Two gray-skinned figures in a hospital corridor thrift store
A caller from Corpus Christi, Texas, tells Art Bell about shopping with their mother at a thrift store inside a hospital. The caller says they heard a deep voice ask [quote withheld] and then saw two men in white gowns with gray-toned skin. They say the taller one looked into their eyes and communicated a threat. They say their mother told them to make the sign of the cross and warned them that being upset made them vulnerable to evil spirits. The caller says they did calm down. The caller closes by generalizing that “bad spirits” can reach people who are negative and vulnerable.
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 1:09:55). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who gives their location as [quote withheld] says they have several ghost stories and offers “the best.” The caller reports that on one occasion they and their husband “had a disagreement,” that he had been [quote withheld] and that the caller “was very upset.” The caller's mother suggested the caller cool down and proposed they go to [quote withheld] The caller says they were walking down the hospital corridor, with the usual overhead pages for doctors drifting past, while the caller insisted to their mother that nothing would change their mind. At that point, the caller says, [quote withheld] About two feet later, the caller says, the caller and their mother looked at each other and turned around together. The caller describes seeing a tall, almost Frankenstein-statured man and a short man, both wearing white gowns, with gray-toned skin. The caller says the tall one turned [quote withheld] looked directly into their eyes, and lifted his head slightly. They read this as conveying something like [quote withheld] Then, the caller says, he turned and walked off with the shorter man. The caller says their skin looked gray [quote withheld] Their mother, the caller says, told them to [quote withheld] which they both did. The caller says their mother also told them that when you are that upset [quote withheld] Art Bell jokes that the mother's second speech must have worked. The caller says, [quote withheld] The caller closes by saying there are bad spirits out there, and that when a person is negative and vulnerable [quote withheld] without something more powerful, such as prayer.
Reported events, in order
- 0:17
The caller says they and their husband had a disagreement and that they were very upset.
- 0:26
The caller's mother tells them they need to cool down and suggests going to a thrift store located in a hospital.
- 0:49
The caller and their mother walk down the hospital corridor. They describe routine overhead pages for doctors.
- 1:18
A voice passing by asks, in a deep voice, [quote withheld]
- 1:36
About two feet later, the caller and their mother look at each other and turn around together.
- 1:43
The caller reports seeing a tall, almost Frankenstein-statured man and a short man, both in white gowns with gray-toned skin.
- 1:55
The tall man turns in a Frankenstein-like stance, looks directly into the caller's eyes, and lifts his head. They read this as a message that he will “get” them because they are vulnerable.
- 2:21
The two figures walk off together. The caller describes their skin as gray [quote withheld]
- 2:37
The caller's mother tells them to make the sign of the cross, and both do so.
- 2:40
The caller's mother says that when you are that upset with someone, the evil spirit knows you are vulnerable.
- 3:09
The caller says they did calm down. They say there are bad spirits that can reach people who are negative and vulnerable.
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 reports seeing two men in white gowns with gray-toned skin in the hospital corridor.
- observation· 1:27
The caller reports hearing a passing voice ask a question about someone named Ben.
- interpretation· 2:15
The caller reports that the tall figure turned, looked into their eyes, and lifted his head. They read this as a threat aimed at them because they were vulnerable.
- interpretation· 2:28
The caller says the figures' skin looked as though they had been dead for years.
- hearsay· 2:40
The caller's mother told them that when they were that upset, the evil spirit knew they were vulnerable.
- interpretation· 3:11
The caller says that there are bad spirits and that they can reach people who are negative and vulnerable unless one has something more powerful, such as prayer.
- host statement· 2:58
Art Bell remarks that the mother's second speech must have worked.
