Door slams and deadbolt locks out caller; bottles found in a circle in a shop
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], calling from Oregon, describes about eight years of what they call prankster activity in the antique store the caller and their husband bought and live above. They say that on their first day there, a slammed door and an engaged deadbolt locked them out on an upstairs porch. Later they found six Jim Beam decanter bottles arranged in a circle on the shop floor. They say they are not afraid and call the presences pranksters. The host jokes about the bottles and closes the call quickly.
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 2:38:53). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller gives their name as [name withheld] and says they are in Oregon. They tell the host they live in a haunted house and have for about eight years. They explain that the building is an antique store with the living quarters upstairs, and that they moved in before their husband to get things sorted out. On their first day, they say, they went out the back door onto a porch to shake out rugs, and the large door slammed shut behind them. It was getting dusk. The building has about 8,000 square feet and was empty apart from the caller, and the porch faces the river, so there were few neighbors. About twenty minutes later they saw someone next door and shouted for help. That person jumped the fence and came up through the downstairs door the caller had left open. According to the caller, the neighbor asked how they had gotten out, and had to open the deadbolt on that door to let them back in. The caller says this was the first of many experiences. The host asks why they are still there. They answer that the presences are only pranksters and that they are not afraid of them, and they agree with the host's description of a [quote withheld] As a second example, they describe going downstairs in the shop, where Jim Beam decanter bottles are sold as collectibles. One morning they found six of them arranged in a circle on the cement floor, about four feet from the shelf. They say such things happen all the time and that other people are present when they do. The host remarks on the oddity of a circle of liquor bottles. The caller jokes that the presences are young people who would not have ID cards, and the call ends.
Reported events, in order
- 0:31
[name withheld] explains the setting: the building is an antique store with the living quarters upstairs, and they moved in before their husband to get things straightened out.
- 0:56
On their first day there, while they were shaking out rugs on the back porch, the large door slammed behind them.
- 1:10
It was getting dusk, they had about 8,000 square feet to themselves, the porch faces the river, and they could not get back in.
- 1:20
About twenty minutes later they saw a neighbor and shouted for help. The neighbor jumped the fence and came in through the downstairs door the caller had left open.
- 1:47
The neighbor asked how the caller got out and had to open the deadbolt on the porch door to let them back in. The caller calls this [quote withheld]
- 1:57
The host asks why they are still living there. They answer that the presences are only pranksters and they are not afraid of them.
- 2:30
Second story: downstairs in the shop, one morning six Jim Beam decanter bottles were found in a circle on the cement floor, about four feet from the shelf.
- 2:41
They say such things happen all the time and that other people have been present when they happen. The host jokes about what a circle of booze bottles means, and the caller jokes that the presences are young people without ID cards.
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· 0:56
The back door of the upstairs living quarters slammed shut behind the caller while they were shaking out rugs on the porch.
- observation· 1:47
The caller was locked out by a deadbolt they say they had not thrown, and the neighbor had to open the deadbolt to let them back in.
- observation· 2:30
Six Jim Beam decanter bottles were found arranged in a circle on the cement floor of the shop, about four feet from the shelf they normally stood on.
- hearsay· 2:41
The caller says these kinds of events happen often and that other people have been present when they occurred.
- interpretation· 2:06
The caller thinks whatever is behind the events is mischievous, not threatening (“pranksters”), and says they are not afraid of them.
- interpretation· 2:51
The caller's joking remark that the presences are “young people” who would not have ID cards suggests youthful presences that are no longer living, but the caller never says outright that they are dead.
- host statement· 2:46
The host remarks on the oddity of a circle of liquor bottles as a sign of something strange.
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 that hangs together, with two concrete incidents in a consistent order. It is specific but thin: no names, dates, or locations can be checked, and plain, ordinary readings are available for both incidents. It lands near the [quote withheld] level, adjusted down because the ordinary explanations fit so easily.
Evidence for and against
- A firsthand account of two specific incidents the caller says they experienced.
- Concrete physical details: a large door, a deadbolt, about 8,000 square feet, a cement floor, and six bottles about four feet from the shelf.
- The first incident runs in a clear order and includes a second person, the neighbor, who opens the deadbolt.
- The details stay steady through the telling, and the caller does not contradict themselves in this part of the broadcast.
- No town, street, business name, date, or record that could be checked (“i’m in oregon”).
- The door episode has an easy ordinary reading, an exposed outside door facing the river, that the caller does not address.
- The bottles were in a public shop space where the caller says people are present.
- The story is brief and given mostly as an answer to the host's question, with little detail on the order of events.
