Equipment failures and a truck fire at a logging site said to be a burial ground
An unnamed caller on the Wild Card Line tells Art Bell that in the mid-to-early 1990s they were logging in Northern California in a lightning burn that contained what they call an [quote withheld] They report that brand-new machines would not start, that one truck caught fire, and that another truck's 40-foot trailer broke in half. They say they finished the job anyway and that life has “been all right” since. The caller never says the site caused any of it.
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 1:37:39). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who is unnamed and was taken on the Wild Card Line, says that in the mid-to-early 1990s they were logging in Northern California. The caller says the work area was a lightning-strike burn that had consumed [quote withheld] Inside the burn was what they call an [quote withheld] marked by [quote withheld] The caller says a truck driver arrived, declared [quote withheld] and said he would get his shovel and scratch around for artifacts. The caller, who says they are half Native American, told him [quote withheld] Asked by Art to clarify, the caller confirms they meant the digging, not the logging. They say they set up anyway. They say the brand-new skidder would not start and the batteries were dead. Once it was started, their own machine would not start, and it took half a day to get everything running. The caller says the man with the shovel was loaded and left the woods. The next truck was loaded, and that truck caught on fire. Then a third truck, a 40-foot trailer van, broke in half halfway up the hill. Asked whether they stopped, the caller says [quote withheld] Asked how life has been since, they say [quote withheld] and thank Art for many years of programming. The caller never says that the burial ground caused any of the failures.
Reported events, in order
- 0:07
The caller says that in the mid-to-early 1990s they were working as a logger in Northern California.
- 0:19
The caller says the area was a lightning-strike burn that had burned [quote withheld]
- 0:34
The caller says that within the burn was an [quote withheld]
- 0:50
The caller says the site was marked by a circle of oak trees, and that all their machinery was gathered there.
- 1:00
The caller says a truck driver arrived, said [quote withheld] and announced he would get his shovel and scratch around for artifacts.
- 1:05
The caller says they told the driver, describing themselves as “half Native American,” that this was [quote withheld]
- 1:34
The caller says that after they set up, the brand-new skidder would not start and the batteries were dead.
- 1:44
The caller says that once the skidder was started, their own machine would not start, and it took half a day to get everything running.
- 1:51
The caller says the man with the shovel was loaded up and left the woods.
- 2:00
The caller says the next truck was loaded and that truck caught on fire.
- 2:12
The caller says the third truck, a 40-foot trailer van, broke in half halfway up the hill.
- 2:34
Asked whether they stopped work, the caller says they finished the job and that it was quite expensive.
- 2:43
Asked how life has been since, the caller says [quote withheld] and thanks Art for years of programming.
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).
- interpretation· 0:34
The site the caller was sent into contained what they call an Indian burial ground or possibly a medicine area. They say the host's prompt about this was accurate.
- observation· 1:00
A truck driver said he would dig with a shovel for artifacts at the site.
- interpretation· 1:05
The caller, who says they are half Native American, told the driver that digging there was not a thing to do.
- observation· 1:34
A brand-new skidder would not start, and its batteries were dead.
- observation· 1:44
After the skidder was started, the caller's own machine also would not start.
- observation· 2:00
The second truck caught fire.
- observation· 2:12
A third truck, a 40-foot trailer van, broke in half halfway up the hill.
- host statement· 2:20
The host said that at that point the caller should have concluded the project was not meant to be done.
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 clear, consistent firsthand story with some concrete details of the work, but it has nothing that can be verified, and ordinary mechanical explanations fit the reported events very easily.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand presence: the caller says they were on the crew and that one of the stalled machines was theirs ([quote withheld]).
- Concrete details: a burn from a lightning strike, [quote withheld] “40-foot trailers,” and half a day spent getting equipment going.
- A consistent, ordered story that answers the host's questions without changing details.
- No names, no exact location beyond “Northern California,” and no date beyond [quote withheld] Nothing can be checked.
- Ordinary explanations (equipment faults, a machine fire, a loaded trailer failing on a hill road) fit easily and are not addressed.
- No independent check is possible. The caller's story is the only source.
- Several lines carrying the equipment-failure sequence were smoothed in the automatic transcript, so the wording may be approximate.
- 1:44
- 2:12
What the model inferred (not said on air): My reduction for other explanations is a judgment that machinery failures and vehicle damage at a logging site are unremarkable. The transcript itself does not discuss causes at all.
This rests on the caller's word alone, with only the vaguest details of place and time and no claimed physical evidence or second witness on the air.
Evidence for and against
- The caller gives a firsthand story of events they say they witnessed and partly experienced themselves.
- The caller names a region (“Northern California”) and a rough period ([quote withheld]).
- No document, photograph, recording, mark, or trace is claimed.
- Other workers are said to have been present, but none is named and none speaks on the air.
- No outside check was performed.
- 0:07
What the model inferred (not said on air): I place this in the lowest band because nothing in the transcript can be independently checked. The truck fire and trailer damage are the kind of thing that could in principle have records, but none is offered.
The story is only mildly unsettling and by implication. There is no threat, presence, or sensory horror, and the ending is anticlimactic.
Evidence for and against
- A run of piling-up misfortunes (dead batteries, a stalled machine, a truck fire, a trailer splitting) at a site the caller calls a burial ground.
- The implied idea of disturbing the dead ([quote withheld]) gives the misfortunes an ominous coloring.
- No figure, voice, ghost, or threat is reported anywhere in the story.
- It ends flatly: the job was finished and [quote withheld]
- A listener's reaction is subjective. The caller expresses no fear in the transcript.
- 1:05
- 2:00
What the model inferred (not said on air): Creepiness here depends on the listener supplying the burial-ground connection, which the caller leaves unstated.
A familiar “disturbed burial ground” setup with a distinctive, concrete set of mechanical misfortunes. The score is provisional, pending the comparison with the rest of the archive.
Evidence for and against
- The specifics are distinctive: brand-new equipment failing to start, a truck catching fire, and a 40-foot trailer breaking in half on a hill, all within a lightning burn containing [quote withheld]
- The core theme, misfortune following the disturbance of an old burial ground, is a very common ghost-story setup.
- No unusual kind of strange event: no ghost, no sound, no contact.
- Originality is provisional until the comparison with the rest of the archive is filled in.
- 0:50
What the model inferred (not said on air): The originality judgment is mine. The automated newness measure is provisional, with few stories in the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.75 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: Caller's firsthand testimony only (they say they were on site and one of the stalled machines was theirs); Other workers said to be present, but none speaks on the air; No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace claimed. 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.
- Ordinary mechanical and electrical faults. New machinery that fails to start (dead batteries) and a machine fire are common equipment problems at a working site. · The caller says [quote withheld] and “Batteries are dead.” Several machines failing to start also fits ordinary electrical or fuel faults, cold starts, or operator error. This is offered as a hypothesis only.
- Operating conditions and terrain. Heavily loaded 40-foot trailers on a hill road can fail structurally through overloading, fatigue, or rough ground. · The caller describes [quote withheld] and a truck [quote withheld] when [quote withheld] This is offered as a hypothesis only.
What stands out
The story reports no ghost, figure, or sound at all, only machinery that will not start, a truck fire, and a splitting trailer. The site is one the caller calls a burial ground, but they never blame it for the failures. The caller says they are half Native American and gives that as the reason for the warning to the co-worker, which is unusual in this archive.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.