Girlfriend reports sleeping caller conversing with a woman and boy
[name withheld] from Phoenix tells Art Bell that in the summer of 1977 the caller's girlfriend woke and found the caller apparently asleep, stiff and cold, carrying on a conversation with a little boy and a woman while their lips did not move. She said she heard voices answer, and a third woman she could not hear. The caller later links the conversation to their wife, son, and mother-in-law, who had been killed in a car accident six months earlier. The caller says they cannot decide whether it was their mind working on the problem or something supernatural.
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 1:40:11). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld] from Phoenix calls Art Bell and says they are not sure whether the story is a ghost story. [name withheld] reports that in the summer of 1977 they woke about 2:30 a.m. because their girlfriend was out of bed. They found her in the living room sitting on the couch with her knees pulled up under her chin and her eyes wide, looking at them as if they had extra heads. She told them, [quote withheld] and after a while explained that she had heard them talking in their sleep. When she rolled over toward them, she said they were [quote withheld] She said she got up and looked, and they were lying in bed stiff, their mouth slightly open but their lips not moving, carrying on a conversation with a little boy and a woman. She could hear them talking back. The caller was also talking to a third person, another woman, whom she could not hear. [name withheld] says they apparently sat and carried on this conversation with a little boy and a woman for about five or ten minutes with their mouth not moving, stiff as a board and cold as the freezer. The girlfriend listened for a while, then went into the living room, where she could still hear all of them talking. [name withheld] says it spooked her and affected their relationship considerably. Most of the conversation, [name withheld] reports, concerned the woman the girlfriend could hear: where she had left her glasses and why she was not wearing them. Six months earlier, [name withheld] says, the caller's wife, their son, and her mother were killed in a car accident. No one could tell [name withheld] exactly what happened. [name withheld] contacted a private investigator and spent about a month following procedures to find out what happened. [name withheld] learned what happened and why, but could never find her glasses anywhere in or around the car or accident scene. [name withheld] says they do not know whether their brain was working on the problem and gave them an answer, or whether something supernatural happened. Art says he would opt for the latter. [name withheld] says the only reason they leaned toward that is that the way they felt to their girlfriend, who thought they were dead, scared her more than the voices.
Reported events, in order
- 0:02
[name withheld] says they are calling from Phoenix.
- 0:13
[name withheld] reports waking about 2:30 a.m. in the summer of 1977 because their girlfriend was out of bed.
- 0:20
[name withheld] found their girlfriend on the living room couch, knees pulled up, eyes wide, looking at them as if they had extra heads.
- 0:37
She told the caller not to do that to her and explained she had heard them talking in their sleep.
- 0:45
She said the caller was stiff as a coffee table and cold as an ice box.
- 0:57
She said the caller lay in bed with their mouth open, lips not moving, talking with a little boy and a woman. She heard them answer, and the caller also spoke to a third woman she could not hear.
- 1:16
[name withheld] says they apparently carried on the conversation for about five or ten minutes, mouth not moving, stiff and cold.
- 1:25
The caller's girlfriend listened, went into the living room, and could hear all of them talking.
- 1:32
[name withheld] says it spooked her and affected their relationship. Most of the conversation concerned where the woman she could hear had left her glasses.
- 1:48
[name withheld] says that six months earlier the caller's wife, their son, and her mother were killed in a car accident.
- 1:56
No one could tell [name withheld] exactly what happened, so the caller contacted a private investigator who laid out procedures.
- 2:10
After about a month the caller learned what happened and why, but could never find her glasses at or around the accident scene.
- 2:24
[name withheld] says they do not know if their brain was working on the problem or if something supernatural happened.
- 2:34
Art says he would opt for the supernatural explanation.
- 2:46
[name withheld] says the only reason they leaned toward the supernatural is that their girlfriend thought they were dead, which scared her more than the voices.
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· 0:37
The caller's girlfriend said she heard them talk in their sleep.
- hearsay· 0:45
The caller's girlfriend said she found them stiff and cold.
- hearsay· 0:57
The caller's girlfriend said they lay with lips not moving while talking with a little boy and a woman.
- hearsay· 0:57
The caller's girlfriend said she heard the boy and woman answer, and also a third woman she could not hear.
- hearsay· 1:16
The caller says they apparently carried on the conversation with a little boy and a woman.
- observation· 1:32
The caller says most of the overheard conversation concerned where the woman had left her glasses.
- observation· 2:10
The caller says they investigated the accident but could not find their wife's glasses at the scene.
- interpretation· 2:24
The caller wonders whether their brain produced the conversation while working on the problem or whether something supernatural happened.
- host statement· 2:34
The host says he would opt for the supernatural explanation.
- hearsay· 2:46
The caller says their girlfriend thought they were dead.
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 story is specific and holds together, and the caller says plainly where they are unsure. But the central strange observations come from the caller's girlfriend rather than from the caller, and an ordinary sleep-talking or dream explanation fits easily. I apply the secondhand cap near the top of the typical range for a brief firsthand story.
Evidence for and against
- A concrete date and time: summer 1977, about 2:30 a.m.
