Pounding on doors and a cold sensation at a friend’s new Houston house
[quote withheld] tells Art Bell about a night, several years earlier, that the caller spent at a friend’s newly bought house in an exclusive part of Houston while their husbands were away hunting. The caller reports waking to the caller’s daughter and the friend’s daughter screaming. A cold sensation spread through the caller’s body while they were briefly unable to move. Then came loud pounding that moved between the doors and patio doors with nobody visible. The police the caller called reportedly heard the pounding and found no footprints in the rain. The story ends with the friend’s account that a previous owner had hanged herself in the kitchen and that her husband shot himself in the backyard. The caller says they think this explains the pounding.
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 47:36). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who gives their name as [name withheld] and their location as Houston, says the events happened to them several years earlier. Their husbands had gone hunting for a weekend, and her friend had just bought a new house in what she calls a plush, exclusive part of Houston. The caller says they wanted to spend the night to see the house. The friend warned the caller they might not want to stay because weird things had been happening there, and the caller replied that nothing scared them. It was raining heavily. After supper they went to bed. The caller reports waking suddenly because both the caller’s daughter and the friend’s daughter were screaming in a small attached nursery. Getting out of bed, the caller felt a cold feeling begin on their right side and pass through their body in about ten seconds. It was the coldest they had ever been, and they say they were “just frozen” and could do nothing but feel it. When it left, the caller got up and the girls had gone quiet. The caller then reports pounding at the door that moved to the garage door. Going toward the kitchen, they say, the pounding stopped there and shifted to the big patio doors. It was frantic enough that the glass seemed about to break, with nobody visible outside. Frightened, the caller called 911. Police arrived quickly and, with the friend by then hysterical, checked the doors and walked the perimeter. The caller says there were no footprints in the heavy rain. The caller says the officers themselves heard pounding on the garage door but could not wedge that door open because the garage was packed with boxes. The officers remembered having been to the house before without ever finding anyone. The friend told them they could leave, saying they never hear it more than once a night. The friend then explained that the original owner had hanged herself in the kitchen. Her husband, who traveled or hunted a great deal, came home that night, found the house bolted from inside, saw her through the patio doors, and shot himself in the backyard. The caller says that is what they think the pounding was: his ghost trying to get in to help her.
Reported events, in order
- 0:22
The caller, [quote withheld] introduces the story as something that happened to them several years earlier.
- 0:29
Both husbands go away hunting for a weekend. The friend had just bought a brand-new house in a plush, exclusive part of Houston.
- 1:03
The caller arranges to spend the night at the friend’s house. The friend warns the caller that weird things had been happening there.
- 1:11
The caller says nothing scares them and goes anyway.
- 1:20
It rains heavily. They eat supper, it gets dark, and they go to bed.
- 1:38
The caller wakes suddenly because both daughters are screaming loudly in an attached nursery.
- 1:49
Getting out of bed, the caller feels a cold sensation start on their right side and spread through their body over about ten seconds. The caller is briefly unable to move.
- 2:28
The coldness leaves. The caller gets up and the girls have gone quiet.
- 2:53
Pounding is heard at the door and reportedly moves around to the garage door.
- 3:10
The caller heads to the kitchen and garage door. The pounding stops there and shifts to the patio doors overlooking the backyard, frantic enough that the glass seemed about to break. No one is visible.
- 3:40
Frightened, the caller calls 911. Police arrive quickly. The friend is by then hysterical, insisting no one is there.
- 4:09
Police check the doors and walk the perimeter. Because of the heavy rain, there are reportedly no footprints outside.
- 4:19
The officers reportedly hear the pounding on the garage door to the kitchen but cannot wedge the garage door open because the garage is packed with unpacked boxes.
- 4:46
They check the patio door and find nobody.
- 4:56
The officers reportedly recall having been called to the house before and never finding anyone.
- 5:11
The friend tells the police they can leave, saying they never hear it more than once a night.
- 5:16
The friend explains that the original owner had hanged herself in the kitchen.
- 5:44
The friend adds that the husband, often away hunting, came home that night, found the house bolted from inside, went around to the patio doors, saw her hanging, and shot himself in the backyard.
- 6:10
The caller concludes that the pounding was, in their view, the husband’s ghost trying to get in to help her.
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· 1:49
While getting out of bed, the caller felt a cold sensation begin on their right side and move through their body over about ten seconds.
- observation· 2:08
The caller describes it as the coldest they have ever been.
- observation· 2:18
The caller reports being unable to do anything but feel the coldness. They were frozen.
- observation· 2:53
The pounding the caller heard next to the front door reportedly moved to the garage door.
- observation· 3:26
The caller reports frantic pounding on the patio doors, as if the glass would break.
- observation· 3:32
When the caller looked at the patio doors, they report, no one was there.
- hearsay· 4:16
Because of heavy rain, police reportedly found no footprints outside.
- hearsay· 4:19
The caller says the responding officers themselves heard pounding on the garage door to the kitchen.
- observation· 4:33
The garage door reportedly could not be wedged open because the garage was packed with boxes.
- hearsay· 4:56
The police reportedly recalled having been called to the house before and never finding anyone.
- hearsay· 5:11
The friend reportedly said the pounding is heard no more than once a night.
- hearsay· 5:16
The caller reports that the original owner of the house had hanged herself in the kitchen.