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 stated location and a described sequence, but no date or hospital name. In a hospital setting, people in white gowns and a passing voice have easy ordinary explanations. The score is the sum of five parts: source proximity 21, specificity 10, internal consistency 13, alternative explanations 6, and calibration 7.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand witness: [quote withheld]
- A concrete detail that could in principle be checked: a thrift store inside a hospital in a named city. The caller gives their location as [quote withheld] The caller also describes [quote withheld]
- An ordered sequence with sensory detail: the question, the turn, the figures, the gaze, and the departure
- No date, no hospital name, and no names for the figures or the mother
- The figures are dressed as hospital patients, and the setting is a working hospital, where such figures are ordinary ([quote withheld])
- The threat is a silent, inferred message: [quote withheld]
- The passage describing the tall man's message is choppy and broken into short lines, and the automatic transcript flags part of it, later in the call, as uncertain
- The identity of “Ben” is never explained in the story
- 0:05
- 0:32
- 1:43
What the model inferred (not said on air): The weight given to each of the five parts is my editorial judgment. The point that hospital gowns and corridor traffic fit the reported figures is an inference from the setting the caller describes.
Only the caller's own word exists, plus a second witness (their mother) who is claimed but does not speak on air. No photograph, recording, or document is mentioned. The only checkable detail is a city name.
Evidence for and against
- A claimed second witness: [quote withheld]
- A stated city, which could in principle be checked
- No documents, recording, or physical trace is claimed at any point
- The only second witness is reported, not heard, and no one confirms the story on air
- Nothing in the story shows whether any hospital, date, or record could be identified
- 1:36
- 2:37
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placing this in the 11–25 range follows the scoring guide's “other witnesses claimed” rule. It reflects the scoring guide, not a judgment about whether the story is true.
There is an explicit threat aimed at the caller ([quote withheld]), figures with skin the caller likens to the long dead, and a religious, protective response. But there is no physical contact, no bedroom or child element, and the encounter ends with the figures simply walking away.
Evidence for and against
- A communicated threat, read as targeting the caller's vulnerability
- Gray, deathlike skin described at close range
- A fear response and protective gesture: [quote withheld]
- No physical contact, chase, injury, or later activity is reported
- The host defuses the moment with a joke, and the caller says they calmed down
- The setting is a bright, ordinary hospital corridor with public-address paging
- Whether the caller or the caller's mother was frightened at the time comes across only indirectly
- 2:15
- 2:37
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score is my judgment of how unsettling the story is for a listener. It is not a claim about what happened.
The core is a familiar frame: figures in an institutional corridor with uncanny skin. But the combination of a thrift store inside a hospital, a cryptic question about “Ben” from an unseen passerby, and the Frankenstein-like gait and stance gives it a distinctive shape. The score is provisional, because comparison with the rest of the archive is not yet meaningful at the pilot stage.
Evidence for and against
- Unusual setting for the genre: a thrift store inside a hospital ([quote withheld])
- Distinctive unexplained detail: an unseen voice asking [quote withheld]
- Repeated Frankenstein comparison in stature, stance, and turn
- Gray-skinned, gown-wearing figures and a protective sign of the cross are common ghost-story furniture
- A hospital is a frequent site for such stories
- Originality is labeled provisional. Comparison with the rest of the archive is not meaningful with few stories
- 1:27
- 1:55
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score comes from the scoring guide's rule for a [quote withheld] The measure of how new the story is compared with the rest of the archive does not yet tell us much.
Scoring confidence 0.55 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's firsthand story, told by phone; A claimed second witness (their mother) who does not speak on air; No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is mentioned. The originality score blends the model's score (57) 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 figures in white gowns could have been hospital patients, staff, or visitors. The caller says the thrift store was inside a hospital, and the caller notes the routine hospital activity in the corridor. · In the caller's words: [quote withheld] [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- The question about “Ben” may have come from an ordinary passerby in the corridor, since the caller says it was [quote withheld] and the caller did not at first pay attention to it. · In the caller's words: [quote withheld]
- The impression of a look or message from the tall figure was silent and inferred. The caller describes no audible speech at that point, so the “message” may be the caller's reading of a glance and posture. · In the caller's words: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
What stands out
The setting is unusual for a ghost story: a thrift store inside a working hospital. There, the paging of doctors and figures in white gowns are ordinary features of the place, and the figures the caller reports are both dressed exactly like patients. The cryptic overheard question about “Ben,” attributed to no visible speaker, is also a distinctive element.
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Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.