A promised sign and a floral clock that fell at a neighbor’s wake
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld] tells Art Bell about events the caller places in 1955, when the caller was 18. After their father’s wake, the caller says, the neighbor [name withheld] told them he would be next and made them promise to attend his wake. He promised them a sign so he would know they had come. The caller says [name withheld] died two months later, and that at his wake a spray of yellow flowers arranged as a clock showed the time of his death. As the caller went to kneel at the casket, the spray fell from the wall onto the casket and at their feet. The caller and their sister, the caller says, took it as the promised sign, and the caller tells Art they do not believe in coincidences.
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 2004.mp3”, starting at 2:05:32). 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], tells Art Bell that in 1955, when the caller was 18, their father died at the age of 50 and his wake was held at the family house for three days. About two weeks later, the caller says, the caller and their sister were walking down the street in their Italian neighborhood when an older neighbor, [name withheld], called the caller over by their nickname. [name withheld] explained that his grown son had refused to attend the father’s wake, and asked whether the caller was angry with him. The caller told [name withheld] the caller had been too distraught to notice who came. The caller reports that [name withheld] then said he would be next and made the caller promise to come to his wake, with his wife trying to hush him. As the caller left, [name withheld] promised to give the caller a sign so he would know the caller was there. The caller says [name withheld] died two months later. The caller and their sister went to the house wake and waited to approach the casket. The caller says they noticed a spray of yellow flowers worked into a clock giving the time of [name withheld]’s death, 10:20, which the caller told their sister was the time their father had died. As the caller went to kneel, the caller says, the caller felt something strange was about to happen, and the spray fell off the wall and hit the casket and their feet. The undertaker, said to be delivering chairs, ran over, asked if they were hurt, and remarked that it had never happened before. Leaving, the caller’s sister reminded the caller of [name withheld]’s promise. [name withheld] tells Art the caller does not believe in coincidences and thinks [name withheld] was determined to let the caller know.
Reported events, in order
- 0:07
The caller states that in 1955, when the caller was 18, their father died at age 50.
- 0:14
The caller says their father’s wake was held at the family house for three days, with people coming and going.
- 0:28
About two weeks later the caller and their sister were walking down the street when the neighbor [name withheld] called the caller over.
- 0:56
[name withheld] told the caller his son had refused to attend the father’s wake, and asked whether the caller was angry with him.
- 1:16
[name withheld] said he would be next and asked the caller to promise to come to his wake. His wife tried to stop him.
- 1:32
As the caller left, [name withheld] promised to give the caller a sign so he would know the caller was there.
- 1:40
The caller reports that [name withheld] died two months later, and that the caller and their sister attended his wake in the house.
- 1:57
The caller noticed a spray of yellow flowers worked into a clock showing the time of [name withheld]’s death, 10:20, the time the caller says their father died.
- 2:20
As the caller went to kneel at the casket the caller felt something strange was about to happen, and the flower spray with the clock fell off the wall, hitting the casket and their feet.
- 2:36
The undertaker, said to be delivering chairs, ran over to ask whether they were hurt and said it had never happened before.
- 2:50
On leaving, the caller’s sister reminded the caller of [name withheld]’s promise of a sign.
- 3:02
The caller states they do not believe in coincidences and concludes [name withheld] was letting the caller know he had seen them.
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).
- host statement· 0:00
The host introduces the caller as phoning from [quote withheld] and gives their name as [name withheld].
- observation· 0:07
The caller says they were 18 in 1955 and that their father died that year at age 50.
- observation· 1:16
The caller reports that the neighbor [name withheld] told them, two weeks after their father’s wake, that he would be next and asked them to promise to attend his wake.
- observation· 1:32
The caller reports that [name withheld] promised to give them a sign at his wake so that he would know they had come.
- observation· 1:40
The caller reports that [name withheld] died two months after that conversation.
- observation· 1:57
The caller reports seeing a spray of yellow flowers arranged as a clock showing the time of [name withheld]’s death.
- observation· 2:11
The caller says the time on the floral clock, 10:20, was the same time their father had died.
- observation· 2:20
The caller reports that as they went to kneel at the casket they sensed something was about to happen, and that the flower spray with the clock then fell off the wall and struck the casket and their feet.
- hearsay· 2:43
The caller reports the undertaker saying that the spray falling had never happened before.
- hearsay· 2:56
The caller reports that on leaving, their sister reminded them of [name withheld]’s promised sign.
- interpretation· 3:02
The caller states they do not believe in coincidences and treats the falling spray as the promised sign.
- interpretation· 3:46
The caller concludes that [name withheld] deliberately let them know he was present.
- host statement· 3:52
The host asserts that the reported material is contrary to what most people believe about the nature of death.
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 detailed, consistent first-person story, scored down for the very long time since the events and for an ordinary physical explanation that fits the central event easily.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story: the caller says they were present and were the person [name withheld] spoke to.
- Concrete specifics: the year (1955), the caller’s age (18), and the father’s age (50); a two-week and a two-month gap; the time 10:20; and yellow flowers.
