1840 Underground Railroad house: a ball slides to a child and a door latch moves
A caller who gives their name as Jo, from Jamestown, New York, tells Art Bell about their 1840 home in a small New York town. They say it was part of the Underground Railroad. They report that shortly after they moved in with their one-year-old daughter, a ball slid about six feet across the floor to the child. An iron door latch moved up and down by itself, with a knocking warning before it. Indistinct voices can be heard from downstairs. They say they regard the presence as friendly. The host interrupts before they finish and begins telling a different story.
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 1998.mp3”, starting at 2:11:05). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who gives their name as Jo and says they are calling from Jamestown, New York, tells Art Bell that they live in what they call their dream home in a small New York town (“Fruesburg”). They say the house was built in 1840 and was part of the Underground Railroad, with tunnels and a false fireplace. They say they had heard locally that it was haunted before moving in, and that this did not bother them. According to the caller, shortly after they moved in with their one-year-old daughter, while the family was painting and refurbishing, they could tell something unseen was present. They describe their daughter, who had cerebral palsy and could not crawl, looking at a ball about six feet away. The caller says the ball did not roll but slid across the floor to her, and that the child then played with it. They say the activity in the house was mostly friendly and nothing that frightened them. They describe the antique iron thumb-latches on the inner doors. They say that after a knocking noise, which they took as a warning of a presence in the room, the inner latch began moving up and down with no wind and no reason they could identify. When they decided to address the spirits to prompt more communication, they say it stopped. They also say that from upstairs one can hear voices that seem to be coming from downstairs, without being able to make out the words. The host interrupts at that point to say the story resembles a letter he received.
Reported events, in order
- 0:27
The caller describes their home in a small New York town, built in 1840 and said to have been part of the Underground Railroad, with tunnels and a false fireplace.
- 2:13
They say they knew before moving in that the house was considered haunted, from stories they had heard locally, and that this did not bother them.
- 2:27
After moving in with their one-year-old, during painting and refurbishing, they say they could tell something unseen was there.
- 2:47
They describe their daughter, who had cerebral palsy and could not crawl, looking at a ball about six feet away. The caller says the ball slid across the floor to her.
- 3:48
They say the activity in the house was mostly friendly and nothing that scared them.
- 4:00
They describe the antique iron thumb-latches on the inner doors of the old house.
- 4:21
They say a knocking noise occurred, which they took as a warning of a presence, and then the inner latch moved up and down with no wind.
- 4:34
They say they decided to address the spirits to prompt more communication, and the latch movement stopped as soon as they did.
- 4:51
They say voices can be heard apparently from downstairs when one is upstairs, without the words being clear. The host interrupts here.
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· 3:11
The caller says a small red-and-white ball did not roll but “moved” roughly six feet across the floor to their one-year-old daughter, who could not move to reach it.
- interpretation· 2:39
The caller says that right after moving in they could tell something unseen was present in the house.
- interpretation· 3:48
The caller describes the reported activity as friendly and not frightening.
- observation· 4:07
The caller says a knocking noise occurred, which they took as a warning that a presence was in the room.
- observation· 4:28
The caller says an antique iron door latch moved up and down by itself, with no wind and no reason they could identify.
- interpretation· 4:34
The caller says they tried addressing the spirits to prompt further communication, and the latch movement stopped immediately.
- observation· 4:51
The caller says indistinct voices can be heard apparently coming from downstairs when they are upstairs.
- hearsay· 2:13
The caller says they already knew the house was haunted from stories they had heard in the small town before or around the time of moving in.
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 firsthand, consistent story with several concrete details of place and setting, but no checkable details or documentation. Some ordinary explanations (drafts, vibration, carried sound) fit parts of it reasonably well, though the ball’s motion is harder to account for.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story from the person who says they saw the ball and latch ([quote withheld]).
- Concrete setting detail: house built in 1840, hill-town location, Underground Railroad features, antique iron latches.
- Coherent sequence with no self-contradictions.
- No checkable records, dates, or documentation are offered beyond town names and the year of construction.
- Only the caller reports the events. The “we” who knew the presences were friendly does not speak on air.
- Several later lines are fragmentary, and the story is cut off by the host.
- Who said what is messy in places (for example, one line is labeled as possibly the host).
- 3:11
- 0:40
What the model inferred (not said on air): Component scores are my judgment: source proximity 22 (firsthand), specificity 12 (setting detail but no dates or records), internal consistency 16, alternative explanations 10, calibration 8. Sum 68.
Only the caller’s word supports the events. They supply a few checkable details (town, house age, house history), but none is checked, which places this in the low range.
Evidence for and against
- Some details that could be checked in principle are given: town names, a house said to be built in 1840 with Underground Railroad features.
- A named caller location (Jamestown, New York).
- No photographs, recordings, documents, or traces are claimed.
- No second witness speaks on air. The “we” is not identified or heard.
- The town name “Fruesburg” is a transcription whose correct spelling and identity cannot be confirmed from this story.
- 2:13
- 1:09
What the model inferred (not said on air): The range of 11 to 25 was chosen under the scoring guide because checkable details are given but untested and no documentation exists.
Mildly eerie material (a moving object, a self-moving latch, voices with no body) but consistently framed as harmless, with no threat or escalation. That keeps it in the low to middle range.
Evidence for and against
- A disabled infant is the focus of an object that moves to her unprompted.
- An iron latch moving by itself and stopping when addressed.
- Indistinct voices heard from downstairs in an empty-seeming part of a large old house.
- The caller frames the activity as friendly and not frightening ([quote withheld]).
- No physical harm, threat, or growing menace is described.
- The time of day for the events is not stated, which would affect how unsettling the sounds are.
- 3:48
- 4:51
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score reflects the story’s content and framing, not any judgment about the caller.
The setup is standard haunted-house material. But the ball moving specifically to a child who cannot move, and the latch that stops when spoken to, are distinctive details in an unusual setting.
Evidence for and against
- A ball that does not roll but slides about six feet to reach a child who cannot crawl to it.
- An iron thumb-latch moving up and down and stopping when the caller addresses the spirits.
- An Underground Railroad house with tunnels and a false fireplace as the setting.
- Familiar [quote withheld] setup.
- Voices and self-closing or moving hardware are recurring ghost-story elements.
- The comparison with the rest of the archive cannot be computed here, so the original score is provisional.
- 2:47
- 4:28
What the model inferred (not said on air): My provisional score is about 52. The recalculation compared with the rest of the archive is not available for a single story.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.65 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand word only.; No physical evidence offered or examined.; No second witness speaks on air..
Ordinary explanations to consider
These are possibilities only. None is a finding about what happened.
- Air movement or vibration in an old house under renovation (drafts, footsteps on boards, work being done) could shift a very light ball or a loose latch. · The caller says the family was painting and refurbishing at the time ([quote withheld]) and that the ball “moved” rather than rolled.
- An old, worn iron thumb-latch on an 1840 building could shift from settling, temperature change, or vibration. · The caller notes the latch moved with [quote withheld] That is, they are describing hardware they cannot account for.
- Sound from another room, from outside, or from the acoustics of a large old house could be heard as indistinct voices. · The caller describes hearing speech whose words they cannot make out ([quote withheld]).
What stands out
The story combines Underground Railroad house features (tunnels, a false fireplace) with a ball that reportedly slid to a child who could not move to reach it, and a latch that stopped moving the moment the caller addressed the spirits.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.