Ghost tracks and a truck pushed over a San Antonio rail crossing
A caller recounts the “ghost tracks” legend at a rail crossing in deep south San Antonio, which the caller says their daughter researched. In the 1940s, a school bus stalled on the tracks and was struck by a train, killing the driver and the children aboard. The caller reports visiting the site the previous Saturday, parking about 30 feet from the tracks with the truck in neutral, and then feeling the truck pushed over the crossing. The caller also reports small handprints in baby powder left on the trunks of cars that had been stuck. The host offers a sympathetic reading and thanks the caller. Nothing is verified on air.
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 1:06:00). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller begins by saying they have heard about the “ghost tracks” all their life but had never been there. The caller places the site in [quote withheld] The legend, the caller says, was researched by their daughter. In the 1940s, a school bus taking children home stalled on the tracks, and a train that could not stop in time struck it, killing the driver and the children still aboard. The caller adds that there were no crossing warnings then. The caller says their daughter and her boyfriend showed them the way the previous Saturday and that the caller was “very skeptical.” The caller inspected the ground, which they describe as level, with the tracks sitting above the road. The caller reports parking about 30 feet from the track, putting the truck in neutral, and nothing happening at first. When the caller started to pull away, they say, the truck began to be pushed ([quote withheld]), reaching the tracks at roughly 15 to 20 mph on level ground. The caller says they were told not to brake because the windshield would shatter, so they did not. The caller says five or six other cars were already there ahead of them. The caller explains that visitors sprinkle baby powder on their car trunks, and says there are small handprints in the powder on the stuck cars’ trunks, [quote withheld] Asked why they dared try it, the caller says everybody has and nobody has been harmed. The caller describes the presences as protective rather than harmful, though “really creepy.” The caller adds that neighborhood streets bear the names of children killed on the bus. The caller says the story is in the history books and has been shown locally and on national news. The host thanks the caller, and the call ends.
Reported events, in order
- 0:03
The caller says they have heard about the “ghost tracks” all their life but had never been there before.
- 0:18
The caller places the site in deep south San Antonio, off South Preston Street.
- 0:38
The caller recounts the story their daughter researched. In the 1940s, a school bus stalled on the tracks and a train struck it, killing the driver and the children left aboard.
- 1:12
The preceding Saturday, the caller’s daughter and her boyfriend showed them how to get to the site. The caller describes themselves as very skeptical and inspects the lay of the land.
- 1:43
The caller parks about 30 feet from the track and puts the truck in neutral. Nothing happens at first.
- 1:52
The caller says the truck then begins to be pushed and reaches the tracks at roughly 15 to 20 mph.
- 2:26
The caller is told not to brake because the windshield reportedly shatters, so they do not.
- 2:28
The caller reports five or six other cars already there ahead of them.
- 2:33
The caller explains that visitors put baby powder on their car trunks, and that the caller made another trip.
- 3:16
The caller says there are small handprints in the powder on the trunks of the cars that were stuck.
- 3:44
The caller describes the reported presences as harmless and protective, and calls the experience “really creepy.”
- 3:58
The caller says the neighborhood streets are named after the children killed on the bus, and lists their first names. The caller adds that the story is in the history books and has been on television.
- 4:12
The host thanks the caller and ends the call. Nothing is verified on air.
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 says they parked about 30 feet from the track and put their truck in neutral, and that at first nothing happened.
- observation· 1:52
The caller says their truck then began to be pushed, and that “pushed” is the only way they can describe it.
- observation· 1:58
The caller says the truck reached the tracks at roughly 15 to 20 mph while they sat on level street ground and considered braking.
- observation· 2:28
The caller says five or six other cars were already there ahead of them.
- observation· 2:33
The caller says visitors put baby powder on the trunks of their cars.
- observation· 3:16
The caller says there are handprints in the powder on the trunks of cars that were stuck.
- observation· 3:25
The caller says the handprints were small, like those of children rather than adults.
- hearsay· 0:38
The caller recounts, citing their daughter’s research, a 1940s school-bus accident at the crossing in which the driver and the remaining children were killed.
- interpretation· 2:54
The caller repeats the legend that the children push you over the tracks, and says they swear to it.
- interpretation· 3:16
The caller concludes that the spirits of the dead children push stuck cars over the tracks, and that this is [quote withheld]
- hearsay· 2:26
The caller says others told them that applying the brakes would shatter the windshield, so they did not brake.
- interpretation· 3:44
The caller describes the presences as harmless and protective.
- hearsay· 3:58
The caller says neighborhood streets are named after the children killed on the bus, and lists several first names.
- hearsay· 4:14
The caller says the story is documented and was shown on local and some national television.
- host statement· 3:05
The host proposes that the children’s spirits push cars so nobody else gets stuck at the crossing.
