Caller recalls being born dead and watching from the ceiling
A caller on Art Bell's “clinical death” line says that in the fall of 1983, while walking on their farm in Arkansas, they had a sudden flash of their own birth. They saw themselves [quote withheld] at a nurse holding them and a doctor removing their gloves. They say they later confronted their mother, who they say confirmed they were born dead and that oxygen was used. Bell asks whether it was a dream, and the caller says no. The call ends with Bell thanking the caller and speculating about when a soul enters a fetus.
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 2001-3.mp3”, starting at 22:28). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
A caller, whom the host calls Nick (the name is uncertain), says that in the fall of 1983 they were living on a farm in Arkansas and listening to a tape meant to make the listener “more psychic.” The caller had a sudden flash of their own birth. The caller says they were [quote withheld] The caller saw a nurse holding them and a doctor throwing off their gloves, and they could see themselves still attached to what the transcript renders as their “bilbo cord.” Bell interrupts to ask whether this really happened and was not a dream. The caller says no. The caller says they later confronted their mother at Christmas with the question [quote withheld] The caller says this made her “freak out.” The caller says they were born dead and that oxygen was used. Asked by Bell what caused it, they say their mother had been badly torn by a first baby and that she had a twin. When they came to the birth canal [quote withheld] they could not fit. So ether was used on their mother at the last minute at Stanford Hospital, and they died. The caller says the doctor gave up on them but a nurse did not. The caller says they saw no tunnel, only the view from the ceiling. The caller says they disliked the doctor and knew the doctor [quote withheld] and that they have good memory from about nine months of age. Bell thanks the caller, calls it “a first” for him, and muses about when a soul is [quote withheld]
Reported events, in order
- 0:04
The caller says that in the fall of 1983, living on an Arkansas farm and listening to a tape meant to make the listener more psychic, they had a flash of their own birth.
- 0:20
They say they were at the ceiling looking down, with a nurse holding them and a doctor throwing off their gloves.
- 0:29
Bell asks whether it was real and not a dream. The caller says it was not a dream.
- 0:33
They say they confronted their mother at Christmas, asking if they were born dead, and that she “freaked out.”
- 0:42
They say they were born dead and that oxygen was used.
- 0:53
They say they saw no tunnel, only the view from the ceiling, and could see themselves in their umbilical cord.
- 1:01
They say they disliked the doctor, whom they describe as a social climber who played golf.
- 1:28
They describe their mother being torn by a first birth, a twin, scar tissue, and that two and a half years later they could not fit through the birth canal.
- 1:36
They say ether was used on their mother at the last minute at Stanford Hospital, and that they died.
- 1:50
They say the doctor gave up on them but a nurse did not.
- 2:27
They say they have good memory from about nine months of age.
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· 0:20
The caller says they saw themselves looking down from the ceiling at their own birth.
- observation· 0:22
They saw a nurse holding them and a doctor throwing off their gloves.
- observation· 0:57
They could see themselves attached to their umbilical cord.
- observation· 1:01
They say they disliked the doctor and knew the doctor was a social climber.
- observation· 0:53
They say they saw no tunnel during the experience.
- interpretation· 0:42
They say they were born dead.
- hearsay· 0:37
They say their mother reacted strongly when they asked her whether they were born dead.
- hearsay· 0:44
They say oxygen was used. This comes from what their mother told them, but the transcript does not make clear whether they say this or she is being quoted.
- hearsay· 1:50
They say the doctor gave up on them and a nurse did not.
- host statement· 2:59
Bell speculates about when a soul enters a fetus.
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.
The story is firsthand, specific (date, state, hospital, named figures, a described sequence), and fairly consistent. But common explanations based on reconstruction and suggestion fit the birth-memory claim reasonably well, and the caller only partly separates what they experienced from what they concluded. The cap for secondhand stories does not apply, and neither does the cap for fragments.
Evidence for and against
- A firsthand report of an experience they say they had: [quote withheld]
- A concrete setting and date: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- The caller names a facility: [quote withheld]
- The caller answers Bell's challenge about it being a dream: “No, no, no.”
