Faceless green caped figure in the left lane on a night drive to Peoria
A caller who identifies themselves only by their location, “Moroa, Illinois,” tells Art Bell about a drive with a friend toward Peoria on a clear June night around 11:45 p.m. The caller says a seven-foot green caped figure with no face appeared out of mist in the left-hand lane and stood motionless. They thought of the Grim Reaper but kept it to themselves, until their passenger said it out loud. The caller reports never seeing it again and ends the call by saying the experience was as real as the conversation itself.
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 1:18:03). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
A caller who says they are [quote withheld] tells Art Bell that they and their buddy were driving to Peoria, about an hour and a half away. It was a clear, warm summer night in June, with no one else around, at about 11:45 p.m. They were traveling about 65 mph in the right-hand lane. The caller reports that a green figure about seven feet tall appeared out of mist in the left-hand lane. According to the caller, the figure wore a cape and had no face, and they could not tell whether it was fat or skinny. The caller says it stood still in the left lane and “doesn’t budge,” with its arms draped out side to side. The caller says the only thing they could think of was the Grim Reaper, and they kept that thought to themselves. Then their buddy asked “what was that?” and said the Grim Reaper out loud. The caller answered “yeah, it was” with a straight face. Asked whether they ever saw it again, the caller says no, and that they never want to. The caller adds that [quote withheld] Art responds that he would have taken it as a sign he was about to die. He jokes that the caller should have stopped the car, taken the keys out, and taken a taxi home. The caller says they lived through it. Art also comments that the figure was in the left lane, green and hooded with no face. The call ends with thanks. No road name, exact date, or year is stated.
Reported events, in order
- 0:05
The caller says they and their buddy were driving to Peoria, about an hour and a half away, on a clear, warm June night with no one around, at about 11:45 p.m.
- 0:29
They were driving about 65 mph in the right-hand lane.
- 0:33
A green figure about seven feet tall appears out of mist in the left-hand lane.
- 0:43
The figure is described as wearing a cape and having no face. The caller says they cannot tell if it is fat or skinny.
- 0:52
The figure stands still in the left-hand lane and does not budge, arms draped out side to side.
- 1:01
The caller thinks of the Grim Reaper but keeps the thought to themselves.
- 1:28
Their passenger asks “what was that?” and says the Grim Reaper out loud.
- 1:32
The caller answers “yeah, it was” with a straight face.
- 1:57
The caller says they never saw it again and never want to.
- 2:05
The call ends with mutual thanks.
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· 0:38
The caller says a green figure about seven feet tall appeared in the left-hand lane, wearing a cape.
- observation· 0:46
The caller says the figure had no face and they could not judge its build.
- observation· 0:52
The caller says the figure stood motionless in the left-hand lane with its arms out to the sides.
- interpretation· 1:01
The caller says they took the figure to be the Grim Reaper.
- interpretation· 1:02
The caller says that was the only explanation they could think of.
- observation· 1:28
The caller says their passenger asked what it was and said the Grim Reaper out loud.
- observation· 1:30
The caller says they and their passenger had the same thought.
- observation· 2:00
The caller says the experience was real and that they never saw the figure again.
- host statement· 1:16
Art states that seeing this would mean to him that he was about to 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 a very brief sighting. It is coherent and fairly specific about speed, lane, month, and time. But it has an easy ordinary reading (a momentary nighttime glimpse from a moving car) and no details that would let anyone check it.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand witness story of an event the caller says they personally experienced.
- Concrete particulars: about 65 mph, right-hand lane, about 11:45 p.m., June, a drive to Peoria about an hour and a half away.
- The sequence is coherent, and the caller answers Art’s clarifying question about walking versus driving.
- No road name, exact date, or year is given, so nothing can be checked.
- The sighting is described as a momentary glimpse at speed.
- The caller does not address obvious ordinary possibilities, and escalates to [quote withheld]
- The labels showing who is speaking are unreliable in several lines, so some wording may belong to Art rather than the caller.