- A coherent sequence with no apparent self-contradiction in this part of the broadcast, and the caller’s answers fit the host’s questions.
- The caller separates what they sensed from what they concluded: [quote withheld] and “I think that.”
- Little can be checked: no town, no surname, no date beyond the year, and no obituary or record is mentioned.
- The central physical event has an easy ordinary reading: floral sprays mounted in a crowded room can fall, and the undertaker was said to be moving chairs nearby.
- The story is a recollection of 1955 given in 2004, roughly fifty years later, so the details rest on memory rather than notes made at the time.
- Only a first name ([name withheld]) and no location is given for the events.
- The transcript of the time (“10 20”) is broken across words, and the spelling of the nickname varies (“Cabrush”/“Kedrush”).
- 0:07
- 2:20
- 2:36
What the model inferred (not said on air): My weighting of the fifty-year gap and of the toppling-flower explanation is a judgment, not transcript content. The transcript says nothing about the caller’s memory or about how the spray was attached.
This is the caller’s word plus a claimed witness who does not speak and a few checkable specifics that were never checked, placing it in the range of 11 to 25.
Evidence for and against
- A claimed second witness is said to have been present both at the promise and at the fall.
- Some potentially checkable specifics are given: the year 1955, a first name ([name withheld]), a described floral arrangement, and a stated time (10:20).
- A third party, the undertaker, is quoted as remarking that it had never happened before.
- No photograph, florist’s record, undertaker’s statement, obituary, or other document is produced or examined.
- The claimed second witness, the sister, does not speak on air, so the sister’s story rests on the caller’s word alone.
- No surname, town, funeral home, or date is given, so even the limited specifics cannot be followed up as stated.
- The sister’s words reach the listener only through the caller.
- 2:56
- 2:43
What the model inferred (not said on air): Whether a 1955 wake, a florist’s clock arrangement, or an undertaker’s remark could still be documented is my reasoning. The transcript offers no route to such a check.
Mildly eerie rather than frightening. The images are a funeral, a clock of flowers, and a sudden fall, but the caller reads the encounter as a friendly sign.
Evidence for and against
- The setting is a house wake with a casket and a spray of flowers crashing down beside the caller.
- The caller says they had a sense of something about to happen just before the spray fell.
- The floral clock is said to show the exact hour of the dead man’s death.
- The tone is affectionate: an older neighbor asking a favor and promising a sign.
- The story ends with the caller’s settled conviction rather than with a continuing threat.
- No description of the room, the light, or the other mourners’ reactions is given, so the mood is largely unspecified.
- 2:31
- 2:11
What the model inferred (not said on air): Calling it mildly eerie is my reaction to the content, not something stated in the transcript.
A familiar setup carrying one or two distinctive details (a clock of flowers, a promise made in advance, the matching times of death), giving a mid-range provisional originality score.
Evidence for and against
- The promise is made two months in advance, in a street conversation, and is tied to the caller’s attendance.
- The distinctive detail is the floral arrangement worked into a clock showing the hour of death, and the reported match with the time their father died.
- The sign arrives as an object physically striking the casket rather than as a sighting or a sound.
- The basic setup, a sign from a dead person delivered at their own funeral, is a familiar ghost-story structure.
- A large floral spray in a funeral home is a conventional prop of such stories.
- The provisional score is not yet calibrated against the archive. The comparison with the rest of the archive is labeled provisional.
- 1:57
- 1:32
What the model inferred (not said on air): The provisional model score reflects my reading of the motifs. The figure compared with the rest of the archive depends on the archive and is calculated elsewhere.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.75 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: [name withheld]’s firsthand story (a caller in their late sixties recalling events of 1955).; A claimed second witness: the caller’s sister, described as present at the wake and at the fall of the spray, but she does not speak on air.; The undertaker, quoted secondhand as saying the spray falling had never happened before, but does not speak on air.; No photograph, florist record, undertaker’s account, obituary, or other documentation is offered or examined.. The originality score blends the model's score (57) 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.
- The spray fell for an ordinary physical reason, such as an unstable or disturbed floral stand in a crowded room, and the timing was a coincidence. · The caller says the undertaker [quote withheld] and that the undertaker would have to put the spray back up. A floral spray on a stand is a physical object that can topple if it is unbalanced or knocked or disturbed by people moving around it.
- The match between the floral clock’s time and the caller’s father’s time of death is a coincidence between two remembered clock times. · The clock in the floral arrangement was made to show the time of [name withheld]’s death, and the caller reports it read 10:20, the same time the caller says their father died. The matching figure rests on the caller’s memory of an event from 1955.
What stands out
The distinguishing element is a sign arranged in advance. The neighbor is said to have promised, two months before his death, to signal that he knew the caller was at his own wake. The sign was a floral arrangement shaped like a clock, which then fell as the caller reached the casket. The caller also reports that the hour on the floral clock (10:20) matched the hour of their father’s death.
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