Figures in a field, a shrinking shape, and a child’s face in a drain pipe
[name withheld], calling from Lakewood, Colorado, tells Art a firsthand story they say they also told on the program about two years earlier. The caller reports that many years ago, driving home after taking their grandfather to a sporting event, they stopped at a bend in a country road. They saw two figures in the grass that appeared to shrink into a black-and-white furry shape, which ran into a roadside drainage pipe. A child’s face then appeared at the mouth of the pipe. The caller says their father later told them a woman at that spot had lost a child and was said to have used black magic. The caller concludes they saw that child’s ghost. The story ends unresolved, with Art reflecting on a trapped spirit versus a repeating “loop.”
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 30:22). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld], calling from Lakewood, Colorado, says they first told this story on Art’s program about two years earlier. [name withheld] says that many years ago, while they were in the ministry, they drove their grandfather home to a country farmhouse after an evening of sporting events, leaving at about 11:30 or midnight. Driving down the country road, [name withheld] says, they saw something stirring the horses in a field. [name withheld] parked just past a bend and walked back to look over a barbed-wire fence. [name withheld] reports hearing a rustling in the weeds a few feet ahead and then seeing what they describe as [quote withheld] [name withheld] assumed they had walked in on something private. The two figures, the caller says, then shrank (literally, the caller confirms to Art) and became [quote withheld] that ran toward them and went into a roadside drainage pipe. Looking at the pipe, the caller reports two small hands gripping its edge and then the face of a little boy appearing. It was grayish-white and “ghoulish-looking,” with black fur where the hair would be. It went back into the pipe. [name withheld] says they were afraid and headed for their car, then returned, knelt at the bend, and prayed before driving off. The next day, the caller says, their grandfather refused to explain and told them to ask their father. Their father, the caller says, told them there had once been a small one-bedroom house at that bend. A woman there had lost her child and was said to have turned to black magic. The father and the grandfather once saw a fireball roll from her house, across the yard and road, over the fence, and into the field where the horses were. The caller says they think what they saw in the pipe was the ghost of that boy, and that the question will puzzle them until their grave. Art speculates about a trapped soul versus a repeating “loop.”
Reported events, in order
- 0:04
The caller gives their name as [name withheld], from Lakewood, Colorado, and says they spoke to Art about the same subject about two years earlier.
- 0:20
The caller says that many years ago, while in the ministry, they took their grandfather to an evening of sporting events and drove him home to a country farmhouse.
- 0:51
Driving down the country road after leaving around 11:30 or midnight, the caller says they saw something stirring the horses in a field.
- 1:05
The caller says they parked just past a bend, walked back, and looked over a barbed-wire fence.
- 1:09
The caller reports hearing a rustling (their word: “rumbling”) in the weeds and grass a few feet in front of them.
- 1:35
The caller reports seeing a “vision” of a man and a woman lying in the grass, and at first thinking they had walked in on something private.
- 2:06
The caller says the two figures “shrunk” and became something black and white and furry that ran directly toward them.
- 2:28
The caller says the thing went into a drainage pipe passing under the road at the bend.
- 2:48
The caller reports two small hands gripping the pipe edge and then the face of a little boy appearing.
- 3:04
The caller describes the face as grayish-white and ghoulish, with black fur where the hair would be.
- 3:43
The caller says the face withdrew into the pipe and they headed back to their car.
- 3:59
The caller says they turned the car off, returned to the bend, knelt and prayed, and then drove away.
- 4:09
The caller says that the next day their grandfather refused to explain and told them to put the question to their father.
- 4:24
The caller says their father told them there had once been a small one-bedroom house at that bend and that a woman there had lost her child.
- 4:30
The caller says their father told them the woman was said to have turned to black magic to connect with her dead child.
- 4:46
The caller says their father and grandfather once saw a fireball come out of the woman’s house and roll across the yard, road, and field.
- 5:06
The caller states their own conclusion that what they saw in the pipe was the ghost of that little boy.
- 6:09
The caller compares the face’s grayish pallor to a dying child they once saw while volunteering in a hospital.
- 6:29
The caller says the child may be [quote withheld] forever and that the question will puzzle them until their grave.
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· 1:35
The caller says they saw what they describe as a man and a woman lying in the grass beside the road.
- observation· 2:06
The caller says the two figures shrank and became something black and white and furry that ran toward them.
- observation· 2:28
The caller says the thing ran into a drainage pipe under the road.
- observation· 2:48
The caller says a child’s face appeared at the mouth of the pipe.
- observation· 3:04
The caller describes the face as grayish-white and ghoulish, with black fur where the hair was.
- observation· 3:43
The caller says they went back to their car when the face withdrew into the pipe.
- observation· 3:59
The caller says they returned, knelt at the bend, and prayed before leaving.
