Ouija board session with an 89-year-old landlady
An unnamed caller tells Art Bell that about 24 years earlier they were living in a large house owned by an 89-year-old woman. She invited them to play a game that turned out to be a Ouija board session. The board spelled old-fashioned first names that the landlady said were her husbands’. The planchette moved faster and eventually flew off the table, and the caller says they felt eerie. The host cuts the call short at the top of the hour.
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 2:09:19). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who is not named in the transcript, tells Art Bell they have a story that happened about 24 years earlier. They say they were living in a house, described in the transcript as a “roomy house,” whose owner was an 89-year-old woman. She lived in the front part of the house, separated from the sleeping rooms. They had gotten out of the military and had stayed there about six months. She asked them to come in and play a game, and they assumed it would be checkers or something similar. Instead they found the room dimly lit. After she sat down at the table, she produced a Ouija board and showed them how to use it. They say the board began spelling old-fashioned first names such as [name withheld] and [name withheld], and the landlady told them these were her husbands’ names. They state she had been married four or five times. The session went on for about 45 minutes to an hour, and the triangular planchette moved faster across the board, at one point almost flying off. She then asked them to fetch a cup from the kitchen for tea. They opened the door and say they saw hundreds of cockroaches crawling through her cabinets, and jars of honey in which she said she was catching them. They declined the tea, and they went back to playing. They say it then turned eerie, with the hair standing on the back of their neck, and that the planchette eventually flew off the table. They close by saying it was a “pretty” experience before the host stops the call for the top of the hour. They do not state a cause for the events.
Reported events, in order
- 0:02
The caller says the story happened about 24 years earlier, when they were living in a large house owned by an 89-year-old woman who lived in the front part of the house.
- 0:17
The caller says they had left the military and had been staying there about six months. The landlady invited them in to play a game they assumed would be checkers.
- 0:30
They say the room was dimly lit and she brought out a Ouija board and showed them how to use it.
- 0:39
They say the board began spelling old-fashioned first names such as [name withheld] and [name withheld], which the landlady said were the names of her husbands. They state she had married four or five times.
- 0:53
They say the session lasted 45 minutes to an hour, and the planchette moved faster, at one point almost flying off the board.
- 1:10
They say she sent them to the kitchen for a cup for tea, and they saw hundreds of cockroaches in the cabinets and honey in jars she said she used to catch them. They declined the tea.
- 1:26
They say it became eerie, with the hair standing on the back of their neck, and the planchette flew off the table.
- 1:42
The host ends the call for the top of the hour.
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· 0:30
The landlady brought out a Ouija board and showed the caller how to use it in a dimly lit room.
- observation· 0:39
The board spelled old-fashioned first names such as [name withheld] and [name withheld].
- hearsay· 0:39
The landlady told the caller the names were her husbands’ and that she had married four or five times.
- observation· 1:03
The planchette moved faster across the board and at one point was almost flying off.
- observation· 1:13
The cabinets in the kitchen contained hundreds of cockroaches.
- observation· 1:16
The landlady kept honey in jars, which she said she used to catch the cockroaches.
- observation· 1:26
The caller felt eerie, and the hair stood on the back of their neck.
- observation· 1:38
The planchette flew off the table.
- host statement· 0:35
The host remarks on the type of game involved.
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 clear, brief, firsthand story told in a single sitting with several concrete details (the landlady’s age, the six months of residence, the session length, the names). But it ends abruptly, and one prominent ordinary explanation (ideomotor movement of the planchette) fits the central event easily.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand testimony: the caller describes being present and taking part ([quote withheld]).
- Concrete details: the landlady was 89, the caller had stayed about six months, and the session ran 45 minutes to an hour.
- The sequence is coherent and answers the host’s interjections without shifting.
- The only “paranormal” content is the planchette’s movement, for which a well-known ordinary cause (hand pressure) is available and unaddressed.
- The names spelled out were interpreted by the landlady herself, with no independent check described.
- The story is short and is cut off by the host at the top of the hour.
- A transcription error ([quote withheld]) makes the exact wording of the final claim uncertain.
- The labels showing who is speaking are inconsistent. Two lines are labeled as other speakers though the content reads as the caller.
