Retired fire lieutenant relays bunk-room pressure story from Rescue 1
[name withheld], calling from Southwest Florida and describing themself as a retired New York City fire lieutenant, tells Art Bell a story they say they heard secondhand in about 1977 from a firefighter named [name withheld]. [name withheld] is said to have felt an unseen pressure climb from their ankles up their legs while lying in the dark second-floor bunk room of Rescue 1 on 43rd Street. When they turned on the lights, nobody was there. The story ends with a claimed record check matching the hour and date to a fireman’s death in that same bed about twenty years earlier, and with the firehouse later burning down.
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 2:56:39). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld], calling from Southwest Florida and describing themself as a retired New York City fire lieutenant, tells Art Bell a story they say they heard secondhand. They say they were assigned in 1977 to a truck on 48th Street and 8th Avenue. A firefighter named [name withheld], from Glen Cove, Long Island, told them the story about Rescue 1, then located on 43rd Street between 8th and 9th Avenue.
According to [name withheld], [name withheld] described going up to the second-floor bunk room between about 2:15 and 3 a.m. to sleep between runs. The room was pitch black apart from a luminescent light on the wall. Lying on their stomach, [name withheld] said, they felt a pressure on their ankles, like somebody grabbing them. It moved up to their calves and then the backs of their thighs. Thinking a colleague was playing a trick, [name withheld] jumped up and turned on the lights. [name withheld] says there was nobody there and everyone else was asleep.
[name withheld] says that the next morning [name withheld] told the lieutenant on duty, and that records were checked. [name withheld] reports that the records showed that at that same hour and date roughly twenty years earlier ([name withheld] says 1957), a Rescue 1 fireman who was between tours went to a fire, returned to the firehouse, went up to that same rack, and died of a heart attack. [name withheld] adds that the firefighter’s widow never received compensation, and that Rescue 1 on 43rd Street burned down around 1979 or 1980 in a large fire reported in the Daily News.
[name withheld] says they asked [name withheld] twice whether the story was true and that [name withheld] insisted it was. [name withheld] personally says “who knows.”
Reported events, in order
- 0:04
[name withheld] describes themself as a retired New York City fire lieutenant calling from Southwest Florida and says the story is not firsthand.
- 0:31
[name withheld] says the story was told to them about 1977 by a firefighter named [name withheld], from Glen Cove, Long Island.
- 1:05
[name withheld] is said to have gone up to the second-floor bunk room of Rescue 1 between about 2:15 and 3 a.m. and lain on their stomach in near-total darkness.
- 2:38
[name withheld] felt a pressure on their ankles, like somebody grabbing them, which moved up to their calves and the backs of their thighs.
- 2:59
[name withheld] jumped up and turned on the lights. The caller reports there was nobody there and everyone else was asleep.
- 3:51
The next morning [name withheld] told the lieutenant on duty, and the records were checked.
- 4:21
The records reportedly showed that at the same hour and date about twenty years earlier, a Rescue 1 fireman between tours returned from a fire, went to that bed, and died of a heart attack.
- 5:00
The caller says the firefighter’s widow never received any compensation.
- 5:36
The caller adds that Rescue 1 on 43rd Street burned down around 1979 or 1980.
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· 2:38
The firefighter [name withheld] felt a pressure on their ankles, like somebody grabbing them.
- hearsay· 2:44
The pressure moved up their legs toward their calves and thighs.
- hearsay· 3:07
When [name withheld] turned on the lights, there was nobody there and everyone else was asleep.
- hearsay· 4:21
Department records reportedly matched the same hour and date to an earlier event.
- hearsay· 4:45
A Rescue 1 fireman between tours went to that bed and died of a heart attack about twenty years earlier.
- hearsay· 5:00
The firefighter’s widow never received any compensation.
- hearsay· 5:43
Rescue 1 on 43rd Street burned down around 1979 or 1980.
- host statement· 5:12
Art suggests the lack of compensation could be a motive for a haunting.
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 secondhand story with concrete details that could in principle be checked (unit, street, hour, claimed records) and a clear order of events. But the scoring guide caps it at 60 because [name withheld] did not experience it and the source is named only by first name.
