A felt presence at night and creased pants on a bedroom chair
A caller who identifies himself as [quote withheld] tells Art Bell a first-person story about a night in the summer of 1973, when he was 13. Lying in bed near midnight, he says, he felt as though someone had entered his room and was watching him. He stayed still for about two hours before sleeping. He reports that the next morning the freshly laundered pants folded on a chair at the foot of his bed were creased as though someone had been sitting on them. The story ends there, and the caller moves on to a separate one.
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 1997.mp3”, starting at 1:50:29). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
Calling in to the program, a man who gives his name and city as [quote withheld] says his story took place in the summer of 1973, when he was 13 years old. He says his father had died a year before and that in January 1973 his brother had died by suicide. On the night in question, he says, his two other brothers who still lived at home were out for the night. That left only him and his mother at home. He was in bed near midnight, looking out the window at the stars. A chair his mother had placed at the foot of the bed held freshly laundered and folded pants. He says that about midnight he felt as though someone had walked into his room and was watching him. He did not turn over or look. If it were his mother, he did not want to scare her by moving suddenly. If it were anything else, he did not want to scare her by moving suddenly either. He says he stayed in that tension for about two hours, hearing the clock in the front part of the house chime the hours, and then went to sleep. When the host asks whether he really lay there for two hours in that state, he answers that he was not about to turn around. He describes the house as an old house built from an older house, with lumber older than the house. He says that the next morning, getting up on his way to whatever he would do in the summertime, he looked down and saw that the pants had been creased as though someone had been sitting in the chair. The story ends at that observation, and the caller then begins a separate one.
Reported events, in order
- 0:12
The caller ([quote withheld]) says the events took place in the summer of 1973, when he was 13 years old. He says his father had died a year before and that in January 1973 his brother had died by suicide.
- 0:25
He says his two other brothers who still lived at home were out for the night, leaving only him and his mother at home.
- 0:30
He says that near midnight he was in his bed, looking out the window at the stars.
- 0:38
He says a chair placed by his mother, holding freshly laundered and folded pants, stood at the foot of his bed.
- 0:47
He says that about midnight he felt as though someone had walked into his room and was watching him.
- 1:01
He says he did not turn around to look, and gives two reasons. If it were his mother, he did not want to scare her by moving suddenly. If it were anything else, he did not want to scare her by moving suddenly either.
- 1:15
He says he lay there in that tension for about two hours, hearing the clock in the front of the house chime the hours, and then went to sleep.
- 1:29
Asked by the host whether he lay there for two hours in that state, he answers that he was not about to turn around. He describes the house as an old house built from an older house, with lumber older than the house itself.
- 1:38
He says that the next morning, getting up on his way to do whatever he would do in the summertime, he looked down and saw that the pants had been creased as though someone had been sitting in the chair.
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· 0:47
The caller says that at about midnight he felt as though someone had walked into his bedroom and was watching him.
- observation· 1:43
The caller says that the next morning the laundered pants folded on the chair at the foot of his bed were creased as though someone had been sitting on them.
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 firsthand story that holds together but is brief, with a few concrete details and modest calibration. The score is held down because an explanation tied to falling asleep fits a bedside sense of presence easily, and nothing is backed up or checkable.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story from the person who says he experienced it ([quote withheld]).
- Concrete anchors within the story: year and season (summer 1973), his age (13), the approximate time (about midnight), and the chair and the laundered pants.
- A coherent sequence told in order, with no evident self-contradiction, including answers to the host’s two questions.
- He separates a felt impression from a seen fact ([quote withheld]).
- A harmless explanation tied to falling asleep fits a sense of presence felt while lying awake in bed near midnight.
- The creased pants have ordinary possible sources: laundering and folding, or an ordinary member of the household sitting on the chair.
- Nothing in the story is backed up by anyone else. No second witness speaks, and no detail can be checked now.
- The labels showing who is speaking are confused in one stretch, with lines assigned to the host, the caller, and the host again within the caller’s story. So who said which exact words is uncertain.
