Flying boxes, voices behind a bolted hatch, and a spinning compass at sea
A caller who says they were a Navy cook describes events during temporary duty aboard the USS Independence in the mid-1980s. They report music with no source and boxes flying in a galley storage void. They report muffled banging and voices pleading [quote withheld] behind a bolted hatch. They report instruments blanking and a compass spinning on the bridge. They say a shipmate told them the voices were those of sailors drowned when a torpedo hit a jet fuel tank in wartime. The host remarks that electromagnetic disturbance is fairly common, and the call ends.
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 1:44:32). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, not named on air, says they served on the USS Enterprise in 1984. They were in a squadron that sent a few people on temporary duty to the USS Independence. They describe themselves as [quote withheld] The caller says they were told strange things happened aboard that ship. The caller and a man from the Independence’s ship’s company were taking inventory in a void used for dry galley storage. The caller says they heard music although there was no stereo in the room, and the other man told them to wait. They report that boxes of dried goods weighing 25 to 30 pounds began flying at the far end of the room. The other man pulled the caller through the hatch and slammed it shut as something sounded like it struck it. The caller says nobody else was in the room and that they had already looked everywhere. The other man then took the caller to an empty void containing a former hatch bolted shut in a bulkhead. The caller says they heard banging and muffled yelling that became [quote withheld] He says the other man explained that a torpedo had hit an old jet fuel tank while men were scrubbing it out, which he believes was during World War II. All the men drowned when the hatches were closed for watertight integrity. Later, they say, they went to the bridge to visit friends from high school and told them the two stories. Just as they said that, they report, all the instruments blanked and a standard compass at least three feet in circumference spun as if hooked to a mechanism. The caller says they will never forget the screams and the flying boxes. The host comments that electromagnetic disturbance around such things is fairly common, and closes the call.
Reported events, in order
- 0:18
The caller says they were on the USS Enterprise in 1984 and can verify what an earlier caller who was on the Enterprise in 1982 said.
- 0:45
They say they were in a squadron that sent a few people on temporary duty to the USS Independence. They are a cook in that squadron.
- 0:57
They say they were told some strange things had happened aboard the ship.
- 1:12
The caller and a man from the ship’s company are taking inventory in a void used for dry galley storage.
- 1:28
The other man asks if the caller wants to hear something freaky. The caller hears music, but there is no stereo in the room.
- 1:43
Boxes of dried goods, 25 to 30 pounds each, begin flying at the far end of the room.
- 2:03
The other man grabs the caller, pulls them through the hatch, and slams it. It sounds like something runs into the hatch.
- 2:19
The caller says nobody else was in the room and they had looked everywhere.
- 2:27
They go to another, empty void with a former hatch bolted down in a bulkhead.
- 3:01
They hear banging and muffled yelling that becomes [quote withheld]
- 3:22
The other man explains that a torpedo hit an old jet fuel tank, that men scrubbing it out drowned, and that the hatches were closed for watertight integrity.
- 4:17
The caller accepts this: [quote withheld]
- 4:30
The caller visits friends from high school on the bridge and tells them the two experiences. They say that is nothing.
- 4:40
All the instruments blank, and a large standard compass spins.
- 5:07
The caller says they will never forget the screams behind the bulkhead and the 25-to-30-pound boxes flying.
- 5:00
The host remarks that electromagnetic disturbance around such things is fairly common.
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· 1:28
The caller heard music in a storage void where there was no stereo.
- observation· 1:53
Boxes of dried goods weighing 25 to 30 pounds each began flying at the far end of the room.
- observation· 2:03
The other man pulled the caller through the hatch and slammed it, and it sounded as if something ran into it.
- observation· 3:01
Muffled banging and yelling behind a bolted hatch became voices saying [quote withheld]
- hearsay· 4:01
A shipmate told the caller a torpedo struck an old jet fuel tank while men were cleaning it, and the men drowned when hatches were closed.
- interpretation· 4:17
The caller concludes the voices were those of the drowned men.
- observation· 4:40
All the bridge instruments blanked, and a three-foot standard compass spun as if hooked to a mechanism.
- host statement· 5:00
The host says that electromagnetic disturbance around such things is fairly common.
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 detailed firsthand story with named ships, stated years, weights, and a sequence of distinct events, and it is coherent. No one else backs it up. The caller does not address ordinary explanations (ship motion, machinery noise, magnetic interference) for any of the three kinds of events, which holds down the alternative-explanations score.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand telling of events the caller says they were present for, with the other man described in the room.
