Figures in a lakeside park and the same tall man in a kitchen
A caller who gives her name as [quote withheld] tells Art Bell that at about age 13 she and a friend were sitting by a fountain in a lakeside park at night when a horse-like shape turned into roughly 25 people walking toward them, some of them shadows, one staring at her. She says she later saw the same tall man walk toward her in the kitchen of her roughly 150-year-old house. About a year afterward she learned she was descended from Amish settlers, and she came to think the figure was connected to her family's religious history.
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 2:00:53). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller introduces herself as [name withheld] from Wisconsin and says the women in her family are the ones who have “metaphysical experiences,” which she says she inherited. She reports that at about age 13 she went out at night without permission to a friend's house and then down to a park in town beside a lake. The park is surrounded by old mansions built by paper barons in what she describes as the biggest paper-producing place in the world. She says it was serene by day but “pretty creepy” at night. Sitting by a large fountain with her friend, she says, the friend told her to look at something that looked like a horse, though there are no horses in the park. When she turned, she says, whatever it was seemed to change into a lot of people who should not have been in the park at that hour. She says about 25 people were walking straight toward them, some of them shadows, and one man was staring directly at her. She says they ran home and told no one. She says this was not the end of the story, adding that she saw ghosts and other things as a girl. On another night, she says, she was up listening to Art when she should have been in bed, making a sandwich in the kitchen of their old house, which she says must be about 150 years old. She saw out of the corner of her eye a tall man, the same man from the park, walking toward her. She says she stepped back and he was gone, and she finished her sandwich and tried to forget it. She says it did not occur to her why a ghost would pick on her. About a year later, she says, she found out she was descended from a line of Amish settlers who came over in the early 1700s. She says the man's dress had always struck her as 1800s clothing, and then struck her as Amish dress. She notes she had recently become interested in [quote withheld] and that her family had left the Amish faith and become Methodist, though all generations had been religious. The host cuts in to end the call.
Reported events, in order
- 0:26
Caller says she went out at night around age 13 to a friend's house and then to a lakeside park in town.
- 0:59
Sitting by a fountain at night, her friend says there is something that looks like a horse, though there are no horses in the park.
- 1:16
The shape appears to change into about 25 people walking toward them, some of them shadows.
- 1:45
She sees one man staring directly at her. They run home and tell no one.
- 2:12
On another night she sees a tall man, the same man from the park, walking toward her in the kitchen of their old house, and he disappears when she steps back.
- 2:43
About a year later she learns she is descended from Amish settlers who came over in the early 1700s, and she connects the man's dress to Amish clothing.
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· 1:16
A shape the caller first took for a horse changed into a large group of people walking toward her and her friend in the park.
- hearsay· 0:59
The friend was the first to see the horse-like figure.
- observation· 1:22
About 25 people were walking straight toward them.
- observation· 1:39
Some of the approaching figures were visible only as shadows.
- observation· 1:45
One man among the figures was staring directly at her.
- observation· 2:12
The same tall man from the park walked toward her in her kitchen and vanished.
- interpretation· 2:32
She wondered why a ghost would single her out.
- interpretation· 2:57
She came to think the man was dressed like an Amish person and connected him to her Amish ancestry.
- hearsay· 0:18
The women in her family all have metaphysical experiences, which she says she inherited.
- host statement· 3:44
The host says 13-year-old girls are often linked to strange events.
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 firsthand story with concrete details of the setting (park by a lake, fountain, old paper barons' mansions, a 150-year-old house) and a second claimed witness at the park. But it has no names, dates, or places that can be checked, and the caller moves from what she saw to a conclusion about a ghost and ancestry without addressing other explanations.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand: [quote withheld]
- Specific setting: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- Specific count and behavior: [quote withheld]
- She answered the host's clarifying question about the horse form.
- No town, park, date, or surname is given: [quote withheld]
- The identification of the kitchen figure as [quote withheld] is the caller's inference from very brief views.
