Letter describing a haunted house where unseen presences are treated as roommates
During Ghost to Ghost AM, the host reads a short letter signed (as transcribed) by a listener in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The writer says they live in a haunted house and would find it hard to live anywhere else. The writer describes the presences as no trouble to them and says they badly frighten first-time visitors. The writer offers their own theory that cold spots are presences that draw heat, light, and EMF, and that some feed on fear. The letter ends by inviting readers to draw their own conclusions.
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 2:40:57). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The host introduces the item only as a letter (“Dear Art”) and reads it in full. In it, the writer says, [quote withheld] The writer adds that they would find it tough to live anywhere else and that they and the presences leave each other alone: [quote withheld] The writer says the worst part of the situation is that they frighten [quote withheld] which the writer calls “kind of laughable.” People can be told about them, the writer says, but have little to say until they meet them face-to-face. The writer states that they prefer to invite people in and let them form their own versions of the story, which makes for livelier conversation. The writer then gives their understanding of what is going on: [quote withheld] As the writer understands it, they take energy at hand (heat, light, EMF) and use it to create themselves, and that drawing of energy creates the coldness. The writer adds that they have been told fear is a rush of energy that can move things to other levels, “not always desirable,” and that some presences feed on those fears “like an addiction.” The letter closes with [quote withheld] and the sign-off transcribed as [quote withheld] No specific incident, date, room, or named witness is given. The host then moves to the next caller, who identifies herself as “ruthie from renton” and tells an unrelated story.
Reported events, in order
- 0:02
The letter opens with the statement that the writer lives in a haunted house and would find it tough to live anywhere else.
- 0:07
The writer says they do not bother the presences and the presences do not bother them, comparing the arrangement to having roommates.
- 0:11
The writer says the worst part is that the presences frighten anyone meeting them for the first time, which the writer calls “kind of laughable.”
- 0:18
The writer says people can be told about the presences but only have something to say once they meet them face-to-face, and that they prefer to let visitors form their own versions of the story.
- 0:40
The writer states that cold spots are presences, which they understand draw heat, light, and EMF to create themselves, producing the coldness.
- 0:56
The writer relays that they have been told fear is a rush of energy that can move things to other levels, and that some presences feed on fear “like an addiction.”
- 1:04
The letter closes by inviting the reader to [quote withheld] with the sign-off transcribed as [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).
- observation· 0:02
The letter writer says they live in a haunted house.
- interpretation· 0:09
The writer says they and the presences leave each other alone, describing them as like roommates.
- observation· 0:11
The writer says the presences badly frighten people who meet them for the first time.
- observation· 0:18
The writer says people only have something to say about the presences after meeting them face-to-face.
- interpretation· 0:40
The writer asserts that cold spots are presences.
- interpretation· 0:42
The writer says the presences draw heat, light, and EMF to create themselves, and that this drawing produces coldness.
- hearsay· 0:56
The writer relays a secondhand notion that fear is a rush of energy that can move things to other levels, not always for the better.
- interpretation· 1:04
The writer says some presences feed on fear like an addiction, taking more and more.
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 letter is presented as the writer's own home and is consistent and calm, but it contains no dated or specific incident and only one vague physical effect, so common ordinary explanations fit easily. Given its brevity and generality, it sits at the level of a short firsthand fragment.
Evidence for and against
- The writer claims to live in the house: [quote withheld]
- The letter is consistent and does not escalate into specific harm or dramatic events.
- The writer hedges the theory ([quote withheld] “I've been told”) rather than asserting everything flatly.
- No date, room, sequence, named witness, or specific incident is given anywhere in the letter.
- The single physical detail ([quote withheld]) is a general assertion rather than something the writer describes seeing, and drafts or uneven heating would fit it.
- The writer states they tell people about the presences beforehand, so visitors' reactions could involve expectation.
- The letter is read by the host, so the writer's own wording passes through the host's reading and the automatic transcription.