- A detailed sequence of finding the girlfriend, her appearance, and what she reported.
- The caller is open about their own uncertainty over whether the cause was natural or supernatural.
- The girlfriend is described as giving specific physical details, such as stiffness and coldness.
- The core strange details are secondhand from the girlfriend, not experienced directly by the caller.
- No confirmation on air from the girlfriend or another witness.
- No documentation, medical examination, or measurement is presented.
- An ordinary sleep-talking or dream explanation fits the reported conversation easily.
- The labels showing who is speaking split the same caller into two speakers, and some lines marked as the host may belong to the caller.
- The girlfriend's exact observations cannot be judged because she does not speak on air.
- The transcript does not say whether the girlfriend knew about the earlier accident at the time.
- 0:13
- 0:37
- 0:45
- 2:24
What the model inferred (not said on air): My scoring treats the girlfriend's reported observations as secondhand even though the caller is the person described in bed. That is why the score is capped below the range for a fully firsthand story.
The story gives specifics that could be checked (summer 1977, Phoenix, a car accident, a missing pair of glasses) and a claimed second witness. But none is checked and no physical evidence is examined. That places it in the 11 to 25 range.
Evidence for and against
- A named location and decade are given.
- A second witness is claimed, though she does not speak on air.
- A specific missing object: the wife's glasses at the accident scene.
- The mention of a private investigator and records suggests something that could in principle be checked.
- No document, accident report, record, photograph, or recording is examined in the transcript.
- The girlfriend does not speak on air.
- No medical or room-temperature evidence supports the reported coldness and stiffness.
- The central claims rest on assertion and reported observation only.
- The exact accident details and the glasses detail are not independently verified.
- No outside check was done for this analysis.
- 0:02
- 0:13
- 1:56
- 2:10
What the model inferred (not said on air): I am scoring only whether independently checkable support exists, not how believable the story feels.
The image of a person lying stiff and cold while talking with a dead wife and son, and a girlfriend who thought they were dead, is truly unsettling. It lacks violence or threat, and the unresolved ambiguity keeps it from the higher ranges.
Evidence for and against
- The caller is described as stiff as a coffee table and cold as an ice box.
- The caller is reported to talk with a little boy and a woman while their lips do not move.
- The girlfriend thought the caller was dead.
- The conversation is linked to family members killed six months earlier.
- No hostility, attack, or physical harm is reported.
- The story is fairly short and ends in uncertainty rather than escalation.
- The most vivid details are domestic and quiet rather than violent or threatening.
- The transcript does not report what the voices said beyond the glasses question.
- No follow-up is given about what happened afterward.
- 0:45
- 0:57
- 2:46
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a judgment of the effect on a listener of the reported scene, not a claim about whether the events happened.
The pattern of sleep-talking, a cold and stiff body, and contact with dead relatives is familiar. But the conversation turning on where the dead woman left her glasses, and the girlfriend hearing only some of the voices, make a modestly distinctive combination.
Evidence for and against
- The specific missing-glasses content anchors the reported conversation.
- One voice is reported as inaudible to the girlfriend.
- The sleeping caller is described as stiff and cold while speaking.
- The story links the conversation to an unresolved earlier accident.
- Sleep-talking and dead-relative themes are common in ghost stories.
- No unusual kind of event is reported beyond voices and the state of the body.
- The core structure is a brief bedside report followed by an unresolved question.
- Originality compared with the rest of the archive is not available from this single transcript.
- The provisional model score may change after comparison with the archive.
- 1:32
- 0:57
- 1:16
What the model inferred (not said on air): A provisional model score only. The published originality score requires a comparison with the rest of the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.78 · analysis confidence 0.82 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's own telling about waking and finding their girlfriend and about their later accident investigation.; A claimed second-witness report from the girlfriend about the sleeping caller, their stiffness and coldness, and the voices.; No photograph, recording, medical record, accident report, or other document examined in the transcript.; No confirmation on air from the girlfriend or any other witness.. 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.
- Sleep-talking while the caller was in bed. The girlfriend may have heard the caller speaking and assumed both sides of a dream conversation. · The caller says she heard them talking and thought they were asleep, and that they were lying with lips not moving but carrying on a conversation. These details can go with ordinary sleep-talking, though the transcript offers no medical examination of them.
- A vivid dream about the dead wife and son, shaped by grief and the unresolved question of the missing glasses, could account for what was said in the conversation. · The caller says most of the conversation concerned where the woman had left her glasses, and they wonder whether their brain was working on the problem. This fits a dream built around a real unresolved concern.
- The girlfriend's report of the caller being stiff and cold could reflect ordinary stillness in sleep or the room temperature rather than anything strange. · She reported them as stiff and cold, but the transcript gives no measurement, medical check, or room temperature. The story otherwise relies on her impression.
What stands out
The story centers not on a visible figure but on a sleeping person reported to be stiff and cold while holding a two-sided conversation with a boy and a woman. The girlfriend could not hear one of the voices. The missing-glasses detail links the reported conversation to an earlier fatal accident and to the caller's unresolved investigation.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.