Attic thumps and old glass negatives in a Hyde Park house
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], from Grosse Ile, Michigan, describes moving as a five-year-old in 1965 or 1966 into an old wood-frame house in Hyde Park, on Chicago's south side. They say the family heard repeated thumps and footsteps and saw a light in the attic. They say the activity ended after their father packed up boxes of old glass negatives found in the attic and shipped them away. They believe the disturbances were tied to a maid who they think died in an attic fire.
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 2000-2.mp3”, starting at 1:33:16). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld] tells Art their story goes back to 1965 or 1966, when they were a five-year-old in Chicago, on the south side in Hyde Park. Their family moved into an old wood-frame house, which they say was rare in Chicago because of the fire. Exploring the attic as a family, they found charring from a past fire and what the caller calls old quarters, maybe a maid's. Their parents found boxes of old glass negatives there. The caller says they only learned later that some of the negatives were pornographic, and that as children they were shown only the pictures of old Chicago days. The attic was reached by a drop-down stairway. The caller says they continuously heard little sounds and that the lights would be on up there. During about half a year spent restoring an old mahogany banister, with the whole family present, they kept hearing sounds, thumps, footsteps, and something like a bag of potatoes rolling upstairs. One night their father, convinced someone was up there, took a meat cleaver from the kitchen. The family dog Gretchen, described as loyal and brave, would not go with him, her hackles up and whimpering. He dragged her up the pull-down stairs and found the light on and nothing there. [name withheld] says the sounds continued about four more months until they were ready to move. Their father packed the pictures up, got rid of them, and shipped them out, and it all went away. The caller says they were almost positive the pictures were the maid's, that the earlier attic fire probably took her life, and that once the pictures were gone she was able to go off into peace.
Reported events, in order
- 0:07
The caller says their family moved into an old wood-frame house in Hyde Park, Chicago, in 1965 or 1966, when they were five.
- 0:32
Exploring the attic, they find charring from a past fire and what may have been a maid's quarters.
- 0:42
Their parents find boxes of old glass negatives in the attic.
- 1:07
The attic is reached by a drop-down stairway. The caller says they continuously heard little sounds and the lights would be on up there.
- 1:19
Over about half a year, the whole family restores an old mahogany banister while the sounds continue.
- 1:31
The caller reports thumps, footsteps, and a sound like a bag of potatoes rolling upstairs.
- 1:46
Their father takes a meat cleaver. The dog Gretchen raises her hackles and refuses to go.
- 2:04
The father drags the dog up the pull-down stairs and finds the light on and nothing there.
- 2:17
The sounds continue about four more months until the family is ready to move.
- 2:27
Their father packs the pictures up, gets rid of them, and ships them out, and [quote withheld]
- 2:35
The caller says they were almost positive the pictures were the maid's and the fire probably took her life.
- 2:52
The caller says that once the pictures went away she was able to go off into peace.
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· 1:13
The caller says they continuously heard little sounds from the attic and that the lights would be on up there.
- observation· 1:31
The caller reports hearing sounds, thumps, footsteps, and a sound like a bag of potatoes rolling upstairs.
- observation· 1:55
The caller says the family dog raised her hackles and would not go with their father.
- observation· 2:17
The caller says their father went up to the attic with a cleaver and again found nothing.
- observation· 2:27
The caller says the activity stopped after their father shipped the glass negatives away.
- hearsay· 0:51
The caller says they only learned later that some of the glass negatives were pornographic.
- interpretation· 2:35
The caller concludes the disturbances were connected to the pictures.
- interpretation· 2:35
The caller suggests the attic fire probably killed the maid and the pictures were hers.
- interpretation· 2:52
The caller suggests she was released once the pictures were gone.
- host statement· 2:33
The host states his own view that the strange events were connected to the pictures.
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 firsthand story with concrete place, year, age, and household detail, told in a consistent sequence that answers the host's questions. The caller largely separates what was heard from what they concluded. Ordinary explanations (attic animals, old-house noise, and wiring) fit moderately well, and the claimed link to the negatives rests on a probable conclusion rather than a demonstrated one.
Evidence for and against
- Concrete setting and date: [quote withheld]
- A specific sequence of sounds: [quote withheld]
- The caller's stated conclusion is hedged: “we're almost positive.”
- The link between the pictures and the strange events is the caller's inference, not an observation.
- The reported events rest on a childhood memory of a family home, with no documentation or second witness on the air.
- The activity is described as stopping around the time the family was moving out, which the caller also mentions in the same passage.
- The caller was five at the time, so details are recalled from early childhood.