- hearsay· 6:10
The caller reports the woman’s husband shot himself in the backyard that same night.
- interpretation· 6:10
The caller’s interpretation: the pounding was the husband’s ghost trying to get in to help her.
- host statement· 6:37
Art Bell asserts that suicides are more likely to remain.
- host statement· 6:59
Art Bell speculates that the person may be forced to repeat the act for eternity.
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 clear, detailed, firsthand story with a coherent sequence and an openly hedged conclusion. No one else backs it up, and one part (the cold, frozen feeling) fits an ordinary sleep-related reading. So it sits in the [quote withheld] range.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand witness to the main events: [quote withheld]
- Concrete details of setting and layout: a brand-new house in [quote withheld] a long contemporary ranch-style house with kitchen and attached garage.
- Concrete details of sequence: ten seconds for the cold to pass through, pounding moving from door to door, a garage packed with boxes.
- The caller marks their conclusion as inference rather than something they perceived: [quote withheld]
- The core event is not backed up. No officer or the friend speaks on air, and no recording or document is presented.
- The cold and “frozen” sensation has an easy sleep-related reading, given the caller was jolted awake by screaming children.
- The previous owners’ deaths are related only as what “it seems” happened, with no named source or verification.
- Several lines carry garbled or untranscribed speech, and the labels showing who is speaking are inconsistent, so some attributions are uncertain.
- It is not stated how long before 2003 the events happened.
- 0:22
- 1:49
- 6:10
What the model inferred (not said on air): The weights for the parts are my own judgment, not transcript statements. I credit specificity from the house layout and sequence details, and I deduct on alternative explanations for the cold, frozen episode.
This is essentially the caller’s word plus claimed but unverified witnesses and a general location. No evidence is examined on air and no outside check was done, so it falls in the low range.
Evidence for and against
- The caller names a city (“Houston”) and a general setting, which could in principle be checked.
- Claimed independent witnesses: the friend and the responding police officers, who reportedly heard the pounding.
- No physical evidence, photograph, recording, or document is offered.
- No second witness speaks on air. The police and the friend are reported only through the caller.
- No checkable details such as an address, a date, or officers’ names are given.
- It is not clear whether the officers’ reported experience is being relayed by the friend or the caller.
- 0:31
- 4:19
What the model inferred (not said on air): I apply the scoring ranges literally. The [quote withheld] element is a claimed witness, not backing from someone else.
Something enters a sleeping household, there is a frightening cold sensation, there is violent pounding on glass with no visible source, and the backstory is an unresolved double suicide. Together these make for a genuinely unsettling story, without reaching lasting threat or harm.
Evidence for and against
- Children screaming in an attached nursery at night.
- A spreading cold and a brief inability to move.
- Frantic pounding on glass [quote withheld] with nobody visible.
- Backstory of a hanging in the kitchen and a suicide in the backyard.
- The friend treats the event as routine and expected: “it's about time” and “once a night.”
- The story contains no physical harm to the caller or the children beyond fright, and the ending explains rather than menaces.
- Passages of untranscribed speech may contain further detail that would change the tone.
- 1:40
- 3:26
What the model inferred (not said on air): The creepiness score is my own judgment about the story as heard, not a statement about whether anything happened.
A familiar haunted-house frame with a distinctive explanation (the husband’s ghost hammering to get in to the wife who hanged herself), which warrants a mid-range provisional model score. The published originality is compared with the rest of the archive and is labeled provisional while the archive is small.
Evidence for and against
- The distinctive pairing of a hanging in the kitchen and the husband’s suicide in the backyard, with the pounding read as him trying to get in to help her.
- The friend’s matter-of-fact routine: the pounding is heard [quote withheld] and the police had been to the house before.
- A previous occupant’s suicide and unexplained knocking in a haunted house are stock ghost-story frames.
- The cold sensation and brief frozen feeling are familiar motifs.
- Originality compared with the rest of the archive cannot be meaningfully estimated from a single part of a broadcast.
- 6:10
- 5:11
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a provisional model score from content only. Comparison with the rest of the archive carries little weight in the pilot.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story about the cold sensation, the frozen feeling, and the pounding; Claimed secondhand story of the previous owners’ deaths, source not named; Claimed police visit, with police reportedly hearing the pounding and finding no footprints, asserted by the caller, with no officer speaking on air; No physical evidence, recording, photograph, or document presented or examined. The originality score blends the model's score (52) 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.
- Sleep-related events: a sudden awakening, with the described coldness and brief “frozen” feeling fitting sensations around waking rather than an outside cause. · The caller was jolted awake by children screaming and then reports a spreading cold and a brief inability to move, a sequence that can accompany abrupt waking.
- A person or animal outside the house, or storm noise or loose fittings against the doors. Against this, the caller reports heavy rain, no footprints, and police hearing the sound inside. · The knocking happened on doors and glass in a large contemporary house during a rainstorm.
- Expectation and shared anticipation within the household could shape how ambiguous noises were interpreted by those present. · The friend told the caller before the night that [quote withheld] and the friend expected the event (“it's about time”).
What stands out
The friend, who lives in the house, treats the event as routine. They expect it (“it's about time,” “once a night”) and say police had been to the house before without finding anyone. The caller’s own reading ties the knocking to a dying husband trying to reach the wife who hanged herself in the kitchen.
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