- hearsay· 4:14
The caller says their grandfather declined to explain the event and told them to ask their father instead.
- hearsay· 4:30
The caller says their father told them a woman at that bend had lost her child and had turned to black magic to connect with the dead child.
- hearsay· 4:46
The caller says their father and grandfather saw a fireball come out of the woman’s house and roll across the yard, road, and field.
- interpretation· 5:06
The caller concludes that what they saw in the pipe was the ghost of that little boy.
- interpretation· 6:29
The caller says the child may be caught at that spot indefinitely.
- host statement· 5:31
Art speculates the sighting might be a trapped soul or a repeating residual image of past events.
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 clear, firsthand story told in order, with concrete rural detail. But it has no checkable details and does not take up ordinary explanations for the animal-like shape in the pipe. Its credibility as testimony is moderate rather than high.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story of the caller’s own experience.
- Concrete setting and sequence: grandfather’s farmhouse, a bend in a country road, a barbed-wire fence, a drainage pipe under the road.
- Consistent answers to Art’s clarifying questions about the sound and about the shrinking.
- No names, dates, road names, or other checkable details. The caller is the only claimed witness to the figures and the face.
- The sequence (two people becoming a small black-and-white animal) is unusual, and the caller does not address any ordinary explanation, such as an animal in the pipe.
- The caller’s description of themself shifts: they say “I wasn't scared” and also “I was afraid.”
- The transcript breaks the caller’s telling into many short fragments, so the accuracy of individual words is uncertain.
- Some lines around the host’s responses appear to be segmentation errors.
- 0:15
- 2:06
- 3:31
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component points (source 20, detail 13, consistency 13, alternatives 6, caution in claims 10) are my allocation. The transcript supplies the content but not the weightings.
The story rests on the caller’s own word, with a claimed family history that is itself secondhand and unverified. Nothing that can be checked independently is present.
Evidence for and against
- The caller gives a location, a time of night, and family relationships, and refers to a previous telling of the same story on the same program about two years earlier.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is claimed to exist.
- No second witness to the figures or the face. The grandfather and father are reported only as sources of a separate history.
- Whether the caller’s earlier broadcast contains additional detail cannot be judged from this part of the broadcast.
- 0:10
- 4:24
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placing it in the range for the caller’s word only is my judgment against the scoring guide. The absence of documents is drawn from the content of the transcript.
The child’s face in the pipe and the idea of a spirit stuck at the roadside give the story a distinctly unsettling tone, though nothing is reported as threatening or violent.
Evidence for and against
- An isolated country road at about midnight.
- A grayish-white “ghoulish” child’s face with black fur emerging from a drain pipe.
- The caller’s statement that the child may be trapped at that spot forever.
- No report of injury, physical contact, or pursuit of the caller.
- The caller describes their own reaction as confusion rather than terror, and the encounter ends when they drive away.
- Only a short part of the story describes the face itself, so the impression rests on a few lines.
- 3:02
- 6:29
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a judgment about how the described imagery lands with a listener, not a claim about the events.
This is a familiar rural-ghost setting combined with an unusual change of shape and a specific, odd closing image. The published score is provisional at this early stage.
Evidence for and against
- The two figures appearing to shrink into a small black-and-white animal is an unusual transition.
- The image of a furred, grayish child’s face at the mouth of a culvert, and the family story of a fireball rolling from a house across a field, are distinctive details.
- A ghost child, a rural farmhouse setting, and a local legend about a woman using black magic are familiar ghost-story elements.
- How much weight comparison with the rest of the archive should carry is unknown at this early stage, so the score is labeled provisional.
- 2:06
- 2:48
What the model inferred (not said on air): The model estimate is my comparison against common ghost-story motifs. A score compared with the rest of the archive cannot be calculated from this part of the broadcast.
Scoring confidence 0.72 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story given by telephone on air.; The caller states they told the same story on the same program about two years earlier (not verified here).. The originality score blends the model's score (68) 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 real animal with black-and-white fur (for example, a badger, skunk, or dog) moving through the field and into the drainage pipe. · The caller says the figures shrank into [quote withheld] that ran into a roadside drainage pipe. A black-and-white animal moving in the field and sheltering in the pipe would fit that part of the story.
- Misperception of shapes and movement in grass in low light at night. The “man and woman” turned out to be a smaller, differently shaped object. · The caller says they were looking at weeds and grass a few feet away shortly before midnight and at first took what they saw for two people.
- The horses were disturbed by an animal, by the caller’s car, or by wind in the grass rather than by anything unusual. · The caller’s first observation was that [quote withheld] and the horses were in the field next to the road.
What stands out
The reported change of two apparent human figures into a small black-and-white animal, followed by a furred child’s face at the mouth of a culvert, is an uncommon combination. The story also includes a second family story from a different source, about a fireball said to have rolled from a house across the same field.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.