Fax about a translucent figure in cowboy clothes reported in a Phoenix-area home
Art Bell reads a fax on air from an unnamed sender whose cousin, called “Linda” in the letter, lived in a house bought about six years earlier in a suburb of Phoenix. Her four-year-old son woke her to say a stranger was in his room. The letter says she then saw a translucent, glowing man in a plaid cowboy shirt, blue jeans, and a cowboy hat standing behind the boy. She is said to have fled with her sons to her mother's house. The letter adds that her brother claimed to have seen the same man about two weeks later.
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 1:43:11). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
According to the fax read by the host, the writer's cousin and her husband bought a house in a suburb of Phoenix about six years before the broadcast. The family, two children plus another cousin, moved in right away. The cousin, whom the letter calls “Linda,” was at home at night with only the children, because her husband worked the graveyard shift and her brother had taken a job in Laughlin, Nevada. On the night in question, the letter says, her four-year-old son came into the room and woke her. She was not facing him and did not turn around right away. She asked him what he wanted, and he said he could not sleep because somebody was in his room. She told him he shared the room with his brother. He said it was not his brother but [quote withheld] When she turned around, she is said to have seen a man standing behind her son, wearing a plaid cowboy shirt, blue jeans, and a cowboy hat. She said she could see right through him to the doorway behind. She described him as white and “kind of glowing,” [quote withheld] She says she jumped out of bed and he was gone. Then she grabbed both of her sons and went to her mother's house. The letter adds that her brother claimed to have seen the same man about two weeks later, with [quote withheld] The fax closes with greetings, candles burning, and [quote withheld] The letter suggests no cause for the sighting, and no exchange with the host follows.
Reported events, in order
- -1:-1:-1
The letter writer says their cousin and her husband bought a house in a suburb of Phoenix about six years earlier, and the family plus another cousin moved in right away.
- 0:10
The cousin, called “Linda” in the letter, is said to have been at home at night with only the children, because her husband worked the graveyard shift and her brother had taken a job in Laughlin, Nevada.
- 0:23
On the night in question her four-year-old son came into the room and woke her.
- 0:34
She asked what he wanted. He said he could not sleep because somebody was in his room. When she said he shared the room with his brother, he said it was [quote withheld]
- 0:50
She turned around and is said to have seen a man standing behind her son, in a plaid cowboy shirt, blue jeans, and a cowboy hat. She could see through him to the doorway behind.
- 1:06
She described him as white and “kind of glowing,” [quote withheld] She jumped out of bed and he was gone.
- 1:17
She grabbed both of her sons and went to her mother's house.
- 1:19
The letter says her brother claimed to have seen the man about two weeks later, with [quote withheld]
- 1:27
The fax closes with a sign-off mentioning candles burning and [quote withheld]
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· 0:34
Linda's four-year-old son said he could not sleep because somebody was in his room (reported by the letter writer, who got it from Linda).
- hearsay· 0:46
The son said the person in his room was not his brother but a man he did not know.
- hearsay· 0:51
Linda said she saw a man standing behind her son, dressed in a plaid cowboy shirt, blue jeans, and a cowboy hat, and said she could see through him to the doorway behind.
- observation· 0:51
According to the letter, the figure was translucent: Linda said [quote withheld]
- hearsay· 1:06
Linda described the figure as white and “kind of glowing,” like film depictions, and said it was gone when she jumped out of bed.
- hearsay· 1:19
Linda's brother claimed to have seen the same man about two weeks after the first sighting.
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 that holds together, but it is passed on secondhand by a fax writer who was not present and who names no one by real name. Specifics exist (a Phoenix suburb, Laughlin, the graveyard shift, the clothing) but cannot be verified, and a just-woken explanation fits easily. Components: closeness to the source 8, detail 11, consistency 14, alternative explanations 6, calibration 8, for a total of 47. The secondhand cap of 60 is not reached.
Evidence for and against
- A coherent, plain sequence: the child's report, the mother's description, and the flight from the house.
- Concrete details: [quote withheld]; [quote withheld]; and a specific description of the clothing.
- The letter reports a second, separate sighting rather than making the first one bigger.
- The story reaches the audience at two removes: a fax read by the host, describing events the writer did not see.
- The people who saw the figure are unnamed or go by an invented name ([quote withheld]), and no street, town, or date is given, so nothing can be checked.