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 story is specific, firsthand for the core event, and consistent. The caller anticipates two obvious ordinary explanations (the slope of the road and faked prints), which raises the score. It loses points for the large secondhand and legend part and for the lack of any independent support.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand report of the push, with concrete detail: [quote withheld] This is followed by [quote withheld]
- Specific detail of sensation and place: level ground, tracks above the road, 15 to 20 mph, five or six other cars, baby powder on trunks.
- The caller addresses the ordinary [quote withheld] explanation by describing the ground as level. The caller also heads off the hoax explanation for the prints: [quote withheld]
- The central idea that children push cars is a local legend the caller says they have heard all their life. The historical details come from their daughter’s research, not the caller’s own knowledge.
- The handprints the caller cites as support could plausibly have been left by other visitors.
- No independent check of the 1940s accident, the street names, or the push is attempted or offered.
- Some passages in this part of the broadcast are badly fragmented in the automatic transcript.
- The transcript does not make clear who the “he” was who warned against braking.
- A short stretch of the transcript is unclear, so who is speaking there is uncertain.
- 1:52
- 1:43
- 1:38
- 3:31
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component judgments are mine. I treated the vehicle event as firsthand and the historical material as hearsay. I did not count the caller’s stated skepticism or manner as evidence of reliability, only their stated reasoning about the site.
The story gives geography, a date, and a list of street names that sound checkable, plus a claimed physical trace. All are unverified. That puts it above pure assertion but far below anything examined.
Evidence for and against
- Specifics that could in principle be checked: a named location, a stated 1940s date, a stated school-bus accident, and a list of street names.
- A physical trace is claimed (small handprints in baby powder on car trunks), but it is only asserted, not shown.
- No photograph, recording, document, or report is presented or examined on air.
- No second witness speaks on air. The daughter, the boyfriend, and the other motorists are only described.
- The historical details come from claimed research and claimed television coverage, with no source produced.
- The caller does not say whether they saw the handprints themselves or are repeating what others report.
- Street-name spellings come from the automatic transcript and may be wrong.
- 0:18
- 3:58
What the model inferred (not said on air): I scored the claimed handprints as [quote withheld] not as examined material. No outside check was done, so the cap of 50 applies regardless.
The backstory of child casualties and the unseen push give the story an eerie edge. But the caller’s insistence that the ghosts are helpful, not harmful, keeps it well below frightening.
Evidence for and against
- A fatal school-bus crash involving children underlies the legend.
- Small handprints appearing in powder on car trunks is a vivid, unsettling image.
- The caller reports an unseen force moving their vehicle and calls it “really creepy.”
- The caller describes the presences as kind and protective: [quote withheld]
- No injury, threat, or malice is reported. The host calls the story “sweet” in the lines that follow.
- The story ends on a thoughtful rather than ominous note.
- The time of day of the visit is not given, which affects how the scene reads.
- 3:16
- 3:44
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a judgment of entertainment value only. I have not treated the caller’s emotional framing as evidence about events.
A familiar frame with a few distinctive, locally specific details, so the score sits near the middle. The score compared with the rest of the archive will be worked out separately and is provisional here.
Evidence for and against
- Distinctive details: baby powder applied to car trunks to catch handprints, and the idea that the dead children push cars to protect living drivers.
- Neighborhood street names said to honor the individual children.
- The “ghost tracks” or “gravity hill” haunted-crossing story is a widely told legend type.
- The core elements, children killed at a crossing and cars pushed over the tracks, are familiar.
- How rare the story is in the archive is unknown from this part. The published originality score is provisional.
- 2:33
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is my provisional judgment. How new the story is compared with the rest of the archive cannot be worked out from this part alone.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story of their truck being pushed across the tracks; Claimed physical marks (small handprints in baby powder on car trunks), not examined or produced in the transcript; Claimed secondhand research by the caller’s daughter and claimed local and television coverage, not checked; No documents, recordings, photographs, or on-air second witness presented. 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 slope of the road, or a gravity-hill illusion, moves a vehicle left in neutral. · The caller says the ground looked level but that the tracks sit above the road. A slight grade, or the classic “gravity hill” optical illusion, could let a vehicle in neutral roll toward and over the crossing.
- Earlier visitors made the handprints in the powder, not anything unseen. · The caller notes small handprints in powder on car trunks and anticipates a hoax. Visitors could leave prints deliberately or by accident.
- Expectation and the well-known local legend shaped how the vehicle’s movement was felt and described. · The caller says they had heard the legend their whole life, were told not to brake, and were at a known legend site when they felt movement.
What stands out
The story pairs a widely told “haunted crossing” legend with a claimed physical trace: small handprints left in baby powder sprinkled on car trunks. The caller also reports their vehicle being pushed over the tracks while in neutral. The caller describes the force behind it as protective rather than menacing.
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