Childhood waking, a hooded figure, and floating to the living room
A caller who identifies themselves on air as [name withheld], from the island of Kauai, describes something that happened when they were about six years old. The caller reports waking around 4 a.m. and seeing a black-hooded figure with no visible face. The caller says it looked like the Grim Reaper. They then closed their eyes and found themselves floating on their back down the hallway. About a minute later they woke on the living-room floor under the coffee table. The caller says they stayed there until sunrise and that they still do not know what happened.
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 3:21:20). 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 on the island of Kauai, tells the host they have [quote withheld] The caller says they were about six years old, lying in bed with a clock radio in the room. They woke for no reason at roughly 4:07 or 4:08 a.m. and had [quote withheld] The caller reports looking up and seeing something that [quote withheld] a black hood with no visible face. The caller says they freaked out, closed their eyes, and pulled the covers over themselves. The host asks why the caller associated it with the devil. The reply in the transcript is that it “might have been.” That is followed by the reasoning that visitations described as guides or angels are usually light or white-clad. The host says a figure in black would be [quote withheld] and jokes that the caller [quote withheld] The caller then asks to finish the story. They describe a [quote withheld] They then opened their eyes and saw the hallway ceiling passing above them. They realized they were floating on their back, not walking. They closed their eyes again. When they next opened them, they were on the living-room floor underneath the coffee table, beside a second, digital clock radio. The caller says about one minute had passed since the bedroom clock reading. The caller says they were wide awake, did not move, and slept under the coffee table until sunrise. The caller tells the host they still do not know what happened. The host jokes about the caller being a bad six-year-old, and the caller answers that they were [quote withheld] and “a good six-year-old.”
Reported events, in order
- 0:15
The caller says they were about six years old, in bed, with a clock radio in the room, at around 4:07 or 4:08 a.m.
- 0:31
The caller wakes for no apparent reason and has a “creepy feeling.”
- 0:46
The caller looks up and sees a black-hooded figure with no visible face, which they say looked like the Grim Reaper.
- 1:32
The caller closes their eyes and pulls the covers up.
- 1:45
The caller reports a tingly, sparkly sensation.
- 1:56
The caller opens their eyes, sees the hallway ceiling above them, and says they were floating on their back down the hallway.
- 2:18
The caller closes their eyes again while moving down the hallway.
- 2:42
The caller opens their eyes on the living-room floor under the coffee table and sees the digital clock radio. The caller says about one minute had passed.
- 3:06
The caller does not move and sleeps under the coffee table until sunrise.
- 3:18
The caller says they still do not know what happened.
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· 0:46
A black-hooded figure with no visible face appeared to the caller in their bedroom.
- observation· 1:45
The caller felt a tingly, sparkly sensation.
- observation· 2:10
The caller was floating on their back down the hallway rather than walking.
- observation· 2:42
The caller came to on the living-room floor under the coffee table, and about a minute had passed.
- interpretation· 0:52
The figure might have been the devil. It is unclear who said this. The transcript labels the line as the host, but the host’s follow-up question, [quote withheld], suggests it came from the caller.
- interpretation· 3:18
The caller remains unable to explain the experience.
- host statement· 1:18
The host says a figure in black is not a kindly guide but [quote withheld]
- host statement· 1:31
The host jokes that the caller [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.
This is a detailed, consistent firsthand sequence with concrete sensory and spatial detail and a careful tone. But it is a childhood memory with no backing from anyone else, and a waking hallucination or sleepwalking explanation fits easily.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story of the events themselves.
- Concrete time, two clock radios, hallway, coffee table, and a stated elapsed minute.
- The caller separates what they saw from what they conclude, and says repeatedly that they do not know.
- It happened at about age six and is recalled decades later.
- Waking shortly before and seeing a bedroom figure fit waking hallucinations easily.
- No second witness, no documentation, and no checkable specifics such as a town or date.
