Childhood home in Granite City, Illinois, with flying plates and slamming doors
A caller who gives their location as Granite City, Illinois, says they were raised in a house from birth to age thirteen. The caller says plates and cups flew and smashed there, cold spots and strange smells occurred, footsteps and slamming doors were heard, and a dog watched unseen things. The caller says their parents brought about four people to drive out ghosts and that someone said a man had hanged himself in the basement. The caller says the activity went on until the family moved out after thirteen years. The caller says they were a child with no choice and would not live in such a house now.
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 1:11:30). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who gives their location as Granite City, Illinois, says they were raised in a house from birth until age thirteen. The caller reports plates flying off the table and smashing into cabinets, cold spots in the house, foul odors alternating with sweet smells, and footsteps walking up the steps. Asked whether they saw a plate lift and fly off a table, they answer yes. The caller adds that thick coffee cups smashed into metal cabinets and left big dents. The caller says their mother, their father, and the caller all experienced the different things. The caller says their parents brought in people, about four, to drive out ghosts. Those people reportedly felt more presence in the basement. The caller reports that someone had said a person had hanged himself in the basement, and that most activity happened there. The caller also reports doors slamming and the family dog watching something unseen in the room. The caller says the day the family moved out was one of the happiest days of their life. Asked how long it went on, the caller says until they moved, which was thirteen years. The caller says that after the people came to drive out whatever was in the house, activity slowed for a short time and then started again. The caller says they do not think anyone lived there for very long periods. The caller tells Art that if they move into a new house and feel any presence, they would not live there. Host Art Bell then remarks on laws requiring disclosure of haunted houses, but the caller does not respond to that in this part of the broadcast.
Reported events, in order
- 0:17
The caller says they were raised in the house from birth to age thirteen.
- 0:22
The caller reports plates flying off the table and smashing into cabinets.
- 0:33
The caller reports cold spots in the house.
- 0:41
The caller reports foul odors alternating with sweet smells.
- 1:02
The caller says the household heard footsteps walking up the steps.
- 1:13
The caller says they saw a plate lift and fly, and that coffee cups smashed into metal cabinets, leaving big dents.
- 1:24
The caller says their parents brought about four people to drive out ghosts. The caller says they felt more presence in the basement.
- 1:43
The caller reports that someone said a person had hanged himself in the basement.
- 1:49
The caller says most activity happened in the basement.
- 1:53
The caller reports doors slamming.
- 1:56
The caller says the dog watched something unseen in the room.
- 2:05
The caller says the day the family moved out was one of the happiest days of their life.
- 2:13
The caller says the activity continued until they moved, over thirteen years.
- 2:19
The caller says activity slowed for a short time after the people came to drive out whatever was in the house, then started again.
- 2:33
The caller says they do not think anyone lived in that house for very long periods.
- 2:51
The caller says if they feel any presence in a new house, they would not live there.
- 3:05
Host Art Bell says some states require notification that a house is haunted.
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· 0:22
Plates would fly off the table and smash into cabinets.
- observation· 0:33
There were cold spots in the house.
- observation· 0:41
Smells alternated between real foul odor and real sweet smells.
- observation· 1:02
The household heard footsteps walking up the steps.
- observation· 1:13
The caller saw a plate lift and fly, and thick coffee cups smashed into metal cabinets and left big dents.
- interpretation· 1:24
The caller's parents brought people to drive out ghosts.
- hearsay· 1:35
The people who came felt more presence in the basement.
- hearsay· 1:43
Someone said a person had hanged himself in the basement.
- observation· 1:49
Most of the activity happened in the basement.
- observation· 1:53
Doors would slam.
- observation· 1:56
The family dog watched something unseen in the room.
- observation· 2:19
Activity slowed after the people came to drive out whatever was in the house, then started again.
- host statement· 3:19
Art Bell says some states have a law requiring notification that a house is haunted.
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.
The caller gives a firsthand story with specific objects and a sequence. But there are no names, dates, records, or backing from anyone on air. The childhood setting and the secondhand hanging claim also limit confidence. A common, ordinary explanation fits parts of the story easily. Other parts, such as the flying objects and dents the caller reports seeing, are stated without proof.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand source: the caller says they were raised in the house from birth to age thirteen.
- Specific reported events: plates flying into cabinets and coffee cups leaving dents.
- The caller reports other household witnesses: [quote withheld]
- No full name, date, address, or checkable record is given.
