A figure watching from a child’s bedroom window in a rented house
A caller named [name withheld], from Temecula, California, tells Art Bell about a rented house outside Portland, Oregon, where their family lived when the caller was about six. The caller says they and their father felt something odd about the house. During that year, the caller says, they saw a thing they call pure evil sitting at their bedroom window at night, watching them. The caller says they felt safe inside their room because the thing would not enter unless invited, and that it was “out there. Waiting.”
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 2001-2.mp3”, starting at 1:26:44). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld], calling from Temecula, California, tells Art Bell that they were born and raised in Portland, Oregon. When [name withheld] was [quote withheld] they say, their parents rented a house in a small city outside Portland that [name withheld] calls Milwaukee. [name withheld] says that on first coming to the house the family [quote withheld] and that only [name withheld] and their father could feel it, not their older brother or younger sister. [name withheld] says the family was locked into a year lease and [quote withheld] During that year, [name withheld] says, they saw “this thing,” which they describe as “pure evil” and [quote withheld] [name withheld] says they never considered it a ghost, a shadow person, or an angel. Asked by Bell to describe it in better detail, [name withheld] says the thing [quote withheld] and [quote withheld] [name withheld] says they were not scared of it. At six years old, [name withheld] says, [quote withheld] [name withheld] says that although they knew it was evil and bad, they [quote withheld] [name withheld] says they knew the thing [quote withheld] and ends: [quote withheld] Bell suggests it may have been waiting for an invitation and thanks [name withheld]. [name withheld] gives no description of the thing’s appearance, no address, no dates, and no account of how the situation ended.
Reported events, in order
- 0:05
The caller identifies themselves as [name withheld], from Temecula, California, born and raised in Portland, Oregon.
- 0:17
The caller says that when they were about six, their parents rented a house in a small city outside Portland that the caller calls Milwaukee.
- 0:23
The caller says that on first coming to the house, they “kind of knew” something was odd about it.
- 0:31
The caller says they and their father could feel it, but their older brother and younger sister could not.
- 0:42
The caller says they were locked into a year lease and stuck there for the year.
- 0:52
The caller says that during that year they saw “this thing,” which to them was pure evil and almost like a demon, not a ghost, shadow person, or angel.
- 1:25
The caller says the thing used to hang out in their bedroom window at night and would sit there all night watching them.
- 1:35
The caller says they were not scared of it and that at six years old you have an open mind.
- 1:44
The caller says they knew it was evil and bad, but they knew they were safe as long as they were in their room.
- 1:52
The caller says the thing would not enter the house unless it seemed to have been invited in.
- 1:57
The caller says it was out there, waiting. Bell suggests it may have been waiting for an invitation, and the call ends.
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· 1:25
Something the caller calls “this thing” sat at their bedroom window at night watching them.
- observation· 1:29
The thing would sit there all night long watching the caller.
- interpretation· 0:56
The caller judged the thing to be purely evil and [quote withheld] and not a ghost, shadow person, or angel.
- interpretation· 1:52
The caller believed they were safe inside their room and that the thing would not enter the house unless invited.
- hearsay· 0:31
The caller reports that their father also felt something odd about the house, though their siblings did not.
- host statement· 1:14
Bell offers that the thing [quote withheld] and may have been waiting for an invitation.
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 direct firsthand story with a clear setting and sequence. But it is brief, and it gives no description of the thing despite the host’s request, and no dates or address. The ordinary explanation, a small child misreading a shape at a window, is neither addressed nor ruled out.
Evidence for and against
- A firsthand witness speaks about their own childhood: [quote withheld]
- Concrete setting and behavior: [quote withheld]
- The sequence and the caller’s answers to Bell’s questions hold together: the oddness of the house, the year lease, the nightly watcher, and why the caller was unafraid.
- Asked for “any better detail,” the caller gives no description of what the thing looked like.
- No address, no dates, and no names beyond cities. The caller is recalling events from about age six.
- No one backs up the story, and the caller does not consider ordinary explanations.
- The labels showing who is speaking in the transcript are mixed up between the host and the caller, so a few lines attributed to the host are evidently the caller’s words and vice versa.
- It is not clear whether the figure at the window was a single or recurring experience, or how long it lasted.
- 1:08
- 1:20
- 1:29
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment is that the story is specific enough to score above vague hearsay. It is too thin to reach the 55 to 70 range: no description, no dates, no one to back it up, and obvious ordinary explanations left untouched.
Nothing beyond the caller’s own word is offered: no documents, photographs, recordings, or second witness on the air. The cities named exist, but nothing could be checked here.
Evidence for and against
- The named caller and two named cities give a minimally checkable frame: [quote withheld]
- The claim about the unseen presence rests entirely on the caller’s memory: [quote withheld]
- The second person who felt it, the caller’s father, never speaks on the air. The father’s experience is only reported.
- No physical trace, image, or document is claimed to exist.
- The transcript is an automatic transcript, so any detail that might have been checked could be garbled or missing.
- 0:05
- 0:31
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment is that a private, unverified memory with only a name and city names falls at the low end of the 0 to 25 range.
The image of something described as pure evil sitting at a small child’s window all night is unsettling, as is the closing line that it was “out there. Waiting.” A child is involved. The effect is softened by the caller’s statement that they were not frightened and by the absence of contact, threat, or injury.
Evidence for and against
- Intrusion into a child’s bedroom space: [quote withheld]
- The caller describes the presence as evil: [quote withheld]
- An ominous, unresolved ending: [quote withheld]
- No physical contact, harm, or attack is reported.
- The caller says, [quote withheld]
- No description of the presence’s appearance, which limits the sense of horror.
- It is not stated whether the presence appeared repeatedly or for how long, so the sense of sustained dread cannot be confirmed.
- 1:25
- 1:57
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment is an estimate of how a listener would react, weighted by the child-witness framing and the unresolved ending.
The core elements are familiar ghost-story furniture: a malevolent presence, a nighttime watcher at a window, and a threshold that needs an invitation, which partly matches vampire folklore. The distinctive note is that the child felt safe and unafraid inside their room while the thing simply waited outside.
Evidence for and against
- Familiar framing: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- A stock watcher-at-the-window image: [quote withheld]
- The presence is never described, so no unusual visual detail is offered.
- The story is very short and ends without developing the events.
- The published originality score is provisional and compared with the rest of the archive. With few stories to compare against, that comparison carries little weight.
- 1:52
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is my provisional estimate from the content alone. A value compared with the rest of the archive would need further comparison.
Scoring confidence 0.50 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s own recollection, on the air, of a childhood experience; A reported (not on-air) statement that the caller’s father also felt something odd about the house; No claimed photograph, recording, document, or physical trace. 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.
- A child’s misperception or dreamlike imagery in an unfamiliar rented house: a shape seen at the window while falling asleep or waking up, later remembered as a nightly presence. · The caller was about six ([quote withheld]) and recalls the thing [quote withheld] at the window. The caller gives no physical description of it.
- A real but indistinctly seen source outside the window at night (an animal, a person, a reflection, or an object) that a six-year-old took for a watching figure. · The report is limited to position and behavior: [quote withheld] When Bell asks for “any better detail,” the caller describes no appearance.
- Shared unease in a newly occupied house, with expectations set before moving in, affecting how the family read the place. · The caller says that on first coming to the house [quote withheld] and that they and their father were [quote withheld]
What stands out
The caller reports something unseen that watched them nightly through a bedroom window from outside. The caller says they were not afraid of it because they believed it could not cross the threshold without an invitation. The story is thin on physical description. Asked for detail, the caller gave only the thing’s position and behavior.
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