Scent of carnations in a van on Highway 99 after a grandmother's death
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld] and says they are calling from Reno describes a car trip about ten years earlier. The caller and their mother were driving along Highway 99 to clear out the apartment of their grandmother, who had just died. The caller reports that an overwhelming smell of flowers filled the van, that their mother smelled it too, and that the smell was not present outside. The call ends with the host remarking that other callers have described presences making themselves known by odor.
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 1:13:48). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld], who says they are calling from Reno, tells the host the event happened [quote withheld] when they were 20 years old and living in California. Their grandmother had died about a week earlier. [name withheld] and the mother were driving to clear out the grandmother's apartment and take care of last-minute details. The grandmother lived about a half hour from [name withheld]. The drive was along Highway 99, and they were about halfway there, roughly an hour and a half south of Sacramento.
[quote withheld] they say, they smelled an overwhelming smell of flowers inside the car. They glanced at their mother, who was driving. The mother glanced back, and both indicated they smelled flowers. [name withheld] reports that their mother “smelled them too.” Their first thought was the oleander bushes in the highway's center divide. They rolled down the windows, expecting the smell to be stronger outside, but [name withheld] says [quote withheld]
They talked about it and, [name withheld] says, [quote withheld] The mother told [name withheld] later that the smell was carnations, which [name withheld] says was their grandmother's favorite flower. [name withheld] notes they were not familiar with the scent at the time. [name withheld] says the vehicle was their mother's old Volkswagen van, and that [quote withheld] The host replies that [name withheld] is not the first caller to describe a presence indicated by odor, and that spirits are [quote withheld] [name withheld] offers no further interpretation, and the call closes with thanks.
Reported events, in order
- 0:18
[name withheld] says the experience happened about ten years before the call. Their grandmother had died about a week earlier.
- 0:34
The caller and their mother were driving to clear out the grandmother's apartment and handle last-minute details.
- 0:45
They were on Highway 99, about halfway to their destination, roughly an hour and a half south of Sacramento.
- 0:53
The caller reports suddenly smelling an overwhelming smell of flowers in the car.
- 1:06
The caller and their mother exchanged glances, and both indicated they smelled flowers.
- 1:16
The caller reports that their mother smelled them too.
- 1:42
They rolled down the windows, expecting the oleander bushes in the center divide to be the source. The caller reports no smell came from outside.
- 2:02
They discussed it and immediately thought of their grandmother, who had died a week earlier.
- 2:13
Their mother told them later that the smell was carnations, which the caller says was the grandmother's favorite flower.
- 2:47
The caller says they were 20 years old at the time, the vehicle was their mother's old Volkswagen van, and nothing in the car could have produced the smell.
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· 0:53
An overwhelming smell of flowers appeared inside the car during the drive.
- observation· 1:16
The caller's mother smelled it as well.
- observation· 1:51
No smell of flowers was coming from outside the vehicle after they opened the windows.
- observation· 2:54
Nothing in the car could have caused the flower smell.
- interpretation· 2:02
They immediately connected the smell with their grandmother, who had died a week before.
- hearsay· 2:26
The mother identified the smell as carnations, the grandmother's favorite flower (information [name withheld] says came from the mother).
- host statement· 2:59
The host says other callers have reported presences indicated by odor and that spirits are apparently identified by smell.
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.
A clear firsthand story with concrete geography and sequence. The caller raises one ordinary explanation (oleander bushes) and reports testing it. But the story is brief, undated, and not backed up by anyone on air, and other ordinary scent sources inside a vehicle are not addressed.
Evidence for and against
- A firsthand, direct experience, not hearsay.
- A concrete setting: Highway 99, halfway to the destination, an hour and a half south of Sacramento, their mother's old Volkswagen van.
- The sequence hangs together and answers the host's questions about the smell's source and meaning.
- The caller and their mother themselves proposed a natural cause (oleander bushes) and the caller reports testing it.
- No date, no documentation, and no third witness. The only second witness does not speak on air.
- The statement that nothing in the car could have caused the smell is a conclusion, not a described search.
