[name withheld]’s secondhand story of a babysitter, a changing house, and a Ouija board
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], from Juneau, Alaska, tells Art Bell a story they say they heard from their best friend. The friend babysat in a house that had been a “warm happy home” until a new family moved in. [name withheld] reports that the house grew gloomy, a two-year-old went into trances no one could rouse her from, a dog acted wildly, and water in a tub and a sink turned on by itself. The story ends with a priest’s blessing, a Ouija board thrown out the door, and the house later standing abandoned.
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 2:43:55). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who gives their name as [name withheld] and says they are calling from Juneau, Alaska, tells the host the story of their “very best friend.” The caller says the friend used to babysit in a house and had done so for years while it was [quote withheld] The caller says a new family moved in, and the friend was recommended to them as a babysitter and began sitting for them. The house then [quote withheld] with odd things going on and the dog going crazy. Asked whether they think it was because of the friend, [name withheld] says they believe the changes began at that point. [name withheld] reports a two-year-old girl in the family who [quote withheld] and could not be roused even if you stood in front of her and screamed. They add that they have a two-year-old of their own and consider that impossible. They also say the five-year-old and the two-year-old [quote withheld] and that their friend grew more and more uneasy about babysitting there. One night, [name withheld] says, their friend gave the children a bath. The boy was in the tub, and the two-year-old was in the sink because the girl was frightened of being washed. The friend put them to bed and was on the phone with their boyfriend when the water in the bathroom, the tub, and the sink [quote withheld] with no one in the room. They say their friend finally looked into the bathroom, and the water turned off. In answer to the host’s question, [name withheld] confirms this happened right before their friend’s eyes. [name withheld] says their friend later learned the woman had had a priest come in. The priest blessed the house and tried to rid it of “the evil spirit,” and a Ouija board was involved, which the woman threw out the door. They say their friend never babysat there again. The house eventually became abandoned and had stood unlived-in for about ten years. The host thanks the caller and closes this part of the broadcast.
Reported events, in order
- 0:37
[name withheld] says their best friend used to babysit in a house that had been a warm, happy home for years.
- 0:51
A new family moves in. The friend is recommended to them as a babysitter and begins sitting for them.
- 1:03
The house changes and becomes gloomy. Odd things happen, and the dog goes crazy.
- 1:23
A two-year-old girl goes into trances and cannot be roused even by screaming in front of her.
- 1:50
The five-year-old and the two-year-old reportedly never wake up at night.
- 1:58
The friend grows more and more uneasy about babysitting there.
- 2:04
One night the friend bathes the children. The boy is in the tub, and the two-year-old is in the sink because she was frightened of being washed.
- 2:33
The friend puts the children to bed and talks on the phone with their boyfriend.
- 2:40
Water in the bathroom, tub, and sink [quote withheld] with no one in the room.
- 2:48
The friend peeks at the bathroom, and the water turns off (the host says [quote withheld]).
- 2:59
The friend later learns the woman had had a priest come in. The friend refuses to babysit there again.
- 3:08
The priest blessed the house and tried to rid it of “the evil spirit.” A Ouija board was involved, and the woman threw it out the door.
- 3:19
The house eventually becomes abandoned and had been unlived-in for about ten years.
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· 1:03
The house changed from a warm, happy home into a gloomy one after a new family moved in, with odd things happening and the dog going crazy.
- hearsay· 1:23
A two-year-old girl in the family would go into trances and could not be brought out of them.
- hearsay· 1:50
The children reportedly never woke up at night.
- hearsay· 2:40
Water in the bathroom, the tub, and the sink turned on at full force with no one in the room, and turned off when the friend looked in.
- hearsay· 3:08
The woman in the family had a priest come in, who blessed the house and tried to rid it of an evil spirit.
- hearsay· 3:17
A Ouija board was involved, and the woman threw it out the door.
- hearsay· 3:19
The house eventually became abandoned and unlived-in for about ten years.
- interpretation· 1:37
[name withheld] says that a two-year-old going into trances no one can rouse her from is “like, impossible” in their own experience as the parent of a two-year-old.
- host statement· 3:24
The host states that Juneau is the capital of Alaska and can be reached only by air or water.
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 consistent, ordered secondhand story with some concrete household detail. But the source is a single unnamed friend, no dates or addresses are given, and the main events have easy ordinary explanations that the caller does not address.
Evidence for and against
- They relay the story as coming from [quote withheld] a close but unnamed source.
- Concrete elements: a two-year-old and a five-year-old, a dog, a bathtub and a sink, a phone call with a boyfriend, a priest, an abandoned house.
