A black mass invitation, a stalled dorm elevator, and a body in the college lake
A caller who gives their location as Gainesville, Georgia (WDUN), tells of their freshman year at a small southern college. A man in the student center claimed to be a black witch and invited their group to a black mass. The caller did not go. That night a fire alarm sent them outside, where they saw their returning friends looking [quote withheld] before the dorm elevator they boarded stalled between floors. The caller says they later learned that one man had disappeared and that his body was found in the college lake about three weeks afterward, with his throat cut. The host cuts the caller off for time.
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 1995.mp3”, starting at 2:05:15). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller says the situation [quote withheld] but they would skip that part and tell what happened “further on down.” They say that during their freshman year at a small southern college they met a man in the student center who talked about witchcraft and [quote withheld] They say they were curious, were not sure they believed him, and thought he might be taking advantage of gullible freshmen. Three others were often with them when they talked to him. They say he asked them to go with him that night to a black mass. Their best friend and roommate declined because they had a test the next day and needed sleep. The caller says they decided to go, then backed out at the last minute. Dorms were locked at 11 p.m., women were not allowed out, and they feared expulsion. They say they felt bad, as though they were being punished for something they had not done. During the night, they say, possibly around 5 a.m., the fire alarm went off in the old building, which they say happened from time to time. They wondered whether their friends had arranged for it to cover their return. They put on a raincoat and went out the front door. They saw their friends coming back in, and just before the elevator doors closed they saw them facing forward, [quote withheld] like shock victims in disaster films. They ran up the stairs to the third floor and, halfway up, heard the elevator alarm. It had stalled between floors. They say they learned later that about fifteen people had packed into the small elevator, nearly double its capacity of roughly 800 pounds, and that it took about three hours to get everyone out. They say their two friends were in shock and sedated, that their parents collected them that day, and that they never saw them again. They also say they later learned another man had disappeared that night, that the man from the student center told the caller he would turn up soon, and that about three weeks later his body was found in the college lake with his throat cut and apparently drained of blood.
Reported events, in order
- 0:13
The caller says they are calling from Gainesville, Georgia, on WDUN, and plugs the satellite feed.
- 0:47
They say the situation started with a Ouija board, but they will skip that part and tell what happened later on.
- 1:01
They say that in their freshman year at a small southern college a man in the student center talked about witchcraft and claimed to be a black witch.
- 1:24
They say he asked them to go with him that night to a black mass.
- 1:34
Their best friend and roommate said they would not go because they had a test the next day and needed sleep.
- 2:08
The caller says they decided to go but backed out at the last minute, fearing expulsion for being out of the dorm after 11 p.m.
- 2:36
During the night, possibly around 5 a.m., the fire alarm went off in the old building, which the caller says happened from time to time.
- 2:56
They put on a raincoat and went out the front door, watching for their friends' return.
- 3:16
They saw their friends coming back in and, just before the elevator doors closed, saw them facing forward and [quote withheld]
- 3:44
They ran up the stairs and, halfway up, heard the elevator alarm. It had stalled between floors.
- 3:53
They say they learned later that about fifteen people had packed into the small elevator, almost double its capacity of roughly 800 pounds.
- 4:25
They say it took about three hours to get everyone out, that their two friends were in shock and sedated, that their parents took them home that day, and that they never saw them again.
- 4:42
They say they later learned another man had disappeared that night, and that the man from the student center told the caller he would turn up soon.
- 4:54
They say that about three weeks later his body was found in the college lake, his throat cut and his body apparently drained of blood.
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· 1:15
The caller says a man they met in the student center claimed to be a black witch and spoke about witchcraft.
- observation· 1:24
The caller says the man invited their group to a black mass that night.
- observation· 0:47
The caller says the whole situation began with a Ouija board, a part they chose not to tell.
- observation· 2:36
The caller says the dorm fire alarm went off during the night, which they say happened from time to time in the old building.
- observation· 3:16
The caller says they saw their returning friends on the elevator, facing forward, [quote withheld]
- observation· 3:44
The caller says the elevator their friends boarded stalled between floors after they heard its alarm.
- hearsay· 3:53
The caller says they were told afterward that about fifteen people had packed into the elevator, nearly double its capacity.
- observation· 4:28
The caller says their two friends were in shock and sedated, and were taken home by their parents.
- hearsay· 4:37
The caller says they later learned a man had disappeared that night.
- hearsay· 4:42
The caller says the man from the student center told the caller the missing man would turn up soon.
- hearsay· 4:42
The caller says they heard about three weeks later that the missing man's body had been found in the college lake.
- hearsay· 4:54
The caller says the body's throat had been cut and it looked as if it had been drained of blood.
- host statement· 5:04
The host remarks that many bad stories involve elevators.
