Shadow figure at a bedroom window and a child found on the roof
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], from Sarasota, Florida, tells Art Bell that at about age five, which they place around 1966, they saw a shadow figure in a hat and long coat at their bedroom window one winter night. Their parents reportedly saw the same figure crossing the schoolyard outside and found no footprints. The caller also relays, secondhand through their wife, that about a week earlier their parents had found them missing from bed and finally discovered them sitting on the roof with no apparent way up. Asked what they think happened, they say they have no idea. The call ends with a discussion of streetlights going out around them, which the story leaves unresolved.
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 1:39:05). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld], calling from Sarasota, Florida, tells Art Bell it happened [quote withheld] which they place around 1966. They say they were lying in bed with their parents in the living room when they suddenly felt a presence. Something seemed to be staring at them, and they looked out their bedroom window and saw [quote withheld] It was a shadow, which they described in the terms Art uses for shadow people, dressed in the hat and long coat of the period, in wintertime. They say they lay there for an unknown time before they could scream. Their parents ran in, and [name withheld] told them there was a man at the window. [name withheld] reports that all the other windows were frosted over but theirs had no frost. According to [name withheld], their parents went to the front door and saw the figure crossing the schoolyard across the way. Their father went out after the figure, but the figure had gone around the corner, and there were no footprints to follow. [name withheld] says their wife asked them to call because, ten years ago, their mother told her something she had never told them. About a week before the window incident, their parents put them to bed and found them missing about twenty minutes later. They searched for roughly three hours, and at one in the morning their father looked up and saw them sitting on the roof, with no ladder or apparent way up. Asked what they think happened, they say [quote withheld] Asked whether they have considered abduction, they say they expected Art to suggest that, and they do not adopt it. They add that streetlights go out or come on around them, and Art replies he has heard this from many people.
Reported events, in order
- 0:08
The caller gives their name as [name withheld], from Sarasota, Florida, and says the experience happened when they were about five years old.
- 0:26
The caller says they were lying in bed with their parents in the living room when they felt a presence.
- 0:32
They say something seemed to be staring at them, and they looked out their bedroom window.
- 0:37
They say they saw a shadow, [quote withheld] at the window.
- 0:45
They describe the figure as dressed in the hat and long coat they associate with 1966, in wintertime.
- 0:57
They say they lay there for an unknown length of time before they were able to scream.
- 1:05
Their parents came running in, and the caller told them there was a man at the window.
- 1:12
They say all the windows were frosted over except their own, which had no frost.
- 1:17
They say their parents went to the front door and saw the figure crossing the schoolyard across the way.
- 1:28
Their father went out after the figure, which had gone around the corner.
- 1:31
They say their father tried to follow the figure’s footprints and there were none.
- 1:41
They say their wife asked them to call because their mother had told her something the caller had never been told.
- 1:53
According to that story, about a week before the window incident their parents put them to bed and found them gone about twenty minutes later.
- 2:10
They say they searched for about three hours, at first thinking the caller had gone downstairs to play.
- 2:20
They say their father finally looked up around one in the morning and saw them sitting on the roof, with no ladder or apparent way up.
- 2:32
The host asks what the caller thinks happened to them. The caller answers that they have no idea.
- 2:36
The host asks whether the caller has considered abduction. The caller says they thought the host might say that, and they do not adopt the idea.
- 2:47
The caller adds that streetlights go out or come on around them and that people with them comment on it. The host says he has heard this from many callers.
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· 0:26
The caller says that while lying in bed they suddenly felt a presence.
- observation· 0:32
The caller says they felt something staring at them and looked out their bedroom window.
- observation· 0:37
The caller says they saw a shadow, described as the head of a person, at the window.
- observation· 0:45
The caller says the figure was dressed in the hat-and-long-coat style they associate with 1966, in wintertime.
- observation· 1:12
The caller says every window was frosted up except their own.
- hearsay· 1:17
The caller says their parents saw the figure of the man crossing the schoolyard across the way.
- hearsay· 1:31
The caller says their father tried to follow the figure’s footprints and found none.
- hearsay· 1:41
The caller says their mother had told their wife, but never the caller, about an earlier incident a week before.
- hearsay· 2:20
The caller reports that they were found sitting on the roof with no apparent way for them to have gotten up there.
- observation· 2:47
The caller says streetlights go out or come on around them.
- interpretation· 2:34
The caller says they have no idea what happened to them.
- host statement· 2:36
The host asks whether the caller has considered that they were abducted. The caller does not adopt this explanation.
- host statement· 2:58
The host says he has heard about the streetlight events from many people.
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, coherent firsthand story. But its strangest element is secondhand at two removes, and the caller does not address ordinary explanations (a person outside, sleep-related images, sleepwalking).