- The core claim, a remembered view of one's own birth, cannot be checked independently from the transcript.
- The caller discussed the birth with their mother, so later family stories are a plausible source for the detail.
- Some of it is a conclusion presented as knowledge, such as [quote withheld]
- The labels showing who is speaking are unreliable, and several lines are labeled inconsistently.
- The phrase [quote withheld] and the mention of the mother's twin are unclear and may be mistranscribed.
- 0:04
- 0:20
- 1:45
- 0:37
What the model inferred (not said on air): This treats the story as a clear firsthand story that no one else backs up (the scoring guide's example of 55) and adds a few points for the named hospital, date, and sequence. The deduction for alternative explanations rests on my judgment that a birth memory is easily reconstructed from family stories. The caller does not address that possibility.
Nothing is examined on air, and no second witness speaks. There are details that could in principle be checked (a named hospital, a year, a state) and a claimed confirmation by the mother off air. That places this at a score of 11 to 25, not in the lowest band for claims resting on word alone.
Evidence for and against
- A named institution: “Stanford Hospital.”
- A dated event: “back in 1983.”
- A claimed confirmation off air: [quote withheld]
- No document, record, or photograph is produced or examined.
- The claimed second source (the mother) does not speak on air.
- The host treats it as new to him, not as verified: [quote withheld]
- It is not stated whether any birth or hospital record exists.
- It is not clear from the transcript whether the mother's reported reaction confirms the birth event or something else.
- 1:45
- 0:37
- 2:40
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is placed at a score of 11 to 25 because of the named place and date, which could in principle be checked. Nothing was checked, however, and the claimed second source never speaks on air.
The story is a view from outside the body at birth, with no threat, no intrusion into a settled home, and no ill will. The tone of the exchange is mostly matter-of-fact and even light. It is mildly eerie, not frightening.
Evidence for and against
- A description of looking down at one's own body at birth: [quote withheld]
- A statement of having died: [quote withheld]
- No threat, attack, or menace is reported.
- The host jokes lightly during the story: [quote withheld]
- The transcript is fragmentary, so the full tone of the exchange cannot be reconstructed.
- 0:20
- 0:42
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score reflects a birth and near-death subject that is mildly unsettling, without the escalation, threat, or intrusion into a safe place that would push it higher.
This uses the familiar near-death view from outside the body, with a distinctive twist. The experience is placed at the caller's own birth, the caller denies seeing a tunnel, and adds a judgment about the doctor's character.
Evidence for and against
- The birth setting: [quote withheld]
- An explicit denial of the standard tunnel: [quote withheld]
- An unusual added detail: [quote withheld]
- A view from the ceiling outside the body is a well-established recurring motif.
- A nurse and doctor present at a resuscitation is a conventional near-death element.
- The published originality score is provisional and depends on a comparison with the rest of the archive that is not available for a single story.
- 0:53
- 0:57
What the model inferred (not said on air): The model's originality estimate is roughly 55. It reflects a familiar near-death setup with a distinctive detail (the birth, no tunnel). The score compared with the rest of the archive cannot be computed here.
Scoring confidence 0.50 · analysis confidence 0.55 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's firsthand story, given live on air; A claimed confirmation off air by the caller's mother, who does not speak on air; No document, record, photograph, or recording produced or examined. 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.
- The detailed birth imagery could come from family stories told later, since the caller says they questioned their mother about the birth. · [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- The flash came in a relaxed state open to suggestion while listening to a tape described as meant to make the listener “more psychic.” · [quote withheld]
- A claimed memory of events at birth is a reconstruction. The caller notes they have unusually early memories, from about nine months. · [quote withheld]
What stands out
The story is framed as a true memory of the caller's own birth. It includes a view from the ceiling outside their body and a stated dislike of the doctor who delivered them. It is not the more common tunnel-and-light near-death story. The caller says outright that they saw no tunnel.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.