Leg broken by an unseen kick on lava rock at Kaneohe Marine base
A caller named “roger,” who gives their location as Kailua, Hawaii, says that while fishing alone on a dry lava-rock flat at the Marine Corps Air Station at Kaneohe, their left leg was suddenly thrown above their head and broken, with no visible cause. They report that two people who had followed them at a distance saw the leg fly up and that the back of their calf bore a black mark in the shape of a bare footprint. They say they were treated at the base hospital and then at Tripler Army Hospital, and they state they still do not know what struck them.
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 2:16:28). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, “roger,” who says they are calling from “kailua hawaii,” tells Art Bell they broke their left leg while fishing on a day off at the Marine Corps Air Station at Kaneohe, on the east coast of Oahu. The station sits on an extinct volcano whose center holds a rifle range. They say they were authorized into areas others are not, walked about a mile and a half from any living quarters, and were followed at a distance by a 35-year-old man and his 8-year-old son, [quote withheld] and [quote withheld] They stopped on a flat, dry expanse of lava rock roughly 30 feet wide and 150 feet long, which they say they believed was a place where Hawaiian kings were buried. While admiring the scenery, they report, their left leg suddenly flew up above their eye level, with instant shock and pain. They spread their arms, balanced on their right leg, and landed on the ground. The man and boy ran down. The man reportedly asked if the caller was all right and called it [quote withheld] then pointed out a big black mark on the back of the caller’s calf. The caller’s ankle swelled, they splinted the leg with driftwood, and they walked a mile and a half back to the caller’s car. The man drove the caller to the base Marine Corps hospital, where a Navy ensign and two corpsmen logged the incident and put a full cast on. They say the cast was called “experimental” and they were sent by ambulance to Tripler Army Hospital. There, they say, a full colonel took charge and questioned them for about four hours before removing the cast and applying a new one of the same material. The bruise, they say, was black and blue in the shape of a bare foot, and photographs were taken. They state they still do not know what hit or kicked them, that the leg was broken in half, and that it was a clean break.
Reported events, in order
- 0:05
The caller, who identifies themselves as “roger,” from Kailua, Hawaii, says they want to describe how their left leg was broken while fishing on a day off.
- 0:19
They place the event at the Marine Corps Air Station at Kaneohe, on the east coast of Oahu, an extinct volcano with a rifle range at its center, and say they were authorized into areas others are not.
- 0:37
They say they had walked about a mile and a half from any living quarters and that no one could see them. A 35-year-old man and his 8-year-old son followed about 150 feet behind and 15 feet up on a ridge.
- 1:13
They stopped at an area where they say they believed Hawaiian kings used to be buried.
- 1:31
They describe standing on a flat, dry expanse of lava rock roughly 30 feet wide and 150 feet long, smooth enough that [quote withheld]
- 1:48
They report that their left leg suddenly flew up in the air above their eyesight, producing instant shock and pain. They spread their arms and fell, landing on the ground on their right leg.
- 2:23
The man and his son came running down. The man asked repeatedly whether the caller was all right and reportedly called the movement [quote withheld]
- 2:50
The man is said to have pointed out a big black footprint-shaped mark on the back of the caller’s calf, and the caller’s ankle began to swell.
- 2:59
They splinted the leg with a piece of driftwood, and the caller walked a mile and a half back to their car.
- 3:07
The man drove the caller to the Marine Corps hospital on the base, where they spent about two hours and a full cast was put on their left leg.
- 3:29
They say a Navy ensign and two corpsmen logged what had happened, told them the cast was “experimental,” and sent them by ambulance to Tripler Army Hospital about 16 miles away.
- 4:01
At Tripler about 5:30 p.m., they say, a full colonel took charge and questioned them for roughly four hours about matters they say were not normal medical questions, including their military history from private to Master Sergeant.
- 4:40
The colonel removed the cast and, after the questioning, applied a new cast of what the caller says was the same material used at Kaneohe.
- 5:26
They say the bruise by then was black and blue in the shape of a bare foot. Photographs were reportedly taken.
- 5:59
They close by saying they still have no idea what hit or kicked them, that the leg was broken in half, and that it was a clean break.
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· 1:48
While standing still on dry, flat lava rock, the caller says their left leg suddenly flew up above their eye level.
- observation· 2:03
The caller says they felt instant shock and pain and fell to the ground.
- interpretation· 1:17
The caller says they believed Hawaiian kings “used to bury” in that area, offered as background to the site.
- hearsay· 2:39
The caller reports that the man who had been watching told the caller it [quote withheld] a claimed second observer of the leg flying up.
- hearsay· 2:50
The caller reports the man said the back of the caller’s calf bore a big footprint-shaped mark. (The automatic transcript labels this line and the next “HOST?” although the wording is the caller quoting the witness.)
- observation· 5:26
The caller says the bruise was black and blue in the shape of a bare foot.
- observation· 6:13
The caller says the fracture was a clean break that divided their leg (“broken in half”).
- interpretation· 5:59
The caller states they have no idea what struck or kicked them, and they offer no explanation involving a being.
- host statement· 6:27
The host calls the story a rare reported case of severe physical harm.
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 detailed, well-ordered firsthand story with named places, distances, and clock times, and the most obvious ordinary explanation is explicitly addressed. But no one else backs it up (the claimed witnesses do not speak and nothing is examined). One plausible physical cause, a spasm or stumble, is left open, so it sits in the [quote withheld] range rather than higher.
