Teenager reports a boy on their bed and a rusted pistol in a Midvale, Idaho, farmhouse
A caller who gives the name [quote withheld] tells Art Bell about something they say happened when they were a teenager. Their mother took a teaching job in Midvale, Idaho, and the family rented an old farmhouse there. They say they saw a boy sitting on the end of their bed. He told them he had ridden for the Pony Express and had been shot and killed. The next day, they say, they found a rusted old pistol in the horse barn. They give no explanation for what happened. The host offers his own idea that such beings may calm the people they appear to.
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 35:50). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld], calling from SeaTac, tells Art Bell about something the caller says happened when they were a teenager, [quote withheld] The caller's mother was teaching in Midvale, Idaho, between Boise and Moscow, and the family rented a large old house on a small farm with a long horse barn. The caller says the house had once been a hotel with many little rooms upstairs. Their brother slept downstairs in one room and their mother in another, while they chose a little second-floor room next to a stairway that led to a catwalk on top of the house. On a night of bright moonlight, they walked up onto the catwalk to look at the valley. They came back down, stepped into their bedroom, and got on the bed, with moonlight coming through the window. They report that a boy was sitting on the end of their bed. They say they thought they had never had friends over, let alone boys, but [quote withheld] The boy spoke. He said he had slept in that room once, had been riding for the Pony Express, had been shot and killed, and could not finish his run. Asked by the host why they were not startled, the caller says they felt [quote withheld] and listened compassionately. Then they turned over and went to sleep. The next day, reaching above a stall while checking their rabbits in the horse barn, they say they pulled down a rusted old pistol. Art responds with the idea that such beings may have a way of calming people. The caller offers no cause for what happened.
Reported events, in order
- 0:13
The caller's mother takes a teaching job in Midvale, Idaho, and the family rents a large old house on a small farm with a long horse barn.
- 0:34
The caller says the house had once been a hotel with many small rooms upstairs. The caller's brother and mother slept downstairs, and they chose a little second-floor room beside a stairway to a catwalk on the roof.
- 0:59
On a bright moonlit night, the caller walks up onto the catwalk to look out over the valley.
- 1:14
The caller comes back down, steps into the bedroom, and gets on the bed, with moonlight shining through the window.
- 1:24
The caller reports seeing a boy sitting on the end of the bed.
- 1:34
The caller says the boy spoke. He said he had slept in the room once, had been riding for the Pony Express, had been shot and killed, and could not finish his run.
- 2:02
Asked by the host why they were not startled, the caller says they felt no uneasiness or unrest and listened compassionately.
- 2:24
The caller says they turned over and went to sleep.
- 2:40
The next day, reaching above a stall while checking rabbits in the horse barn, the caller says they pulled down a rusted old pistol.
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· 1:24
The caller reports seeing a boy sitting on the end of the bed in the bedroom of the rented farmhouse.
- hearsay· 1:40
The caller reports that the boy said he had slept in that room and had ridden for the Pony Express.
- hearsay· 1:43
The caller reports that the boy said he had been shot and killed and could not finish his run.
- observation· 2:40
The caller reports finding a rusted old pistol above a stall in the horse barn the next day.
- observation· 2:02
The caller reports feeling no uneasiness or unrest during the encounter.
- host statement· 3:38
The host states that such beings may have a way of calming the person they appear to.
- host statement· 3:33
The host states that a person can die of fright.
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 short but coherent firsthand report with a named town, a described house, and a claimed physical find, and the caller keeps to the same sequence when questioned. No one else backs it up, it has no date, and an ordinary explanation tied to falling asleep fits the circumstances fairly easily. That keeps the score near the middle of the scale.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story: the caller describes being in the room personally, [quote withheld]
- Concrete setting: [quote withheld] The room, stairway, catwalk, and horse barn are described.
- A later physical find is claimed: [quote withheld]
- The caller answers the host's challenge without changing the order of events.
- The caller does not explain why they were not alarmed at a stranger in the room and says only [quote withheld] in hindsight.