- The labels showing who is speaking are unreliable across these lines. Several of the caller’s sentences appear inside lines labeled as the host.
- Some lines are garbled, such as “4, 407,” and “line, and I,” so small details are unreliable.
- 0:15
- 2:42
- 3:18
What the model inferred (not said on air): The components are: closeness to the source 18 (firsthand, but a childhood memory), specificity 12, internal consistency 15, alternative explanations 7 (a waking dream or sleepwalking fits the sequence well), and calibration 10, for a total of 62. No cap applies. This is a judgment about the caller’s story, not a probability that anything paranormal occurred.
The story rests entirely on the caller’s own word. Their stated name and location are unverified, and they sit on lines where the speaker label is uncertain.
Evidence for and against
- A place is named on air: [quote withheld]
- A claimed clock reading about one minute after they saw the figure in the bedroom.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is claimed or examined.
- No second witness speaks or is named.
- The time and place details cannot be checked from the transcript, and the caller’s identification is uncertain.
- It is not certain from the labels that the lines with the name “[name withheld]” and “Kauai” belong to the same caller who tells the story.
- 0:07
- 2:54
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is placed at the very bottom of the scoring range of 0 to 10 (the caller’s word only). Even the details that could be checked, their name and location, come from a line that may not belong to this caller. No outside check was done.
A child alone at night faces a faceless black-hooded figure in the bedroom, then floats helplessly through the house and wakes on the floor, with no explanation offered.
Evidence for and against
- Something enters a child’s bedroom at about 4 a.m.
- Faceless hooded figure compared to the Grim Reaper.
- Loss of control of their body: floating on their back, unable to stop it, and waking elsewhere.
- Ends without explanation or resolution.
- No threat, injury, or physical contact is reported.
- The host’s responses are mostly jokes.
- Short duration and no escalation.
- The transcript does not make clear whether the devil remark came from the caller or the host, which affects how menacing the story feels.
- 0:46
- 2:10
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score reflects the child in a bedroom, the faceless figure, and the helplessness of the floating. It is held down by the lack of any stated harm and the short, plain telling.
The setup is familiar (a child wakes and sees a hooded figure). It is joined to an uncommon second element: a float on their back down the hallway that ends under a coffee table, with about a minute passed.
Evidence for and against
- A hooded or robed figure in a bedroom is a stock motif.
- The trip down the hallway out of their body and the landing under the coffee table are unusual together.
- Marking the start and end of the minute with two clock radios is a distinctive detail.
- Most of the building blocks (waking at night, a dark figure, covers pulled up) recur often in this kind of story.
- The published originality score is computed separately, compared with the rest of the archive. With few stories so far, that comparison carries little weight and the value is provisional.
- 1:56
- 2:54
What the model inferred (not said on air): The model score is set at 60: a familiar setup plus one distinctive combination. Treat the published value as provisional.
Scoring confidence 0.50 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story on air; Claimed clock-radio time readings used to mark the sequence, not examined; No photographs, recordings, documents, marks, or other physical evidence claimed or examined; No second witness named or speaking on air. The originality score blends the model's score (60) 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 hallucination while waking up, or a vivid dream, at around 4 a.m., followed by a partial waking in which they got up and lay down elsewhere in the house. · The caller reports waking suddenly at about 4 a.m. and immediately seeing a figure. The caller also reports waking on the floor of another room with a clock reading about a minute later.
- Sleepwalking or confused behavior: they left the bed and ended up under the coffee table, and the hallway and floating are dream images they remember. · By their own account, they were on the floor under the living-room coffee table and stayed there until sunrise.
- Low light and a familiar image (the Grim Reaper) may have shaped what they saw on waking in a dark bedroom. The caller notes they could not see a face. · [quote withheld]
What stands out
The story combines a hooded figure at the bedside with what the caller describes as an involuntary float on their back through the house. It ends on the floor under a coffee table, with only about a minute having passed. The caller offers no explanation at all and says they still do not know what happened.
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