Falling darts and indoor thunder in a Hanford, California house
A caller who gives their name as Lance, from Clam Falls, Oregon, tells Art Bell about a stay in a Hanford, California house for a friend’s wedding. Lance says the bride had warned them about one room. She had once woken to thunder and lightning inside the house while the sky outside was clear. Lance says that while they and their friend threw darts in that back room, darts fell out of the board untouched. Lance also says other people in the house reported stereo speaker wires flying off the wall and unplugging the speakers.
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 2:09:41). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
Calling from what they give as Clam Falls, Oregon, a caller who gives their name as Lance tells Art Bell that they went to Hanford, California, for a friend’s wedding. This was shortly after they left the Marine Corps, while they were living in Southern California. The bride was from Hanford. She arranged for them to stay at a friend’s house where she had lived as a teenager, and she warned them about one room that the house’s former owner had added. She said she had woken one night to thunder and lightning going on inside the house. She got up, looked outside, and saw a starry sky with no clouds, and she saw flashes through the windows. Lance says they and their friend took the story lightly. The two were in the back room where she used to stay, a game room with a couch and a dartboard. They were throwing darts and discussing whether she had had too much to drink. After all six darts were in the board, Lance says the friend reached for one and it popped out of the board. The friend reached for another, and it fell before the friend touched it. Lance says this happened all three times. Lance then says their own three darts each fell to the ground one by one. They ran and told everyone. The others said that while they were listening to the stereo, all the speaker wires started flying off the wall and unplugged the speakers. Lance says the wedding went well but the marriage [quote withheld] The call ends with Lance asking Art to do a “cat sound” because it was Halloween.
Reported events, in order
- 0:03
The caller gives their name as Lance, from Clam Falls, Oregon, and says they have a story to tell.
- 0:10
The caller says that just after leaving the Marine Corps, while living in Southern California, a friend of theirs was getting married, and the friend’s wife was from Hanford, California.
- 0:37
Before the trip, the bride said they could stay at a friend’s house where she had lived as a teenager. She warned them about one room that the former owner had built on.
- 0:51
The bride is said to have told them she woke one night to thunder and lightning going on inside the house. She got up, looked outside, and saw only a starry sky with no clouds, and she saw the flashes coming through the windows.
- 1:16
Lance says they and their friend were in the back room where she used to stay, a game room with a couch and a dartboard, throwing darts and talking about her story.
- 1:49
After all six darts were in the dartboard, the friend reached for one and it popped out of the board. The friend reached for another, and it fell before the friend touched it. Lance says this happened all three times.
- 2:20
Lance says their own three darts then fell to the ground one by one.
- 2:35
They ran and told everyone. The others said that while they were sitting listening to the stereo, all the speaker wires started flying off the wall and unplugged the speakers.
- 2:58
Lance says the wedding went well but the marriage did not turn out well. The call ends with Lance asking Art to do the “cat sound” for Halloween.
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· 1:08
The caller says the bride told them she woke one night to thunder and lightning going on inside the house, that outside she saw only a starry sky with no clouds, and that she saw the flashes coming through the windows.
- observation· 1:55
The caller says the friend’s darts left the dartboard one after another before being touched, and that their own three darts then fell to the ground one by one.
- hearsay· 2:49
The caller says other people in the house told them that all the speaker wires started flying off the wall and unplugged the speakers while they listened to the stereo.
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 in the dartboard episode themself, and tells it in a clear order without escalating their claims. But the most striking element is secondhand, and the story lacks dates and other details that could be checked.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand telling of the dartboard sequence: [quote withheld]
- The caller answers Art’s clarifying question directly: [quote withheld]
- The caller does not propose a cause and plays the episode down: [quote withheld]
- The caller gives some specifics about place: Hanford, California, and the bride having lived in the house as a teenager.
- The indoor thunder and lightning, the most distinctive element, comes from the bride, not from what the caller witnessed.
- The speaker-wire event is secondhand, reported by people in another room.
- No year, street, or other detail that can be checked independently.
- Darts working loose from a board has an easy physical explanation.
- The labels showing who is speaking are inconsistent in this stretch, and several lines labeled as the host appear to belong to the caller. It is uncertain who said what.
- It is unclear who “Jenny” is in the darts conversation.
- 1:55
- 2:15
- 2:33
What the model inferred (not said on air): I weighted the components myself. Source proximity is high because the dartboard story is firsthand. Alternative explanations is low because loose darts have an easy ordinary reading. Calibration is mid-high because the caller neither claims a cause nor inflates the events.
Some details could be checked (a named town, a stated history of the house), and other witnesses are claimed. But nothing was checked, and no physical evidence is offered.
Evidence for and against
- Named places are given: [quote withheld]
- Several people are said to have witnessed events in the house.
- A former owner and an added room are described.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is mentioned.
- No second witness speaks on air to confirm anything.
- The two most unusual elements are both secondhand.
- The transcript does not address whether the house or the people involved could be found.
- 0:10
- 2:35
What the model inferred (not said on air): I placed it in the 11–25 band because of checkable details and claimed witnesses, both unchecked. No one backs it up on air, and no material was examined.
The events are small and non-threatening, told lightly, and end in a joke about the marriage and a request for a Halloween sound effect. The indoor thunder and the wire event give it a mild eeriness.
Evidence for and against
- An unexplained indoor storm with a clear sky outside.
- Objects moving by themselves in an ordinary room, including wires coming off a wall.
- The caller’s own reaction is light: [quote withheld]
- No threat, harm, physical contact, or growing dread is reported.
- The story ends with wedding small talk and a request for the host’s “cat sound.”
- The bride’s fear at the time is passed on only in summary.
- 1:08
- 2:49
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score reflects the story’s content as a story, with unsettling household disturbances and no menace. It is not a judgment of the caller.
The setup is a familiar disturbed room in an old house. But an indoor thunderstorm seen through windows onto a clear sky, and darts leaving a board untouched, are distinctive combinations.
Evidence for and against
- Indoor thunder and lightning with a stated clear, starry sky.
- A precise sequence of small events: three darts, then three more, leaving a dartboard untouched.
- A warned-about room, a former owner’s addition, and objects moving in a house are stock elements.
- The ending is ordinary small talk and adds nothing new.
- The published originality value is compared with the rest of the archive. With few stories to compare, that part carries little weight.
- 0:58
- 1:49
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is my estimate of how distinctive the content is. I am not comparing it with any database of stories.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story about the dartboard events; A secondhand report of the bride’s indoor thunder and lightning, passed on by the caller; A secondhand report of the speaker wires coming off the wall, passed on from other people in the house; No photographs, recordings, documents, or physical traces mentioned. The originality score blends the model's score (55) 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.
- Darts that are not firmly set in a bristle board can work loose and drop out from vibration or a slight draft. · The caller says the darts “popped out” and fell from the board without being touched, not thrown or lifted.
- Speaker wires that are loosely routed or pulled by their own weight can come away from the terminals, which would be heard as the speakers cutting out. · The caller was not in the room. They only repeat what “they said” happened while they sat listening to the stereo.
- Sounds heard on waking can be blamed on an indoor source before the person is fully alert. That is one way a remembered “indoor thunderstorm” could arise. · The bride’s report, as the caller passes it on, begins with her waking up one night and being “really scared” before looking outside.
What stands out
The caller says thunder and lightning happened inside a house while the sky outside was starry and clear. The caller also describes small objects acting up: darts leaving a dartboard untouched and speaker wires coming off a wall. The caller tells the dart story in unusually concrete order, saying which dart moved when.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.