Computer typed overnight messages about “Vernon”; objects thrown in a house
An unnamed caller tells Art Bell that a computer in their home produced pages of typed text overnight that they had not written. Most of it was gibberish, but it contained sentences they could read, including warnings about the “Antichrist” and a coming evil character called “Vernon.” The caller reports that the activity later grew to electrical failure and objects, notably Visine bottles, flying down from an empty upstairs loft. The story ends with the caller saying they moved out and put the computer in storage, keeping only the printouts. Art Bell jokes that the sequel would be “You die.”
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 2000-1.mp3”, starting at 1:42:11). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who gives no name or location, describes a computer in their home that produced text they had not typed. They say they first suspected a hacker and disconnected the phone line. Then they began labeling the output “visitor” and marking its responses. Overnight, they say, the machine would leave [quote withheld] of typing. Most of it was gibberish, but they say selected sentences made sense. These included a line about the Antichrist [quote withheld] and [quote withheld] The caller says they gathered [quote withheld] The gist is that a character it calls Vernon is on its way, is [quote withheld] and that a half-moon symbol should be watched for. They say they became enthralled, sat at the computer for longer periods, asked it direct questions, and got responses. The responses, they say, called them “the peaceful warrior” and opened with hello and closed with goodbye. The caller reports that the events later changed. The computer broke, the electricity in the house “started going haywire,” and light bulbs would not work. Objects, notably Visine bottles, flew. One came down from the upstairs loft toward their nose as they walked toward the door. They say they went up to the loft and found nobody there, noting there is [quote withheld] They say they moved out and put the computer in storage, keeping only the printout. Art Bell jokes that the sequel to the story would be “You die.”
Reported events, in order
- 0:03
The caller says they disconnected the phone line, thinking the computer activity might have been a hacker.
- 0:11
The caller says they began calling it “visitor” and marking its responses.
- 0:22
Overnight the computer would leave about half a page to a page and a half of typed words.
- 0:29
Amid the gibberish, the caller says selected sentences made sense.
- 0:50
A quoted message mentions the Antichrist on the road to or from the home, and [quote withheld]
- 1:28
The caller says they have seventeen or eighteen pages of material. The gist is a character called Vernon on its way, very evil, and a half-moon symbol to watch for.
- 1:57
The caller says they became enthralled, stayed at the computer longer, and asked it direct questions, receiving responses.
- 2:05
The caller claims seventeen or eighteen teenagers as direct witnesses and five or six adults they allowed to see it.
- 2:56
Responses called the caller “the peaceful warrior” and began with hello and ended with goodbye.
- 3:12
The computer broke down, the house electricity went haywire, and light bulbs would not work.
- 3:22
Things began flying, such as Visine bottles, from empty rooms upstairs, near the caller’s nose.
- 3:58
Walking toward the door, the caller had something fly down from the upstairs loft and nearly hit their nose. It was a Visine bottle.
- 4:15
The caller went up to the loft and found nobody there. They note there is only one way up.
- 4:26
The caller says they moved out and the computer is in storage. All they have is the printout.
- 4:34
Art Bell jokes the sequel to the story would be “You die.”
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· 0:22
The computer left typed text overnight that the caller says they did not write.
- observation· 0:29
Most of the output was gibberish, but the caller says selected sentences within it made sense.
- observation· 0:54
One quoted line from the output read [quote withheld]
- interpretation· 1:28
The caller reads the printouts as saying a character it calls Vernon is coming and is very evil, with a half-moon symbol to be watched for.
- observation· 3:12
The computer broke down, and the electricity in the house went haywire afterward.
- observation· 3:22
Objects, such as Visine bottles, began flying from empty rooms upstairs.
- observation· 4:05
A Visine bottle came down from the loft and nearly hit the caller’s nose.
- observation· 4:16
The caller went up to the loft and found nobody there.
- observation· 2:56
The responses called the caller “the peaceful warrior,” began with hello, and ended with goodbye.
- observation· 2:08
The caller claims seventeen or eighteen teenagers and five or six adults as direct witnesses.
- host statement· 5:03
Art Bell describes the story as a computer program that began talking about the Antichrist.
- host statement· 4:34
Art Bell jokes that the sequel to the story would be “You die.”
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 of activity on the caller’s own computer and in their own home. It has some concrete detail (page counts, a named object, an empty loft with one way up) and acknowledges one ordinary possibility (a hacker). It is weakened by the lack of names, places, dates, or any checkable specifics, and by the claimed witnesses not speaking.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand framing throughout: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- Concrete quantities and objects: [quote withheld] [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- The caller addresses an ordinary possibility and reports that it did not fit: after disconnecting the phone line, the activity continued.
- Direct denial of a hoax: [quote withheld]
- No names, location, dates, or other checkable identifiers are given anywhere in the story.
