A floating translucent man and a flying shed roof at a Fig Springs, Arizona, trailer
A caller (name not given) tells Art Bell about a night, when they were young, at a property called Fig Springs in Arizona. They report seeing a partly see-through man floating about a foot above a bed in the trailer’s living room. Leaving the trailer, the caller says the group heard clunking behind them. A piece of metal, identified the next day as part of a porch-shed roof, flew overhead in a circle before crashing. The caller says that after telling the story to several people, they were told of a shooting in that trailer. They then found bullet holes under duct tape by the back door.
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 3:25:29). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
On the wildcard line, a caller whose name is not given says they lived at a place they identify as Fig Springs, Arizona, near an unnamed “Cayman,” an area they describe as having many legends. One night, when the caller says they were “pretty young,” the caller, their mother, and another person were talking in the main trailer on a property the caller’s parents cared for. The caller says they became very nervous. The other two were nervous as well but pretended everything was fine so as not to frighten them. Looking back from the kitchen into the living room, the caller reports seeing a man lying on a bed, floating about a foot above it. Asked to describe him, the caller says he was lying there nonchalantly, not on the bed but above it. He was “partly see-through,” not totally solid. The caller adds that they have [quote withheld] The caller said they should leave. As an aside, the caller mentions that people had been hanged on the large fig tree before it was chopped down. Leaving, the group walked down a dark hill toward a small travel trailer. They heard a “clunk, clunk, clunk” behind them, could see nothing, and ran. The caller says they then froze and, looking straight up, saw what looked like a roughly two-by-three-foot piece of metal, like a small tin or aluminum garbage can. It flew in the air and made a circle around them before a crash behind a rock shed. Another person pulled them into the trailer. Comparing notes, the group found they had all felt “weird vibes” about the area. Investigating the next day, the caller says the clunking had been a tin garbage can, and the metal was two pieces forming the roof off a porch shed. The caller notes Arizona rarely gets tornadoes and the ground wind was not bad. After telling the story to several people, the caller says they were told someone had been shot by police inside that trailer, and they were invited to look for bullet holes by the back door. They found no visible holes but found duct tape, and under it, the caller says, bullet holes. The host thanks them and moves on.
Reported events, in order
- 0:23
The caller names the place they lived as Fig Springs, Arizona, saying it is “near Cayman” and that the area has many legends.
- 0:35
On one night the caller, their mother, and another person were talking in the main trailer on the property. The caller says they became very nervous. The other two were nervous too but pretended otherwise.
- 1:12
Looking back into the living room from the kitchen, the caller reports seeing a man lying on a bed, floating about a foot above it.
- 1:28
The caller says they told the others they should leave.
- 1:43
Asked to describe the figure, the caller says he was lying there nonchalantly, above rather than on the bed, and was partly see-through.
- 2:26
The caller adds, as an aside, that people had been hanged on the fig tree before it was chopped down.
- 2:40
The group left the building and walked down a dark hill toward a small travel trailer. The caller says they heard a “clunk, clunk, clunk” behind them, could see nothing, and ran.
- 2:59
The caller says they froze, looked straight up, and saw a piece of metal in the sky, like a small tin or aluminum garbage can. It circled around them and crashed behind a rock shed. Another person pulled them into the trailer.
- 3:32
Comparing notes, the group found they had all felt “weird vibes” about the area.
- 3:42
The next day they went out to investigate. The clunking had been a tin garbage can.
- 3:52
The caller says Arizona rarely gets tornadoes and the ground wind was not bad. The caller identifies the flying metal as two pieces forming a roof off a porch shed at the trailer.
- 4:15
After telling the story to several people, the caller says they were told someone had been shot by police in that trailer and were told to check the back door for bullet holes.
- 4:39
At the back door the caller found no visible bullet holes but some duct tape. Under the duct tape, they say, there were bullet holes.
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· 0:23
The caller says they lived at a place they name as Fig Springs, Arizona, an area they describe as having [quote withheld]
- observation· 1:21
Looking from the kitchen into the living room, the caller says they saw a man lying on a bed but floating about a foot above it.
- observation· 1:04
The caller says their mother and a third person also became nervous but pretended everything was fine so as not to scare the caller.
- observation· 1:59
Asked to describe the figure, the caller says it was partly see-through and not totally solid.
- interpretation· 2:03
The caller calls the figure a ghost, saying they have seen many like it.
- hearsay· 2:26
The caller states, as an aside, that people had been hanged on the large fig tree before it was chopped down.
- observation· 2:45
On the dark walk down the hill to the travel trailer, the caller says the group heard a clunking noise behind them and could not see what made it.
- observation· 3:03
The caller says that, looking straight up, they saw what appeared to be a small piece of metal, like a tin or aluminum garbage can, flying in the air.
- observation· 3:17
The flying metal, the caller says, circled around them before crashing behind a rock shed.
- observation· 3:32
The caller says that when the group compared notes afterward, all of them reported feeling strange “vibes” about the area.
- observation· 3:48
Investigating the next day, the caller says the clunking noise had been a tin garbage can.
- interpretation· 3:52
The caller argues the flying metal cannot easily be put down to wind, noting Arizona rarely gets tornadoes.
- observation· 4:06
The caller says the two pieces of metal were the roof off a porch shed at the trailer.
- hearsay· 4:20
The caller says that after telling the story to several people, they were told a person had been shot by police inside that trailer.
- observation· 4:41
The caller says that when they checked by the back door, they found no visible bullet holes but found duct tape.
