Letter about Scrabble tiles rearranged overnight and a stereo changing channels
The host reads a letter (or similar written message) from an unnamed writer. The writer says that in high school they stayed rent-free with a family from overseas while helping fix up another home. The writer reports that Scrabble tiles left on the floor were found rearranged into obscene words and that their stereo changed channels wildly. Family members shrugged it off. The writer later learned that the man of the house had been sent out of the Philippines for abuses against his first wife and children. The writer believes this explains [quote withheld]
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 1:44:44). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The letter, read on air by the host, is addressed directly to Art ([quote withheld]). The unnamed writer says that while in high school they met [quote withheld] became friends with them, and accepted their offer to stay rent-free while helping fix up another home, with their parents’ approval. The writer calls what followed [quote withheld] They say they believe they were [quote withheld] They add that they felt protected by something they think may have been their brother, who had died a few years earlier. The writer says that when they tried to tell family members [quote withheld] they were [quote withheld] One night, after talking with one family member and playing Scrabble, the writer says they left the board on the floor and the tiles moved on top of it. On waking, the writer says they found the board spelling [quote withheld] which they call “cuss words.” A family member they called to look [quote withheld] As that person left the room, the writer says their stereo “went crazy,” with channels changing wildly, and that the family [quote withheld] The writer says they moved later and then learned that the man of the house had been sent out of the Philippines for abuses against his first wife and children. The writer believes this explains [quote withheld] The letter closes with a garbled phrase referring to New Mexico.
Reported events, in order
- 0:15
While in high school, the writer met a family from overseas who had bought a home in their neighborhood, and became friends with them.
- 0:24
The family offered the writer rent-free lodging in exchange for helping fix up another home. The writer’s parents approved, and the writer did so.
- 0:35
The writer describes the following period as sometimes wonderful and at other times [quote withheld]
- 0:41
The writer says they believe they were somehow warned to leave by a force that bothered everyone but them.
- 0:48
The writer says they felt protected by something and thinks it may have been their brother, who had died.
- 0:55
The writer says that when they tried to tell family members the things they had seen, they were met with deaf ears.
- 1:00
One night the writer talked with one family member and played Scrabble with them.
- 1:06
The writer left the Scrabble board on the floor and says the tiles moved on top of it.
- 1:13
On waking, the writer says, the board held words so ugly they cannot repeat them, “cuss words.”
- 1:22
A family member the writer called to look at the board [quote withheld]
- 1:27
As that family member walked out of the room, the writer’s stereo “went crazy,” with channels changing wildly. The writer says the family seemed oblivious.
- 1:30
The writer says they moved later and then learned the man of the house had been sent out of the Philippines for abuses against his first wife and children. The writer believes this explains the “evil” 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).
- observation· 1:13
The writer reports that Scrabble tiles left on the floor moved on the board and that by morning the board held obscene words.
- observation· 1:06
The writer reports that the tiles shifted on the board before they slept.
- observation· 1:27
The writer reports that their stereo “went crazy,” with channels changing wildly, as a family member left the room.
- observation· 0:55
The writer refers to having seen unspecified things in the house, which they tried to report to the family.
- interpretation· 0:41
The writer believes they were warned to leave by a force that affected everyone in the household except them.
- interpretation· 0:48
The writer believes the protection they felt may have come from their brother, who had died.
- hearsay· 1:30
The writer says they later learned that the man of the house had been sent out of the Philippines for abuses against his first wife and children (a secondhand report, unverified).
- hearsay· 1:46
The writer says they later learned the man had been sent out of the Philippines for abuses against his first wife and children.
- interpretation· 1:51
The writer believes the man’s past is the reason there was [quote withheld]
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.
A brief first-person written story with a consistent sequence and openly hedged interpretations. But it has almost no details that can be checked, and it has one easy ordinary explanation (another person in a shared house moving the tiles) that the letter does not address.
Evidence for and against
- First-person witness language throughout: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- The writer separates what they saw from what they concluded: “I believe,” [quote withheld] “I felt protected.”
- A concrete sequence is given: board left on the floor, tiles found rearranged on waking, family member called to look, stereo reacting as that person left.
- No names, dates, street, town, or other details that can be checked appear anywhere in the letter.
- The letter describes [quote withheld] without saying what was seen, and mentions the “abuses” without detail.
