Weight, spinning sensation, and a barking dog behind a closed door
A male caller, who says he is in Denver and listening off WOAI in San Antonio, tells Art Bell about a single nighttime episode in his bedroom. He reports waking to an ominous presence, a weight on his body, and a feeling of spinning on the bed. He says reciting the Lord's Prayer had no effect. He says he then made a sign of the cross, that his black Labrador, Angel, barked behind a closed door, and that he felt the presence leave. He ends by saying he imagines whatever it was flew over the geese that then began squawking a quarter of a mile away.
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 1:08:09). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
A male caller says he is in Denver and is listening off WOAI in San Antonio. He tells Art Bell he is unsure how scary the story is, “but it's true.” He says that one night he was sleeping and woke up feeling a presence that was not divine, which felt ominous and frightened him. He says he felt a weight on top of his body and began to feel himself spinning on the bed. He says he started reciting the Lord's Prayer, repeating it in his head, but it had no effect. When the host asks, he confirms he kept repeating it. He then says he found himself making a large sign of the cross with his arm. He says his bedroom door was closed and he made no noise, yet his black Labrador, whom he describes as “passed on” and names as Angel, began barking her head off. He says he then felt that whatever it was had left, and that geese a quarter of a mile from the house started squawking. He says he imagines the presence flew over them. The host closes the call by noting it is another story involving a dog.
Reported events, in order
- 0:23
The caller says that one night, while sleeping, he woke up.
- 0:28
He says he felt a presence that was not divine and felt ominous, and that it frightened him.
- 0:38
He says he felt a weight on top of his body and began to feel himself spinning on the bed.
- 0:51
He says he started reciting the Lord's Prayer over and over in his head, with no effect.
- 1:18
He says he then made a large sign of the cross with his arm.
- 1:26
He says his bedroom door was closed and he made no noise, yet his black Labrador, Angel, began barking loudly.
- 1:43
He says he felt that whatever it was had left at that point.
- 1:43
He says geese about a quarter of a mile from the house then began squawking loudly.
- 1:55
He says he imagines the presence flew over the geese. The story ends there.
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· 0:28
The caller says he felt a presence in the room that was not a divine presence, and that it felt ominous and frightened him.
- observation· 0:38
The caller says he felt a weight on top of his body.
- observation· 0:38
The caller says he began to feel himself spinning on the bed.
- observation· 0:51
The caller says reciting the Lord's Prayer had no effect on the experience.
- observation· 1:18
The caller says he made a large sign of the cross with his arm.
- observation· 1:26
The caller says his bedroom door was closed, and that a black Labrador named Angel (described as “passed on”) began barking loudly without his making any noise.
- interpretation· 1:43
The caller says he felt that whatever it was had left at that point.
- observation· 1:43
The caller says geese about a quarter of a mile from the house began squawking loudly right afterward.
- interpretation· 1:55
The caller says he imagines that whatever the presence was flew over the geese.
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.
A clear, consistent firsthand story with some concrete detail. But an ordinary, sleep-related explanation fits easily, and no one else backs it up. It sits near the scoring guide's example of a [quote withheld]
Evidence for and against
- A firsthand story from the person who says he experienced it: [quote withheld]
- Concrete details in order: weight, spinning, repeated prayer, sign of the cross, closed door, named dog, and the distance to the geese.
- The caller separates what he sensed from what he concludes. Of the geese, he says only, [quote withheld]
- The setting (waking from sleep in bed) makes a sleep-related explanation, such as something sensed while falling asleep, fit easily.
- The prayer and the sign of the cross are described with no stated mechanism beyond the caller's own action.
- The animal reactions could plausibly follow an ordinary, unidentified trigger.
- No date, year, age, or length of time is given.
- The phrase “who's passed on” is unclear in the transcript, so it is not clear whether the dog was alive or dead at the time.
- 0:23
- 0:38
- 1:55
What the model inferred (not said on air): The consistency and order of events are read from the transcript. The lower score for an easy ordinary explanation follows the scoring guide and is not a judgment of the caller's honesty.
The story rests entirely on the caller's word. No checkable specifics, records, or examined objects are present, which puts it at the lowest level of the scoring guide.
Evidence for and against
- Only the caller's own word is present.
- A reacting animal (the dog, Angel) is claimed, but it cannot back up the story in any checkable way.
- No photograph, recording, document, or mark is claimed or examined.
- No second human witness speaks on air.
- No names, dates, or addresses are given that could in principle be checked.
- 1:36
What the model inferred (not said on air): This applies the scoring guide to the lack of any documentation. The claimed animal reaction is not treated as independent backup.
The image of waking paralyzed under a weight, with a prayer that does not work, is truly unsettling. But the episode is short, involves no visible figure, and ends without escalation, which keeps it in the middle range.
Evidence for and against
- Intrusion into the safe space of a bed and bedroom at night.
- Physical sensation of weight on the body while the caller is frightened.
- Reciting a prayer is said to have no effect, removing a hoped-for defense.
- The story is brief and ends calmly, with the caller guessing about the geese.
- No injury, no visible figure, and no sustained escalation beyond one night.
- No description is given of the presence itself, so it is unclear how vivid or threatening it was to the caller.
- 0:36
- 0:51
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a judgment about how the story strikes a listener, not a claim about events.
At its core this is a familiar story of pressure in the bedroom. But the spinning feeling, the named dog behind a closed door, and the geese reacting afterward give it one or two distinctive touches. That places it at the level of a familiar setup with distinctive details.
Evidence for and against
- The caller's specific added detail of a spinning feeling on the bed.
- The detail of a black Labrador named Angel barking behind a closed door, followed by geese reacting a quarter of a mile away.
- The caller's own tentative guess that the presence flew over the geese.
- The combination of sleep, weight on the body, and paralysis is a common ghost-story element.
- Using a prayer and the sign of the cross as a defense is a familiar setup.
- Originality compared with the rest of the archive cannot be worked out from a single pilot transcript.
- 0:38
- 1:43
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a model-based estimate of originality. The score compared with the rest of the archive depends on how rare the story's elements are and how similar it is to other stories, and it is provisional.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's firsthand story only; No documentation, recording, photograph, or physical trace claimed or examined; A reacting animal (a dog named Angel) is claimed, but it is not a second human witness and does not speak on air. The originality score blends the model's score (48) 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.
- A sleep-related experience (something felt while falling asleep or waking up, or sleep paralysis): the weight, spinning, and fear come from a state of waking from sleep rather than from something outside him. · The caller describes waking from sleep, a feeling of a weight on his body, and a spinning feeling while in bed. This is the classic group of sensations felt while falling asleep or waking up.
- The dog and the geese reacted to an ordinary disturbance (a noise, an animal, or something else) that the caller could not identify from inside the closed bedroom. · The dog was behind a closed door and reportedly began barking. The geese were a quarter of a mile away.
What stands out
The story combines a feeling of pressure during sleep with two claimed animal reactions in a row: the dog barking behind a closed door, then geese a quarter of a mile away. It ends with the caller's own tentative guess that the presence flew over the geese.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.