- No date, year, or detail that can be checked is given for the event. Their age at the time is given only as [quote withheld]
- The encounter ends with the caller going straight to sleep, which overlaps with the period of falling asleep.
- No year is given for the events.
- The caller's identity is only as spoken ([quote withheld]), and the labels showing who is speaking are inconsistent in this stretch.
- No second witness is named for the bedroom encounter.
- 0:13
- 1:24
- 2:40
What the model inferred (not said on air): Component judgments: closeness to the source is high (direct participant). Specificity is moderate (a named town and building detail, but no year and little detail about time). Internal consistency is good (no contradictions, and the answers fit). Alternative explanations are scored low because the caller had just lain down at night before the encounter. Calibration is moderate because the caller describes what they perceived without jumping to an explicit cause.
Beyond the caller's word, there is a claimed physical object and a named town, but neither the object nor the location was checked in any way during the broadcast. This places the story in the range for details that could be checked and physical evidence that is claimed but not examined.
Evidence for and against
- Details that could be checked are given at the level of place: [quote withheld]
- A physical object is claimed to exist: [quote withheld] found above a stall.
- The pistol is not produced, photographed, or examined on air. The caller mentions it only in passing.
- No record that can be checked, name of a school, or date is supplied.
- No second witness speaks on air.
- It is not stated whether the pistol was ever shown to anyone.
- The building is not identified beyond [quote withheld]
- 2:40
- 0:13
What the model inferred (not said on air): Classified by what evidence is present in the transcript, not by how convincing the story is.
An unknown person in a teenager's bedroom at night, and a story of being shot and killed, give the story a mild chill. But the encounter is described as calm and not threatening, and the ending is unresolved rather than ominous.
Evidence for and against
- A figure is reported sitting on the caller's bed in their bedroom at night.
- The figure says he was shot and killed.
- The caller says the detail [quote withheld]
- The next day's discovery of a rusted pistol leaves the story unresolved.
- The caller says they felt [quote withheld] and went to sleep normally.
- The figure is described as an ordinary-looking boy who simply talks.
- The story ends with the host's calm theorizing rather than with a threat.
- A short story with no detail about the figure's appearance.
- 2:02
- 2:18
What the model inferred (not said on air): A judgment about the story as heard, not a claim about events.
The frame, a nighttime bedroom figure in an old rented house, is familiar. But the Pony Express claim, the caller's reported lack of alarm, and the pistol found in the barn give it distinctive details beyond the stock repertoire.
Evidence for and against
- The figure identifies himself by his job: [quote withheld]
- The caller says they felt no uneasiness at all and simply went to sleep afterward.
- A rusted pistol is said to have been found above a barn stall the next day.
- A figure sitting on the end of the bed is a common ghost-story motif.
- An old house that had been a hotel with many small rooms is a familiar setting.
- The story is short, which limits the number of distinctive elements available.
- 1:40
- 2:40
What the model inferred (not said on air): A provisional model estimate from content. The comparison with the rest of the archive is not worked out here.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's firsthand story told to the host; A claimed physical object (a rusted pistol) said to have been found, not produced or examined on air; No second witness on air. 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.
- A dreamlike experience while falling asleep in an unfamiliar new room could produce a vivid figure and conversation, with no independent mark left behind. · The caller had just lain down on the bed at night after coming in from the catwalk, describes the moonlight and the room, and says [quote withheld] right afterward.
- Expectation and suggestion from the unusual old building, and ordinary settling or movement in an unfamiliar house, could shape how a half-asleep perception was interpreted. · The caller says the building had been [quote withheld] with many small rooms. It was a large old house with a long horse barn on a farm.
- An old rusted pistol could simply be a long-discarded object left in a barn that old, unrelated to anything seen the night before. · The pistol is found the following day while the caller is reaching above a stall where rabbits were kept.
What stands out
The figure introduces himself in terms of his job, a Pony Express rider who was shot. The caller stresses that they felt no alarm at all and went straight to sleep. The story ends with a claimed physical find: a rusted pistol taken from above a horse-barn stall the next day.
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