- The “prankster” framing and the ID-card joke make the material light, not a report made with caution.
- The transcript does not make clear whether the deadbolt was already thrown when the caller stepped out, or whether they are certain it was not.
- The time frame is approximate (the caller says “about eight years”), and the events are dated only relative to the purchase.
- One line ([quote withheld]) is broken in the transcript, and it is unclear whose voice it is.
- 0:06
- 1:10
- 2:41
What the model inferred (not said on air): The point deductions for alternative explanations rest on my view that a slammed outside door and objects on a shop shelf can plausibly have ordinary causes. The caller offers no counter-argument to either.
This is essentially the caller's word, with claimed but absent witnesses and no specifics that could be checked. That puts it in the low range, where only claimed witnesses lift it above zero.
Evidence for and against
- The caller gives their firsthand word on two incidents.
- The caller says other people were present when events occurred ([quote withheld]), though none of them speaks.
- The neighbor who opened the deadbolt is described as present during the first event, though their story is not on air.
- No photograph, recording, document, mark, or physical trace is claimed.
- No names, dates, addresses, or business names that could be checked.
- No second witness speaks on air to back the caller up.
- The store is not identified, so the location cannot be verified.
- It is not stated whether the neighbor would describe the deadbolt the same way.
- The transcript is automatic, and some wording around the door episode is broken across short lines.
- 2:41
- 1:29
What the model inferred (not said on air): The claimed bystanders are treated as claims, not backing, since none of them speaks on air and no documents are examined.
The material has mild intrusion and uncanny images (locked out at dusk, objects arranged in a circle). But the caller consistently frames it as harmless mischief, and tells it as an amusing story, not a frightening one.
Evidence for and against
- Being shut out on an upper porch at dusk with no neighbors nearby is an unsettling picture.
- A deadbolt that the caller says they did not throw suggests something unseen at work.
- Objects rearranged into a deliberate circle on a shop floor make an eerie shape.
- The activity is described as going on for about eight years.
- The caller says outright that they are not afraid.
- The story is told with humor: “pranksters,” and the joke about spirits not having ID cards.
- No threat, harm, physical contact, or hostile presence is reported.
- Nothing builds toward a climax. The second story is offered as another light example.
- The host cuts the call short, so the fuller tone of the story may not come through.
- 2:06
- 2:12
What the model inferred (not said on air): Creepiness here is my judgment of the story's effect, not a claim about what happened or about how the caller feels beyond what they state.
This is a familiar [quote withheld] story with one truly distinctive image (the circle of whiskey decanter bottles) and an unusual joking reason for the presences. The pilot archive is small, so this reflects the model's estimate and is provisional.
Evidence for and against
- The specific image of six Jim Beam decanter collectibles arranged in a circle four feet from their shelf on a cement floor is a distinctive detail.
- The caller's joke that the presences are young people without ID cards is an unusual way to frame the events.
- A deadbolt locking the witness out, rather than a door simply opening or closing, is a slightly uncommon variant.
- A shop or old building with mischievous unseen activity is a familiar ghost-story setting.
- A door slamming and objects moving by themselves are stock poltergeist elements.
- The “harmless prankster spirit” characterization is a common device.
- Novelty compared with the rest of the archive is unstable in a pilot with few stories.
- 2:30
- 2:51
What the model inferred (not said on air): How distinctive it is reflects my comparison with ordinary ghost-story conventions. The correction for the rest of the archive is computed separately.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's own firsthand word (two stories told live on air); Claimed presence of other witnesses ([quote withheld]) who do not speak on air; No documentation, photograph, recording, or named location offered. The originality score blends the model's score (52) 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.
- Wind or a draft closed and latched an outside door on an exposed upper porch. · The caller describes an outside porch door facing the river, which they were standing next to while shaking out rugs. A slam, and even a bolt moving, fits wind, a draft, or a sprung latch on an exposed door.
- Living people with access to the shop arranged or moved the bottles. · The bottles were in the ground-floor shop, which the caller says is open to people ([quote withheld]). A customer, employee, or family member can rearrange objects on a shelf.
- The stories were shaped by retelling and by the prankster framing the caller uses. This is not a judgment about the caller's honesty. · The story was given live on a call-in show, and the caller's framing (“pranksters,” the joke about ID cards) is playful. The second story is told in response to the host's question about why the caller stays.
What stands out
The most distinctive part is not the haunting itself but the shape of the activity the caller describes: six whiskey decanter collectibles arranged in a deliberate circle on a shop floor. The caller treats this as a joke about young spirits without ID cards. The caller also stands out from most stories like this by saying outright that they are not afraid and have no plan to leave.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.