A child's voice and figure in a Las Vegas family home
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], from Las Vegas, tells Art Bell a [quote withheld] from when they were about 17 and living in their parents' newly bought house. They report a little boy's voice in the backyard asking for his grandpa, a child figure their mother saw on the stairs, their son's folded laundry found unfolded, and a small figure at the foot of their bed that disappeared. After their infant son died in November, they say, the boy appeared beside the bed asking “where's the baby.” A neighbor later told them a boy who had stayed with his grandparents had been killed by a car in the road. They describe the boy as friendly, eight or nine years old, and still looking for his grandfather.
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 1996.mp3”, starting at 25:59). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
Calling on what the host calls the first-time caller line, [quote withheld] says they have a true-life ghost story from when they were about 17, had a small son, and moved back into their parents' house in Las Vegas shortly after they bought it. They explicitly decline to give the address. They say their parents told them they heard voices, the voice of a little boy, always in the backyard, saying “where's my grandpa?” One night, [name withheld] says, their mother was coming downstairs to check on [name withheld] and their son and saw a little boy run across in front of the stairs. Their mother yelled for their father, who came down with a baseball bat and found nobody there. About three days later, [name withheld] put their son down for a nap and finished folding his laundry. They say that when they went in to put a load of laundry in their room, the folded clothes were unfolded. About a week after that, their son woke, and they looked up at the end of the bed. They took the figure standing there for their younger brother, who also lived in the house, and asked him to fetch a bottle. When they looked back down at their son and up again, the figure was gone. Their son died in November, they say. Back at their parents' house, asleep in bed, they woke and the little boy was standing looking at where their son usually slept. The baby slept with them. They told him their baby had died that day, and he answered that his grandpa had died too. That was the last time they saw him. A neighbor who had lived there since the neighborhood was built told them that a little boy had come to spend a summer with his grandparents and was hit by a car while playing in the road. [name withheld] describes him as very friendly, about eight or nine, and playing “pranks.” They say you would feel cold spots walking through the house. They hoped he would find his grandfather.
Reported events, in order
- 0:07
[name withheld] says they were about 17, with a small son, when they moved back into their parents' newly bought house in Las Vegas (address withheld).
- 0:24
[name withheld]'s parents reportedly hear the voice of a little boy in the backyard saying “where's my grandpa?”
- 0:34
[name withheld]'s mother, coming downstairs at night to check on [name withheld] and their son, sees a little boy run across in front of the stairs.
- 0:42
[name withheld]'s father comes downstairs with a baseball bat and finds nobody there.
- 0:54
About three days later, folded laundry is found unfolded.
- 1:10
About a week later, [name withheld] sees a figure at the end of the bed, takes it for their younger brother, and asks him for a bottle. The figure is gone when they look back.
- 1:25
[name withheld] says their son died in November.
- 1:33
At their parents' house, [name withheld] wakes to see the little boy standing where their son usually slept. [name withheld] tells him their baby died, and he says his grandpa died too.
- 1:56
[name withheld] says that was the last time they saw him.
- 2:07
A neighbor who had lived there since the neighborhood was built tells [name withheld] a little boy spent a summer with his grandparents and was killed by a car while playing in the road.
- 2:24
[name withheld] describes the boy as very friendly, about eight or nine, and playing pranks, with cold spots felt in the house.
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).
- hearsay· 0:24
[name withheld]'s parents told them they heard the voice of a little boy in the backyard asking for his grandpa.
- hearsay· 0:38
[name withheld]'s mother saw a little boy run across in front of the stairs at night.
- observation· 0:54
Folded laundry was found unfolded after [name withheld] returned from the laundry.
- observation· 1:10
A figure [name withheld] took for their younger brother stood at the end of the bed and vanished when they looked away.
- observation· 1:33
The little boy appeared in the bedroom after their son's death, asked “where's the baby,” and said his grandpa had died too.
- hearsay· 2:15
A neighbor told [name withheld] a little boy who stayed with his grandparents was hit by a car in the road.
- interpretation· 2:24
[name withheld] describes the boy as a friendly ghost of a child of about eight or nine, who played pranks and around whom cold spots were felt.
- host statement· 2:57
The host states that many of these stories are proof of life after death.
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.
The caller took part directly in some of the reported events but relays the backyard voice, the staircase sighting, and the boy's death from others. The story has moderate detail but no dates, address, or names. The timing of the death is inconsistent. An easy ordinary explanation, images on waking, is available for the bedroom encounters.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand telling of the ghost they saw in their bedroom: [quote withheld]
- Concrete household details: their age, the move into their parents' house, the backyard phrase, the baseball bat, folding laundry three days earlier, and the boy's stated age.
- They keep the neighbor's information separate from their own observations, crediting the neighbor with the boy's death in the road.