- The sequence is ordered and consistent: new family, gradual change, growing unease, one decisive night, refusal to return, later abandonment.
- No names other than the caller’s, no dates, no street or town for the house, and no verifiable records.
- Secondhand throughout. The friend who is said to have seen it never speaks on air.
- The caller’s own framing pushes an interpretation ([quote withheld]) before the events are described.
- The time span over which the changes occurred is not given.
- It is not stated whether [name withheld] ever visited the house personally or whether they heard this directly from the friend.
- 0:37
- 1:37
- 2:59
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment by part: closeness to the source about 10/25 (a close source who is unnamed and absent); detail about 9/20; internal consistency about 13/20; alternative explanations about 5/20 (several ordinary readings fit and none is addressed); caution in claims about 6/15 (they separate what they think from what they were told in places, but the moralizing Ouija framing is asserted rather than argued).
Only the caller’s word for a secondhand story is present. A place (Juneau) and a witness (their friend) are named, but nothing is checked, examined, or documented, and no second witness speaks.
Evidence for and against
- A stated location for the caller, “Juneau, Alaska,” and a stated relationship to the source, [quote withheld]
- The house and its abandonment are described, which in principle could be checked.
- No name for the friend, the family, the house, or the street. No dates or decade.
- No photograph, recording, document, news report, or physical mark is claimed to exist.
- No second witness speaks on air.
- The automatic transcript does not say whether the caller knew of the house’s abandonment personally or whether the friend also passed that on.
- 0:07
- 3:19
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placed in the 11 to 25 range because a place and a source with a stated relationship are given, but nothing is actually checked. The score is capped at 50 regardless, because nothing was checked outside the broadcast.
The story draws its unease from the involvement of children (a toddler in trances no one can rouse her from, and children who never wake at night) and from water in an empty bathroom turning on at full force. It closes on a blessed and then abandoned house.
Evidence for and against
- Children are the focus: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- An empty bathroom with taps going on: [quote withheld]
- A priest, an “evil spirit,” and a Ouija board, with the house left abandoned.
- No injury, threat, physical contact, or malevolent speech is reported.
- The story is told as a cautionary tale rather than as an ongoing situation.
- The ending is flat: the friend simply stops babysitting and the house empties.
- The water episode is the only single startling moment. The rest is built-up atmosphere, which makes the level of fear a matter of judgment.
- 2:40
- 3:08
What the model inferred (not said on air): I rated it above a mild single-event story because of the focus on children and the growing unease. I rated it below frightening because nothing harmful is reported and no figure is described.
This is a familiar frame, a house that turns after a Ouija board is used and is resolved by a priest and abandonment. One relatively uncommon detail carries it: bath and sink taps turning on at full force in an empty bathroom.
Evidence for and against
- The Ouija-board-and-priest frame is a stock structure in this kind of story.
- The distinctive element is household plumbing rather than a figure or a sound: tub and sink at once.
- The toddler prone to trances and the children who never wake are less standard details.
- The “gloomy house,” the reacting dog, and the abandoned building are common motifs.
- No strange event beyond the water is described.
- Originality compared with the rest of the archive cannot be judged from a single transcript, so the printed score is provisional.
- 3:17
- 2:40
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is the model’s estimate: a familiar frame with a distinctive detail, scored near the middle of the 20-50-80 scale. Comparison with the rest of the archive would carry little weight in a small pilot archive.
Scoring confidence 0.65 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s secondhand story (a live call relaying what they say their best friend experienced).; No physical evidence claimed, offered, or examined.; No second witness on air.. 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 children’s “trances” and heavy sleeping could be ordinary toddler behavior or sleep patterns. The caller partly acknowledges this by comparing them to their own two-year-old. · The caller says they have a two-year-old and calls the trances “like, impossible.” No medical or other detail is given about the episodes.
- The water turning on could be a plumbing fault, a pressure surge, or a tap left partly open, with the “turning off” happening to coincide with the friend’s entry into the bathroom. · The event is described only as taps running at full force and then stopping. No inspection, repair report, or cause is mentioned.
- The house’s “gloominess,” the dog’s behavior, and the family’s changes could reflect ordinary household circumstances, such as new occupants, family stress, or the mother’s reported change, with the paranormal reading added afterward. · The caller says [quote withheld] The caller describes the house as gloomy rather than describing any structural or verifiable change.
What stands out
The central reported event is not a figure or a sound but household plumbing: bath water and sink water turning on at full force in an empty bathroom. It is folded into a moralizing framing about Ouija boards. The story is entirely secondhand. The caller tells what they say their best friend experienced, and the friend never speaks.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.