A nursing home elevator reported running by itself and attributed to a resident named [name withheld]
A caller who gives their name as [quote withheld] is a nurse of twenty-three years. [name withheld] says they are on duty at a prison. The caller describes something that they say happened about twenty years earlier, when they were the night supervisor at a nursing home. A second-floor elevator began opening and closing and running up and down around one o’clock in the morning. An aide told the caller it was “[name withheld],” a former resident in a wheelchair who used to ride the elevator all day. The behavior began when [name withheld] died and usually came in the early hours. [name withheld] says they checked the switches and found nothing wrong, and that it continued until about 4:30 a.m. [name withheld] says staff came to “cohabitate with” it and that it is [quote withheld] The host then closes the call with two speculative theories.
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 2003.mp3”, starting at 1:18:13). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller gives their name as [quote withheld] The caller says they have been a nurse for twenty-three years and are speaking while on duty at a prison. The caller says an interesting thing happened to them about twenty years earlier, when they were night supervisor at a nursing home. The caller remarks that nursing homes seem to attract this kind of activity. [name withheld] says they were working the night shift on the second floor when, around one o’clock, the elevator [quote withheld] [name withheld] says they asked an aide whether someone was on the elevator, and the aide answered [quote withheld] The aide explained that [name withheld] had been a resident in a wheelchair who spent their hours riding the elevator all day until bedtime. When [name withheld] died, the elevator started doing this, usually in the wee hours. [name withheld] says they checked the switches themselves and found nothing wrong, and that it kept doing it until about 4:30 a.m. Later, [name withheld] says, a brand-new aide saw the elevator go up and down at one o’clock [quote withheld] and was told the same thing. [name withheld] says that after about six months there they concluded [quote withheld] and that staff [quote withheld] [name withheld] adds, [quote withheld] Asked by the host, [name withheld] says it is [quote withheld] The host closes this part of the broadcast with two speculative readings. One is a “tape loop,” or lingering memory. The other is [name withheld] in another dimension, still riding the elevator.
Reported events, in order
- 0:39
The caller, [quote withheld] a nurse of twenty-three years then on duty at a prison, says an interesting thing happened to them about twenty years ago, when they were night supervisor at a nursing home.
- 1:00
[name withheld] says that one night, while they were working the night shift on the second floor, the elevator mysteriously began around one o’clock to open and close and to go up and down the floor.
- 1:13
[name withheld] says they asked an aide if someone was on the elevator. The aide answered [quote withheld]
- 1:22
The aide is said to have explained that [name withheld] was a former resident in a wheelchair who spent their hours riding the elevator up and down all day until bedtime. When [name withheld] died, the elevator began doing this, usually in the wee hours.
- 1:48
[name withheld] says they checked the elevator switches themselves and found nothing wrong. [name withheld] says it kept running until about 4:30 a.m.
- 1:58
[name withheld] says that on another occasion a brand-new aide came in, and at one o’clock exactly the elevator went up and down. The aide asked what was going on and was told [quote withheld]
- 2:14
[name withheld] says that after about six months there they accepted it ([quote withheld]) and that staff [quote withheld] [name withheld] adds that [quote withheld]
- 2:36
Asked by the host, [name withheld] says it is [quote withheld]
- 2:46
After the call, the host offers two theories about such reports. In one, a person keeps doing what they did at death (a “tape loop,” a lingering memory). In the other, [name withheld], in another dimension, affects this one and is still riding the elevator.
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· 1:05
Around one o’clock the second-floor elevator began to open and close and to travel up and down the floor.
- observation· 1:48
The caller says they inspected the elevator switches and found no fault.
- observation· 1:53
The caller says nothing was wrong with the elevator and that it continued until about 4:30 a.m.
- observation· 1:58
A newly hired aide is said to have seen the elevator running at one o’clock [quote withheld]
- hearsay· 1:17
An aide told the caller that the elevator was “[name withheld],” a former resident of the nursing home.
- hearsay· 1:24
The aide said [name withheld] had been in a wheelchair and rode the elevator all day. When [name withheld] died, the elevator started doing this, usually in the wee hours.
- interpretation· 2:14
The caller treats the elevator’s behavior as [name withheld]’s continuing presence, saying staff “cohabitate with him.”
- interpretation· 2:20
The caller says one gets a sense of a spirit in the building.
- interpretation· 2:36
The caller suggests the situation resembles unfinished business.
- host statement· 3:10
The host offers a “tape loop,” or lingering-memory, explanation for such reports.
- host statement· 3:16
The host offers another explanation, in which [name withheld], in some other dimension, affects this one and is still riding the elevator.
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 brief but coherent firsthand report with a specific setting and clock times. It is weakened by the secondhand “[name withheld]” explanation. It is also weakened by an easy mechanical explanation that the caller’s check of the switches did not rule out.