- No independent story from any family member on the air.
- The labels showing who is speaking and a few host lines are fragmented in the transcript.
- 0:07
- 1:31
- 2:35
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component scores are my judgment. Closeness to the source is about 20 (firsthand, but a young child's memory). Specifics are about 15. Consistency is about 17. Other explanations are about 7 (ordinary possibilities fit reasonably). Caution is about 9 (the caller frames the cause as probable rather than certain).
Only the caller's testimony is available. Specifics that could be checked are given (a named neighborhood, an approximate year, an old wood-frame house) and other witnesses are claimed, but nothing was verified and no object was examined on the air.
Evidence for and against
- Named place and approximate date: “Hyde Park,” “1965 or 6.”
- Other participants claimed: [quote withheld]
- Physical objects claimed to have existed: [quote withheld]
- No second witness speaks on the air, and no confirmation is given on the air.
- The negatives were reportedly shipped away long ago and are not produced or described by the host.
- No records, photographs, or documents are examined during this part of the broadcast.
- It is untested whether any family member could back up the story.
- The negatives' present whereabouts and content are unstated.
- 0:42
- 1:25
- 2:27
What the model inferred (not said on air): Scored in the 11 to 25 band because checkable specifics and claimed witnesses are present but nothing is verified. No physical evidence was examined, so it does not reach the 26 to 40 band.
The story is quietly unsettling rather than graphic: repeated unexplained noises and a light in the attic of a family home, a father arming himself with a meat cleaver, and a normally brave dog refusing to climb with her hackles raised. No threat, contact, or injury is reported, and the ending is presented as resolved.
Evidence for and against
- Intrusion into a family home with a child present: [quote withheld]
- The dog's fear and the father's meat cleaver suggest a sense of threat: [quote withheld]
- Repeated sounds over months: [quote withheld]
- No figure, contact, injury, or ill will is reported.
- The caller treats the events as an ordinary part of growing up: [quote withheld]
- The story is told as ending peacefully for the presumed maid.
- The caller does not describe their own fear during the events.
- It is not stated whether the caller ever entered the attic.
- 1:55
- 1:39
- 2:17
What the model inferred (not said on air): My rating reflects the intrusion into a home, the dog's alarm, and the father's armed search. It is offset by the lack of any reported threat, harm, or visible figure.
The setup is a familiar haunted-house pattern: attic noises, a reacting dog, and a search that finds nothing. The distinctive element is the box of old glass negatives and the claim that the disturbances stopped once the pictures were removed and shipped away. The caller's stated reason (fear of being found out through the images) is an unusual motive for the presumed presence.
Evidence for and against
- An unusual object at the center: [quote withheld]
- A distinctive ending: [quote withheld]
- An unusual claimed motive: [quote withheld]
- The core elements are stock: attic, thumps and footsteps, a dog that refuses, a search that finds nothing.
- The “she found peace” ending is a common theme in ghost stories.
- The provisional score is a judgment of content. The part compared with the archive carries little weight at this stage.
- The caller's own account of what was in the negatives is secondhand to the caller.
- 0:42
- 2:27
- 2:48
What the model inferred (not said on air): I set the model score in the middle-to-upper range (familiar setup plus one distinctive object and ending). The published value would be blended with a term for newness compared with the archive, which carries little weight in the pilot.
Scoring confidence 0.72 · analysis confidence 0.80 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: Caller's firsthand testimony (childhood memory, told decades later); Claimed family second witnesses, none speaking on the air; Claimed physical objects (glass negatives) reportedly discarded, not examined. The originality score blends the model's score (57) 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.
- Animals in the attic (raccoons, squirrels, or birds) could explain the thumps, the rolling sound, and the dog's agitation. · The caller compares the sound to [quote withheld] and the dog Gretchen raised her hackles and whimpered. The attic was reached through a drop-down stairway that opens.
- An old wood-frame house settling, and its wiring, could explain creaks and a light being found on. · The house is described as old and wood-frame, the attic was reached by a drop-down stairway, and the caller reports [quote withheld]
- Expectation and coincidence could explain the reported link between the negatives and the end of the noises. · The caller says the sounds stopped around the time their father [quote withheld] and elsewhere gives only a probable conclusion: “we're almost positive.”
What stands out
The story ties recurring attic noises not to a death or burial but to a box of old glass photographic negatives. The caller says the problem ended when the pictures were removed and shipped away, not through a cleansing or the family's departure. The attic's reported fire damage and possible maid's quarters supply the explanation the caller attaches to the objects.
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