The host ends the call and, to the audience, suggests the woman was dreaming and that her mind produced the marks.
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).
- hearsay· 0:47
The caller says their mother seemed to have a little man crawling on her arm and woke up.
- observation· 1:00
The caller says the figure was all silver and left deep footprints.
- observation· 1:04
The caller says their mother woke them to show the caller little footprints on her arm.
- observation· 1:08
The caller says they looked at the marks and identified them as footprints.
- observation· 1:11
The caller says their mother treated it as a joke and went back to sleep.
- interpretation· 0:38
The caller describes the Long Beach neighborhood near Broadway as a vortex or doorway through which things come.
- host statement· 1:33
The host tells the audience some would say the mother was dreaming and that her mind produced the physical marks.
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 brief story with a concrete place and age but no date or names. The caller saw only the marks, while the figure comes from their mother, and a sleep-related explanation fits easily.
Evidence for and against
- The caller gives a concrete location and street: [quote withheld] and “Broadway.”
- The caller says they personally looked at the marks and identified them as footprints.
- A sequence of events is given (the mother wakes, wakes them, they look, she returns to sleep).
- The central experience is the mother's, reported by the caller, not witnessed by them.
- No date, no names, and no description of the figure beyond “all silver.”
- The line about joking and returning to sleep is ambiguous, and the 40-pound remark is garbled.
- An ordinary sleep-related explanation fits and is raised by the host himself.
- The labels showing who is speaking shift mid-story in the automatic transcript.
- It is unclear who [quote withheld] refers to.
- No time frame is given for the events.
- 0:12
- 1:04
- 1:33
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component judgments (closeness to the events is partial because the caller saw only the marks; the score for other explanations is low because the mother was asleep) are my reasoning, not statements in the automatic transcript.
The story rests on the caller's word plus a claimed second witness, the caller's mother, who does not speak on air. Place names are given, but nothing is documented or examined.
Evidence for and against
- Details that could be checked are offered: Long Beach, Broadway, age 15.
- A second person is claimed to have had the experience.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical evidence is mentioned or examined.
- The claimed second witness does not appear on air.
- The marks are described only in words and are no longer available to examine.
- It is unknown whether the mother's story would match the caller's.
- It is not stated whether the marks were photographed.
- 1:04
- 1:08
What the model inferred (not said on air): My placement in the 11 to 25 range reflects claimed witnesses and details that could be checked, without any examination. No outside check was made.
A small figure crawling on a sleeping person and leaving marks on the skin is intrusive and physical. But there is no stated threat, escalation, or harm, and the host closes the call quickly.
Evidence for and against
- Physical contact is reported on a sleeping person's body.
- Visible marks are said to remain on the arm afterward.
- The setting is a temporary home while the family was between houses.
- No ill will, injury, or pursuit is described.
- The mother is said to have treated it as a joke and gone back to sleep.
- The story is very short and ends without escalation.
- Whether the caller saw the figure itself or only the marks.
- Whether the marks were painful or merely visible.
- 0:47
- 1:00
What the model inferred (not said on air): The creepiness rating is my judgment of how the story reads to a listener, not a claim about what happened.
The pattern of something encountered in sleep in a new or temporary home is familiar. But the specific detail of a tiny silver figure leaving footprints on a sleeping person's arm, and the “vortex” or doorway framing of the neighborhood, are distinctive.
Evidence for and against
- Tiny footprints left on skin are an unusual reported trace.
- The caller describes the location as a vortex and a main doorway through which things come.
- Bedroom encounters during sleep and figures seen on waking are common ghost-story ideas.
- The story is very brief and offers few unique details.
- Novelty compared with the rest of the archive cannot be judged from a single excerpt.
- 1:00
- 0:38
What the model inferred (not said on air): The provisional score reflects a familiar pattern plus one rare detail. A comparison with the rest of the archive cannot be made here.
Scoring confidence 0.55 · analysis confidence 0.65 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's firsthand account of seeing footprints on their mother's arm.; A claimed secondhand experience of the mother, who does not speak on air.; No photograph, recording, document, or other documentation mentioned.. 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.
- The mother's experience happened in or near sleep (imagery while falling asleep or a vivid dream), and the marks on her arm had another source, such as pressure from her own hand, bedding, or creases in her skin. · The caller says she “woke up” and later [quote withheld] The host himself says [quote withheld]
- A small animal or insect in the house produced the feeling of something crawling and left marks. · The report is of something small crawling on an arm while the person slept in a shared temporary house. The caller gives no description of the object itself beyond “all silver.”
- Ordinary skin marks were mistaken for footprints through suggestion after waking. · The caller says their mother woke the household specifically to look at the marks, and the identification “they're footprints” was made by eye at the time.
What stands out
The distinctive part is a claimed physical trace: small footprints left on a sleeping person's arm by a figure described as silver and tiny. The caller also describes an ordinary city neighborhood as a “vortex” or doorway. The caller personally saw only the marks. The figure is reported from the caller's mother.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.