Caller reports kitchen door and brother’s voice four hours after his death
[name withheld], calling from Phoenix, Arizona, says they have had ghost encounters since childhood and tells of their late brother [name withheld]. They report a severe headache and sick feeling around the time he was shot. Then, four hours after he was pronounced dead, they heard the kitchen door open and slam and heard his voice say, [quote withheld] The caller’s mother later tells them she heard the same thing at the same time.
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 59:01). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld], calling from Phoenix, Arizona, tells Art Bell they have had many ghost encounters since they were about six years old. [name withheld] then tells of an experience involving their late brother, [name withheld]. The caller says he lived in northern Arizona and, while going through marital problems, asked to move back in with the caller. The caller agreed but asked to be with him when he packed because [quote withheld] He drove for a trucking firm and promised to come get the caller. The caller says that on August 5, 1995, after working a night shift and going to bed around 5 a.m., they woke at about 11:20 with a sick feeling and a hot burning pain in the back of their head, unlike a migraine. The caller says they knew something awful was happening. About three hours later they learned their brother had been shot. They drove four hours to the hospital, where he had a living will and life support was disconnected. The caller says they were with him but could not stay to watch his body die. On August 8, the caller says, they were told at 7:15 that he had died at 7:05. After comforting their mother and going to bed, the caller reports, at 11:05, exactly four hours after he was pronounced dead, they heard the kitchen door open and slam and heard their brother call out, [quote withheld] The caller says they thought it was wishful thinking and cried themselves to sleep. The next morning, the caller says, their mother told them she had heard the kitchen door open and slam and heard [name withheld] call out the same words. When [name withheld] asked the time, their mother said she looked at her clock and it was 11:05. The host responds that perhaps he came home one more time.
Reported events, in order
- 0:21
[name withheld] says they have had many ghost encounters since they were about six years old.
- 0:37
The caller says their late brother lived in northern Arizona and had been having marital problems.
- 0:46
The caller says he asked to move back in with them while he got a divorce, and they agreed.
- 0:58
The caller says they told him they wanted to be with him when he packed his things because something told them they needed to be there.
- 1:04
The caller says he drove for a trucking firm and had promised to come get them.
- 1:15
The caller says that on August 5, 1995, after working a night shift, they went to bed around 5 a.m.
- 1:26
The caller says they woke at about 11:20 with a sick feeling and a hot burning pain in the back of their head, unlike a migraine.
- 1:59
The caller says they knew something awful was happening but did not know what.
- 2:07
The caller says that about three hours later they got news that their brother had been shot.
- 2:23
The caller says they drove four hours to the hospital where he was.
- 2:31
The caller says he had a living will and that they were with him when life support was disconnected.
- 2:48
The caller says that on August 8 they got news at 7:15 that he had died at 7:05.
- 2:59
The caller says they and their mother were devastated. They got their mother to bed and then went to their own room crying.
- 3:15
The caller says that at 11:05, exactly four hours after he was pronounced dead, they heard the kitchen door open and slam shut.
- 3:27
The caller says they heard their brother call out, [quote withheld]
- 3:33
The caller says they looked at their bedside clock and thought it was wishful thinking.
- 3:43
The caller says the next morning their mother told them she had also heard the kitchen door open and slam and heard [name withheld] call out the same words.
- 4:02
The caller says when they asked what time it was, their mother said she looked at her clock and it was 11:05.
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· 1:25
The caller reports waking on August 5, 1995, with a severe sick feeling and a hot burning pain in the back of their head unlike a migraine.
- interpretation· 1:59
The caller says they knew something awful was happening, without knowing what.
- observation· 3:22
The caller reports hearing the kitchen door open and slam shut at 11:05.
- observation· 3:27
The caller reports hearing their late brother call out, [quote withheld]
- hearsay· 3:43
The caller reports that their mother said she also heard the kitchen door open and slam and heard [name withheld] call out the same words at 11:05.
- host statement· 4:05
The host states that the brother came home one more time.
- host statement· 4:19
The host suggests the dead may continue doing ordinary things until they realize they are dead.
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.
The story is specific, coherent, and firsthand, with a claimed second witness. However, the strange element rests on interpreting household sounds and a voice, and the supporting witness is not on air. Cautious scoring keeps it in the middle range.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story with a specific date and times: “August 5, 1995” and [quote withheld]
- A coherent sequence from the premonition-like feeling, to the shooting, to the hospital, to the sounds reported after death.