Evidence for and against
- Specific details: Rescue 1 on 43rd Street between 8th and 9th Avenue, a time of 2:15 to 3 a.m., and a claimed 1957 record.
- A clear sequence that answers the host’s questions, including the bunk-room layout and the sliding poles.
- [name withheld] says outright that the story is not firsthand and that they asked the source twice.
- Secondhand from a source named only by first name. The scoring guide caps secondhand stories at 60.
- The claimed record check and newspaper coverage are asserted, not produced.
- Ordinary explanations tied to sleep are not addressed by [name withheld].
- The labels showing who is speaking are unreliable, and several lines attributed to the host appear to be the caller.
- The “records” are reported secondhand, and their content and date are stated loosely.
- 0:19
- 0:31
- 4:21
What the model inferred (not said on air): My component judgment (specificity and consistency high, closeness to the events and other explanations low) adds up to near the secondhand cap, so I set the score just below 60.
Checkable specifics are given (firehouse address, dates, claimed department records, and a newspaper report). But nothing was produced or examined and no second witness speaks on air, which places this in the score band of 11 to 25.
Evidence for and against
- Address and unit given: Rescue 1 on 43rd Street between 8th and 9th Avenue.
- Claimed department records that could in principle be checked.
- Claimed newspaper coverage of the later fire in the Daily News.
- No document, photograph, or recording was examined on air.
- The only claimed witness, [name withheld], is reported but not present.
- The record match is described only in terms of hour and date.
- Records are said to exist but are not verified.
- The source’s last name is unknown, and the year of the death is stated uncertainly.
- 4:14
- 5:51
What the model inferred (not said on air): My placement in the band of 11 to 25 reflects that details that could be checked exist but no checking occurred and nothing is backed up on air.
The central image of an unseen grip climbing the legs in a pitch-black bunk room, with nobody there when the lights go on, is genuinely unsettling. But there is no threat, visible figure, or escalation.
Evidence for and against
- The room is described as pitch black with only a wall light visible.
- The pressure is felt moving up the body from ankles to calves to thighs.
- When the lights come on, there is said to be nobody present.
- No ill will, injury, or lasting escalation is reported.
- The story ends on [name withheld]’s shrug (“who knows”) and a later fire.
- The frame is a nap between runs rather than a long ordeal.
- It is not stated whether the touch was brief or prolonged.
- 2:18
- 2:38
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is my judgment of the story’s effect on a listener, not of its truth.
A familiar frame, invisible pressure in bed at night that stops when the lights come on, is combined with the more distinctive detail of a department record matching a death in that exact bed twenty years earlier.
Evidence for and against
- The claimed record match to the same hour and date twenty years earlier.
- The detail of a fireman between tours and a heart attack in that same bed.
- The later burning down of the firehouse as a closing note.
- An invisible touch in bed at night and [quote withheld] are stock motifs.
- The image of pressure creeping up the legs is a common ghost trope tied to sleep.
- The comparison with the rest of the archive is provisional for this pilot.
- 4:21
- 2:38
What the model inferred (not said on air): My estimate is that the frame is common but the record-match detail lifts it above stock, around the middle of the scale.
Scoring confidence 0.65 · analysis confidence 0.75 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: [name withheld]’s secondhand story; claimed department records, not examined; claimed newspaper coverage (Daily News), not examined. The originality score blends the model's score (50) 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 sensation tied to sleep, felt while falling asleep or waking up, while lying on their stomach in a dark bunk room between runs. · [quote withheld] in a room that was “Pitch black” at about 3 a.m., between runs.
- A colleague playing a prank. · [name withheld]’s own reported first thought: [quote withheld]
- The record match is a coincidence or is remembered imprecisely, since only the hour and date are said to match across twenty years. · [quote withheld] and [name withheld]’s own “I don't know” about the year.
What stands out
The standout element is the claimed backing from records. [name withheld] says department records matched the exact hour and date to a fireman who died of a heart attack in that same bed twenty years earlier, and that the widow received no compensation. [name withheld] also notes that the firehouse later burned down.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.