Voice in the kitchen, a loosened bulb, and a face in a burnt furnace
A caller who gives the name [name withheld], from Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, describes several events in an old farmhouse they shared with their husband and two small children. A voice in the kitchen said the caller's name. A range-hood bulb had to be tightened again every night for a month, the caller says. A garbage bag moved, with a smell of perfume. After a January 1996 house fire, the caller says, a face was burned into the furnace. The story ends with Art Bell asking the caller to send photographs of the furnace face.
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 4:34:10). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld], calling from Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, tells Art Bell that the caller, their husband, and their two young children lived in an old farmhouse where, they say, many things happened. One night, they say, they were sitting on the couch when a voice spoke from out in the kitchen and said “Hi, [name withheld]” just as clearly as day. They say they left the house that night with their little boy and met their husband, who drove a truck at night, at the yard. They describe a second, repeated event. A range hood above the stove had a light they left on at night like a nightlight. According to the caller, for a month, every night when they went to turn it back on, they had to screw the light bulb back in. Their husband, they think, thought they were “nuts” until he was home one night and they had to do it. The caller adds that they never turned the fan on, so it [quote withheld] On another night, they say, they were sitting in the living room after emptying trash bags into one big garbage bag. No windows were open, the bag moved, and there was a smell of perfume. The caller then reports that in January 1996 they had a fire in the house. At 7:30 in the morning they got everybody out and called the fire department. The first fireman to come out, the caller says, told them they were going to lose the house totally. But the firemen saved everything, and all that burned was the furnace. The caller says that when they and their husband went down afterward, a face was burned perfectly into the tan furnace. They took pictures of it, and the caller says you can see the eyes. Art Bell asks the caller to send him the photographs and says he will give his address after the break.
Reported events, in order
- 0:07
The caller gives the name [name withheld] and says they are from Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.
- 0:12
The caller says they, their husband, and their two small children lived in an old farmhouse where many things happened.
- 0:21
Sitting on the couch at night, the caller reports a voice from the kitchen saying “Hi, [name withheld].” They say they left the house that night with their little boy and met their husband, a truck driver, at the yard.
- 0:55
The caller describes the range-hood light they used as a nightlight. They say that for a month they had to screw the bulb back in every night. Their husband was home one night when they had to do it, and the caller notes the fan was never turned on.
- 1:26
Sitting in the living room, the caller says a large garbage bag they had filled moved and there was a smell of perfume, with no windows open.
- 1:30
The caller reports a fire in the house in January 1996. They got everybody out and called the fire department at 7:30 in the morning.
- 1:43
The caller says the first fireman told them they would lose the house totally, but the firemen saved everything and only the furnace burned.
- 2:00
The caller says they and their husband went down afterward and found a face burned perfectly into the tan furnace. They took pictures of it, and the caller says you can see the eyes.
- 2:10
Art Bell asks the caller to send the photographs and says he will give his address after the break. The caller asks how to get them to him.
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· 0:21
A voice spoke the caller's name from the kitchen while they sat on the couch.
- observation· 0:55
For a month, the range-hood light bulb had to be screwed back in every night before the caller could turn it on.
- observation· 1:05
The caller's husband was present on one occasion and saw them have to do this, after previously doubting them.
- observation· 1:26
A filled garbage bag moved and there was a smell of perfume, with no windows open.
- observation· 2:00
A face was burned perfectly into the furnace after the January 1996 fire, and photographs were taken of it.
- interpretation· 1:10
The bulb loosened by itself and not through ordinary use of the fixture.
- host statement· 2:28
Art Bell restates the caller's story as an image of a face visible in the furnace.
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 firsthand story with some concrete detail (the place, the month and year of the fire, the time of the fire call, named objects), and it holds together. But each of the four incidents is brief, and two of them have easy ordinary explanations. The score parts were: source closeness 20, specificity 12, consistency 15, alternative explanations 8, and calibration 8.
