Transparent figure rocking upstairs in an old Hawaiian plantation home
A caller named [name withheld], from Kohala, Hawaii, says they live in an old plantation town in a century-old house once occupied by a mill manager. They say the house is haunted “back and forth.” They tell of two family experiences. Their mother, alone upstairs at night, saw a transparent figure in an aloha-shirt pattern with dark skin, rocking back and forth. Their father, scraping paint during repairs, heard someone ask what he was doing when no one was in the house. [name withheld] also says they once asked their mother about an infant who had reportedly died in the home, and she was not receptive to the question.
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 5:47:05). 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 their location as Kohala, Hawaii, says they live with their parents in an old defunct plantation town. They say the home is over a century old and was occupied by one of the mill managers. The mill has been out for about 25 to 30 years. The caller says up front that they do not have a story of their own, but that the story concerns their mother when they were an infant. The caller says their parents bought and remodeled the home after they were born in 1971. The family had a Great Dane named Hina, one of the biggest in the state, which the caller says was sensitive at night. The caller says their mother was upstairs alone one night while their father was out of state on business. She remembers the dog getting “chicken skin” and the feeling of a presence. On one occasion, the caller says, she walked up the stairs and saw an image the caller describes as an aloha-shirt pattern with dark skin. The home has three rooms and two rocking chairs upstairs. The caller says the figure was transparent but showed some skin color, and it was rocking back and forth. [name withheld] adds that they later sat down with their mother one night and asked her about one of the infants that had reportedly died in the home, since there had apparently been caretakers there. She was not receptive to the question. [name withheld] also says their father was scraping paint off a ceiling or roof during repair work when he heard someone ask him what he was doing. Their father threw everything down, looked back, and realized no one was in the home. The host closes the call with comments about hauntings in Hawaii.
Reported events, in order
- 0:11
The caller identifies themselves as [name withheld], calling from Kohala, Hawaii, and says they have listened to the show for a couple of months.
- 0:23
The caller says they live with their parents in an old defunct plantation town in Hawaii, in a home over a century old, having just moved back.
- 1:17
The caller says the home was occupied by one of the mill managers and that the mill has been out for about 25, almost 30 years.
- 1:32
The caller says the home is haunted but that it [quote withheld]
- 1:39
The caller says that when they were born in 1971, their parents had just bought and remodeled the home, and that they had a Great Dane, one of the biggest in the state.
- 2:03
The caller says their mother was upstairs alone one night while their father was out of state on business.
- 2:17
The caller says the dog Hina would get sensitive at night and their mother would get “chicken skin” and the feeling of being in the presence of a ghost.
- 2:29
The caller says their mother walked up the stairs and saw an image like an aloha-shirt pattern with dark skin, a transparent figure rocking back and forth.
- 2:55
The caller says they asked their mother one night about one of the infants that had reportedly died in the home, and that she was not receptive to the question.
- 3:19
The caller says their father, scraping paint off a ceiling or roof during repair work, heard someone ask [quote withheld], threw everything down, and realized no one was in the home.
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).
- interpretation· 1:32
The caller’s present home is haunted, off and on.
- hearsay· 2:38
The caller’s mother, alone upstairs at night, saw an image like an aloha-shirt pattern.
- hearsay· 2:47
The figure the mother says she saw was transparent, showed some skin color, and was rocking back and forth.
- hearsay· 2:24
The dog Hina was sensitive at night, and the mother felt a ghostly presence.
- hearsay· 3:38
The caller’s father, scraping paint during repairs, heard someone ask what he was doing.
- hearsay· 3:47
No one was present when the father heard the voice.
- hearsay· 2:55
An infant is said to have died in the home. The mother was not receptive when asked.
- host statement· 1:06
The host says plantation workers brought to Hawaii worked and died in the fields, so hauntings would be expected there.
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.
The story is fairly specific and holds together, but it is secondhand from the caller’s parents, and no one tried to rule out ordinary explanations for the house.