- No second witness speaks on air to back up the story.
- The hanging claim is openly secondhand: “someone had said.”
- The exact decade of the events is not stated.
- Some labels showing who is speaking in the transcript may be wrong, especially around the “Thirteen years” exchange.
- Granite City, Illinois, is split across turns in the transcript, and the caller's name is not given.
- 0:17
- 0:22
- 1:13
- 1:43
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score reflects the tension between a consistent, detailed childhood story and the lack of anything in the transcript that could independently verify the reported physical events.
The evidence is mainly the caller's word, plus claimed witnesses and claimed physical effects. None of these are examined in the transcript. Checkable specifics such as Granite City, Illinois, and the thirteen-year span are given but not checked.
Evidence for and against
- The caller gives a rough location: Granite City, Illinois.
- The caller gives a length of time: thirteen years.
- The caller claims physical effects, including dents in metal cabinets.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical inspection is described or examined on air.
- The claimed second witnesses, the parents and the four people, do not speak on air.
- No outside check was made.
- The transcript cannot confirm whether any dents or other traces were later seen by anyone else.
- The caller's name and exact address are not given.
- 1:13
- 2:15
What the model inferred (not said on air): No checkable documentation is present, so the story falls in the scoring-guide range for the caller's word alone, with a small addition for the named state and length of time.
The setting is a childhood home. The reported activity, which lasted thirteen years, includes smashing objects, unexplained smells, slamming doors, a dog watching something unseen, and a secondhand report of a hanging in the basement. No physical attack on a person is reported, and the family eventually moved out.
Evidence for and against
- Plates and thick cups smash and leave dents.
- The story includes foul smells, cold spots, and slamming doors.
- The caller says a person had hanged himself in the basement and that most activity happened there.
- A family dog watches something unseen in the room.
- The activity is said to have lasted thirteen years.
- No direct physical harm or threat to a person is reported.
- The story ends with the family moving out, and the caller says that was one of the happiest days of their life.
- The time of day and what the events looked like are mostly not stated.
- 0:22
- 1:56
- 1:43
What the model inferred (not said on air): The unsettling feeling comes from ongoing disruption at home and a suggested death in the basement, not from a single vivid encounter.
The story uses familiar poltergeist elements: flying plates, cold spots, smells, footsteps, and slamming doors. But it adds a reported attempt by about four people to cleanse the house and a secondhand report of a hanging in the basement. The combination is distinctive, though not unlike common ghost-story setups.
Evidence for and against
- Familiar elements include plates flying and smashing, and cold spots.
- Distinctive details include about four people brought in to drive out ghosts and a reported hanging in the basement.
- Most of the elements are stock poltergeist details that are also common in ghost lore.
- No highly unusual event, such as a time slip, a doppelganger, or a description of a being, is reported.
- The originality score is provisional until it is compared with the rest of the archive.
- 1:24
- 1:43
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a familiar setup with a few concrete, less common details, so it sits near the middle of the originality scale.
Scoring confidence 0.72 · analysis confidence 0.80 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's firsthand story by telephone; Claimed physical effects (dents in metal cabinets), but no photograph, recording, or document examined; Claimed household witnesses (parents and the caller), but no second witness speaks on air. The originality score blends the model's score (45) 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.
- Childhood memory and family storytelling may have shaped or enlarged the details over time, especially since the events span roughly birth to age thirteen and no dates or records are given. · The caller says they were a child and had no choice: [quote withheld] The caller gives no exact years or documentation.
- Household noise, drafts, animals, or ordinary breakage could explain some of the reported cold spots, smells, footsteps, slamming doors, and the dog's watching. · The story includes cold spots, foul and sweet smells, footsteps, doors slamming, and a dog watching. All of these can have ordinary causes in the house or from animals. The caller does not describe checking them.
- The flying plates and dents could in principle have been caused by a person in the household. But the transcript gives no evidence for or against this, and the caller presents them as unexplained. · The caller reports seeing a plate lift and fly and cups smash into cabinets, leaving dents. No one is described as handling or throwing them: [quote withheld]
What stands out
The story combines familiar poltergeist elements with a reported attempt by about four people to cleanse the house. It also includes a secondhand claim that a man had hanged himself in the basement, which the caller says was where most of the activity happened. When the host suggests a poltergeist, the caller explicitly declines to name the cause.
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