Nightly 12:26 wakings, cool fingers, and a child’s invisible playmate
A caller who identifies herself as [quote withheld] tells Art Bell that about three years earlier her daughter, then two, woke screaming every night at 12:26. After the caller scolded the presumed spirit, she felt cool fingers cross her neck, and the room cooled by 15–20 degrees. She took this as an apology. She says she took the presence to be a little boy who became her daughter’s friend for a time. The two walked hand in hand, and, she says, a chair tipped over as they passed. She says nothing threatening ever happened. She gives no final resolution.
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 1:59:26). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who gives her name as [name withheld] and her location as Soda Springs, Idaho, says that about three years before the broadcast her daughter was two and woke screaming every night at 12:26. She says the screaming was angry rather than frightened. She would go upstairs, calm the child, and put her back to sleep before returning to her own bed. She recalls one hot night when, sweating, she told her husband that [quote withheld] At 12:26 she went up again and calmed her daughter. She says she told the ghost off. Back downstairs and trying to sleep, she says she felt cool fingers pass across her neck. She turned to ask her husband what he had done and found him asleep. She reports that within about 20 seconds the room cooled by roughly 15–20 degrees. It did not frighten her, and she took it as the presence apologizing. The child was not woken again that night. Asked about her area, she describes Soda Springs as a small old mining community with many deaths in the mines and old buildings. She then says the presence was a little boy who became her daughter’s best friend for a while. The two walked along holding hands and talking. A chair standing in the middle of the room would tip over as they passed, while her daughter’s hand was about a foot away. She says it was “just weird,” that nothing bad happened, that the family never felt threatened, and that [quote withheld] She confirms to the host that she herself “threw a tantrum” at the spirit and describes the town’s size as roughly 1,100–1,300 people.
Reported events, in order
- 0:58
The caller says that about three years earlier her daughter, then two, began waking screaming.
- 1:03
She states the wakings happened every night at 12:26.
- 1:11
She describes the screaming as angry rather than frightened. She says she would go upstairs, calm the child, and put her back to sleep.
- 1:30
On an especially hot night she told her husband that “that booger” would be in trouble if it woke the child again.
- 1:47
At 12:26 she went upstairs and calmed her daughter. She says she scolded the ghost while doing so.
- 2:03
Back downstairs and trying to sleep, she felt cool fingers pass across her neck.
- 2:11
She turned to her husband to ask what he had done and found him asleep on his other side.
- 2:24
Within about 20 seconds the room cooled by roughly 15–20 degrees. She understood this as the presence’s apology, and the child was not woken again that night.
- 3:08
Asked where she lives, she describes Soda Springs, Idaho, as a small old mining community with many deaths in the mines.
- 3:16
She says the presence was a little boy who became her daughter’s best friend for a time. The two walked holding hands and talking.
- 3:20
She reports that a chair in the middle of the room would tip over as they walked past, while her daughter’s hand was about a foot away.
- 3:40
She says nothing bad ever happened and the family never felt threatened. She describes the activity as tricks.
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· 1:03
The caller’s two-year-old daughter woke screaming every night at 12:26.
- observation· 1:11
The screaming sounded angry rather than frightened.
- interpretation· 1:30
The caller told her husband that “that booger” would be in trouble if it woke the child again.
- observation· 2:03
While lying in bed the caller felt cool fingers pass across her neck.
- observation· 2:11
She turned to her husband to ask what he had done, and he was asleep, rolled onto his other side.
- observation· 2:24
Within about 20 seconds the room temperature dropped by roughly 15–20 degrees.
- interpretation· 2:31
The caller read the temperature drop as the presence apologizing to her.
- interpretation· 3:16
The caller understood the presence to be a little boy who became her daughter’s friend for a time.
- observation· 3:20
A chair standing in the middle of the room tipped over as the two walked past, while her daughter’s hand was about a foot away.
- interpretation· 3:40
She says the family never felt threatened and describes the activity as tricks.
- host statement· 4:29
The host remarks that the behavior described seems conscious.
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.
Scored as a clear, specific, fully firsthand story that is consistent and partly calibrated. But there is a close-fitting ordinary reading of the nightly wakings, and nothing backs up the physical sensations.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand telling of her own experience rather than a story about third parties.
- Concrete details: a recurring exact time (12:26), the child’s age, a town and its approximate size, a stated cooling of 15–20 degrees.
- Coherent sequence with answers to the host’s questions, including the admission that she herself “threw a tantrum” at the spirit.
- She labels one conclusion as a feeling rather than a fact and adds “i don't know.”
- An easy ordinary pattern fits the nightly wakings: a two-year-old screaming at the same time each night.