Evidence for and against
- The caller claims to have seen the elevator move themselves: [quote withheld]
- [name withheld] gives concrete times and a duration: around one o’clock, continuing [quote withheld]
- The caller reports an attempted ordinary check: [quote withheld]
- The central claim about the cause is not the caller’s own observation. It is an aide’s explanation, passed on secondhand.
- An ordinary mechanical explanation (a stuck call or relay, or service mode) fits the reported behavior, and the caller’s check of the switches would not rule it out.
- The story is short, and the facility, the date, and “[name withheld]” (first name only) are not further identified.
- The nursing home is unnamed, and the event is dated only as “about 20 years” before the 2003 call.
- Part of the automatic transcript is broken into single-word fragments with unreliable labels showing who is speaking. That makes the sequence harder to pin down.
- 1:05
- 1:17
- 1:48
- 1:55
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component scores (source proximity about 21, specificity about 13, consistency about 15, alternative explanations about 6, calibration about 7) are my own application of the scoring guide. Only the quoted lines come from the broadcast.
This is essentially the caller’s assertion, plus claimed witnesses who do not speak and a few specifics that cannot be checked. That places it in the 11 to 25 range. The cap applies because no outside check was done.
Evidence for and against
- The specifics that could be checked in principle are minimal: [quote withheld] [quote withheld] a nursing home, the second floor, and “[name withheld].”
- Other witnesses are claimed (an aide and a new aide), but only in the caller’s retelling.
- No document, photograph, recording, or maintenance record is mentioned or examined.
- No other witness speaks on air.
- The location is unnamed and the person is named only by first name, so nothing given can be checked in practice.
- The caller does not say whether the first aide had personally seen the elevator run.
- The exact year of the events is not given.
- 0:03
- 0:39
- 1:58
What the model inferred (not said on air): The placement follows the scoring guide’s definition of checkable specifics that were not checked, plus claimed witnesses.
The story is unsettling in atmosphere: an unattended elevator runs at one o’clock in a nursing home and is tied to a dead resident. But there is no threat, escalation, or physical contact, so it sits near the “mildly eerie” level rather than higher.
Evidence for and against
- A machine running with no one in it, in a care facility overnight, on a fixed early-morning schedule, is an eerie image.
- The setting is a nursing home, a place the caller links with [quote withheld]
- The host’s closing line frames it as [quote withheld]
- No threat, harm, or hostility is reported. The caller’s own framing is matter-of-fact acceptance: [quote withheld]
- The event is limited to a machine’s movement. Nothing is seen, touched, or heard as a voice.
- A listener’s response is subjective. The caller’s own feelings cannot be judged from how they sound, and were not used.
- 1:10
- 2:14
- 3:29
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is my rating of the atmosphere. The caller reports no menace.
This is a familiar [quote withheld] story with a distinctive concrete detail: the wheelchair-and-elevator routine and a fixed nightly hour. It sits provisionally in the middle of the scale, pending comparison with the rest of the archive.
Evidence for and against
- The specific detail is distinctive: a resident in a wheelchair who rode the elevator all day, and an elevator that is said to start doing the same at about one o’clock after their death.
- The staff’s reported response ([quote withheld]) is an unusual detail.
- The core theme, a named dead person whose habitual activity continues in a building, is a familiar ghost story.
- Unexplained building noise or malfunction attached to a former resident is a common pattern.
- Originality compared with this archive is provisional in the pilot. Only my own estimate is available here.
- 1:22
- 1:24
- 2:14
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score of 55 is my judgment of the content. The published originality score is recalculated by the system compared with the rest of the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.65 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story about the elevator doors and travel; The caller’s account of checking the elevator switches (their own action); Claimed witnesses who do not speak: an aide who gave the “[name withheld]” explanation and a newly hired aide said to have seen the elevator at one o’clock; No photograph, recording, maintenance record, or document is mentioned or examined. 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.
- A mechanical or electrical fault in the elevator (a stuck call button, a relay fault, or service mode) could produce repeated door cycling and travel between floors. · The caller says they checked the switches and found [quote withheld] But a night supervisor checking switches is not a maintenance inspection. A faulty call circuit, stuck button, service mode, or mis-leveling could run a car without a passenger.
- A person, either a staff member or a resident, could have been calling or riding the elevator. The time the caller watched may have been too brief to rule this out. · The story is set in a staffed care facility at night. The caller says a “brand-new aide” arrived and saw the elevator at one o’clock.
- Staff may have settled on a shared explanation for a recurring building noise or malfunction and passed it to newcomers. Expectation may have reinforced the schedule of around 1 a.m. · Staff are reported to call the elevator’s behavior “[name withheld]” and to tell incoming aides so.
What stands out
The reported event is a self-operating elevator in a care facility. The caller attributes it to a named former resident, whose habit of riding the elevator in a wheelchair is said to resume after their death at a fixed nightly hour. Staff reportedly came to accept it ([quote withheld]). It is told by a night-shift nurse from their work setting rather than as a haunting in a home.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.