Refusing a cave after a strange sound; a body reported found there
A caller identified on air as “[name withheld],” from Seattle, tells Art Bell that as a fifth-grader around 1966 they refused to enter the Oregon Wind Caves with their stepfather, [name withheld], a spelunker. At a wind hole they heard a sound that the caller says did not sound human or like wind. The caller says they took the sound as a sign not to go in. A scout troop entered instead, and the caller's mother later told them a radio report described a woman's body found in that cave the same afternoon. Asked about a photograph taken there, the caller says it showed only [name withheld] smiling up at the caller from the hole.
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 2:54:27). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, addressed by the host as “[name withheld]” from Seattle, says the story took place when they were in the fifth grade, around 1966. The caller says their stepfather, [name withheld], was a spelunker who took them around investigating caves one weekend. After a visit to what the caller calls the Oregon Caves, they reached the Oregon Wind Caves, where the caller says some scouts were getting ready to go in. The caller says they told [name withheld] they did not want to enter and could not do it. [name withheld] was angry because he wanted to reach the back of the cave, which he estimated would take about an hour and a half. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, and [name withheld] figured they could get in and out before dark. The caller says they refused again, saying it was too scary for them. [name withheld] then asked the caller to take a picture of him from the top of a hole where the wind blows up, which the caller says is how the caves got their name. The caller says they took the picture of [name withheld] waving and heard a sound that did not sound human and did not sound like wind. The caller says it was too weird for their fifth-grader mind to comprehend, and they thought it was a sign not to go in. The scouts went in, and the two of them left. The next day, the caller says, their mother came out while they were raking leaves and asked what had happened the day before. She said they had heard a radio report about a woman who was killed and left in the cave. The labels showing who is speaking attribute the line [quote withheld] to the host, but it reads as the caller's. The caller says [name withheld] later told them it was nothing and to forget about it. The caller's mother told them a woman had been killed in Salem, Oregon, and her body taken to the back of the wind caves. A scouting troop found it when it entered around three in the afternoon the same Sunday, just after they left. Asked about the photograph, the caller says it showed only [name withheld] smiling up at the caller from the hole.
Reported events, in order
- 0:07
The caller says the story happened when they were in fifth grade, around 1966.
- 0:13
The caller says their stepfather, [name withheld], a spelunker, took them to investigate caves one weekend.
- 0:44
They reach the Oregon Wind Caves.
- 0:52
The caller says scouts were at the cave entrance getting ready to go in.
- 1:02
The caller says they told [name withheld] they did not want to go into this cave. [name withheld] became angry because he wanted to reach the back of it.
- 1:19
The caller says it was about three o'clock in the afternoon and [name withheld] thought they could get in and out before dark.
- 1:33
[name withheld] asks the caller to photograph him from the top of a hole where the wind blows up, which the caller says gives the caves their name.
- 1:43
The caller says they took the picture of [name withheld] waving and heard a sound that did not sound human or like wind.
- 1:58
The caller says they thought the sound was a sign not to go in, and they told [name withheld] something was wrong and they could not go in.
- 2:12
The caller says the scouts went in and the caller and [name withheld] left.
- 2:22
The next day the caller's mother asks the caller what happened the day before, saying they heard a radio report about a woman killed and left in the cave.
- 2:53
The caller says they “went dead inside” and that [name withheld] later told them it was nothing and to forget about it.
- 3:04
The caller says their mother told them a woman was killed in Salem, Oregon, and her body taken to the back of the wind caves. A scouting troop found it when it entered around three in the afternoon that Sunday, just after they left.
- 3:32
Asked about the photograph, the caller says it showed only [name withheld] smiling up at the caller from the hole.
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· 1:43
The caller says they heard a sound at the wind hole while photographing [name withheld].
- observation· 1:48
The caller says the sound did not sound human and did not sound like wind.
- interpretation· 1:58
The caller took the sound as a sign not to go into the cave.
- observation· 2:10
The caller told [name withheld] they could not go in and that something was wrong.
- hearsay· 2:32
The caller says their mother told them they had heard a radio report about a woman who was killed and left in the cave.
- hearsay· 3:04
The caller says a woman was killed in Salem, Oregon, and her body taken to the back of the wind caves.
- hearsay· 3:10
The caller says the body was found by a scouting troop that entered the caves around three o'clock the same afternoon, just after they left.
- observation· 3:32
The caller says the photograph they took showed only [name withheld] smiling up from the hole.