- Several lines in this part of the broadcast are marked as low-confidence in the automatic transcript.
- The sign-off [quote withheld] is read as the writer's name and location. This is not stated outright.
- 0:02
- 0:40
- 0:18
What the model inferred (not said on air): The editor treats the letter as a resident's own claim (firsthand but entirely without detail about any incident). The specificity rating is low because the text supplies no when, where, or what beyond the sign-off city.
Nothing in this part of the broadcast can be checked independently. There is no examined document, recording, or photograph, and no witness on air. The only items that could be checked are an unverified first name and city at the sign-off. This is the writer's word only.
Evidence for and against
- A name and city appear in the sign-off as transcribed: [quote withheld]
- No physical evidence is claimed to exist or is examined on air.
- No second witness speaks on air about this story. The host simply reads the letter.
- No incident, date, or location within the house is given that could be checked.
- Whether [quote withheld] is the letter's sign-off or a host transition is not clearly marked in the transcript.
- No outside check was done.
- 1:04
- 0:02
What the model inferred (not said on air): The name and city are the only details that could in principle be checked, which puts the score at the low end of a score of 0 to 10 rather than at zero.
The letter is mostly matter-of-fact and even friendly about the presences, which lowers the score. Two things raise mild unease: visitors being badly frightened on first meeting them, and presences said to feed on fear “like an addiction.” No threat to the writer, no physical contact, and no ending are reported.
Evidence for and against
- The presences [quote withheld]
- Some presences [quote withheld]
- The situation is left unresolved, with the writer still living among the presences.
- The writer describes the arrangement as harmless for the writer: [quote withheld]
- The writer frames the situation as [quote withheld] and calls the frightening of visitors “kind of laughable.”
- No incident is described, so how much visitors are disturbed can't be judged.
- 0:11
- 0:09
- 1:04
What the model inferred (not said on air): The editor treated the “feeding on fear” remark as the most unsettling element, weighing it against the deliberately casual tone of the rest of the letter.
A haunted house with cold spots is stock material, and the letter contains none of the concrete incidents that would make it distinctive. Its somewhat unusual elements are the framing of the presences as tolerated roommates and the stated energy theory of cold spots and feeding on fear.
Evidence for and against
- The line [quote withheld] treats the haunting as a domestic routine.
- The stated mechanism, presences drawing heat, light, and EMF and fear as a source of energy, is a specific if not unique theory.
- The basic subject, a haunted house and cold spots, is among the most common in ghost stories.
- No unusual strange event, description of a presence, or incident is provided.
- Originality compared with the rest of the archive can't be judged from a single part of a broadcast in this pilot.
- 0:09
- 0:42
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score reflects a familiar setup (haunted house, cold spots) with one modestly unusual element (the roommate framing and energy theory). The published score would be adjusted by comparison with the rest of the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.50 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: Text of a letter read aloud by the host, as automatically transcribed; No witness speaks on air about this story; No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is described or examined. The originality score blends the model's score (35) 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 reported coldness could have ordinary sources, such as drafts, poor insulation, or uneven heating in an old home, which the writer reads as the work of presences. · The only physical effect named in the letter is cold ([quote withheld]), with no other detail of the senses and no incident described.
- Visitors' reactions could be shaped by what they expect, since the writer says they tell people about the presences before they meet them. · The writer states that [quote withheld] before they [quote withheld]
- The letter may be a stylized piece written for a late-night paranormal radio show rather than a description of separate events, since it contains general assertions and no dated or located incident. · The text offers no date, room, sequence, or named witness, and closes with [quote withheld] as a rhetorical flourish.
What stands out
The letter is unusual in treating a haunting as a settled home life rather than a series of frightening incidents. The writer reports no specific event and describes the presences as roommates whose only drawback is frightening visitors. It is also almost entirely a stated theory (cold spots, energy draw, fear as food) rather than a story of experiences.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.