- Common scent sources in a vehicle, and brief false smells, are not addressed.
- The link to the grandmother rests on a coincidence in time (the death a week earlier) and the mother's later naming of the flower.
- The labels showing who is speaking are inconsistent for several of the caller's lines (labeled as the caller several times, then as the host once), so it is not certain who said each sentence.
- It is not stated whether the smell faded, how long it lasted, or whether the van was searched.
- 0:53
- 1:51
- 2:54
What the model inferred (not said on air): Component scores: source proximity 21 of 25 (firsthand but brief), specificity 13 of 20, internal consistency 17 of 20, alternative explanations 9 of 20, calibration 8 of 15.
The story rests on the caller's word plus a second witness who is claimed but never speaks on air, and on no physical evidence. That places it in the [quote withheld] range.
Evidence for and against
- A second person (their mother) is said to have shared the experience.
- Some specifics could in principle be checked (Highway 99, oleander in the center divide, the grandmother's favorite flower).
- No photograph, recording, document, or trace is claimed.
- The second witness does not speak on air. The mother's information is relayed by the caller.
- No outside check is done in this part of the broadcast.
- The transcript gives no dates, addresses, or names that would allow any check.
- Whether [name withheld] and the mother inspected the van is not stated.
- 1:16
- 2:26
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placed low in the 11 to 25 range because there is a claimed but silent second witness and a few place details that could be checked, with no object of any kind.
The reported experience is a pleasant flower smell with no threat, no figure, and no intrusion. The caller calls it “pleasantly eerie,” and takes it as a kind connection to a dead relative.
Evidence for and against
- The caller describes the story as “pleasantly eerie.”
- The event is a flower scent, plainly not threatening.
- The interpretation is affectionate (the grandmother's favorite flower).
- The setting is a car on a highway right after a death in the family, which carries mild unease.
- The smell is described as overwhelming and without a known source.
- The transcript does not describe how [name withheld] and the mother felt at the time beyond exchanging glances and talking about it.
- 0:07
- 0:53
What the model inferred (not said on air): Rated near the low end because the story is gentle in content and the caller presents it as pleasant. The unease comes only from the unexplained source.
A sign through the senses (an odor) after a death in the family is a familiar idea in ghost lore. But the story has a distinctive mix: a scent named only later by the second person as carnations, in a van on Highway 99 with oleander bushes along the center divide.
Evidence for and against
- A ghostly flower smell linked to a dead relative is a recurring theme (listed under perfume and flower smells and signs of the afterlife).
- A distinctive detail: the mother names the flower as carnations after the fact, and it was the grandmother's favorite flower.
- A distinctive detail: [name withheld] and the mother test the highway's oleander bushes as the source.
- No unusual event beyond an unexplained odor.
- The [quote withheld] pattern is common.
- How new it is compared with the rest of the archive cannot be judged from a single transcript.
- 2:26
- 2:30
What the model inferred (not said on air): A provisional automatic score of 45 (a familiar idea with a couple of distinctive details). The part that compares it with the rest of the archive is expected to carry little weight at this early stage.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.75 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's firsthand story; A claimed second witness (their mother) who does not speak 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.
- A scented source inside the van that no one noticed (perfume, an air freshener, a scented item, or flowers carried in the vehicle) produced the smell. · The event is reported as happening inside a closed vehicle. The caller says [quote withheld] which is the caller's conclusion, not an inspection described in the transcript.
- Oleander bushes in the highway's center divide, which [name withheld] and the mother themselves proposed as the source. · The caller says Highway 99 has “oleander bushes” in the center divide, and that they rolled down the windows to test this. The caller reports no smell from outside.
- A false smell with no outside cause (phantosmia), experienced by one or both people in the car. · The reported sensation is a smell with no located source and no other sense involved. The transcript records no physical trace or investigation beyond opening the windows.
What stands out
This is a smell-only “sign” story. The reported event is an odor with no figure, sound, or physical effect. It is tied to a dead relative through a specific flower that the second person in the car named later. The caller names a natural source (oleander bushes along the highway) and says they tested it and ruled it out.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.