- The voice, the staircase sighting, and the boy's death are all reported secondhand.
- The timing of the death is inconsistent. They say their son died in November, yet later say they told the boy their baby “died today.”
- One bedroom encounter is reported as they wake in bed, a setting where images on waking are a common alternative explanation.
- No address, no names, and no year. The caller deliberately withholds the address.
- The laundry passage is garbled: [quote withheld] The object that was moved cannot be confirmed.
- The labels showing who is speaking swap between the host and the caller in the exchange about the figure being gone and the “where's the baby” line.
- 0:07
- 0:54
- 1:25
What the model inferred (not said on air): Component judgments (closeness to the source 15 of 25, specificity 12 of 20, internal consistency 11 of 20, alternative explanations 10 of 20, calibration 8 of 15) are my own use of the scoring guide. Only the quotations are from the transcript.
Everything rests on the word of the caller and their family. A claimed second witness (their mother) and a neighbor, identified only by relationship, are cited. A checkable-sounding event, a child killed by a car in a Las Vegas street, is given without a name, date, or address. No document, recording, or photograph is produced or examined.
Evidence for and against
- Details that could in principle be checked but were not: a Las Vegas neighborhood, a boy who spent a summer with his grandparents, and a fatal car accident in the road.
- Other witnesses are claimed: their parents heard the voice, and their mother saw the figure.
- No second witness speaks on air. The caller relays what their mother and the neighbor said.
- The address is explicitly withheld: [quote withheld]
- No physical evidence of any kind is claimed or examined.
- The date of the accident and the boy's identity are not given, so the claim cannot be traced from the transcript.
- A single secondhand claim in a transcript is not independent backing (rule 4 of the scoring guide).
- 0:20
- 0:38
- 2:15
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placement in the range of 11 to 25 (checkable details and claimed witnesses, nothing examined) is my judgment. The hard cap of 50 without an outside check applies.
The story puts a child figure in the caller's bedroom and on the family staircase. Its most striking moment is a dead child asking a grieving parent “where's the baby” in the room where their infant slept. The caller softens it throughout by insisting the boy was friendly and never threatening.
Evidence for and against
- The exchange after the baby's death: “he goes where's” / [quote withheld] / [quote withheld]
- A figure standing at the end of the bed that disappears when looked at again.
- A child's voice in the backyard repeating a search for a grandfather.
- The caller repeatedly describes the presence as harmless: [quote withheld]
- Their stated hope is caring rather than fearful: that he would find his grandfather and [quote withheld]
- It is not stated whether the backyard voice and staircase sightings stopped after the bedroom encounter.
- 1:48
- 1:56
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score is a judgment of how the story plays for a listener, not of whether anything happened.
The frame is familiar: a child ghost, cold spots, a staircase figure, and pranks. But the story gives the ghost a specific arc. He answers news of a death with news of his own grandfather's death, and only afterward does a neighbor supply his own death in the road.
Evidence for and against
- The ghost answers the caller's news of a death with news of one of his own in the bedroom, which is not the usual stock ending.
- The boy's stated reason for staying, searching for a grandfather, and the caller's hope he would [quote withheld]
- Identification after the fact through a longtime neighbor, who tells of the boy's summer visit and fatal accident.
- The core motifs of a child ghost, a staircase, a cold spot, a bedroom figure, and playful pranks recur in this kind of story.
- They describe him in the standard way, as [quote withheld]
- The score compared with the rest of the archive is computed separately. This value is the model's estimate only.
- 1:48
- 2:24
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment of how distinctive it is compared with common child-ghost motifs, not a measured value.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's firsthand story of the bedroom figure, the ghost beside their sleeping son, and cold spots; Secondhand reports of their mother's and father's experiences and of their parents' reports of the backyard voice; A neighbor's secondhand story of a boy's death by car; No documents, recordings, photographs, or other physical evidence, and no second witness speaks on air. The originality score blends the model's score (62) 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.
- Images from the time between sleep and waking, or leftover dream images: the encounters the caller places at the end of their bed happen as they wake in bed, including one reported on the day their infant son died. · They say [quote withheld] and describe a figure at [quote withheld] that is gone when they look again.
- An ordinary child's voice or an indistinct backyard sound, mistaken for a child speaking a short phrase. · The voice is described only secondhand, [quote withheld] and with the single repeated phrase “where's my grandpa?”
- Someone else in the household disturbed the folded laundry. They say their younger brother also lived in the house at the time. · [quote withheld] along with the garbled report that the folded clothes were unfolded.
What stands out
The reported child ghost does not simply repeat its search phrase. It seems to respond to the caller's grief, answering their news of their baby's death with news of his own grandfather's death. Afterward a neighbor tells the caller about a child's death in the road and links the boy to the house.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.