- The claim that other household members were affected sits awkwardly with the letter’s statements that the family met the reports with “deaf ears” and [quote withheld]
- The transcript is broken into fragments and partly garbled (for example, [quote withheld] and the closing [quote withheld]).
- Every line of the letter is labeled as the host, because the host reads it aloud, so crediting lines to the letter writer is inferred, not marked.
- 0:15
- 0:24
- 0:41
- 1:06
- 1:13
- 1:27
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component scores are my own reading of a short written story, not statements in the transcript: source proximity 17 (firsthand but compressed into a few sentences), specificity 7, consistency 11, other explanations 7, calibration 10. The story is brief but contains a complete sequence, so I did not apply the cap for a fragment too short to assess.
Nothing beyond the writer’s own written claim is present: no names, dates, addresses, or records that could be checked, no physical evidence claimed, and no second witness speaking on air.
Evidence for and against
- The story is presented as the writer’s own experience ([quote withheld]).
- Objects are named concretely (a Scrabble board and a stereo), which at least identifies what is being described.
- No name, place, or date is given for any event.
- The alleged information about the man of the house is itself reported as something the writer “found out” afterward, so it is secondhand and unchecked.
- No photograph, recording, or document is claimed to exist, and no family member speaks.
- The garbled closing reference to New Mexico cannot be resolved from the transcript.
- 1:13
- 1:30
- 1:51
What the model inferred (not said on air): Because nothing in this part of the broadcast can be independently checked and no evidence is claimed, the story falls in the lowest range (0 to 10). A score of 5 reflects a described physical object (the board) but no examined artifact.
The reported events are mild in themselves. But the letter’s framing gives it a lingering unease without vivid or graphic description: [quote withheld] obscene words the writer will not repeat, an unresponsive household, and a teenager staying in the home of a man later described as having abused his first wife and children.
Evidence for and against
- The writer calls the period [quote withheld]
- Obscene words appear on a game board that the writer says they cannot repeat.
- The alleged past abuses against a first wife and children, and the phrase [quote withheld]
- The family’s reported lack of response to what the writer was seeing.
- No threat, physical contact, or harm is reported to the writer, who says they felt protected.
- The events are summed up rather than described in vivid detail. No figure, sound, or atmosphere is depicted.
- It is unclear whether the reference to abuse concerns events the writer saw or only information learned later.
- 0:35
- 1:20
- 1:27
- 1:51
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment weights the intrusion at home and the reference to abuse above the otherwise undramatic tile and stereo reports. It is a judgment about the story, not about whether anything happened.
A familiar poltergeist frame, with household objects acting up and a dismissive family, plus one distinctive detail: a Scrabble board found rearranged into obscene words. The protective presence attributed to a brother who had died and the closing link to the householder’s alleged past add unusual framing but are not unique motifs.
Evidence for and against
- The specific strange event is a word game spelling [quote withheld]
- The writer frames the experience around being warned to leave and being protected, possibly by a brother who had died.
- The story ends by tying the reported “evil” to the householder’s alleged history.
- Objects moving, interference with appliances or electronics, and a dismissive family are common motifs in this genre.
- The letter is too short to develop any element in a distinctive way.
- The published originality score is worked out compared with the rest of the archive. With the pilot set, that part carries little weight, so this value is provisional and here equals my estimate.
- 1:06
- 1:13
- 0:48
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score of 55 reflects [quote withheld] (the obscene-word board). How new the story is compared with the rest of the archive cannot be worked out from a single excerpt.
Scoring confidence 0.55 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The writer’s firsthand written story, read on air by the host (no audio from the writer); No claimed photograph, recording, or document; No second witness speaks on air; No names, dates, or locations that could be checked. 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.
- Another person in the shared house moved the tiles after the writer left the board on the floor overnight. · The writer says the board was left on the floor in a house shared with the family, and says a family member was later asked to look at it.
- The stereo’s channel changes were an equipment fault or an automatic scan or tuning behavior, not a strange event. · The only detail reported is that [quote withheld] No other behavior of the set is described.
- The later information about the man’s past may have led the writer to see earlier odd events as connected to it. · The writer states the belief only after describing the move and what they later learned: [quote withheld]
What stands out
The strange event here is a word game: Scrabble tiles said to have been rearranged overnight into obscene words, with the household members reported as unresponsive. The letter also pairs a protective presence the writer attributes to a brother who had died with a closing explanation that ties the reported “evil” to the householder’s alleged past. That claim is given without detail and is about a private person who is not named.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.