Evil presence, a figure saying “I want you,” and strange events ending after a house fire
[name withheld] from Harrisburg, Oregon, calls to describe a series of experiences in their house. They include a feeling of evil in the bedroom, a touch across their feet, and a hiss around 3 a.m. The caller also reports that their husband saw a figure in the doorway and later heard it say “I want you.” The caller links the activity to witchcraft books found upstairs. After an upstairs house fire and a remodel, the caller says, nothing has happened since.
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The story as told
[name withheld] from Harrisburg, Oregon, calls to describe a series of events in their house. The caller says they and their husband had just watched The Amityville Horror and were getting ready for bed. As they lay in the bedroom with their husband asleep and their one-year-old son in the room, they began to feel “icky” and as if something evil was present. The baby fussed and would not settle. They dozed and repeatedly jerked awake. Around 3 a.m., they say, they dozed off and jumped awake because it felt like something had run a finger across their feet at the end of the bed. They also heard a hiss. They note they had no cats and that the light was on. They said a quick prayer, and the feeling went away. Their son settled and they slept. They then report that a couple of months earlier their husband had seen a big figure, [quote withheld] in the bedroom doorway. A couple of nights later, their husband woke with it right in his face, asked what it wanted, and it said, “I want you.” The caller says he was frozen and drenched in sweat when they woke. They link the activity to the house. After moving in, they cleaned it out and found stacks of witchcraft books upstairs, which they and their husband thought had something to do with it. When their children were little, their oldest son said he saw [quote withheld] and heard a growling sound. Their older daughter also saw them at the same time. Later, a house fire burned the whole upstairs. After their husband remodeled and tore off the top of the house, they say, nothing has happened there since. They do not know what caused the fire, which was thought to be an extension cord, and they remain puzzled about what happened to the presence.
Reported events, in order
- 0:02
[name withheld] introduces themself as calling from Harrisburg, Oregon.
- 0:15
The caller says they and their husband had just watched The Amityville Horror and were getting ready for bed.
- 0:26
The caller begins feeling something evil in the bedroom. Their husband is asleep, and their one-year-old son is fussing and will not settle.
- 0:44
Around 3 a.m., the caller dozes and jumps awake, feeling something run a finger across their feet at the end of the bed. They hear a hiss.
- 1:20
The caller says a quick prayer. The feeling goes away, their son settles, and they sleep.
- 1:59
The caller reports that a couple of months earlier their husband saw a big figure or form in the bedroom doorway.
- 2:08
A couple of nights later, their husband wakes with it right in his face. He asks what it wants, and it says, “I want you.” He is frozen and drenched in sweat when the caller wakes.
- 2:49
The caller says they found stacks of witchcraft books upstairs when they moved in and thinks that had something to do with the activity.
- 3:18
Their oldest son, when little, described white ladies dancing in the closet and making a growling sound. Their older daughter saw them too at the same time.
- 4:00
A house fire burned the whole upstairs. After their husband remodeled and tore off the top of the house, the caller says, nothing has happened there since.
- 4:36
The caller says the fire was thought to be caused by an extension cord, but they are not sure. The house was built in 1940.
- 5:07
The caller says they remain puzzled about what happened to the presence after the fire.
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).
- interpretation· 0:26
The caller felt something evil in the room.
- observation· 0:44
The caller felt something run a finger across their feet at the end of the bed.
- observation· 1:01
The caller heard a hiss.
- observation· 1:20
The caller said a quick prayer and the feeling went away.
- hearsay· 1:59
Their husband saw a big figure or form in the bedroom doorway.
- hearsay· 2:14
The figure spoke to their husband and said, “I want you.”
- observation· 2:19
Their husband was frozen and drenched in sweat.
- interpretation· 2:49
The caller links the activity to stacks of witchcraft books found upstairs.
- hearsay· 3:18
Their oldest son described white ladies dancing in the closet.
- hearsay· 3:18
Their oldest son said the figures made a growling sound.
- hearsay· 3:40
Their older daughter saw them too at the same time.
- observation· 4:00
A house fire burned the whole upstairs.
- observation· 4:13
Nothing has happened in the house since the fire and remodel.
- host statement· 5:31
The host says these things are real.
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 consistent and fairly specific, with a firsthand core and concrete details. It loses points because the events happened while falling asleep after a horror film, and key family reports are secondhand and have no one else to back them up.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story of their own bedroom experience and their observations of their husband’s reaction.