- observation· 4:48
The caller says that under the duct tape they found bullet holes.
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 told in order, with a concrete location and some details that could be checked. But the description of the flying object shifts, one strange noise gets an ordinary explanation from the caller, and several parts are secondhand. It scores toward the middle of the scoring guide’s “clear firsthand account” range, not higher.
Evidence for and against
- A named location (Fig Springs, Arizona) and a described sequence of rooms, hill, and trailers.
- Specific sensory and spatial detail: floating [quote withheld] “partly see-through,” and metal circling and crashing behind a rock shed.
- The caller addresses an alternative explanation (wind or tornado) directly and reports checking the site the next day.
- The reported size of the flying metal shifts. It is a [quote withheld] [quote withheld] and then [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- The caller’s own follow-up found an ordinary source (a tin garbage can) for one of the two strange noises.
- Secondhand parts are woven in without names or sources. The hangings on the fig tree and the shooting story come from others.
- The labels showing who is speaking are unreliable. Several caller lines are labeled as the host.
- Some phrasings are garbled in the transcript, including “near Cayman” and who was present.
- 0:23
- 1:21
- 4:06
What the model inferred (not said on air): Points for closeness to the source and for specificity come from the transcript’s structure as a first-person story. The deduction for calibration is my reading of the caller moving from a described figure to general claims about ghosts.
The story offers a location, claimed physical traces, and claimed extra witnesses. But nothing is checked on air and no second witness speaks. That places it in the scoring guide’s range for checkable details given but not checked. The cap of 50 without an outside check applies, and this story is nowhere near it.
Evidence for and against
- A place name that sounds checkable is given: Fig Springs, Arizona.
- Claimed physical traces that could in principle be checked: duct tape and bullet holes by the trailer’s back door.
- Claimed extra witnesses who reportedly shared the experience.
- The claimed witnesses (the mother and a third person) do not speak on air and are not named.
- The bullet holes and duct tape were not shown to the host or examined.
- No documentation, photograph, or record is produced.
- Whether the bullet holes have anything to do with the reported events is left unstated.
- The unnamed nearby place (“Cayman”) cannot be pinned down from the transcript.
- 3:32
- 4:48
What the model inferred (not said on air): The placement follows the scoring guide’s wording about checkable details and claimed witnesses.
The story combines an indoor ghost, a night chase, and a falling structure, which gives moderate, steady unease. But it is told briefly, with no menace aimed at the caller and an oddly matter-of-fact ending.
Evidence for and against
- A partly see-through man floats above a bed inside the living space the family used.
- A night flight and chase: a noise like clunking footsteps behind the group, running, then freezing.
- A large metal roof reportedly circling the caller overhead and crashing nearby.
- The closing detail of bullet holes hidden under duct tape where someone was said to have been shot.
- No injury, threat, or physical contact with the caller is reported.
- The story is told briskly and closes with the host’s routine thanks.
- The caller explains one strange noise as a garbage can.
- The abrupt ending leaves the meaning of the final bullet-hole discovery unstated.
- 1:59
- 3:17
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a judgment about the effect of the story on a listener, not about whether anything happened.
A familiar ghost setup (a translucent figure and a frightened group) combined with an unusual flying-roof sequence and a closing duct-tape and bullet-hole detail that could be checked. The model’s score is provisional, and the published value is computed compared with the rest of the archive.
Evidence for and against
- The ghost is described as lying in midair above a bed in a living room, not standing or hovering at the foot of the bed.
- A tin or aluminum garbage can is compared to a piece of flying metal that circles the witness and crashes behind a rock shed.
- The episode ends with a physically distinctive detail that could be checked: bullet holes hidden beneath duct tape at a back door.
- The central image, a see-through figure floating above a bed, is a recognizable ghost-story element.
- A group sensing “weird vibes” and leaving a building is common stock.
- How rare this story is compared with the rest of the archive is not yet available for this pilot story.
- 3:10
- 4:41
What the model inferred (not said on air): Scored from the combination and specificity of the motifs, not from any claim about whether they are true.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand word (a single voice; name not given).; Claimed extra witnesses (the mother and a third person) who do not speak on air.; Claimed physical traces: bullet holes said to have been found under duct tape at the trailer’s back door, not examined on air.; A place name that could be checked (Fig Springs, Arizona) and a nearby place name transcribed unclearly (“Cayman”).. The originality score blends the model's score (62) 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 gust, dust devil, or whirlwind lifted the porch-shed roof and carried it in an arc before it landed behind the shed. The caller’s own remark about wind and tornadoes is the main argument against this. · The caller identifies the flying object as an actual shed roof and considers wind, but reports that the ground wind “was not” bad and that Arizona tornadoes are rare.
- The banging noise was a loose tin garbage can, struck or moved by wind or an animal. The caller reached this conclusion too. · The caller’s own visit the next day showed that the “clunk, clunk, clunk” was an ordinary tin garbage can.
- Low light, distance, and an unfamiliar layout could make an ordinary object or a person on the bed look indistinct or raised. This is offered only as a possibility, and nothing the caller says supports it. · The figure was seen at night, across rooms, from the kitchen into the living room of an unfamiliar trailer, and the caller describes it as “partly see-through” rather than solid.
What stands out
The reported ghost is a man reclining in midair a foot above a bed rather than standing or sitting. The same night brings a second strange event, a shed roof said to fly overhead in a circle. The story closes on a detail that could be checked, bullet holes hidden under duct tape by the trailer’s back door. It is an ordinary-looking trace offered as support for a secondhand shooting story.
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