A watchmaker’s death and a new Concord watch that stopped
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], listening in Phoenix, tells Art Bell about their grandfather’s death when [name withheld] was about 15. The grandfather was a watchmaker. [name withheld] says their brother-in-law, then traveling in Israel, noticed that his new Concord watch had stopped. The family later worked out that this was the time the grandfather died. [name withheld] calls the coincidence spooky rather than frightening, and suggests it was a trick their grandfather would pull.
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 1:09:01). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
Calling from Phoenix, a caller who gives their name as [name withheld] says their grandfather died when [name withheld] was about 15. The caller describes the grandfather as “ornery,” 77 years old, still telling jokes, pulling pranks, and grabbing the dog’s tail when it walked past. The grandfather had a heart attack and was in a coma, and the family gathered in upstate New York. [name withheld]’s recently married sister, who [name withheld] says was very close to the grandfather, had planned a trip to Israel with her new husband. Their mother told her to keep the plans, and the couple reluctantly flew. [name withheld] says they arrived and were sleeping off jet lag after what [name withheld] thinks was about a 15-hour flight. [name withheld]’s brother-in-law, described as someone who had worked on Wall Street as a commodities trader and had a lot of money, had bought a new and expensive Concord watch before leaving. [name withheld] reports that the brother-in-law noticed the watch had stopped. Shortly afterward, [name withheld] says, their mother called to say the grandfather had died, and the family found that he had died at exactly the same time the watch stopped. [name withheld] adds that the grandfather had been a watchmaker for 40 years, and says the story is spooky rather than scary: [quote withheld] Art Bell agrees, framing it as the grandfather’s way of sending a message, and the call ends.
Reported events, in order
- 0:10
The caller, who gives their name as [name withheld] and says they are listening in Phoenix, introduces their story as spooky rather than terrifying.
- 0:15
They say their grandfather died when they were about 15, and describe him as ornery, joking, and prank-pulling.
- 0:41
They say the grandfather had a heart attack and was in a coma, and that the family gathered in upstate New York.
- 1:09
[name withheld]’s recently married sister, close to the grandfather, had planned a trip to Israel with her new husband.
- 1:23
Their mother told the sister to keep her plans, and the couple reluctantly flew.
- 1:41
They arrived and slept off jet lag. [name withheld] thinks the flight was about 15 hours.
- 1:53
[name withheld]’s brother-in-law, a former Wall Street commodities trader, had bought a new and expensive Concord watch before the trip.
- 2:00
The brother-in-law noticed the watch had stopped.
- 2:03
The mother called to tell them the grandfather had died.
- 2:19
The family found the grandfather had died at exactly the time the watch stopped.
- 2:25
[name withheld] says the grandfather had been a watchmaker for 40 years.
- 2:33
[name withheld] says it is spooky, not scary, and a trick the grandfather would pull. Art Bell frames it as a message.
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· 0:41
The grandfather had a heart attack and was in a coma, and the family gathered around him.
- observation· 1:53
The brother-in-law bought a new, expensive Concord watch before leaving on the trip.
- hearsay· 2:00
The brother-in-law noticed that the new watch had stopped.
- hearsay· 2:03
The mother telephoned to say the grandfather had died.
- hearsay· 2:19
The grandfather died at exactly the same time the watch stopped.
- observation· 2:25
The grandfather had worked as a watchmaker for 40 years.
- interpretation· 2:33
The caller reads the stopped watch as spooky and as a trick the caller’s grandfather would pull.
- host statement· 2:31
The host says the stopped watch was the grandfather’s way of sending a message.
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 family story with some concrete detail (ages, trade, watch brand, itinerary) and a coherent sequence. But the central event, the watch stopping at the moment of death, is relayed from the brother-in-law and matched in hindsight, and an ordinary mechanical stop fits the reported facts.
Evidence for and against
- Concrete details: the grandfather’s age and trade, a named watch brand, the trip to Israel, the reported 15-hour flight.
- The sequence is coherent, and the caller answers the host’s interjections consistently.
- The caller hedges (“I believe,” “I think”) rather than escalating. They explicitly call the story spooky rather than scary.