- A four-year-old's dream or imagination plus a just-woken adult is a straightforward ordinary fit that the writer does not address.
- The label “HOST” covers the reading of the letter. It is not stated who wrote it or how the writer got the story.
- The brother's later sighting is cut short: [quote withheld]
- -1:-1:-1
- 0:51
- 0:16
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component scores are my judgment from the transcript alone. The total of 47 is my arithmetic, not the writer's. I treat the fax writer as the one telling the story, so the events are secondhand to the writer.
The story is the writer's word, passed on by fax, with claimed witnesses and a few place details that could in principle be checked but were not. That places it at the lower end of the 11 to 25 range. With no outside check, the hard cap of 50 applies, and the score is far from reaching it.
Evidence for and against
- Checkable-type specifics are given but not checked: [quote withheld] and “Laughlin, Nevada.”
- Other witnesses are claimed: the four-year-old son and the brother.
- No document, photograph, recording, or mark is claimed or produced.
- No second witness speaks on air. The son and the brother are known only from the letter.
- Nothing given can be checked: an invented name, an unnamed “suburb of Phoenix,” and a relative date.
- It is not stated how the fax writer learned the story, or whether the writer contacted Linda's brother for details.
- 1:19
- 0:34
What the model inferred (not said on air): I score witness claims as claims, not as backing from someone else, per the scoring guide.
The bedroom and child settings and the see-through, glowing figure give a real sense of unease. But there is no hostility, contact, or harm, and the story is brief and closed off by the family leaving. Scored in the middle “genuinely unsettling” range.
Evidence for and against
- Intrusion into a child's bedroom and a mother's sleeping area at night.
- A translucent, glowing, “see-through” figure behind a child is a vivid image.
- The mother is said to have left the house with both sons and gone to her mother's, and the story is left unresolved.
- A very short, calmly told story with no reported threat, injury, or pursuit.
- The figure is described in neutral terms and simply disappears.
- The incidents are two isolated sightings rather than lasting activity.
- The transcript does not say whether anything further was reported to have happened in the house.
- 1:06
- 1:17
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a judgment about the story's effect, not about whether anything happened.
A familiar haunted-house and bedroom pattern with one distinctive detail, the see-through figure in cowboy clothes, and a claimed second sighting by a different relative. That fits the [quote withheld] level of the model, around 45. The published originality score is worked out relative to the archive and should be treated as provisional.
Evidence for and against
- The ghost's dress is distinctive: [quote withheld] rather than a generic white figure or shadow.
- The woman compares the look directly to film depictions: [quote withheld]
- A second sighting by another household member is claimed two weeks later.
- The core elements are common in ghost lore: a figure seen in a bedroom at night by someone just woken, described as translucent and glowing.
- The [quote withheld] pattern is a familiar one.
- The comparison with the archive is not available from this part of the broadcast alone.
- 0:51
- 1:06
What the model inferred (not said on air): The model originality score is my judgment of the content. The comparison with the archive and the final blended value are worked out elsewhere.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The writer's story only: a fax read aloud on air by the host. The letter writer is not an eyewitness.; The claimed witnesses (Linda, her four-year-old son, her brother) do not speak on air, and there is no confirmation on air.; No physical evidence, photograph, document, or recording is claimed or examined.. 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.
- Imagery while waking up: the description [quote withheld] comes right after being woken at night, and the glowing, see-through quality is typical of images at the edge of sleep rather than a solid object. · Linda is reported to have been asleep and woken by her son, and is described as seeing a glowing, translucent figure only after turning around. The moment just after waking is a common setting for such images.
- A child's dream or imagination about a stranger in the room, which then shaped what the woken adult expected and reported seeing. · The first report of an intruder comes from a four-year-old ([quote withheld] [quote withheld]). That report could have primed the mother's expectation before she turned around.
- An unfamiliar sound, shadow, or person elsewhere in a crowded, recently occupied house prompting the child's complaint (though this does not account for the mother's reported see-through figure). · Linda's husband was on the graveyard shift, and the household included another cousin and children. The house was newly occupied, and its layout would have been unfamiliar to a child woken at night.
What stands out
The ghost is described in western dress (plaid cowboy shirt, blue jeans, cowboy hat) rather than as the more common white or shadowy figure. The woman herself likens its glowing transparency to film depictions. The story is also layered: a faxed letter about a cousin's experience, ending with a claimed second sighting by the brother that the writer says outright they will not detail.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.