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 mostly firsthand story of a specific night (the fire alarm, the elevator stall, seeing their friends) with a consistent sequence. But the most dramatic part, the death, is secondhand and entirely unverified, and ordinary explanations fit the mechanical events well.
Evidence for and against
- The caller witnessed the dorm events directly: the alarm, seeing their friends, the elevator stalling.
- Concrete sequence and details: the 11 p.m. dorm lock, an alarm near 5 a.m., about fifteen people, a capacity of roughly 800 pounds, and about three hours to get everyone out.
- Consistent: the caller answers the host's questions directly and does not change details.
- The main dramatic claims (the black mass, the disappearance, the body in the lake) are things the caller heard about later, not saw.
- No names, college name, or dates are given.
- The caller supplies ordinary explanations for the alarm and the elevator overload.
- Some lines in the transcript are unclear about who is speaking.
- The labels showing who is speaking appear to be wrong around the “Where are you?” exchange.
- It is not explained whether [quote withheld] refers to a separate earlier event.
- The host cuts the call off before any follow-up questions.
- 3:16
- 3:53
- 4:42
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score reflects that the story mixes direct experience with reported hearsay. The component weights lean on the firsthand part, while the unverified report of a death keeps the score near the middle of the range.
There is only the caller's own word, plus specifics that could in principle be checked (a college lake, a death, a radio station) but were not. No names or records are given.
Evidence for and against
- Some specifics that might be checkable are mentioned: a small southern college, a student center, a college lake, a fire alarm, an elevator.
- The caller describes claimed witnesses (two friends, about fifteen people in the elevator).
- No second witness speaks on air.
- No documents, photographs, recordings, or records are produced or described.
- No names, dates, or institution names are given.
- No outside check was made.
- The college, the people, and the lake are all unnamed, so any check would be impractical from the transcript alone.
- The host cuts the call short before further detail is given.
- 1:01
- 4:28
What the model inferred (not said on air): Claimed witnesses who do not speak on air count only as the caller's word, so this sits in the low range, with a few specifics that could in principle be checked.
The story builds from a black mass invitation to friends returning in visible shock, and to a stalled elevator. It ends with a reported throat-cutting and a drained body in a campus lake, a grim, unresolved ending that the host himself calls gory.
Evidence for and against
- A “black mass” and a self-described black witch frame the evening.
- Friends return looking like shock victims.
- The elevator stalls between floors and takes three hours to clear.
- The story ends with a body in the lake, throat cut and apparently drained of blood.
- The caller never learns what happened and never sees the friends again.
- The caller reports no ghost, presence, or contact.
- The caller supplies ordinary explanations for the alarm and the overloaded elevator, which somewhat defuses the eerie parts.
- The events are spread out in time and told matter-of-factly.
- The cause of the friends' condition and of the death is never stated.
- The call is cut off before any resolution or explanation.
- 3:50
- 4:54
What the model inferred (not said on air): The creepiness score is driven by the abrupt, violent ending and the unexplained shock of the returning friends, not by any claim of the supernatural.
The story uses familiar elements (a Ouija board, a black mass, a college dorm, a stalling elevator). But the way a claimed ritual outing is bracketed by an ordinary mechanical failure and a later killing is a fairly distinctive combination.
Evidence for and against
- A black mass invitation combined with an overloaded elevator stalling between floors.
- A death reported as a body in the campus lake with a cut throat.
- The caller says outright that they skipped the Ouija board part.
- Ouija boards, black masses, and campus legends are common motifs.
- The caller reports nothing strange that happened to them.
- The core structure is a night of events followed by later news.
- The skipped Ouija board part may hold the most distinctive material, and it is not told.
- 0:47
- 1:24
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a provisional judgment from the content. The comparison with the rest of the archive would depend on how rare the motifs are across the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's own firsthand word about the night in the dorm (the fire alarm, seeing their friends, the stalled elevator); The caller's secondhand report of the black mass invitation, the disappearance, and the body found in the college lake; No documents, photographs, recordings, or official records; No second witness speaking on air. The originality score blends the model's score (50) 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 fire alarm was a routine false alarm rather than anything connected to the evening's events. · The caller says of the building, [quote withheld] and that students kept raincoats and shoes handy for that reason.
- The elevator stalled because it was overloaded, an ordinary cause the caller supplies. · The caller says [quote withheld] and that the capacity was about 800 pounds, “almost double.”
- The friends' shocked, sedated state could be explained by hours trapped in a stalled elevator with its alarm sounding. · The caller says it [quote withheld] before describing their condition.
What stands out
The story links a claimed black mass to events that seem ordinary and mechanical (a fire alarm that went off from time to time, an overloaded elevator stalling). The caller never claims to have seen or been touched by anything strange themself. The grim outcome, a body found in the college lake with a cut throat and apparent loss of blood, is secondhand, and the caller leaves it entirely unexplained.
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