- The core text is described as mostly unreadable, [quote withheld] with only selected sentences reported as sensible.
- Claimed witnesses do not speak on air. Nothing is verified.
- The story begins mid-conversation after a station break, so the start may be missing.
- The labels showing who is speaking are unreliable (many caller lines are labeled as the host), so it is not always clear which words are the caller’s and which are Art Bell’s.
- It is not clear from the transcript what program or hardware produced the text, or how it was written (typing versus speech recognition), despite Art Bell’s phrase “computer recognition program.”
- 0:03
- 0:22
- 2:05
- 4:26
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment is that the story is coherent and partly detailed but low on checkable specifics. The component split (source 22, specificity 12, consistency 15, alternative explanations 11, calibration 7, with no cap for a secondhand or joke story) is my inference, not transcript content.
The only support is the caller’s word, plus claimed witnesses who never speak. Documents (printouts) and a device (the computer) are said to exist but were not produced or examined on air. That places it in the range for claimed but unexamined physical evidence.
Evidence for and against
- Physical material is claimed to exist: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- Multiple witnesses are claimed: [quote withheld]
- The caller says the computer still exists, in storage: [quote withheld]
- No printout, document, or recording is read out, shown, or examined during the story.
- No second witness speaks on air. Art Bell explicitly says the material is [quote withheld]
- No names, dates, or places are provided that would allow an independent check.
- The claimed witness count is garbled and unclear as transcribed.
- It is unstated whether the printouts still exist or could be examined.
- 1:26
- 4:28
- 3:40
What the model inferred (not said on air): The 26 to 40 range is chosen because the evidence consists of claimed but unexamined documents plus claimed witnesses, and no outside check was performed (evidence strength is capped at 50).
The story turns a home computer into a source of hostile-feeling apocalyptic text, then grows into electrical failure and objects flying at the caller’s face from an empty loft. It is unresolved. But there is no reported injury, threat to children, or intrusion into a bedroom, which keeps it below the highest range.
Evidence for and against
- Threatening-sounding message content: [quote withheld] and a warning about an evil character on its way.
- Physical objects directed near the caller: [quote withheld]
- Escalation and no closure: [quote withheld] The computer remains in storage.
- Intrusion into the home’s electrical system: [quote withheld]
- Art Bell’s joking close ([quote withheld]) softens the tone.
- No reported injury, no bedroom or childhood element, and no claimed malevolent presence touching the caller.
- The exact quoted message text is partly obscured by transcription (“boom boom,” “Antichrist on the”).
- 0:54
- 4:05
- 2:41
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is an entertainment judgment about the story as told, not a claim about events. The anchor points used are 50 (“genuinely unsettling”) and 70 (“frightening”).
The poltergeist setup (electrical interference, thrown objects) is familiar. But the specific device of a computer typing pages of coherent apocalyptic sentences, including named figures (“Vernon,” the half-moon symbol, “the peaceful warrior”), is a distinctive combination worth more than the stock-element baseline.
Evidence for and against
- Self-typing computer output: [quote withheld] ... [quote withheld]
- Named content within the output: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- Familiar components alongside it: thrown objects and electrical trouble.
- Electrical interference and thrown objects are common poltergeist motifs.
- The apocalyptic warning content.
- The adjustment for comparison with the rest of the archive is provisional in this pilot and not computed here. The score shown is the model estimate.
- 0:26
- 1:28
What the model inferred (not said on air): My reading is that the machine-generated text is the distinctive element, while the surrounding events are stock. This is a comparison against common ghost-story motifs, not transcript content.
Scoring confidence 0.50 · analysis confidence 0.55 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story about their own computer, home, and actions; Claimed printouts (seventeen or eighteen pages of computer output), said to be kept but not produced or examined; Claimed computer, said to be in storage but not examined; Claimed witnesses (seventeen or eighteen teenagers, five or six adults) who do not speak on air. The originality score blends the model's score (65) 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 software malfunction or a text-generating program produced pages of random output, and the reader picked readable sentences out of the noise. · The caller says most output was [quote withheld] and that [quote withheld] selected sentences made sense. Art Bell later calls it a “computer recognition program.”
- Remote access by a person (a hacker) or a practical joke, which the caller says they first suspected. · The caller says [quote withheld] The caller says the activity continued after the phone line was disconnected.
- Objects were moved or thrown by another person in the house. The caller had rented the upstairs loft to tenants. · The caller says [quote withheld] and that the objects came [quote withheld] The caller reports finding nobody there when checking.
What stands out
The reported events combine a computer that types on its own and produces readable apocalyptic sentences with later thrown objects (Visine bottles) coming from an upstairs loft the caller says was empty. The caller also claims an unusually large number of witnesses (teenagers and adults), who are not heard from on air.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.