- The ancestral explanation rests on an unspecified later discovery: [quote withheld]
- Whether the friend saw anything at all is only the caller's report.
- The order and timing between the park and kitchen events are unstated.
- The labels showing who is speaking switch between the caller and the host in the middle of a sentence in places.
- 0:31
- 1:22
- 2:12
What the model inferred (not said on air): Closeness to the source and consistency are scored from the firsthand telling and the coherent sequence. Specifics are credited for the detail of the surroundings but discounted for the lack of names, places, or dates that can be checked.
Nothing beyond the caller's own word is available. A second person is said to have been present at the park and to have seen the horse-like shape first, but that person does not speak, and no document, photograph, or record is offered.
Evidence for and against
- Claimed second witness at the fountain: [quote withheld]
- No recording, image, document, or physical trace is mentioned.
- The friend does not appear on the air to confirm anything.
- The ancestral link is stated without any named record: [quote withheld]
- Whether the caller's claim that they “don't tell anyone” means no other account from the time exists.
- 0:59
- 1:51
What the model inferred (not said on air): Under the scoring guide, a claimed but silent witness places this in the 11 to 25 band. Since nothing can be checked, the low end is used.
It is told as happening at night in a park by a lake and then in the caller's own kitchen, with a crowd of figures advancing, some only shadows, one man staring fixedly at her, and the same tall figure walking at her indoors before vanishing. The kitchen intrusion and the staring man carry the effect. The story ends without resolution, but also without threat or harm.
Evidence for and against
- An approaching group: [quote withheld]
- A fixed stare: [quote withheld]
- Intrusion at home while she was alone at night making a sandwich.
- The figure is gone only when she steps back: [quote withheld]
- No physical contact, injury, or threat is reported.
- The caller's response afterward is matter-of-fact: [quote withheld]
- No escalating series or ominous ending is claimed.
- Whether the kitchen event happened the same night, days later, or at some other time is unstated.
- 1:39
- 1:45
What the model inferred (not said on air): Scored as “genuinely unsettling” rather than frightening because the events are intrusive and told in the first person but carry no ill will, contact, or harm.
A provisional model score. The setup of a figure seen in public and then reappearing at home is familiar, but the change from a horse into a crowd and the later Amish-ancestry reading are distinctive combinations. Weighting against the rest of the archive is minimal at the pilot stage.
Evidence for and against
- A shape change: “seemed to change” from a horse into people.
- The same figure reappears in a different setting.
- The figure's dress is later reinterpreted as Amish.
- Nighttime figures walking and vanishing are recurring ghost-story themes.
- The [quote withheld] structure is a common setup.
- The small archive at the pilot stage makes the comparison with the rest of the archive unreliable.
- 1:16
- 2:57
What the model inferred (not said on air): The provisional 55 reflects a familiar setup plus two distinctive details. The published originality score will be recomputed against the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: Caller's firsthand testimony on the air; Claimed second witness (friend) at the park, not on the air; Claimed family-history background (Amish settlers) stated but not backed by evidence. The originality score blends the model's score (55) 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 real group of people was walking through the public park late at night, and the earlier “horse” shape was a misread object or animal in low light. · The caller describes a public park in town by a lake that is “pretty creepy” at night, and says she saw roughly 25 people and shadows.
- The change from a horse to people was the mind settling on one reading of an unclear dark shape in poor night lighting (pareidolia, or low-light ambiguity). · The friend said it [quote withheld] before the caller turned to look, and the caller says it “seemed to change.”
- The kitchen sighting was a brief glimpse at the edge of her vision in a dark house, of the kind that turns into nothing when looked at directly. · She reports seeing the figure [quote withheld] and that when she stepped back “he was gone.”
What stands out
The story joins a public-park ghost that changes shape (a horse-like form becoming a crowd of figures, some only shadows) to a later single figure in a private kitchen. She links both to her own Amish ancestry, which she discovered afterward. The caller's own explanation is partly religious family history rather than a claim that a place is haunted.
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