Radio found switched off after falling asleep to a broadcast
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], from Rhode Island, tells Art Bell that about a week and a half earlier they fell asleep on the couch while listening to the program. The caller woke to find the broadcast over and the radio “completely off.” The caller says the set has no sleep timer. The host questions the caller briefly about it, and the caller repeats that they cannot understand what happened. The call ends without any explanation.
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 1:40:55). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who gives their name as [quote withheld] tells Art Bell they had “the strangest occurrence” about a week and a half earlier. The caller says they were listening to the program and fell asleep on the couch. When they woke, they realized the program was finished, so they got up to switch the radio off and found it “totally” off. The host asks whether the caller means the radio was not on, and whether they had been hearing the show without the radio. The caller clarifies that the radio had been on while they listened and was off only when they woke. Asked whether a sleep timer was involved, they say there is none: [quote withheld] The caller describes switching it on and then off again, after which it was still “totally off.” The caller says they looked at it wondering “what happened?” The caller notes that the host on the night in question was Mike Siegel rather than Art Bell. The caller repeats that they cannot understand it. The host replies that there are things we don't understand, thanks the caller, and ends the call.
Reported events, in order
- 0:05
Caller gives their name as [quote withheld]
- 0:14
The caller says they had “the strangest occurrence” about a week and a half earlier.
- 0:19
The caller was listening to the program and fell asleep on the couch.
- 0:24
The caller woke and found the program had finished.
- 0:28
The caller got up to switch the radio off and found it was already completely off.
- 1:01
Asked by the host whether there was a sleep timer, the caller says the radio is [quote withheld]
- 1:14
The caller says they turned it on and back off again, and it remained totally off.
- 1:30
The caller notes the host that night was Mike Siegel, not Art Bell.
- 1:52
The caller says they do not understand what happened. The host says there are things we don't understand and ends the call.
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· 0:28
The caller reports that when they got up to switch off the radio, it was already completely off.
- observation· 1:01
The caller says the radio has no sleep timer and is an ordinary set.
- observation· 1:14
The caller says they switched the radio on and then back off again, and it remained totally off.
- observation· 0:19
The caller says they had fallen asleep on the couch while listening to the program.
- observation· 1:30
The caller notes the host on the night in question was Mike Siegel, not Art Bell.
- host statement· 1:26
The host remarks jokingly that with his program “you never know.”
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 consistent but minimal firsthand story, with an easy ordinary explanation available and no backing detail. It scores toward the middle to low end because the story hangs together, yet the other explanations fit easily.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story: the caller describes their own experience.
- The caller gives concrete circumstances: the couch, the fact that the program had ended, and the set being [quote withheld] with no sleep timer.
- The caller answers the host's clarifying questions consistently and does not escalate the claim.
- The central event, a radio found switched off, is the kind of thing that has easy ordinary explanations (a sleep timer, a power interruption, a station sign-off, or the caller's own half-asleep action).
- No exact date, model of radio, or any detail that can be checked beyond [quote withheld]
- Some passages were smoothed in the automatic transcript, so the wording and who is speaking are uncertain.
- Whether the radio had any automatic-off feature is the caller's own claim and is not verified.
- Smoothing in the transcript means the exact wording of parts of the story is uncertain.
- 0:14
- 1:01
- 1:54
What the model inferred (not said on air): Component scores: closeness to the source about 22 (direct first-person witness). Specifics about 10 (times and objects named, but nothing that can be checked). Consistency about 16 (coherent and responsive to questions). Other explanations about 6 (ordinary causes fit well). Caution about 11 (measured, not escalating).
Only the caller's word is present, with a handful of unverified specifics. This places it at the low end of the evidence bands.
Evidence for and against
- The caller gives a few specifics that could be checked in principle: their name, Rhode Island, the host that night (Mike Siegel), and the approximate timing ([quote withheld]).
- No second witness speaks on the air.
- No recording, photograph, or document is produced or examined.
- No outside check was performed.
- None of the named specifics were checked in the transcript.
- 0:05
- 1:30
What the model inferred (not said on air): No item of evidence was examined. The story rests solely on testimony.
A mildly eerie household oddity with no menace, intrusion, or escalation. It is low on the scale.
Evidence for and against
- An appliance apparently operating by itself is mildly uncanny.
- The event happened at night in the caller's home while they slept.
- No threat, no figure, no physical contact, no harm.
- The caller is puzzled rather than frightened, describing themselves as in “shock” at an oddity.
- The host closes on a mild, almost joking note.
- The story is short and low-key. A listener's reaction is a judgment, not part of the transcript.
- 0:28
- 1:46
What the model inferred (not said on air): Judged as a story, it is unsettling only in the [quote withheld] sense, not frightening.
A familiar “appliance acts up” setup with a minor distinctive detail (found off rather than on). This is a provisional model score. A comparison with the rest of the archive is not meaningful for a single short story.
Evidence for and against
- The specific twist, waking to find a radio physically off after falling asleep to a broadcast, is a mild, uncommon framing rather than the usual [quote withheld]
- An electrical appliance behaving oddly is a common theme (TV or radio).
- No distinctive imagery, presence, or sequence.
- The short length of the story limits the assessment of originality.
- 0:28
What the model inferred (not said on air): A model estimate from content only. The published value compared with the archive would depend on how often similar themes and stories appear across the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: Caller's firsthand testimony only; no recording, photo, or document offered or examined. The originality score blends the model's score (38) 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.
- The set may have had an automatic-off or sleep function, or a power or station interruption after the program ended, that switched it off while the caller slept. · The caller reports the radio was off after they woke, and denies any sleep timer: the caller says [quote withheld]
- The caller may have switched the radio off while half asleep and not remembered doing so. · The caller says they [quote withheld] and that [quote withheld] when they woke.
- The station or program may simply have gone off the air, so the radio's output ended with the show. · The caller describes waking after the broadcast had ended: [quote withheld]
What stands out
What stands out about the story is its ordinariness. The only strange thing is a radio found physically off after the caller fell asleep to a broadcast, and both caller and host leave it entirely unexplained.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.