Glowing faceless figure at the foot of the bed and a golf ball next morning
A caller who identifies themselves as [name withheld] of Macon, Georgia, tells Art Bell that around 1975, at about age six, they were staying in a room their late grandfather had designed and built in their grandmother's house in Macon. They say they woke at night to see a glowing, faceless white figure at the foot of the bed. They hid under the sheets, peeked and found it still there, then fell asleep. The next morning, they say, a golf ball was lying near the foot of the bed. Art proposes it was a sign from their golfer grandfather. [name withheld] says it was either that or an elaborate hoax, and that the ball may simply have been in the room already.
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 9:15). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld] of Macon, Georgia (as they give it), says that about 1975, at roughly six years old, they were visiting their grandmother in Macon shortly after their grandfather's death. The grandfather had been an avid golfer who suffered a heart attack on a golf course. He had also been an architectural student and Georgia Tech graduate who designed and built an added-on room in the house. [name withheld] says they slept in that room. One night, they say, they woke for no known reason and saw a glowing white figure at the foot of the bed, seeming to stare at them. They say it had no face and no facial expression. It seemed to have outstretched arms, but no arms were visible, only a flowing gown-like form. They say they ducked under the sheets, took another peek, and found the figure still there. They went back under the covers and fell asleep without looking again. The next morning, they say, a golf ball lay on the ground near the foot of the bed. Art suggested their grandfather had been there and left them a sign. [name withheld] answered that it was either that or somebody playing an elaborate hoax. They added that they still have their grandfather's golf clubs and golf balls, so the ball could simply have been in the room unnoticed. They call it [quote withheld] The host then adds his own childhood aside about a fear of open closets.
Reported events, in order
- 0:02
The caller gives their name and location: [name withheld] in Macon, Georgia.
- 0:28
They place the events around 1975, when they were about six.
- 0:37
They say they were visiting their grandmother in Macon, Georgia.
- 0:42
They say the visit was shortly after their grandfather died of a heart attack on a golf course; the grandfather was an avid golfer.
- 1:07
They describe an added-on room in the house that their grandfather, a Georgia Tech architectural graduate, had designed and built.
- 1:25
They say they stayed in that room during the visit.
- 1:35
One night, they say, they woke for no known reason and saw a glowing white figure at the foot of the bed.
- 1:50
They say the figure had no face or expression, yet seemed to face and stare at them.
- 1:56
They describe an impression of outstretched arms with no visible arms, and a flowing gown-like form.
- 2:14
They say they ducked under the sheets.
- 2:24
They say they peeked a second time and the figure was still there.
- 2:45
They say they went back under the covers and fell asleep without looking again.
- 3:00
They say that the next morning a golf ball lay on the ground near the foot of the bed.
- 3:09
The host proposes the grandfather left the golf ball as a sign. The caller replies it was either that or an elaborate hoax, and notes the ball could have been in the room already.
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· 0:02
The caller identifies themselves as [name withheld] in Macon, Georgia.
- observation· 0:28
They say the events occurred about 1975, when they were about six years old, while visiting their grandmother in Macon, Georgia, shortly after their grandfather died.
- observation· 0:42
The grandfather is said to have been an avid golfer who died of a heart attack on a golf course.
- observation· 1:35
They report waking for no known reason and seeing a glowing figure at the foot of the bed.
- observation· 1:50
The figure is described as having no face or facial expression, but seeming to face and stare at them.
- observation· 1:58
They describe an impression of outstretched arms, though no arms were visible, and a flowing gown-like form.
- observation· 2:24
They say they took another peek from under the sheets and the figure was still there.
- observation· 2:45
They say they went back under the covers, did not look again, and fell asleep.
- observation· 3:00
The next morning they found a golf ball on the ground near the foot of the bed.
- host statement· 3:09
The host asserts that the grandfather had been there and left a golf ball as a sign.
- interpretation· 3:15
The caller offers an alternative: that someone was playing an elaborate hoax on them.
- interpretation· 3:22
The caller notes they still have their grandfather's golf clubs and golf balls, so the ball may simply have been in the room unnoticed when they went to bed.
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.
A specific, firsthand, internally ordered story with a named place and rough date. But it is a very brief single episode in bed at night, with an easy sleep-related explanation and no verification. It sits near the upper-middle of the scoring guide rather than the top.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand witness, no go-between.
- Specific anchoring: year (about 1975), age (about six), place (Macon, Georgia), the room's origin (designed and built by the grandfather, a Georgia Tech graduate).
- A coherent sensory sequence: waking, figure at foot of bed, faceless, no visible arms, hiding, second peek, sleep.