- The two most striking events (fingers on the neck, a temperature drop of 15–20 degrees) happened while the caller was in bed, hot and “tossing and turning,” with no second awake witness.
- The husband was present but asleep, so nothing in that episode is backed up.
- Passages are garbled in places (for example, [quote withheld]).
- The labels showing who is speaking switch repeatedly, so some lines attributed to the caller may be the host, or the reverse.
- No dates, surnames, or records are given that would allow any check.
- 1:03
- 2:24
- 2:31
- 2:11
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component values are my application of the scoring guide to the transcript. The transcript does not contain any checkable record, measurement, or independent witness. I am treating the child’s screaming (which the mother witnessed) as firsthand and the girl’s hand-holding as reported to the mother.
This is essentially the caller’s word, with a claimed second party who does not speak and a small number of unverified details. It sits at the top of the range for the caller’s word alone.
Evidence for and against
- Claimed second parties within the household: the daughter (a toddler at the time) and the husband.
- Details that could be checked in principle but were not: the caller’s town ([quote withheld]) and the recurring time, 12:26.
- No documentation, photograph, recording, or physical trace is offered or examined.
- The husband is said to have been asleep at the moment of the neck contact, so he cannot confirm it.
- No outside check was done.
- It is not fully clear from the garbled opening whether the husband was on a second phone line at the start and whether he ever spoke.
- 0:05
- 2:11
- 3:16
What the model inferred (not said on air): I am applying the scoring guide’s ranges literally: claimed witnesses who never speak on air do not count as independent confirmation. A higher range would apply only if the husband or daughter had backed her up on air.
Unsettling material, a child woken nightly, unseen contact, and a chill in a dark bedroom, is offset by the caller’s openly harmless framing and the humorous notes. That places it near the middle of the scale.
Evidence for and against
- Intrusion into the household at night, specifically a small child’s bedroom.
- Uninvited physical contact: cool fingers across the neck.
- An unexplained sharp temperature change while she lay in the dark.
- Objects moving with nothing visible to move them while a child is present.
- The caller repeatedly frames the presence as harmless: [quote withheld]
- The story includes joking asides, such as scolding the ghost and the host’s remark about her “tantrum.”
- The story ends without threat, injury, or an ominous closing image.
- Little description of the nighttime scenes beyond heat and the fingers on the neck.
- 2:03
- 3:20
- 3:40
What the model inferred (not said on air): Creepiness is a judgment about the story as heard, not about whether anything happened. I am not using the caller’s tone as evidence about the events. The humorous framing matters only to how the story lands.
A recognized setup (bedroom disturbance, a child’s invisible friend, a cold spot) combined with at least two distinctive details, so a middle-range provisional score.
Evidence for and against
- Describing the chill as the ghost’s apology after the mother scolded it is an unusual detail.
- The child walking hand in hand with an unseen playmate while a chair tips over as they pass is a specific, comparatively uncommon image.
- The exact recurring time, 12:26, rather than the more common “around 3 a.m.,” is a distinctive detail.
- The core setup, a child woken at night by a presence and a child’s invisible companion, is familiar ghost-story material.
- Cold spots and being touched by an unseen hand are common themes.
- Short story; only one is available for comparison here.
- 2:31
- 3:20
- 1:03
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a provisional judgment only. The comparison with the rest of the archive is not computed here and may adjust this figure.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.65 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand word about her own sensations (fingers on the neck, temperature change) and her household. Parts about her daughter’s experience are reported to her rather than described by the daughter.; Claimed second parties: the daughter (a toddler at the time) and the husband (asleep at the moment described). Neither backs her up on air.; No physical evidence offered or examined (no photograph, recording, document, or marks).; No outside check performed.. The originality score blends the model's score (58) 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.
- Repeated partial waking or night terrors in a toddler, which often recur at a consistent time after the child falls asleep and can produce intense screaming. · The caller reports screaming wakings at the same clock time every night in a two-year-old: [quote withheld]
- The “cool fingers” and the felt drop in temperature happened as she lay drowsy in the dark. A chill on drifting toward sleep, or a draft or air movement in the house, could be experienced this way. · The caller had been sweating in a hot room and was “tossing and turning” between two rooms when the chill and the sensation on her neck occurred.
- Imaginative play by a small child, with an ordinary physical cause for the chair tipping over, such as an unsteady chair, a draft, or contact while the child moved past. · The play and the tipping chair are attributed to a two-year-old walking and talking while holding a hand out: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
What stands out
The caller interprets a room’s sudden cooling of 15–20 degrees, felt right after she scolded the presence, as the ghost apologizing to her. She pairs this with her toddler apparently walking hand in hand with an unseen little boy while a chair tips over as they pass.
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