Caller relays friend's story of a black semi-human figure on a bike trail
A caller named “[name withheld],” who says they are calling from what they describe as “Eastern North America,” tells Art Bell a brief secondhand story. A friend told the caller that while riding a bike along a trail, the friend saw a human-like black figure, described as “semi-human, semi-animal.” It ran across the trail and jumped up onto a fence, where it perched. The caller adds that the figure made a noise, which the caller found notable, and that the friend said it slowly faded away. The host asks a follow-up question, offers his own reaction, and moves on to the next caller. No date, location, or further detail is given.
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 45:32). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
Caller “[name withheld]” reaches Art Bell on an open-line segment and says they are calling from what they call “Eastern North America.” [name withheld] says they found the story through a friend. The friend told [name withheld] that while riding a bike along a trail, a “human-like black” figure ran across the trail in front of the friend. [name withheld] describes the figure as “semi-human, semi-animal.” According to [name withheld], the figure then jumped up onto a fence and perched there. [name withheld] says the detail they found interesting was that the friend said the figure made a noise, because, as [name withheld] puts it, [quote withheld] Art asks what the friend said. [name withheld] answers that the friend [quote withheld] but that the friend stopped and the figure slowly faded away. (The transcript line reads [quote withheld] which is garbled.) Art responds that if it had happened to him, he would probably drop the bike and run. He says he does not know what to say about such a thing and that people are seeing odd things more and more. No date, no location for the trail, no description of the figure's size or the time of day, and no other witnesses are given. The friend does not come on air, and the exchange ends as the host moves to the next caller.
Reported events, in order
- 0:38
The caller says they heard about the incident from a friend, who was riding a bike along a trail.
- 0:46
According to the caller, a human-like black figure, described as semi-human and semi-animal, ran across the trail.
- 0:55
The caller says the figure jumped up onto a fence and perched there.
- 1:02
The caller says the friend said the figure made a noise, which the caller found notable.
- 1:13
The host asks what the friend said. The caller answers that the friend [quote withheld]
- 1:17
The caller says the friend stopped and the figure slowly faded away (the wording is garbled in the transcript).
- 1:23
The host comments that if it had happened to him, he would probably drop the bike and run, and says people are seeing odd things more and more.
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).
- hearsay· 0:46
A friend of the caller reportedly saw a human-like black figure, described as semi-human and semi-animal, run across a bike trail in front of the friend.
- hearsay· 0:55
According to the caller, the figure then jumped up onto a fence and perched there.
- hearsay· 1:02
The caller says the friend said the figure made a noise, which the caller found notable because [quote withheld]
- hearsay· 1:17
The caller says the friend stopped and that the figure slowly faded away (the transcript wording is garbled: [quote withheld]).
- host statement· 1:48
The host says that such reports are increasing and that [quote withheld]
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 as a brief secondhand anecdote. The chain of passing it along and the near absence of details that can be checked limit it. The reported sequence is coherent, however, and the caller does not inflate it.
Evidence for and against
- A coherent, brief sequence is given: the figure crosses the trail, then perches on a fence, then fades.
- Some concrete details are reported: black color, mixed human and animal form, the perching, and a noise.
- The caller does not escalate or add claims beyond what the caller says the friend told them.
- The story is entirely secondhand, from an unnamed friend. No firsthand witness speaks.
- No date, place, distance, lighting, or length of time is given, which leaves almost nothing to check.
- Small details are garbled or unclear in the transcript (“human-like black stager,” [quote withheld]).
- Whether “stager” is a transcription error, and what word it replaces.
- Whether [quote withheld] means the friend stopped, or something else entirely.
- The time of day, the terrain, and the distance between the friend and the figure are all unstated.
- 0:38
- 0:55
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component judgment (source proximity 8/25; specificity 7/20; internal consistency 12/20; alternative explanations 8/20; calibration 9/15) is my reasoning from the content only. The total of 44 was then weighed against the scoring guide's example of a [quote withheld] and adjusted slightly downward because the story is secondhand, giving 40.
The story rests solely on the caller's relay of an unnamed friend's word. No names, dates, places, or records can be checked, and no physical evidence is claimed.
Evidence for and against
- The caller gives some concrete detail of what the friend reportedly saw (a black figure, human and animal form, perching on a fence, a noise, fading away).
- The claimed direct witness never speaks on air.
- No documentation of any kind is claimed or presented.
- The friend, the trail, and any date are unnamed, so nothing can be checked even in principle.
- Whether the friend exists as described cannot be assessed from the transcript.
- No detail in this part of the broadcast can be checked externally.
- 0:38
What the model inferred (not said on air): Scored at the bottom of the “teller's assertion only” band, slightly above 0 because a description with some concrete elements is offered. That description is still secondhand and cannot be verified.
A mildly eerie outdoor encounter with an unidentified dark figure, but with no menace, no intrusion into a safe place, no escalation, and only brief detail.
Evidence for and against
- A dark, partly human, partly animal figure crossing the path of someone in motion is an unsettling image.
- The figure then stays in view, perched on a fence, before fading, so the presence lingers instead of passing in a moment.
- The caller's aside that [quote withheld] implies an unidentified kind of thing.
- No threat, contact, chase, or harm is reported.
- The incident is a single, brief event with an unclear form.
- The host's response is conversational, not alarmed, and the segment moves on immediately.
- The time of day is unstated, which affects how frightening the scene would be.
- The figure's size and appearance beyond “black” are not described.
- 0:46
- 1:17
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is my judgment of the story's atmosphere for a listener, not a claim about the events. It is marked down from “genuinely unsettling” (50) because nothing threatening or lasting is reported.
A familiar setup (a dark figure crossing a path) with one or two distinctive details, the animal-like perching and the fading-away ending, placing it modestly above stock.
Evidence for and against
- The mixed description “semi-human, semi-animal” is an unusual way to describe a figure.
- Jumping onto and perching on a fence, instead of simply crossing and disappearing, is a distinctive detail.
- The caller's aside that such things [quote withheld] implies a kind of event with a norm.
- A dark humanlike figure seen at the roadside or on a path is a stock element of the genre.
- There is no history behind it, no repetition, and no identifiable setting.
- The two or three phrases that drive the judgment of distinctiveness are among the most garbled in the transcript.
- A very short story offers little material for judging how new it is.
- 1:02
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is my provisional judgment from the content, on the archive's 20/50/80/95 scale. The part of the score based on comparison with the rest of the archive is expected to carry little weight while the archive is small, so treat this value as provisional.
Scoring confidence 0.45 · analysis confidence 0.55 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: Secondhand spoken story: the caller relays what an unnamed friend told the caller.; No documentation, photograph, recording, name, date, or location for the reported event.; The claimed direct witness does not speak on air.. 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.
- An ordinary animal that perches or climbs, such as a large bird or a cat, was mistaken for something else as it crossed a trail and sat on a fence. · The reported behavior, crossing a path and “perching” on a fence, fits an animal seen at some distance. The story gives no size, distance, or lighting detail.
- Details were lost or changed as a brief secondhand anecdote was passed along. · The story reaches the audience secondhand ([quote withheld]), with no date, place, or length of time given. Details may have been lost or changed in the retelling between the friend's experience and the caller's description.
What stands out
The story is unusual mainly for its mixed description. The caller says their friend described something “semi-human, semi-animal.” It is also unusual for the figure's reported behavior of perching on a fence before fading. The caller's remark that such things [quote withheld] is also distinctive, though it is one of the least clearly transcribed lines.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.