Evidence for and against
- [quote withheld] A named, locatable military site.
- [quote withheld] Precise detail of where people were.
- [quote withheld] The caller addresses the obvious slipping explanation.
- [quote withheld] The caller’s claims stay measured, with no jump to a being.
- No witness backs it up on the air and no document or image is examined.
- The hospital odyssey (an “experimental” cast, a colonel questioning the caller for about four hours about their military history) is unusual and unverified.
- An ordinary mechanism, a stumble or a sudden muscle or joint event producing the leg movement and the fall, is not addressed by the caller.
- Several lines are marked as low confidence in the automatic transcript and many words are split across short lines, so parts of the story are uncertain.
- The time of day (daytime) is inferred from the fishing trip and the “2.30” and “5.30” clock references, not stated outright.
- 0:29
- 1:46
- 5:59
What the model inferred (not said on air): My component scoring: closeness to the source 22 (direct experiencer), specificity 17, internal consistency 15, alternative explanations 9, and calibration 12, for 75, adjusted conservatively to 70. The gap between [quote withheld] and [quote withheld] is the main reason I did not go higher. The transcript contains no contradiction or shifting detail that would push it lower.
The story supplies checkable specifics (a named military base and Army hospital, claimed log entries and a printout, claimed photographs) and claims other witnesses. But nothing is checked or examined here, and no second witness speaks on the air. That places it at the top of the range for checkable specifics claimed but unverified.
Evidence for and against
- [quote withheld] A hospital log and computer record are claimed.
- [quote withheld] Photographs of the bruise are claimed to exist.
- [quote withheld] A claimed second witness.
- Named, checkable locations: Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe and Tripler Army Hospital.
- No document, photograph, or record is produced or examined on the air.
- The named witnesses never speak. The claim that someone saw the leg fly up rests on the caller’s report of a remark.
- The bruise, cast, and hospital log are all in the past and unavailable in the transcript.
- Whether any hospital log, printout, or photograph exists. None is produced.
- The “printout” and “experimental cast” lines are fragmentary and partly low confidence in the automatic transcript.
- 3:29
- 5:26
What the model inferred (not said on air): I read the claimed printout and photographs as [quote withheld] which alone would allow the 26 to 40 range. But neither object is described as being in hand and the witness is silent, so I kept it at the lower boundary of that range rather than higher. The hard cap of 50 applies regardless, because there is no outside check.
An unseen blow that breaks a bone and leaves a footprint-shaped bruise is physically intrusive and unsettling, and the burial-ground remark adds a faint ominous frame. It is tempered by the total absence of threat, repeat events, or a described presence, and by the long, matter-of-fact hospital narration.
Evidence for and against
- [quote withheld] Sudden violence with no visible cause.
- [quote withheld] A mark on the body matching an unseen foot.
- [quote withheld] Actual physical injury, not just a ghost.
- [quote withheld] A possible grave setting around the spot.
- The caller tells it calmly and matter-of-factly, without reported menace, threat, or a continuing presence.
- It is a single event rather than a growing series. Nothing is said to have happened again.
- No presence, voice, or figure is described.
- Whether the man actually said the words quoted. The automatic transcript marks that line “HOST?”
- 1:48
- 2:50
What the model inferred (not said on air): Scored as a genuinely unsettling one-off injury story rather than sustained dread. The hospital sequence dilutes the atmosphere, which is why I did not place it higher.
The core (an unseen attacker, a physical mark) is familiar. But the specific combination of an injury on lava rock on a Hawaii Marine base, near a claimed royal burial area, followed by an improbable hospital interrogation, is uncommon in the genre.
Evidence for and against
- The reported event is a single, injury-producing kick with no earlier haunting and no described presence.
- The setting: a dry lava-rock flat inside an extinct volcano on a military rifle range. [quote withheld]
- A prolonged hospital sequence in which a colonel is said to question the caller’s military service rather than their injury.
- An invisible blow or push is a familiar poltergeist-style element.
- A bruise or mark left by something unseen is a recurring detail in ghost lore.
- Originality here is a provisional judgment from the content. The comparison with the rest of the archive is not done in this pass.
- 0:34
- 1:48
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a provisional estimate from the content alone. No comparison with the rest of the archive was available for this analysis, so the published originality would be largely based on the model and provisional.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.75 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand word (a single voice on the air); A claimed second witness: the unnamed man, said to have watched the leg fly up and to have seen the calf mark. He does not speak on the air; Claimed documentation: the base hospital is said to have logged and typed up the incident and given the caller a printout. Not produced or examined; Claimed photographs of the bruise taken at Tripler. Not produced or examined; no imagery available in the transcript. The originality score blends the model's score (70) 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 slip, trip, or stumble on uneven ground. The caller explicitly addresses and rejects this for this particular surface. · The caller rules out a slip on the surface ahead of time, describing the rock as flat and dry.
- A sudden muscle spasm, joint failure, or spontaneous or stress fracture that threw the leg upward, with the fall producing the bruising the caller describes as footprint-shaped. The transcript does not address this. · No medical finding beyond “a clean break” is reported, and the caller offers no mechanism.
What stands out
What stands out is a claimed hard physical injury, a cleanly broken leg, blamed on a single unseen blow, with a footprint-shaped bruise, on a dry lava flat inside an extinct volcano on a Marine base. Also unusual is the long hospital sequence, in which the caller says a colonel questioned them about their military record rather than treating the injury.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.