A purple mass on a rainy road and a police car that vanished
A caller who identifies themselves as [name withheld], calling from Mexico, tells Art Bell how a purple mass on a rain-slicked hill road appeared to shoot at their car and pass through it. A moment later, the police car and officer they had stopped near were gone when they looked again. They say the encounter was [quote withheld] The host then remarks generally that many law enforcement officers report seeing things.
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 1:49:01). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
A caller says, [quote withheld] and tells Art Bell they first heard Ghost to Ghost “last year” and sent the show something (transcribed as “a fastball”) saying they would never listen again. They are calling now to keep their promise to listen today. They say they were driving to a gym that is open 24 hours, on a day that had started to drizzle after a fire in the foothills, along a series of hills at roughly [quote withheld] in the rain.
Coming down one hill, they report seeing “this purple substance” at the bottom that [quote withheld] and then “shot towards me.” When Art asks, [quote withheld] they answer yes. They say they stomped on the brakes, forgot it was raining, and the brakes locked. They pumped them and pulled over to the right, ending up [quote withheld] and they were in shock.
They say a police officer walked out of the car, asked if they were okay, and then asked [quote withheld] [name withheld] says they answered no, because they thought the officer would [quote withheld] or arrest them for being under the influence. They say the officer heard the radio on and said [quote withheld] then told them to be careful and drive slowly, walked away, and made a U-turn. About two seconds later, [name withheld] says, they looked up, checked their rearview mirror, got out of the car, and looked up the hill, and there was “no police car.” They say that was [quote withheld] Art Bell then comments that law enforcement personnel work graveyard shifts, that [quote withheld] and that they generally will not talk about it until retired.
Reported events, in order
- 0:17
[name withheld] says they heard Ghost to Ghost for the first time “last year” and contacted the show to say they would never listen again. They say they will listen today.
- 0:28
[name withheld] describes driving to a 24-hour gym on a drizzly day after a fire in the foothills, up and down a series of hills at 45 to 50 mph in the rain.
- 1:02
Coming down a hill, [name withheld] reports seeing a purple substance at the bottom of the hill that began to come forward. [name withheld] agrees with Art’s word “blob.”
- 1:12
The substance shoots toward the caller. They brake hard and report it passing through them and over their head.
- 1:23
The brakes lock. [name withheld] pumps them, pulls to the right, and stops two or three feet from a police car.
- 1:37
A police officer walks out, asks if the caller is okay, and asks [quote withheld] [name withheld] says they answered no for fear of the consequences.
- 1:56
The officer notices the radio playing Ghost to Ghost, says [quote withheld] and tells the caller to be careful and drive slowly.
- 2:04
The officer walks away and makes a U-turn. [name withheld] says they were in shock because it was [quote withheld]
- 2:27
Seconds later the caller looks in the rearview mirror, gets out of the car, and looks up the hill: no police car.
- 2:33
Art Bell states that law enforcement officers on graveyard shifts see things and generally will not talk about it until retired.
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· 1:02
The caller saw a purple substance or mass on the road ahead that moved toward the caller and passed through and over them in their car.
- observation· 1:23
The caller saw a police car and an officer at the roadside after their brakes locked.
- hearsay· 1:46
The police officer is reported to have asked whether [name withheld] had seen the same thing, implying the officer saw it too.
- interpretation· 2:04
The caller concludes the episode was a ghost sighting.
- observation· 2:30
The caller reports that the police car was gone when they looked up the hill moments later.
- host statement· 2:56
The host asserts that a large share of law enforcement officers have seen things and keep quiet about it until retirement.
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 firsthand story with a coherent sequence and some concrete detail (driving speed, distances, timing). It is let down by vagueness about where it happened and by the caller not considering ordinary explanations for either element. Components: closeness to the source 20, specificity 11, consistency 13, ordinary explanations 8, calibration 8 (sum 60).
Evidence for and against
- A firsthand, single continuous story with an ordered sequence.
- Concrete quantities are given: [quote withheld] [quote withheld] [quote withheld]
- The caller’s answers to the host’s questions stay within the story (for example, agreeing the mass was a “blob”).
- No road, town, date, or jurisdiction is given, and the location answer “New Mexicali” is unclear.
- The caller does not consider ordinary readings of a patrol car driving off in the rain, or of material or optical effects on a wet road.
