Weight pressing a sleeper onto the mattress, Houston, c. 1979
A caller who gives their name as [quote withheld] tells Art Bell that around 1979, while sleeping beside their wife, they woke to something pressing down on them. They could not breathe or call out. They struggled until the pressure let up and the mattress rose [quote withheld] The caller offers no cause, says they were in a panic, and then changes the subject to a Bigfoot recording. The story ends with the caller saying the force felt heavier than they were, at about 200 pounds.
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 3:48:24). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller says, [quote withheld] and tells Art Bell that around 1979 the caller [quote withheld] when they woke up with [quote withheld] The caller reports they could see nothing, could not breathe, and could not yell. When they tried to yell, the caller says, only [quote withheld] came out, and they were frantic. Art asks whether it felt like hands. The caller answers that it [quote withheld] and when Art restates this as an overall weight, the caller agrees. The caller says they struggled, then struggled harder, became desperate for breath, and then “just gave up.” When the pressure let up, the caller says, the mattress [quote withheld] and then it was gone. Art asks what the caller thinks would have happened had they not struggled. The caller replies that they have no idea and that they were in a panic. Art suggests someone else might have imagined they could not struggle and would have submitted. The caller says they do not know, and that it was heavier than they were. The caller states they weighed 200 pounds. The story then stops. The caller asks to mention something else, about a Bigfoot sound they attribute to US Navy sonar.
Reported events, in order
- 0:04
The caller gives their name as [name withheld] in Houston and says that about 1979 they were sleeping beside their wife.
- 0:15
They woke up with something pushing them down onto the mattress.
- 0:19
They report they could see nothing.
- 0:22
They state they could not breathe and could not yell, only producing a squeak, and were frantic.
- 0:30
Asked by the host whether it was like hands, they say it was a weight on their entire body. The host restates it as an overall weight, and the caller agrees.
- 0:37
They struggled harder, became desperate for breath, then gave up. The pressure let up, the mattress rose an inch or two, and then it was gone.
- 0:54
Asked what would have happened if they had not struggled, they say they have no idea and that they were in a panic.
- 1:18
They state the weight was heavier than they were, saying they weighed 200 pounds.
- 1:24
They change the subject, asking to mention that a Bigfoot sound is a US Navy sonar sound, saying they are a retired chief sonar man.
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· 0:15
Something was pushing the caller down onto the mattress as they slept.
- observation· 0:19
The caller could see nothing during the event.
- observation· 0:22
The caller could not breathe and could not yell.
- observation· 0:33
The pressure was an overall weight on the caller’s entire body rather than hands.
- observation· 0:37
When the pressure let up, the mattress rose an inch or two.
- interpretation· 1:18
The force was heavier than the caller was, at about 200 pounds.
- interpretation· 0:57
The caller has no explanation for what happened or for what would have happened had they not struggled.
- host statement· 1:10
The host suggests another person in the same situation might have imagined they could not struggle and would have submitted.
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.
The caller is the one who had the experience, and they give a coherent, orderly story. But the story is brief, has few details that others could check, and closely matches an everyday experience of pressure on waking. The caller offers no alternative explanation of their own. Total of the parts: source proximity 20, specificity 8, internal consistency 12, alternative explanations 3, calibration 5.
Evidence for and against
- A firsthand story by the person who had the experience: [quote withheld]
- A concrete detail of circumstance is given: [quote withheld]
- The sequence is orderly and matches the host’s questions without contradiction, including agreeing with the host’s restatement of the sensation as an overall weight.
- No street, exact date, or other checkable detail is given beyond a first name, a city, and an approximate year.
- The pattern of pressure on waking, breathlessness, and being unable to speak fits a common sleep-related experience, which the caller does not address or try to rule out.
- No second account is offered. The caller’s wife, said to be in the bed, is not reported as having noticed anything.
- Several lines are garbled in the transcript (for example [quote withheld]), so small details of the story are uncertain.
- Whether the event happened at night rather than during another period of sleep is not stated.
- The caller’s age at the time is not stated.
