Caller’s secondhand story of a figure on the stairs in a Salem house
A caller named [name withheld], phoning from Austin, Texas, tells a story their mother told them about events before [name withheld] was born. [name withheld]’s parents were newly married and living in Salem, Massachusetts. The cats behaved oddly, a bathroom door jammed and the room seemed far colder, and the father felt a hand on his neck. The story ends with the father reportedly seeing a woman in old-fashioned clothes on the stairs, feeling cold as they passed, and watching the figure vanish. [name withheld] says nothing happened after that.
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 22:49). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld], calling from Austin, Texas, tells Art Bell that their story is secondhand: [quote withheld] [name withheld]’s mother and father had recently married and were living in Salem, Massachusetts, in what [name withheld] thinks was probably an old house. According to [name withheld], the first thing was that the cats started acting strangely. They ran across the room and then stopped as if a wall stood in front of them. Once or twice their mother found the cats inside dresser drawers that were shut behind them. On another occasion their mother, alone in the apartment, found the bathroom door stuck. [name withheld]’s father was not home, so a neighbor helped her force it open. Once it was open, the bathroom was, she said, about 20 degrees colder than anywhere else in the house. [name withheld] also says their father would say he felt a hand on the back of his neck when their mother was across the room or in a different room and no one else was in the house. The last event, which [name withheld] says their mother described as the final one, was that their father came into the room [quote withheld] He told her that walking up the stairs he had seen a woman coming down toward him wearing old-fashioned clothes. When they passed each other on the stairs he felt totally cold, and she vanished. [name withheld] says they never saw anything else again. Art Bell thanks the caller and comments on temperature drops in ghost stories.
Reported events, in order
- 0:10
[name withheld] tells the host their story is secondhand, told to them by their mother, and happened before [name withheld] was born.
- 0:19
Their mother and father, recently married, were living in Salem, Massachusetts, in what [name withheld] thinks was probably an old house.
- 0:30
The cats reportedly began acting strangely, running across the room and stopping suddenly as if a wall were in front of them.
- 0:43
Their mother reportedly found the cats inside dresser drawers that were shut behind them.
- 0:58
The bathroom door was stuck. Their mother, alone with their father out, got a neighbor to help open it, and the bathroom was reported to be about 20 degrees colder than the rest of the house.
- 1:18
[name withheld]’s father reportedly said he felt a hand on the back of his neck while their mother was across the room or in another room and no one else was in the house.
- 1:29
Their father reportedly came into the room pale and shaking, saying that walking up the stairs he saw a woman in old-fashioned clothes coming down toward him.
- 1:57
As they passed on the stairs he reportedly felt totally cold, and the woman vanished. [name withheld] says nothing else happened afterward.
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).
- hearsay· 0:30
The household cats ran across the room and stopped suddenly as if a wall were in front of them.
- hearsay· 0:43
Their mother found the cats inside dresser drawers that were shut behind them.
- hearsay· 1:05
The bathroom door was stuck and, once opened, the bathroom was about 20 degrees colder than the rest of the house.
- hearsay· 1:18
Their father said he felt a hand on the back of his neck with no one else in the house.
- hearsay· 1:29
Their father saw a woman walking down the stairs toward him wearing old-fashioned clothes.
- hearsay· 2:00
As they passed each other on the stairs he felt totally cold, and the woman vanished.
- host statement· 2:07
Art Bell says some ghost researchers report measured temperature drops of 20 degrees or more.
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 secondhand story from close family, with concrete place and detail and a sequence that holds together. The caller says openly that they were given few details. But ordinary explanations fit several of the reported oddities.
Evidence for and against
- Specific place and circumstance: [quote withheld]
- Concrete detail: [quote withheld]
- The caller marks the limits of their knowledge: [quote withheld]
- The stair sighting is secondhand at two removes: their father’s report relayed by their mother.
- The host notes the cats’ behavior is ordinary: [quote withheld]
- No dates, no measurement, and no independent witnesses speaking.
- No date or year is given for the events.
- The caller says “house” and “apartment” in the same story.
- 0:10
- 1:05
- 1:50
What the model inferred (not said on air): Component split: source proximity 10 (a close, named family source, but hearsay), specificity 12, internal consistency 15, alternative explanations 6, calibration 11; total 54, under the cap of 60 for secondhand stories.
Only the caller’s relayed word. There are some place names that could in principle be checked, but they were not, and there is no documentation. No second witness speaks on air.
Evidence for and against
- Named places are given: “Salem, Massachusetts” and “Austin.”
- A third person is claimed to have helped: a neighbor helped open the bathroom door.
- No photograph, recording, document, or measurement is presented.
- The mother and father are not on air. The report is [name withheld]’s retelling.
- No date, address, or full names are given, so nothing specific can be checked independently.
- 0:19
- 1:08
What the model inferred (not said on air): Judged in the 11 to 25 range for checkable details stated but not checked. The ceiling without an outside check is 50, so the cap is not a factor.
A series of intrusions in the home (the pets, a stuck bathroom door, cold, a hand on the neck) builds to a brief encounter on the stairs. But it is told secondhand with little sensory detail, and the caller says the activity stopped.
Evidence for and against
- Contact in a home: [quote withheld]
- A figure passing the witness on the stairs, and the cold: [quote withheld]
- A rising sequence from pets to door to physical contact to a ghost.
- No threat, harm, or lasting dread is reported.
- The story says the events ended: [quote withheld]
- The secondhand telling keeps the listener at a distance from the events.
- The caller’s emotional tone is not described in the transcript and is not used.
- 1:18
- 2:00
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placed mid-range: the parts are classic unsettling household motifs, but the telling is brief and has no menace or physical harm.
A familiar haunted-house frame (pets reacting, a cold spot, a female figure in period dress on a staircase) with one more distinctive detail: cats found inside shut dresser drawers.
Evidence for and against
- A distinctive claimed detail: [quote withheld]
- Stock elements: a cold spot, a figure coming down a staircase, old-fashioned clothing.
- The description of the ghost is minimal: [quote withheld]
- The structure, with household oddities rising to a single sighting, is a common pattern.
- How new the story is compared with the rest of the archive cannot be judged from this one story.
- 0:43
- 1:47
What the model inferred (not said on air): The model score is set at 40: a familiar frame plus a single uncommon detail. The published score would blend in comparison with the rest of the archive, which cannot be worked out here.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.65 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s secondhand story, relayed from their mother and, for the stair sighting, from their father via their mother.; No photograph, recording, document, or measurement is presented or examined.. The originality score blends the model's score (40) 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.
- The cats’ behavior (running and stopping suddenly) is ordinary cat behavior, as the host himself remarks. · The host says, [quote withheld] The story gives no measurement or repeat observation of the stops.
- A stuck door and an unusually cold room could come from an old house’s warped door frame and uneven heating or drafts, not anything strange. · The caller calls it [quote withheld] and reports the cold only as a remembered impression after the door was forced open.
- The figure seen on the stairs and the feeling of cold could be a fleeting misperception in a dim stairwell, or another person in the house. · The caller says they received no detail beyond the clothing ([quote withheld]). The encounter is reported as brief and secondhand through their mother.
What stands out
This is a secondhand family story, not the caller’s own experience. The cats found inside shut dresser drawers are a more specific oddity than the familiar cold spot and figure on the stairs. The caller says plainly that the activity stopped after the sighting and that they have no further detail.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.