- The claimed second witness is the officer, who vanished with the car and does not appear on air.
- Several lines are garbled or split (for example, [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]), so the lead-in to the story is only partly legible.
- The labels showing who is speaking shift within the caller’s own turn.
- 0:48
- 1:23
- 2:19
What the model inferred (not said on air): The weights of the components are my editorial judgment about the quality of the telling. The transcript contains no backing from anyone else and no outside information.
The caller’s word alone. The story rests entirely on the caller’s own recollection, with no object, recording, document, or second witness on air. The officer’s reported question implies a second observer, but that officer is part of the strange event and is not present to confirm.
Evidence for and against
- A place is given at all (“Mexico,” “New Mexicali”), even if imprecise.
- No photograph, video, recording, or written record is mentioned.
- No named witness backs it up, and no other caller supports the story.
- The one implied second observer, the officer, is reported to have vanished with the car.
- It is not clear whether the officer’s question [quote withheld] refers to the purple mass, to the near collision, or to something else.
- 1:46
- 2:30
What the model inferred (not said on air): Scored in the range of 0 to 10 because nothing here can be checked independently. The range of 11 to 25 would require at least one checkable specific, such as a named road or date.
An approaching colored mass that passes through the car, followed by an officer and patrol car that are simply not there moments later, makes a genuinely unsettling but not threatening sequence. The officer’s manner is reported as friendly and the encounter ends without harm, which keeps it below the frightening range.
Evidence for and against
- [quote withheld] and [quote withheld] (an intrusion into the caller’s own vehicle).
- “no police car”: an ordinary roadside scene turns out to be empty.
- The encounter is left unexplained and unresolved.
- The officer asks if the caller is okay and tells them to drive carefully. This is reported as ordinary and helpful.
- No threat, injury, physical harm, follow-up activity, or escalation is described.
- The caller’s emotional reactions are described only as “in shock.” The caller’s delivery is not used in this score.
- 1:18
- 2:27
What the model inferred (not said on air): The position within the range of 30 to 50 is my judgment, based on the intrusion into a moving car plus an unresolved disappearance, offset by the friendly police encounter.
A familiar ghost encounter (a driver on the road) is given a distinctive combination: a colored mass that moves against the car and passes through it, and a patrol officer who speaks, then vanishes with the officer’s vehicle. The officer apparently recognizing the radio program is an unusual detail.
Evidence for and against
- A colored mass traveling toward and through the vehicle rather than a stationary figure.
- A police car and officer vanishing from a road within seconds.
- [quote withheld]: the officer appears aware of the broadcast.
- Roadside ghosts, phantom vehicles, and vanishing-cop stories are recurring motifs in the genre.
- The caller’s own framing ([quote withheld]) is conventional.
- How new the story is compared with the rest of the archive is provisional. This is a model estimate, not a calculation against the archive.
- 1:12
- 1:57
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score is my estimate from the content (the model’s originality value), given as the published value here without a comparison with the rest of the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.65 · analysis confidence 0.70 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story (live call, about 3 minutes).; No photograph, recording, document, or named witness who backs it up is mentioned.. The originality score blends the model's score (68) 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 police car was an ordinary patrol vehicle. The officer made a U-turn, drove on up the hill or around a curve in poor visibility, and was simply out of sight when the caller looked again. · The caller says the officer “makes a u-turn,” that it was raining and dark enough that they were driving with lights, and that they only looked “two seconds later” before getting out of the car.
- The “purple substance” was a physical or optical effect of a wet road, such as standing water, spray thrown up by the caller’s own or another vehicle, a spill, or a light reflection bent by rain on the windshield, rather than an object with its own motion. · The caller says [quote withheld] and “it was raining” and that they were traveling downhill at speed. They then describe the substance at the bottom of the hill coming toward them.
- The sequence could reflect divided attention and glare while driving in rain: a hard braking incident, a near miss with a stopped vehicle, and then a misreading of the roadside. · The caller describes stomping on the brakes, the brakes locking, pumping them, and pulling over, and says they were “just in shock” afterward.
What stands out
The story combines a colored mass that moves against the car and passes through it with a vanishing patrol car whose officer appears to have been listening to the very program the caller was hearing. The officer’s question, [quote withheld] makes the strange event, as [name withheld] tells it, a briefly shared one.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.