Letter: White mist in the shape of a dog appears the night the dog dies
Art Bell reads a letter he attributes to [quote withheld] The writer describes a late-summer night when they saw a huge white mist in the shape of their mother’s dog Jigs pass through their bedroom wall and evaporate on the bed. The next morning, they write, their mother telephoned to say Jigs had died the night before, at what they call the exact time of the sighting, after being attacked by a bear.
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 41:07). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The host introduces and reads aloud a letter he attributes to [name withheld] of Wheeling, Illinois. According to the letter, [name withheld] drove several times a year with their German shepherd, Heidi, to visit their mother in northern Wisconsin. On one of those visits their mother had recently gotten a dog named Jigs. The letter describes him as lovable and extremely gentle, almost as large as Heidi, muscular, with very short white hair, and resembling a large boar. Jigs was friendly toward Heidi right away, but she did not return his affection. Over years of visits she gradually became friendlier toward him.
One night in late summer, not long after a visit, [name withheld] writes that they got into bed to sleep, with Heidi already in her place and her head on the pillow. The writer says they had just drifted into “that twilight sleep” when something awakened them. They sat up, looked at the top of the wall, and say they saw a huge white mist appear in the shape of Jigs, coming through the wall and floating down toward Heidi and them. The writer says it settled on the bed between them and then evaporated. The next morning, they write, their mother called to tell them that Jigs had died the night before, at “the exact time” of the sighting, after being attacked by a bear. He had made it home just before he died. The host finishes reading the letter with a thank-you to [name withheld]. No further detail is given, and this part of the broadcast ends as the next caller is introduced.
Reported events, in order
- 0:05
[name withheld] says they took their German shepherd Heidi with them several times a year to visit their mother in northern Wisconsin.
- 0:19
On one visit their mother had just gotten a dog named Jigs, described as lovable and gentle, nearly as large as Heidi, muscular, with very short white hair, and resembling a large boar.
- 0:33
Jigs was friendly toward Heidi right away, but she did not return it. Over years of visits she gradually became friendlier.
- 0:55
One night in late summer, not long after a visit, [name withheld] got into bed. Heidi was already in her place with her head on the pillow.
- 1:07
The writer says they had just drifted into a twilight sleep when something awakened them.
- 1:12
The writer says they sat up, looked at the top of the wall, and saw a huge white mist in the shape of Jigs coming through the wall and floating down toward Heidi and them.
- 1:32
The writer says the mist settled on the bed between them and evaporated.
- 1:40
The writer says that the next morning their mother called to say Jigs had died the night before, at the exact time of the sighting, after being attacked by a bear. He made it home just before he died.
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· 1:12
[name withheld] says they saw a huge white mist in the shape of the dog Jigs pass through the wall and float down toward them and Heidi.
- observation· 1:32
The writer says the mist settled on the bed between them and Heidi and then evaporated.
- hearsay· 1:40
The writer says their mother telephoned the next morning to say Jigs had died the previous night.
- hearsay· 1:47
The letter says the death and the sighting happened at the same time, and that Jigs had been attacked by a bear and reached home before dying.
- interpretation· 1:12
The letter presents the mist as Jigs appearing at the time of his death.
- host statement· 0:00
The host introduces the letter as an animal ghost story.
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.
Scored in parts: source closeness 18 (a firsthand witness, but the story is a letter read aloud by the host rather than the writer speaking), specificity 12 (named dogs, region, season, bedroom sequence, but no dates or checkable particulars), internal consistency 14 (coherent sequence, no contradictions), other explanations 9 (a sleep-related explanation fits the waking situation reasonably well), calibration 7 (the letter states the sighting and the timing flatly, with little line between what was perceived and what was concluded).
Evidence for and against
- A concrete, orderly sequence: bedtime, awakening, sighting, evaporation, next-morning call.
- Named people and animals and a stated region.
- No contradictions or shifting details across the reading.