Evidence for and against
- A named place (Kohala, Hawaii), a named dog (Hina), a stated birth year (1971), and a described layout of rooms and chairs.
- The caller separates what they were told from what they conclude, and notes that their mother was not receptive to their question.
- All the events are reported secondhand from the mother and father.
- Ordinary explanations (old-house noises, dim-light perception, work noise) are not addressed.
- It is not clear whether the caller themselves witnessed anything.
- Some passages are garbled (“great dame” and “great bean”; [quote withheld]), so the details are less reliable.
- 1:32
- 2:38
- 2:55
What the model inferred (not said on air): Component estimate: source proximity about 12 (secondhand from close family), specificity about 14, internal consistency about 13, alternative explanations about 8, calibration about 9, for about 56. The score is capped at 60 because the story is secondhand.
The caller’s word only, plus a named place and a claimed secondhand witness. No documentation and no backing from anyone else on air.
Evidence for and against
- Checkable details are given: Kohala, Hawaii; a home over a century old; a mill said to have closed 25 to 30 years ago; the caller’s birth year, 1971.
- No physical evidence is claimed or examined.
- The claimed witnesses (mother and father) do not speak on air.
- No documentation, photograph, or recording is mentioned.
- The labels showing who is speaking are automatic and inconsistent, so even who said what is partly uncertain.
- 0:11
- 2:55
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placed at the low end of the 11 to 25 range: there are checkable details, but nothing has been checked and no independent witness speaks.
A ghost upstairs in a family home and a voice heard during solitary work, with a passing mention of infants who died in the house.
Evidence for and against
- A transparent figure seen alone upstairs at night.
- A voice speaking to the father when no one was in the home.
- A dog reported as sensitive, and a mention of infants who reportedly died in the home.
- No evil intent, physical contact, or harm is described.
- The story ends with the host’s remarks, not an ominous moment.
- The mother’s and father’s reactions are reported secondhand and not described in detail.
- Gaps in the transcript around the dog’s behavior make it harder to judge how vivid the scene was.
- 2:47
- 3:47
What the model inferred (not said on air): Rated moderate: a presence in a family home and an unanswered voice, but no threat, harm, or building tension is described.
A standard haunted-house frame, a transparent figure in a rocking chair and a voice with no body, with distinctive Hawaiian plantation details.
Evidence for and against
- A figure rocking in a chair, a voice with no visible speaker, and a sensitive animal: all common motifs.
- The aloha-shirt and dark-skin description of the figure and the mill manager’s house setting are less common.
- The archive is small at this stage of the pilot, so comparison with it carries little weight.
- The distinctive details (aloha shirt, plantation mill house, dog Hina) are partly garbled in the transcript.
- 2:38
What the model inferred (not said on air): Judged as a familiar haunted-house frame (a figure in a chair, a voice with no speaker) with a locally distinctive setting. Comparison with the rest of the archive cannot yet be applied in a meaningful way.
Scoring confidence 0.55 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s secondhand story about their mother’s and father’s experiences.; No documentation, photograph, recording, or witness on air to back it up.; Mentioned but unverified: an infant said to have died in the home.. 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.
- Noises and drafts in a century-old house, along with a dog restless at night, could explain the mother’s sense of a presence and the father’s sense of being spoken to while he worked. · [name withheld] says the home is haunted but it goes back and forth, and that the dog would get very sensitive at night.
- A dimly lit upstairs room with rocking chairs could lead to a misread or briefly glimpsed shape in the mother’s story. · [name withheld] says she remembers seeing an image of kind of a loha shirt or kind of a pattern, and that the figure was kind of transparent.
- The father’s experience of a voice could come from his own work or from another person in the house, though the caller says no one was there. · [name withheld] says somebody asked their father what he was doing, and that their father realized no one was in the home.
What stands out
The setting is the mill manager's house in a defunct Hawaiian plantation town. The one ghost described is tied to local visual details, an aloha-shirt pattern and dark skin, seen [quote withheld] That is unlike the usual white-sheet or shadow-figure images.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.