- “Moroa, Illinois” may be a mistranscription of a place name.
- 0:29
- 2:00
What the model inferred (not said on air): Component estimates: source proximity 17 (firsthand but brief and partial), specificity 11, internal consistency 15, alternative explanations 7 (a nighttime glimpse from a moving car fits easily), calibration 7. Sum 57.
There is only the caller’s word, plus a claimed second witness in the car who never speaks on air. A few specifics that could be checked (town, destination, month) are given but not checked, and no physical evidence is claimed.
Evidence for and against
- The caller names their own location and the destination of the drive.
- The caller says a second person was present and reacted to the figure.
- No photograph, recording, document, or mark is claimed.
- The second witness does not speak on air. The claim rests on the caller’s report.
- No exact date, year, or road is given, so the story cannot be located in records.
- Whether the passenger’s reaction was as described cannot be assessed from the transcript.
- 1:28
- 0:52
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placed at 11 to 25 (specifics that could be checked are given but unchecked; another witness is claimed). Scored near the bottom because the claimed witness is not on air and no documentation exists. No outside check was performed, so the hard cap of 50 is not approached.
A tall, faceless, caped figure standing motionless in the fast lane of an empty highway at night is genuinely unsettling. Both people in the car read it as the Grim Reaper. The effect is softened by the short duration, the absence of any follow-up or threat, and Art’s jokes.
Evidence for and against
- A seven-foot, faceless, caped figure said to appear out of mist in the road ahead at night.
- The figure is reported to stand still and not budge rather than behave like a person.
- Both people in the car are said to have independently thought of the Grim Reaper.
- The encounter is described as brief, with no pursuit, contact, or recurrence.
- The call ends with humor about stopping the car and taking a taxi home.
- The figure’s appearance is conveyed only in a few short lines, so sensory detail is limited.
- 0:52
- 1:30
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placed at the midpoint of the scale: something intrudes on a safe, enclosed space (the car), and both witnesses give it an ominous reading. Brevity and lack of threat offset this.
A figure met from a moving car on a night road is a familiar setup. But the specifics give it a distinctive shape: seven feet tall, green, caped, faceless, and standing motionless in the left lane with arms out. The double “Grim Reaper” reading is also a notable detail.
Evidence for and against
- Unusual form: green, caped, roughly seven feet tall, no face, build unreadable.
- Unusual posture and placement: standing motionless, arms draped out side to side, in the left-hand lane.
- Both people in the car are said to have arrived at the same interpretation at the same moment.
- Ghosts on roads and highways are a common ghost-story setup.
- The caller’s own framing (“the Grim Reaper”) is a stock cultural figure.
- The published originality score is compared with the rest of the archive and is provisional for this pilot.
- The description rests on a few short lines, some wrongly attributed.
- 0:38
- 0:57
What the model inferred (not said on air): Model estimate around 58: a familiar setup (night road encounter) carrying several distinctive details rather than stock elements such as cold spots or footsteps.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.65 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story (live call); A claimed second witness in the car, who does not speak on air. The originality score blends the model's score (58) 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 brief, high-speed nighttime glimpse of a person, a costumed figure, or an object at the roadside, misread at 65 mph. · The caller says they were driving about 65 miles an hour and the encounter was essentially instantaneous. The caller also cannot describe the figure’s build.
- A patch of mist or fog combined with seeing a shape in it, producing an apparent tall figure in the lane. · The caller says the figure appeared [quote withheld] mist, and the caption line reads “mist, a green.”
- A prank or hoax by someone standing in the roadway. · The figure is reported to have remained standing in the left lane rather than moving, which the caller notes as unusual.
What stands out
The reported figure is not a typical roadside ghost. It is described as roughly seven feet tall, green, caped, and faceless, and it stands motionless in the fast lane of a highway at speed. The caller and their passenger are said to have independently arrived at the same “Grim Reaper” reading within moments of the sighting.
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