- The key event is not the caller’s own perception. It is the brother-in-law’s observation, relayed secondhand.
- No mechanical check of the watch is mentioned. A new watch stopping on its own is unremarkable.
- The time match is established afterward through a telephone call and family “details,” not by simultaneous observation.
- The call does not establish whether the caller was present at the death or in Israel.
- No dates, hospital, or exact times are given.
- 0:15
- 1:53
- 2:25
- 2:33
What the model inferred (not said on air): These are my judgments on the parts. Closeness to the source is partial (a family member recounting an event largely experienced by others). Specificity is moderate (details given, but no checkable names or dates). Consistency is good. The fit of an ordinary explanation is high. Calibration is fairly good given the caller’s hedging.
Only the caller’s word is present. No document, photograph, or recording is offered or examined, the watch is not produced, and no other witness speaks on air, though several family members are said to have been involved.
Evidence for and against
- Several claimed participants are named by relationship (brother-in-law, sister, mother), which is the kind of detail that could in principle be checked.
- A concrete object is named (a Concord watch).
- No physical evidence is presented or described as available to the host.
- No second witness speaks on air. The watch observation is relayed.
- No names, dates, or records are given that could be looked up.
- Whether any documentation (the watch, hospital records) exists is not stated.
- 2:00
- 2:19
What the model inferred (not said on air): The story falls in the low range: an assertion plus a relative’s claimed observation, with a named object but nothing checkable supplied or examined. The hard cap of 50 for transcript-only material is respected, and the score is set well below it.
The story is quiet and elegiac rather than frightening: a death in the family, a stopped watch, and a mildly eerie coincidence. There is no threat, contact, or intrusion, and the caller explicitly calls it spooky rather than scary.
Evidence for and against
- A device stopping at the exact moment of a relative’s death, noticed by travelers far from home, is unsettling in a mild way.
- The detail that the dead man was a watchmaker adds an uncanny fit to the event.
- No malevolence, no threat, no physical contact, and no lasting escalation.
- The caller describes the story as spooky rather than terrifying, and the host treats it approvingly.
- The mood of the family gathering around the comatose grandfather is described only briefly.
- 2:19
- 2:25
What the model inferred (not said on air): I place this near the lower-middle of the scale: an eerie but gentle coincidence story rather than a frightening one.
The frame, a sign at the moment of a distant relative’s death, is a familiar one. But the specific form (a brand-new expensive watch stopping, belonging to a brother-in-law abroad, with the dead man having been a professional watchmaker for 40 years) is a distinctive combination.
Evidence for and against
- The sign is tied to the dead man’s own trade, which is an unusual fit.
- The watch belongs to a traveling relative rather than to the dead man or the caller.
- Stopping clocks and watches at the moment of death is a long-standing ghost-story motif.
- The structure (a death, distant family, an omen discovered afterward) is standard.
- Originality is provisional in this archive. Comparison with the rest of the archive depends on similar stories that are not available here.
- 2:25
- 1:53
What the model inferred (not said on air): A familiar motif plus one strong distinctive detail, so a mid-range provisional score.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s live account (a family story, partly relayed); No physical evidence offered or examined; No second witness on air. 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 new mechanical watch may simply have stopped on its own (a fault, the mainspring, the battery, or the setting), unrelated to the death. · The watch is described as brand new and expensive, and no fault is reported to have been ruled out.
- The match of times may be a coincidence seen in hindsight. The time of death was reported by telephone, and the moment the watch stopped may have been noticed only later, so the two were lined up in the telling rather than observed together. · The watch “had stopped” is reported, then the mother’s call comes “shortly thereafter,” and the timing match is described as something the family “found out.”
- The watch could have stopped at some point during the roughly 15-hour flight rather than at the hour of death, since the couple were sleeping off jet lag on arrival. · The caller says they were [quote withheld] after a flight [name withheld] thinks was about 15 hours.
What stands out
The reported sign is a watch stopping, a “message” that matches the dead man’s own trade as a watchmaker for 40 years. It concerns a brand-new expensive watch bought by a relative who was abroad at the time. The caller is also recounting a family event rather than something they say they perceived themselves.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.