- 0:30
- 0:53
- 1:38
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component scoring is my judgment: high for source proximity and consistency, low for alternative explanations because the ideomotor explanation is readily available, and moderate for specificity and calibration. The caller never states a cause, so no escalation is scored.
The story rests on the caller’s word plus a claimed second participant who does not speak on air. Some details are given (an age, a duration, first names), but none can be checked, and no physical evidence is claimed.
Evidence for and against
- The caller supplies details that could be checked in principle: the landlady’s age of 89, a session length of 45 minutes to an hour, and the first names [name withheld] and [name withheld].
- A second person is said to have been present and taking part.
- The second participant is not named in any verifiable way and does not speak on air.
- No photograph, recording, document, mark, or other physical evidence is mentioned.
- No location, date, or full name is given.
- The “roomy house” wording is a transcription error, so even the type of dwelling cannot be confirmed.
- Nothing in this story permits any outside verification.
- 0:09
- 0:39
What the model inferred (not said on air): This falls in the range for “other witnesses claimed” (11 to 25): the landlady is asserted as a participant but offers no confirmation on air, and no documentation is claimed. No outside check was done, so the cap of 50 is not in play.
The story builds mild dread through a dimly lit room, an escalating board session, and a planchette that finally flies off the table. But there is no threat, no malevolence, and no harm, and the caller reports only unease rather than sustained fear.
Evidence for and against
- Household setting that should feel safe: a rented room in the house where the caller slept.
- Escalation: the planchette moves faster and [quote withheld] before flying off the table.
- Reported physical reaction: [quote withheld]
- The caller gives no threat, no ghost, no physical contact, and no harm.
- The telling is matter-of-fact and includes an ordinary and slightly comic detail (cockroaches in honey jars).
- The story ends without an ominous unresolved incident beyond the planchette leaving the table.
- The caller’s closing phrase is partly lost to transcription ([quote withheld]), so the tone of the ending is unclear.
- 1:26
- 1:38
What the model inferred (not said on air): I place this between “mildly eerie” (about 30) and “genuinely unsettling” (about 50) because of the escalation and the intrusion of the board session into the caller’s own home, but without any threatening element.
The Ouija-board setup and a moving planchette are stock themes. But the specific details, an 89-year-old landlady, names claimed to be those of four or five husbands, and a cockroach-and-honey-jar kitchen interlude, give this version distinctive local color.
Evidence for and against
- Uncommon detail: the board session is started by the caller’s elderly landlady, who identifies the spelled names as her husbands’.
- Odd embedded detail: honey in jars kept to catch cockroaches, which is not a standard ghost-story element.
- The central props, a talking board and a planchette moving or flying, are among the most common themes in this genre.
- No unusual figure, location, or kind of event is described.
- With a small pilot archive, the comparison with the rest of the archive carries little weight, so the published originality would be provisional.
- 0:39
- 1:16
What the model inferred (not said on air): A familiar setup plus a distinctive detail lands at the midpoint of the 20-to-95 scale. I did not treat the Ouija board itself as new.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.65 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand word.; A claimed second participant (the landlady) who was present but does not speak on air.; No physical evidence, documents, or recordings claimed.. The originality score blends the model's score (55) 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 planchette’s movement, including it going off the table, could be produced by the participants’ own hand pressure and unconscious movement (the ideomotor effect). · The caller describes the landlady and themself working the planchette with their hands. No outside force is described, and no one else was present.
- The names spelled out could come from information the landlady already knew or supplied, and the caller had no way to verify them. · The caller says the landlady herself identified the spelled names as her husbands’ and that she had been married four or five times. They state no independent check.
- The eerie feeling could follow from the setting and expectation rather than an outside cause. · The caller describes a dimly lit room, a Ouija board, and an escalating session shortly before they report the hair on their neck standing up.
What stands out
The strange element comes inside a household scene rather than a haunting: an 89-year-old landlady’s private Ouija session, with the supposed spirit messages being nothing more than old-fashioned men’s first names. The kitchen detail, hundreds of cockroaches and jars of honey kept to catch them, is an unusual, ordinary detail in the middle of the story.
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