- Concrete specifics that could be checked in principle: ship names, “'84 to 88,” 25-to-30-pound boxes, a three-foot compass.
- Coherent sequence with no obvious contradiction: storage void, then bolted hatch, then bridge.
- No second witness speaks on air. The second man’s comments are reported only by the caller.
- The wartime drowning explanation is secondhand from the shipmate and given without documentation.
- The caller offers no ordinary causes. Only the host volunteers one.
- The labels showing who is speaking are unstable through the middle of the story, so some lines attributed to the caller may belong to the host.
- The call is cut short mid-flow ([quote withheld]), so the story may be incomplete.
- 0:52
- 1:43
- 3:01
- 5:00
What the model inferred (not said on air): Component scoring: source proximity about 22 (firsthand, though partly dependent on another person’s story for context); specificity about 13; internal consistency about 14; alternative explanations about 5 (none addressed by the caller); calibration about 6 (reports what they perceived accurately but adopts the ghost explanation without hedging). Total 60.
The only support is the caller’s own word plus a claimed witness who does not speak. Some details could be checked in principle (ship, dates, wartime torpedo claim), but nothing was examined on air and no documentation is claimed.
Evidence for and against
- Details that could be checked in principle: USS Independence, USS Enterprise, 1984–88, a claimed wartime torpedo hit.
- A second person is said to have been present and to have supplied the historical explanation.
- No photograph, recording, log, or document is claimed or produced.
- The second person does not speak on air. His statements reach us only through the caller.
- No outside check was done, so the ship’s history was not verified.
- Whether the caller’s service record or the ship’s damage history could confirm anything is untested here.
- 0:45
- 1:22
- 4:17
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placed at the lower end of the 11 to 25 range. Named places and dates are given but unchecked, and the claimed witness is not on air. That does not reach the 26 to 40 range, which is reserved for evidence claimed to exist.
The story builds from an unexplained sound to heavy boxes flying and then to muffled pleas to be saved from drowning behind a sealed hatch. The caller is also physically pulled out of the room. There is no injury or intrusion into a home, and the ending is more abrupt than ominous.
Evidence for and against
- Pleading voices described as getting louder: [quote withheld]
- Being grabbed and pulled through a hatch with something striking it behind them.
- Heavy boxes reported flying as if something passed through them.
- The setting is a working storage compartment rather than a bedroom or home, which lowers the sense of personal intrusion.
- The call ends with small talk and the host’s calm aside about electromagnetic disturbance, which deflates the tension.
- The brief trailing reference to [quote withheld] is never followed up, so nothing escalates on air.
- 3:01
- 2:03
- 4:01
What the model inferred (not said on air): Rated in the middle range: distinctly unsettling content (voices of drowning men, being pulled from a room) without steady dread, threat to a person, or an ominous closing beat.
A haunted-warship story with familiar poltergeist elements (flying objects, phantom knocks, a compass misbehaving) and a stock drowned-sailors explanation. But the detail of pleas to be saved from drowning heard through a welded-shut hatch is distinctive.
Evidence for and against
- Distinctive detail: voices heard through a “bolted hatch” asking not to be left to drown.
- An unusual combination of objects moving, voices with no body, and compass and instrument failure in one story.
- Flying objects, phantom knocks, and spinning compasses are common ghost-story furniture.
- The explanation, sailors drowned in a sealed compartment, is a well-worn maritime ghost theme.
- Novelty compared with the rest of the archive is provisional for this pilot and may shift the published score.
- 2:38
- 1:53
- 4:40
What the model inferred (not said on air): A familiar setup plus one memorable detail gives a middle-range score of about 48. The comparison with the rest of the archive will carry little weight in the pilot.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.65 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand word.; A claimed second witness who was present but does not speak on air.; A secondhand wartime sinking explanation attributed to the shipmate, unverified.. The originality score blends the model's score (48) 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 ship’s motion at sea could account for heavy boxes shifting or being thrown from a stack in a storage void. · The caller describes [quote withheld] weighing [quote withheld] in a ship’s storage compartment.
- Machinery, engines, ventilation, or nearby compartments could produce the banging and the muffled, speech-like sounds. · The caller says the sounds were “kind of muffled” and [quote withheld]
- Local magnetic or electrical interference, or an equipment fault, could explain the compass spinning and the instruments blanking. · The host himself raises that [quote withheld]
What stands out
Three kinds of events are tied by the caller to one named warship and a single claimed wartime drowning: objects moving, pleading voices with no body, and a compass and instruments going wrong. A shipmate supplies the historical explanation. The caller also opens by offering to back up a different caller’s earlier story aboard another ship.
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