Featureless black figure reported at a roller hockey rink
A caller from Waterloo, Illinois, tells Art Bell that their friend’s parents bought a sports complex with a roller hockey rink. The caller says they felt cold spots during remodeling and later heard “strange stuff” at night. The caller relays that their friend [name withheld] reported seeing a seven-foot black, featureless figure that walked out an exit. Three weeks later, the caller says, their friend [name withheld] saw something reach for [name withheld] and vanish. A third, unrelated player later described the same thing in the locker room. The story ends with Art calling it [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 1997.mp3”, starting at 3:53:45). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
Calling from Waterloo, Illinois, a caller tells Art Bell that their friend’s parents had bought a sports complex, a roller hockey rink. While the building was being remodeled, the caller felt “very cold spots” there. Once the rink was open and they skated there late at night, the caller says they [quote withheld] One night, the caller says, they had come out of the locker room and gone upstairs while their friend [name withheld] was still downstairs. [name withheld] came up the steps looking [quote withheld] and said [name withheld] had seen a black, featureless shape like a man seven feet tall. It walked away from [name withheld] toward an exit and out the door. Three weeks later, the caller says, their friend [name withheld] was locking up alone and saw something at the corner of [name withheld]’s eye near the office door. When [name withheld] turned, [quote withheld] and vanished as [name withheld] blinked. The caller adds that only one other person has seen it, a player who does not know them. That player described [quote withheld] and, the caller says, matched their description. Art closes the segment by calling it [quote withheld]
Reported events, in order
- 0:22
The caller says that while the sports complex was being remodeled they felt “very cold spots” in the building.
- 0:41
Once the rink was operating, the caller says, they skated there late at night and began “hearing strange stuff.”
- 0:47
The caller says they came out of the locker room and went upstairs while their friend [name withheld] was still downstairs.
- 0:57
The caller says [name withheld] came up the steps looking [quote withheld] and reported seeing a black, featureless shape like a man seven feet tall.
- 1:17
The caller says the figure walked away from [name withheld] toward an exit and went out the door.
- 1:30
Three weeks later, the caller says, their friend [name withheld] was locking up alone and saw something at the corner of [name withheld]’s eye at the office door. It was reaching for [name withheld] and vanished when [name withheld] turned and blinked.
- 2:00
The caller says a third person, a player who does not know them, later described seeing something weird in the locker room downstairs and explained it “to a T.”
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· 0:22
The caller says they felt cold spots in the building while it was being remodeled.
- observation· 0:41
The caller says they began hearing unexplained sounds in the rink late at night.
- hearsay· 0:57
The caller says their friend [name withheld] reported seeing a black, featureless figure about seven feet tall.
- hearsay· 1:17
The caller says the figure walked away from [name withheld] toward an exit and out the door.
- hearsay· 1:30
The caller says their friend [name withheld] saw a figure reaching for [name withheld] that vanished when [name withheld] turned and blinked.
- hearsay· 2:00
The caller says an unrelated player described seeing something unusual in the downstairs locker room and matched their description.
- host statement· 2:13
The host calls the story another story of an entity.
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, specific, but largely secondhand story. Easy ordinary explanations are available, and there is no documentation. It is scored in the middle of the range.
Evidence for and against
- Concrete sequence: cold spots during remodeling, late-night skating, a sighting, and another three weeks later.
- A named location and named witnesses; a consistent sequence.
- The caller does not claim to know what the figure was.
- The central sightings are relayed from others, not witnessed by the caller.
- Cold spots during renovation and a dark figure in a large building at night have simple ordinary explanations.
- The caller’s own direct experience is limited to cold spots and unspecified “strange stuff.”
- The labels showing who is speaking alternate between the host and the caller, even for the caller’s own words.
- The caller did not personally see the figure.
- 0:22
- 1:20
- 2:00
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is my weighted judgment across the five scoring components.
Only the caller’s word and claimed witnesses are present. A town and a type of business are named, which places it in the 11 to 25 range, but nothing was examined or confirmed.
Evidence for and against
- A town is named.
- Two named friends ([name withheld] and [name withheld]) and one unnamed player are claimed as witnesses.
- No second witness speaks on air.
- No photograph, recording, or document is claimed.
- The third witness is unnamed and does not speak on air.
- No documentation is mentioned.
- 1:50
- 0:05
What the model inferred (not said on air): My assessment is that named witnesses and a named town give specifics that could be checked, but nothing was verified.
A tall, featureless black figure in a darkened rink, plus a report of it reaching for someone who was alone, is genuinely unsettling. There is no physical harm and no sustained escalation, which keeps it mid-range.
Evidence for and against
- Figure described as seven feet tall and impossible to see through.
- One sighting involves the figure reaching for a person who was alone.
- No reported injury, contact, or threat spoken by the figure.
- The story is brief and ends without further escalation.
- The “reaching” detail is secondhand and told briefly.
- 1:30
- 0:57
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment is that a tall, featureless figure and a reaching gesture in a dark, empty building are unsettling for a listener.
A dark, featureless figure is a stock ghost-story element. But the sports complex and roller rink setting and the “black mask” description give it a moderately distinctive frame.
Evidence for and against
- A setting that is not a home: a sports complex and roller hockey rink.
- Figure described as a featureless “black mask,” not a recognizable person.
- The core event, a tall dark shadow figure, is a common recurring motif.
- Very few details about the figure’s behavior beyond walking to an exit.
- A very short story; the distinctive “black mask” detail is stated once.
- 0:57
- 0:34
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment is that the shadow-figure motif is familiar, while the rink setting and the “black mask” detail are comparatively uncommon.
Scoring confidence 0.55 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story about cold spots and unspecified “strange stuff” in the building; Secondhand reports attributed to two named friends ([name withheld] and [name withheld]); Secondhand report attributed to one unnamed player; No documentation or physical evidence claimed or examined; No second witness speaks on air. The originality score blends the model's score (45) 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.
- Cold spots could come from a building under renovation, with unheated or drafty spaces before the complex [quote withheld] · we would feel very cold spots in this place. So over the course of the year, you know, the place came up and running
- A dark, tall figure walking to an exit could be a person in dark clothing moving through a large, dimly lit rink at night. · It walked towards an exit, or it went towards an exit; away from him and went out the door
- The second sighting, seen [quote withheld] and gone on turning, fits a brief misperception in low light, possibly shaped by the earlier report passing around the group. · he seen something on the out of the back of his you know corner of his eye; he like jumped and blinked and it disappeared
What stands out
The figure is described not as an ordinary ghost but as a featureless “black mask” about seven feet tall, seen in a roller hockey rink and sports complex rather than a home. The story is almost entirely secondhand, relayed by a caller who personally reports only cold spots and unspecified “strange stuff.”
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.