- Claimed second witness: the caller says their mother independently reported the same door and voice at the same time.
- The central event depends on interpreting sounds and a voice in the caller’s home.
- The caller says they at first thought it was “wishful thinking.”
- The mother’s matching story is reported secondhand, and the mother does not speak on air.
- The transcript has choppy lines and some unclear labels showing who is speaking around the hospital exchange.
- The mother’s story is not heard directly on air.
- A radio was reportedly on in another room, which the host notes as potentially confusing.
- 1:15
- 3:15
- 3:36
- 3:43
What the model inferred (not said on air): Closeness to the source, specificity, and internal consistency are assessed from the transcript. Alternative explanations are considered because of the ordinary door-slam sound and the caller’s own first thought of “wishful thinking.”
The story offers names, dates, and times that could be checked, but nothing has been verified and no physical evidence is examined. The mother’s claimed backing is secondhand within the story and not a witness on air.
Evidence for and against
- Details that could be checked are given: a named caller, Phoenix, Arizona, northern Arizona, August 5, 1995, August 8, 7:05, 7:15, 11:05, and the brother’s name, [name withheld].
- A second witness is claimed, though not on air.
- No physical evidence, recording, photograph, document, or examined trace is presented.
- The claimed second witness, the mother, does not speak on air.
- No outside check is recorded in the request.
- Some dates and times are spoken in isolation and depend on the automatic transcript.
- No records from the hospital or police are presented.
- 2:57
- 4:02
What the model inferred (not said on air): Evidence strength is capped because the assessment is based only on the transcript and no outside check was done.
The story has a genuinely unsettling domestic ghost-story image: a dead brother’s voice announcing he is home late at night. It lacks threat or lasting dread, so it sits in the middle of the creepiness range.
Evidence for and against
- A kitchen door opens and slams at night in a grieving household.
- A deceased brother’s voice is reportedly heard calling out both the caller’s and the mother’s names.
- The exact four-hour timing after death gives the story an ominous, unresolved quality.
- The reported voice says “I'm home,” which is familiar rather than threatening.
- No physical harm, malevolence, or attack is described.
- The story ends with the host offering a relatively gentle interpretation.
- The story may be meant as comforting or as eerie. The transcript does not settle the emotional frame beyond the caller’s grief.
- 3:22
- 3:27
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is an entertainment judgment about the story’s content, not about whether the events happened.
This is a familiar visitation story with a few specific details, especially the exact four-hour timing and the matching report by the mother. It is not wholly new, but it has enough distinctive framing to sit slightly above stock.
Evidence for and against
- The reported exact four-hour interval between death and the sounds is a distinctive timing detail.
- The headache and sick feeling at the time of the shooting add an unusual pairing with the later visit.
- The phrase [quote withheld] names both the mother and the caller in the reported call.
- The core motif, a deceased relative heard coming home, is a familiar ghost-story frame.
- Door sounds and a voice calling out are common haunting elements.
- Originality is based only on this part of the broadcast and is labeled provisional without comparison with the rest of the archive.
- 3:15
- 3:27
What the model inferred (not said on air): Originality is provisional here. No comparison with the rest of the archive is available in this single-story transcript.
Scoring confidence 0.82 · analysis confidence 0.84 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story; Claimed secondhand backing from the caller’s mother, who does not speak on air; No physical, documentary, photographic, or recording evidence 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.
- Grief and expectation, or hearing voices in random noise, may have led the caller, and separately their mother, to take ordinary house sounds for the brother’s arrival. · The caller says they were crying in bed and at first thought the voice was “wishful thinking,” which suggests grief and expectation could have shaped how the sound was interpreted.
- A draft, the house settling, or another person moving through the kitchen could have caused the door to open and slam. The voice was then inferred from the context. · The report centers on a kitchen door opening and slamming, a sound that can have ordinary mechanical or draft causes.
- Shared anticipation of the brother’s planned return may have made both the caller and their mother especially likely to notice door sounds and take them for his arrival. · The caller says their brother had promised to come get them and that they wanted to be with him when he packed.
What stands out
The story pairs a premonition-like physical sensation at the time of the brother’s shooting with sounds reported at an exact four-hour interval after his death. The mother is said to report the same door and voice at the same time, though she does not speak on air.
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