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 firsthand story with a concrete place, year, time of day, and named people, told in order. But the strange thing reported is a single unrecorded sound in a cave named for its wind. The link to the body rests entirely on timing and on a radio report relayed secondhand by the mother.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story: the caller places themselves at the scene.
- Concrete specifics: fifth grade around 1966, Oregon Wind Caves, about three in the afternoon, stepfather named [name withheld].
- A coherent sequence from refusal to entry, departure, and the next day's news.
- The caller separates what they perceived from what they thought it meant. The caller describes the sound, then separately says they thought it was a sign.
- The sound itself is unrecorded and described only by what it was not ([quote withheld] [quote withheld]).
- A cave named for wind blowing up a hole offers an obvious source for a strange noise.
- The body detail is secondhand, relayed through the mother's account of a radio report.
- The stepfather's response is reported as [quote withheld] leaving the connection unexamined.
- “Oregon Wind Caves” is an unclear place name and is not verified.
- Two lines of the automatic transcript carry labels that do not match who appears to be speaking.
- 0:07
- 1:48
- 3:10
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component scores (source proximity high, specificity moderate, internal consistency good, alternative explanations weak, calibration moderate) are my judgment. The quoted content is the caller's.
There is nothing beyond the caller's word: no recording, no examined photograph of anything strange, and a claimed but silent witness.
Evidence for and against
- Specifics that could be checked in principle are given but not checked: a named cave system, Salem, Oregon, and a year.
- A photograph is mentioned, but the caller describes its contents as entirely ordinary.
- No physical evidence examined on air.
- No second witness speaks on air.
- The discovery detail is secondhand, through the mother's radio report.
- Whether the photograph still exists or was ever shown to the host is unstated.
- 3:32
- 2:32
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score falls in the 11 to 25 range (checkable specifics given but not checked) because no documentation was actually examined.
A child's lasting dread at a cave mouth, an unidentifiable non-human sound, and the later report that a murdered woman's body was found in the same cave that afternoon give the story a real unsettling payoff. But there is no threat to the caller and no vivid horror.
Evidence for and against
- The caller says the memory is [quote withheld] and that they have never liked caves since.
- The sound is described as not human and not wind, beyond what the caller could comprehend.
- The discovery concerns a woman killed and left in the cave system.
- No direct threat, contact, or harm to the caller.
- The ending is matter-of-fact, with the photograph described as ordinary.
- The host reads greetings right afterward, which dissipates the tension.
- The sound is never described beyond what it was not, which limits how frightening a listener can picture it.
- 1:58
- 3:04
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a judgment about the story's effect on a listener, not about whether the events occurred.
The frame is familiar: a child refusing a site, a warning sign, and a later discovery. But the specific setup, an unidentified sound at a wind hole in a cave system tied only by timing to a body found that afternoon, is a distinctive combination rather than a stock ghost motif.
Evidence for and against
- The strange thing is a cave-wind sound, not a figure, footsteps, or a cold spot.
- The news arrives as a radio report relayed by the mother.
- The photograph detail is deliberately ordinary.
- The [quote withheld] structure is a common ghost-story frame.
- The host's stated interest in the film follows a familiar [quote withheld] beat.
- This is a provisional score based on content alone. It could not be compared with the rest of the archive.
- 1:38
- 1:58
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score is my judgment of how distinctive the story is against common motifs. It is not compared with the rest of the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's firsthand story about the sound, the refusal, and the photograph.; A secondhand account, relayed by the caller from their mother, about a radio report.; A claimed photograph, with contents described by the caller and not examined.. 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.
- Moving air in a cave named for its wind could produce a strange, non-human-sounding noise at the hole where wind blows up. · The caller says the spot was [quote withheld]
- The same-day timing between the caller's experience and the reported discovery of a body could be coincidence. The body was reportedly found by a separate scout troop entering after they left, and it was not connected to the sound. · [quote withheld]
- The caller told this story about twenty-eight years after the event, and the caller was a fifth-grader at the time. Details may have been compressed or reordered in memory. · The caller states the events occurred [quote withheld] and the caller was speaking on a 1994 broadcast.
What stands out
The strange thing here is not a figure or a classic haunting but an unrecorded sound, unlike anything human, heard at a wind hole. The caller ties it to a body reported found in the same cave system that afternoon only afterward, and only by timing. The stepfather's dismissive “forget about it” and the abrupt ending imposed by the host leave the connection unexamined.
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