- The story is conveyed by the host reading a letter. The writer does not speak, and no document is examined on air.
- The timing link between sighting and death rests on a reported secondhand telephone call.
- The sighting comes right after waking from a twilight state.
- No date, year, or town for the event is given.
- It is not stated whether the writer wrote the letter themselves or copied someone else’s story.
- 1:07
- 1:40
What the model inferred (not said on air): The part scores and the cap for stories not spoken on air are my assessment. The transcript content supporting them is quoted above.
The only support is the letter writer’s claim as read by the host, plus a claimed telephone call from their mother that no one else backs up on air. Names and places are given, which can be checked in principle, but nothing was checked and there is no object or second witness on air.
Evidence for and against
- The writer and location are named, as stated on air.
- Names of the two dogs and a described death.
- No photograph, letter text, recording, or document examined on air.
- No witness other than the letter writer speaks or is described as seeing the mist.
- The claimed telephone call is reported secondhand and concerns the death, not the sighting.
- The physical letter is referred to but not read from or shown.
- No outside check was done, so the cap of 50 applies and the score stays in the lowest ranges.
- 0:05
- 1:57
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placing this in the 11 to 25 range rather than 0 to 10 is my judgment that the named people and places count as checkable details, though none were checked.
The setting is a bedroom at night and the figure moves straight toward the bed, which raises unease, and the aftermath involves an animal’s violent death. But the mist is neither threatening nor hostile, and the encounter is brief and quiet. That holds the score near the middle.
Evidence for and against
- A bedroom at night with the writer in bed.
- A white mist coming through the wall and settling on the bed between two occupants.
- The dog is reported to have been killed by a bear the same night.
- No threat, hostility, or physical harm is attributed to the mist.
- The figure is a familiar, gentle animal rather than something hostile.
- The story is short and ends with a plain thank-you from the host.
- It is not stated whether the writer found the experience frightening, beyond being awakened.
- 1:12
- 1:47
What the model inferred (not said on air): The creepiness rating is my judgment about how listeners are likely to respond, not a claim about the events.
The idea of a ghost that appears at the moment of a distant death, learned of afterward, is familiar. But here the ghost is a pet, appears as a shaped white mist that comes through a wall and evaporates on the bed, and the death is blamed on a bear attack. That mix of a familiar setup with distinctive detail places it in the middle.
Evidence for and against
- A mist taking the form of a specific, known animal.
- The ghost evaporating on the bed between the writer and their dog.
- A death by bear attack reported the next morning.
- A ghost appearing at the time of a death is a well-established ghost-story pattern.
- A bedroom sighting at night is a recurring setting.
- Novelty compared with the rest of the archive is a first estimate, with few stories in the archive.
- Nothing shows whether the letter writer was drawing on a known story pattern.
- 1:12
- 1:32
What the model inferred (not said on air): The published originality score is compared with the rest of the archive. With few stories, that comparison carries little weight, so the score stays close to the model’s estimate of 55.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.80 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: A letter read aloud by the host, attributed to a named listener (not examined as a document).; The writer’s firsthand word as relayed in the letter.; A claimed secondhand telephone call from the writer’s mother, reported verbally, with no confirmation on air..
Ordinary explanations to consider
These are possibilities only. None is a finding about what happened.
- Imagery while falling asleep: the writer says they had just drifted into a twilight state between waking and sleeping when they were awakened. People often report vivid sights and body sensations in that state. · [quote withheld]
- Linking two separate events after the fact: the sighting is described first, and the mother’s news of the death is placed alongside it only afterward, so the match in timing is a connection made later. · [quote withheld]
- Movement or presence of the writer’s own dog on the bed could have woken the writer and added to what they perceived on waking. · [quote withheld]
What stands out
The story involves a pet rather than a person. The reported figure is a mist shaped like a specific animal the writer knew well. Its distinguishing feature is the claimed match in time between the sighting and the animal’s death from a bear attack, which the writer learned of only the next morning.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.