- The caller separates what they perceived from what they concluded and offers ordinary alternatives on their own.
- The experience happens on waking in bed at night and ends when they hide under the covers and sleep, a setting in which images from the edge of sleep are an easy fit.
- The caller themselves supplies two ordinary readings of the golf ball: a hoax by someone, or a ball already in the room.
- The automatic transcript is unstable (labels showing who is speaking shift mid-story, and one line reads [quote withheld]), which weakens any judgment of the internal sequence.
- The labels showing who is speaking break down during the story, so some lines may be misattributed.
- One line is self-contradictory in the transcript as given.
- Whether the ball found was the same type as those the caller kept is unstated.
- 1:35
- 2:45
- 3:22
What the model inferred (not said on air): The age wobble (“approximately six years” versus [quote withheld]) is treated as verbal looseness, not contradiction. Points are deducted for the ease of an explanation from falling asleep or waking, not for the caller's delivery.
This is essentially an unverified assertion, with names, places, and dates that sound checkable but that no one checked, and no evidence examined on air. It sits at the low end of the 11 to 25 range.
Evidence for and against
- The caller's firsthand testimony.
- Checkable specifics given but not checked: Macon, Georgia; about 1975; the grandparents' house and the added-on room; the grandfather's Georgia Tech connection.
- The caller says they still have their grandfather's golf clubs and some golf balls, though nothing was examined.
- No document, recording, photograph, or mark is claimed or examined.
- No second witness speaks on air; the caller was alone in the room.
- The only physical object mentioned (the golf ball) is not preserved or produced as evidence, and the objects the caller does keep are not linked to it.
- No outside check was performed, so the hard cap of 50 applies and no verification is possible from the broadcast alone.
- 0:02
- 3:00
- 3:09
What the model inferred (not said on air): No credit is given for the host's endorsement, and the caller's claim that they still have golf equipment is not treated as physical evidence of the event.
The child-in-bedroom setting and the persistent faceless figure give the story a truly unsettling but nonviolent cast. Humor, the gentle reading, and the golf-ball ending keep it well below frightening territory.
Evidence for and against
- A faceless glowing figure standing at the foot of a child's bed, seeming to stare, with no face and no visible arms.
- It remains after the first hiding, which the host highlights as the unusual part.
- The bedroom setting and the caller's age at the time.
- The caller treats the ending with humor and offers options ([quote withheld]).
- A single, brief encounter with no threat, injury, or pursuit, ended by hiding and sleeping.
- How the figure actually appeared cannot be recovered from the transcript's fragmentary description.
- 1:50
- 2:24
What the model inferred (not said on air): Creepiness is rated on the story as a listener would receive it, not on the caller's delivery.
A familiar bedroom-figure frame with a distinctive, personal ending: the golf ball matched to the grandfather's death while golfing. That lifts it above the purely stock.
Evidence for and against
- The ending ties the sighting to the dead man's hobby: an avid golfer who died on a course, and a golf ball found by the bed the next morning.
- Specific setting detail: a room the grandfather himself designed and built as an architecture student.
- The caller supplies their own competing explanations, including a hoax.
- The core image, a white glowing figure at the foot of the bed seen by a child in a family house, is a stock ghost-story element.
- Hiding under the covers and the figure's disappearance on sleeping is a familiar beat.
- With few stories in the archive, any figure comparing it with the rest of the archive would be provisional.
- 3:00
- 1:07
What the model inferred (not said on air): Rated from the content of this story alone; the adjustment for comparison with the rest of the archive is not available here.
Scoring confidence 0.50 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's firsthand childhood testimony, delivered live on air (about four minutes).; The caller says they still have their grandfather's golf clubs and some golf balls; these objects were not described, produced, or examined on air, and no link is established between them and the ball found in the room.; No photograph, recording, document, or second witness on air.. The originality score blends the model's score (50) 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 image from the move between sleep and waking (a dream-like figure seen on waking). · They say they [quote withheld] in bed at night, saw the figure briefly, hid under the sheets and “fell back asleep,” and the figure did not persist once they stopped looking. A waking-dream image is a possibility raised only by the reported circumstances.
- A golf ball already in the room, not noticed before sleeping. · The caller themselves says they still have their grandfather's golf balls, suggesting one could have been in the room already: [quote withheld]
- A deliberate practical joke or hoax by another person. · This is the caller's own stated alternative.
What stands out
The story is short and conventional in its central image, but distinctive at its end: the sighting is tied to a grandfather who died playing golf, and the morning-after detail is a golf ball on the floor. The caller at once hedges that it was either a sign, an elaborate hoax, or an object that was already in the room. They leave it unresolved rather than insisting on the ghost explanation the host supplies.
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