- 0:08
- 0:15
- 0:37
What the model inferred (not said on air): The weights for each part are my judgment. Source proximity scored at the top of the firsthand range for direct experience. Alternative explanations scored low because sleep-related pressure or paralysis fits the described features (waking, not being able to breathe or speak, an abrupt end), and the caller offers no check against it.
Nothing beyond the caller’s own word is present. There is no document, photograph, recording, or on-air second witness. Only a first name, a city, and an approximate year are offered, and none of these is checked.
Evidence for and against
- Details that could only weakly be checked are given: [quote withheld] and “About 1979.”
- No physical evidence is claimed to exist, and none is examined.
- No second witness speaks on air. The wife mentioned is not reported as having witnessed anything.
- No outside check was performed, so the 50-point ceiling applies, and the story sits in the range for the caller’s word only.
- The name is a first name only and the city is a very large one, so these details do little to identify the caller.
- 0:04
- 0:08
What the model inferred (not said on air): I placed this at the top of the 0 to 10 range rather than the 11 to 25 range because the details given are too generic to check in any meaningful way. It is a borderline call.
The story involves something intruding on the bed, an inability to breathe or call out, and a helpless struggle, which is moderately unsettling. It does not last, no being or threat is described, and the story resolves quickly without escalation.
Evidence for and against
- Unable to breathe or speak while pressed down: [quote withheld]
- Reported helplessness during the event: [quote withheld]
- The setting is a shared bed with a spouse present.
- No figure, voice, or visible presence is reported at any point. The caller says they could see nothing.
- The event ends within the same short story, with no recurrence, threat, or aftermath.
- The story is short, so there is little room for escalation or other unsettling detail that might have been left out.
- 0:23
- 0:30
What the model inferred (not said on air): My rating treats the feeling of suffocation and being unable to move as the main sources of unease, and marks it down because no cause, threat, or aftermath is described.
The core content, a sleeper feeling pressed down and unable to move, breathe, or cry out, is a very common ghost-story and sleep-paralysis setup. The only distinctive parts are the mattress rising an inch or two when the pressure lifted and an estimated weight above the caller’s own. This is a provisional score, and the adjustment for comparison with the rest of the archive is minimal at pilot scale.
Evidence for and against
- A distinctive detail: [quote withheld]
- A detail of scale: the caller states the weight was heavier than the caller was, at 200 pounds.
- The setup (waking, pressure, being unable to breathe or call out) is a standard reported pattern.
- No unusual setting, figure, object, or historical element is present.
- Novelty compared with the rest of the archive cannot be worked out meaningfully at pilot scale, so the published score is dominated by the model’s estimate.
- 0:37
- 1:18
What the model inferred (not said on air): The model’s originality score is set at 40 (a familiar setup with one distinctive detail). The final value, adjusted for the rest of the archive, would depend on how rare the motifs are across the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.65 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand spoken word (a single caller segment of about 1.4 minutes).; No documentation, recording, or physical evidence offered.; No second witness speaks on air. A wife is mentioned as present in the bed but is not reported as a witness.. 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.
- Sleep paralysis while waking up, with the pressure and the inability to breathe or speak that are typical of that state. · The caller says they “woke up” with the pressure already present, that they could not breathe or yell, and that it ended abruptly and completely.
- A dream or nightmare continuing into partial waking, producing a felt weight and a struggle to move or call out. · The event happened while the caller was in bed sleeping [quote withheld] and they report nothing seen or heard.
- A harmless physical cause in the bed itself (for example, a partner’s movement, the bedding, or the mattress shifting) combined with a feeling of pressure on waking. · The mattress is central to the story. The caller says [quote withheld] and their wife was in the same bed.
What stands out
The story is a short description of pressure on a sleeper. Its only distinctive detail is physical rather than visual: the caller reports that the mattress rose an inch or two when the pressure lifted, and that the weight felt heavier than their own 200 pounds. No figure, sound, or object is reported. The event is described purely as pressure and an inability to breathe or make a sound.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.