- The story is short (about 1 minute 40 seconds), which limits how much can be assessed.
- 0:12
- 0:47
- 1:01
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component weights (closeness to the source about 21, specificity about 12, internal consistency about 15, other explanations about 7, calibration about 8) are my editorial judgment from the transcript. The sub-scores are not stated anywhere in the story.
Only the caller’s own word is present. He claims a physical trace that was never kept or examined, and there is no second witness on air. The names and dates he gives were not checked, which places this in the low range.
Evidence for and against
- Checkable specifics are stated but were not checked: a name (“[name withheld]”), a city (“San Antonio”), and dates (1973 and January 1973).
- A physical trace is claimed, the creasing of the laundered pants, although it was not examined.
- No documentation, photograph, or recording is claimed for the creased pants.
- No second witness speaks on air. His mother, who was in the house, is not said to have experienced anything.
- No independent check was performed.
- It is not stated whether anyone else handled or later inspected the pants.
- 1:43
- 0:02
What the model inferred (not said on air): I treat the creased pants as an observation that was not kept, not as surviving physical evidence. Nothing indicates they were photographed, saved, or shown to the host.
An unseen presence watching from the bedroom for about two hours produces real unease. But with no figure, contact, or threat, the story lands in the middle of the range rather than higher.
Evidence for and against
- A presence is felt entering the bedroom at midnight and watching the caller.
- The caller says he lay still in that state for about two hours before sleeping.
- The closing detail suggests someone had been sitting on the chair beside his bed while he lay there.
- No figure, sound, contact, harm, or threat is reported.
- The caller’s stated fear is about startling someone else, not about danger to himself.
- The story ends on a quiet physical detail rather than a rise in tension.
- No description is given of what, if anything, the caller thought was there, which limits how the scene is read.
- 0:47
- 1:15
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a judgment about how the story reads to a listener, not about whether anything happened.
A familiar bedroom-presence story, anchored by a distinctive physical detail: the crease left in freshly folded laundry on a chair. That lifts it above stock elements without making it rare. The score compared with the rest of the archive is provisional for this pilot and may change as the archive grows.
Evidence for and against
- The closing detail is fairly uncommon: laundered pants on a chair at the foot of the bed found creased, read as a sign that someone had sat there.
- The caller’s reason for lying still, not wanting to scare his mother by moving suddenly in either case, is an unusual framing.
- The core frame, a presence felt at the bedside at night and a feeling of being watched, is a common ghost-story element.
- Nothing unusual is reported about the presence itself. No figure is described.
- The published originality score depends on comparison data from the archive that was not available at scoring time, so it is provisional.
- 1:43
- 1:04
What the model inferred (not said on air): The model score reflects a stock frame plus one unusual detail. The anchors for the 0 to 100 scale are applied editorially.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand spoken story only.; A claimed physical trace (creases in laundered pants) that was not photographed, kept, or examined on air.; No second witness on air.; No outside check performed.. 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.
- A sense of presence tied to falling asleep, rather than a visitor from outside. · He was lying awake in bed near midnight ([quote withheld]). A sense of a presence in the room can arise while falling asleep.
- The crease in the pants came from laundering and folding, or from an ordinary member of the household sitting on the chair. · The pants had been “freshly laundered” and folded by his mother before being placed on the chair, and folds and creases are an ordinary result of laundering and folding.
- Ordinary heightened alertness after a recent death in the family, rather than something unseen. · He reports recent deaths in the family: his father “a year before” 1973 and his brother in January 1973. A person lying awake in that period might be primed to notice and interpret a sense of presence.
What stands out
The claimed evidence is not a sighting or a sound but a crease. Freshly laundered pants folded on a chair at the foot of the bed are said to have been found creased the next morning, as if someone had sat on them. The caller also gives two reasons for not turning over, both about protecting his mother from being startled, whichever of two possibilities it was.
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