- Concrete details: name and location, around 3 a.m., light left on, no cats, prayer, “I want you,” witchcraft books, house fire, extension cord.
- A coherent sequence with answers to the host’s questions.
- The caller had just watched The Amityville Horror and was dozing and jerking awake, which offers easy sleep-related and suggestion explanations.
- Their husband’s and children’s experiences are reported by the caller, not by them directly.
- No independent verification.
- The labels showing who is speaking are inconsistent in the transcript, with some caller lines labeled as the host.
- No dates are given for the events.
- 0:15
- 0:44
- 2:14
- 2:49
What the model inferred (not said on air): The firsthand bedroom story was treated as the strongest source component. Alternative explanations were discounted because the caller does not address sleep-related possibilities or the film’s possible effect on them. The secondhand family reports are not counted as independent backing.
The story rests on the caller’s word and claimed family witnesses, with no second witness on air and no physical evidence examined. Some details that could be checked are given, but none is checked.
Evidence for and against
- Details that could be checked are present: [name withheld], Harrisburg, Oregon; a house built in 1940; a fire attributed to an extension cord.
- Several family witnesses are claimed.
- No on-air confirmation from any second witness.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is presented or examined.
- No outside check is recorded.
- The house and former tenants are not identified.
- The cause of the fire is explicitly uncertain (“they’re not sure”).
- 0:02
- 3:40
- 4:36
What the model inferred (not said on air): This sits at a score of 11 to 25 because details that could be checked and claimed witnesses exist, but nothing has been verified or examined on air.
The story places an evil presence and physical sensations in the bedroom, then adds a figure in the doorway and in the husband’s face saying “I want you.” The children’s white ladies and growling in the closet add a lasting unsettling element, though no injury is reported.
Evidence for and against
- The threatening phrase “I want you” spoken directly to the husband.
- An intrusion into the bedroom and a one-year-old child’s room.
- A touch across the feet and a hiss in the dark.
- Children report white ladies dancing and growling in a closet.
- No physical harm or injury is reported.
- The activity is said to end after the house fire and remodel.
- Some elements are brief and not described in graphic detail.
- The exact appearance of the figure is not described.
- The growling sound is reported by a child and not directly heard by the caller.
- 0:44
- 2:14
- 3:18
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is scored as frightening rather than extremely disturbing because the story is vivid and threatening but not graphically violent or drawn out.
The story uses familiar haunting elements: an evil presence, a figure saying “I want you,” and children seeing figures in a closet. But it combines them with witchcraft books and an upstairs house fire that reportedly ends the strange events. That combination is distinctive enough to sit above stock.
Evidence for and against
- An unusual ending: the activity stops after a house fire burns the upstairs and the house is remodeled.
- Children describe “white ladies dancing” and growling in a closet.
- The figure says “I want you” rather than a more common phrase.
- An evil presence in a bedroom, a figure in a doorway, and a prayer stopping the feeling are familiar motifs.
- Children seeing figures in a closet is a recognizable ghost-story element.
- A comparison of how often these motifs appear in the archive is not available in this analysis.
- The published originality score may shift when compared against the full archive.
- 3:18
- 4:00
- 4:13
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a provisional originality score based on the content. How new the story is compared with the rest of the archive cannot be worked out from the transcript alone.
Scoring confidence 0.80 · analysis confidence 0.80 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story about their own bedroom experience and their observations of their husband.; Claimed secondhand reports from their husband and children.; No physical evidence, recording, photograph, or on-air witness to back it up.. The originality score blends the model's score (58) 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.
- Sleep-related experiences, such as sensations while falling asleep or a brief waking, could explain the evil feeling, the sensation of being touched, and the repeated dozing and jumping awake. · The caller says they were getting ready for bed, dozing off, and jumping awake before the touch and hiss. This happened around 3 a.m. while they were in bed.
- Watching The Amityville Horror just before bed may have set up an eerie feeling and shaped how they read bedroom sensations. · The caller says they and their husband had just watched The Amityville Horror and then went to bed, after which they began feeling something evil was in the room.
- Their husband waking to a figure in his face, being unable to move, and sweating heavily could fit sleep paralysis or a waking dream. · The caller reports that their husband woke up, saw it right in his face, “just laid there,” was “just frozen,” and was drenched in sweat when they woke.
What stands out
The story combines a threatening bedroom presence with children’s reports of white ladies dancing and growling in a closet, witchcraft books found upstairs, and the reported end of all strange events after a house fire destroyed the upstairs. The caller is left puzzled about what happened to the presence afterward.
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