Evidence for and against
- The caller reports the events as their own experience in the shared home: [quote withheld]
- The caller gives concrete detail for the fire: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- The caller's account is orderly, and they answer Art's prompt about the photographs.
- The caller gives no answers to follow-up questions about the earlier events. Each incident is squeezed into a sentence or two.
- The bulb incident has an ordinary mechanical explanation that the caller only partly addresses: [quote withheld]
- The labels showing who is speaking are unreliable late in the call, so who said the last exchanges is uncertain.
- No dates or times are given for the voice, bulb, or bag incidents.
- 0:12
- 1:30
- 1:10
What the model inferred (not said on air): The weights and total are my own editorial judgment. The transcript offers no verification of any incident. I treat the brevity of each incident as lowering specificity, not as evidence about the caller.
The story rests on the caller's word. The caller names a second witness, their husband, and says photographs of the furnace face exist, but they are not produced or examined. That puts it in the 26 to 40 range for claimed, unexamined physical evidence.
Evidence for and against
- Photographs are said to exist: [quote withheld]
- A second person is said to have witnessed one event: [quote withheld]
- No photograph, document, or recording is examined in this part of the broadcast. The host only asks that they be sent.
- No second witness speaks on the air, and no names, address, or records are given that could be checked.
- Whether the photographs were ever sent is not stated in this part of the broadcast.
- Only the caller reports their husband's role as a witness.
- 2:08
- 2:10
What the model inferred (not said on air): The 26 to 40 range is chosen because physical evidence is claimed but never examined. Without an outside check, evidence strength is capped at 50, and no check was done.
An unseen voice using the caller's name in their own kitchen, followed by the caller leaving the house at night with a small child, gives the story an intrusive, unsettling edge. The burned face is eerie but not threatening. No physical harm or ill will is reported.
Evidence for and against
- A voice uses the caller's name from an empty room: [quote withheld]
- The caller reports leaving the house that night with their little boy.
- A face is reported burned into the furnace, with photographs showing the eyes.
- The incidents are described without threat, injury, or escalation.
- The fire story ends with the house being saved, which is a reassuring outcome.
- Delivery and emotional tone are not scored and were not used.
- 0:21
- 0:32
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score reflects the story's effect on a listener as I judge it, not the likelihood that anything happened.
This is a haunted-house bundle of familiar motifs (a voice calling the listener's name, objects moving, a phantom smell). It is built around an unusual closing detail: a face said to be burned into a furnace after a fire, with photographs claimed.
Evidence for and against
- Familiar motifs: a name called from another room, a moving bag, and a smell of perfume.
- Distinctive closing element: the fire and the face in the furnace.
- No element is presented as unlike ordinary ghost-story material. The fire-damage face is a familiar kind of story about seeing faces in random marks.
- This is the content-based score only. The comparison with the rest of the archive is provisional in the pilot.
- 2:00
- 2:28
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score is my own judgment of the content. The comparison with the rest of the archive is not calculated here.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.75 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: the caller's firsthand story; a claimed second witness (the caller's husband), not speaking on the air; claimed photographs of the furnace face, not examined. 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 bulb in a hood fixture above a stove can work loose from vibration or from the fixture heating and cooling over and over, even without the fan being used. · The caller says the light was above the stove and that [quote withheld]
- A face seen in the discolored or smoke-stained metal of a burnt furnace could be a trick of the eye, which finds faces in irregular damage. · The caller says [quote withheld] and that photographs show the eyes. The photographs were not examined in the broadcast.
- A moving bag and a smell of perfume in a living room could come from air movement, an unnoticed open vent or doorway, or scent lingering on objects, and not from something unseen. · The caller states the bag moved and perfume was smelled while [quote withheld] which covers only the windows.
What stands out
The story strings together several unconnected household incidents. It ends not with a haunting but with fire damage said to have produced a recognizable face. The caller says photographs of it exist.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.