Evidence for and against
- A firsthand story of the bedroom sighting with a concrete season, period, and setting.
- Specific detail that could be checked in principle: Sarasota, Florida, winter around 1966, and a schoolyard opposite the house.
- A coherent sequence: sighting, scream, parents’ arrival, door, chase, and tracks.
- The caller declines to escalate, saying [quote withheld] rather than adopting the host’s abduction framing.
- The central figure may have been an ordinary person in winter clothing walking past the house.
- The caller frames the memory as nightmare-like, and a dream or half-asleep explanation is not addressed.
- The roof incident, the strangest element, is hearsay at two removes (mother to wife to caller), and the caller had no memory of it.
- Several lines are marked as low confidence in the automatic transcript.
- The labels showing who is speaking in the transcript alternate within the same call.
- Ground and weather conditions relevant to the “no footprints” detail are not described.
- 0:08
- 1:12
- 1:41
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component scores are my judgment. Closeness to the source is about 18 of 25: firsthand, but a childhood memory, with key later elements relayed. Specificity is about 15 of 20. Internal consistency is about 15 of 20. Alternative explanations are about 8 of 20: ordinary readings fit reasonably well and are not discussed. Calibration is about 9 of 15. The sum is 65.
This is essentially the caller’s word plus claimed witnesses and some detail that could be checked in principle, none of which has been checked. No physical evidence is claimed, so it sits in the low range.
Evidence for and against
- Checkable specifics are given: Sarasota, Florida, winter around 1966, and a schoolyard across from the house.
- The caller claims their parents also saw the figure and their father tried to follow tracks.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is mentioned or examined.
- The strangest element (the roof) is hearsay through the wife, ultimately from the mother.
- The claimed second witnesses, the parents, do not speak on the air.
- It is not stated whether the parents ever wrote to or contacted the program about it.
- 1:17
- 2:45
What the model inferred (not said on air): The 11 to 25 range in the scoring guide fits: checkable specifics and claimed witnesses, but nothing examined and no outside check.
Intrusion into a child’s bedroom at night, an unexplained figure with no tracks, and the unresolved, impossible placement of the child on the roof make this genuinely unsettling. The telling stays matter-of-fact.
Evidence for and against
- A figure watches a child through a bedroom window at night.
- The child was unable to speak or move promptly and could only scream later.
- The figure is followed and leaves no tracks.
- A child is found on the roof with no apparent way up, unexplained and unresolved.
- The encounter itself is static: a figure seen through glass, with no contact with or pursuit of the child.
- The caller laughs off the abduction suggestion, and the call ends on a conversational note.
- The emotional weight of the childhood memory cannot be judged from an automatic transcript.
- 0:57
- 2:20
What the model inferred (not said on air): Rated for story content only, not for the caller’s delivery. There is no threat, injury, or sustained escalation, which keeps it below the frightening range.
The shadow-figure setup is stock, but the combination of a frostless window, a trackless figure, and an impossible placement on a roof is distinctive.
Evidence for and against
- The frosted-window detail: every window frosted except the one the figure was seen through.
- The figure the father went after leaves no footprints.
- A week-earlier incident in which the same child is found on the roof with no means of climbing up.
- A coda in which the same caller reports streetlights going out or on around them.
- A shadow figure in a hat and long coat is a familiar motif in this archive, and the caller links it to the host’s own term “shadow people.”
- The score compared with the rest of the archive is provisional. That comparison is not worked out here.
- 1:12
- 1:31
What the model inferred (not said on air): Similarity and rarity of motifs are left to the automated tools. My judgment reflects a familiar frame with several unusual details.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand word for the bedroom-window sighting and for the streetlight claim; The caller’s relayed account of what their parents reportedly saw and did outside; The caller’s relayed secondhand account, through their wife, of what their mother reportedly told her about the roof incident; No photograph, recording, document, name of street or school, or other checkable item mentioned. The originality score blends the model's score (62) 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 dream or half-asleep image while falling asleep or waking up could account for the bedroom-window sighting. This is offered as a possibility about the event only, not about the caller. · The caller says they were lying in bed, were slow to be able to move or speak, and later described the memory as [quote withheld]
- A real person in a hat and long coat walking past the house. The lack of tracks might reflect ground or surface conditions that are not described. · The figure is described in ordinary 1966 winter clothing and was reportedly seen by the parents moving across a schoolyard and around a corner.
- Sleepwalking or another episode of movement during sleep by a five-year-old, with no memory of it. This is offered as a possibility only. · The caller reports being found on the roof of the house with [quote withheld] and no ladders around.
What stands out
Two elements stand apart from the standard shadow-figure story. The figure the father went after reportedly left no footprints. And the same child was reportedly found on the roof a week earlier with no means of getting up there, a detail the caller learned only decades later from their mother through their wife.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.