Elderly woman figure reported by eight people in a Cape Cod summer house
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], listening in Providence, Rhode Island, retells a story they say comes from their parents. On a vacation in the early 1940s, they and three other couples stayed at a Cape Cod summer house that had been closed for years. The caller says that during the night all eight of them sensed, and then saw, an elderly woman in a house coat who walked through a wall. The caller ends by stressing that all eight people saw her. The host thanks them and takes the next call.
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 1:28:37). 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 says they are listening in Providence, Rhode Island, on WPRO, tells the host that the story comes from a vacation the caller’s parents took soon after they married. The caller says that in the early 1940s, shortly after the caller’s mother and father married, the father’s boss offered them the boss’s Cape Cod summer house. The boss warned that it had been closed up for years and would need shutters opened and sweeping out. According to the caller, the mother and father went with three other couples, eight people in all. They opened the place up, swept it out, and slept in sleeping bags in what the caller calls the living room. During the night, the caller says, they sensed something walking around the room and brushing against the sleeping bags. All of them woke to see a very elderly woman in a house coat, with long gray hair and a white cardigan sweater over the house coat, standing in the middle of the room. The caller reports that what surprised the group was her “opaque” appearance. The host says she was almost see-through, and the caller agrees she was [quote withheld] The caller says the father asked her who she was and whether they could help. She turned, looked down at them, walked through the wall, and was never seen again. The caller ends by stressing that all eight people saw her, and the host repeats “Eight witnesses” before thanking the caller and moving on.
Reported events, in order
- 0:27
The caller’s mother and father, newly married in the early 1940s, plan a vacation.
- 0:35
The father’s boss offers the use of the boss’s Cape Cod summer house, which had been closed up for years.
- 0:48
The parents and three other couples, eight people in all, open up the house and sleep in sleeping bags in the living room.
- 1:13
During the night they reportedly sense something walking around the room, brushing against the sleeping bags. All eight wake.
- 1:13
All eight reportedly see a very elderly woman in a house coat standing in the middle of the room.
- 1:27
She is described as having long gray hair and a white cardigan sweater over the house coat.
- 1:36
The caller says the witnesses were struck by her opaque appearance.
- 1:48
The father asks who she is and whether they can help.
- 1:56
The woman turns, looks down at them, and walks through the wall. She is reportedly never seen again.
- 2:07
The caller stresses that all eight people saw it. The host repeats “Eight witnesses.”
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).
- interpretation· 0:14
The caller says the story involved at most minimal physical contact with the figure.
- hearsay· 0:27
In the early 1940s the caller’s mother and father had just married and the father was going on vacation, and the father’s boss offered the use of a Cape Cod summer house that had been closed up for years.
- hearsay· 0:48
The caller’s parents and three other couples, eight people in all, stayed there.
- hearsay· 1:13
During the night they sensed something walking around the room, brushing against their sleeping bags.
- hearsay· 1:13
All eight woke to see a very elderly lady in a house coat standing in the middle of the room.
- hearsay· 1:27
The figure was described as having long gray hair and a white cardigan sweater over the house coat.
- hearsay· 1:36
The caller says what struck the witnesses was that the figure looked opaque.
- hearsay· 1:48
The caller’s father spoke to the figure, asking who she was and whether they could help.
- hearsay· 1:56
The woman turned, looked down at them, walked through the wall, and was never seen again.
- hearsay· 2:07
The caller stresses that all eight people present saw the figure.
- host statement· 2:11
The host restates the story as a sighting by eight witnesses.
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 coherent, reasonably specific, but entirely secondhand story, told by a caller who was not present. An ordinary explanation (a dark, unfamiliar room, a group of eight, the first night) fits moderately well, which holds the score near the middle.
Evidence for and against
- A concrete setting and order of events: the early 1940s, Cape Cod, a house closed up for years, eight people, and sleeping bags in the living room.
- A detailed description of the figure’s appearance and clothing.
- The caller describes the reported exchange, with the father speaking to the figure, which gives the story a shape that could be checked.
- The caller was not present. The story is secondhand from the caller’s father, and no participant is named or speaks.
- The “eight witnesses” are all reported through one narrator. The claim is asserted rather than shown.
- The caller does not address the chance of a shared misreading in a dark, unfamiliar room on the first night, among eight tired people.
- It is not stated whether the caller is recounting a family story they heard directly or one they heard secondhand, or how many times it has been retold.
- Some lines are fragmented by the automatic transcript, so small details may be lost.
- 0:27
- 1:13
- 1:56
What the model inferred (not said on air): Reasoning by part: closeness to events is secondhand from a close relative (about 10), specific detail is moderate (about 12), consistency is good (about 14), other explanations are partly available (about 8), and calibration is modest (about 9). The cap of 60 for secondhand stories applies but is not reached.
The only support is the caller’s word plus a claimed group of eight witnesses. No names, records, or objects are supplied, so this sits in the low band for claimed but unchecked witnesses.
Evidence for and against
- Specifics that could be checked are given only roughly: the early 1940s, Cape Cod, a boss’s summer house, eight people.
- Other witnesses are claimed in numbers: [quote withheld]
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is offered or examined.
- The claimed witnesses do not speak on air and are not named.
- No outside check was performed.
- The host’s repetition of “eight witnesses” is not additional evidence.
- 2:07
- 2:11
What the model inferred (not said on air): Claimed witnesses count as a claim, not as backing from someone else, since none speaks on air and nothing is examined.
A classic night-time ghost in a sleeping room, with the intrusive detail of something brushing past the sleepers. But there is no menace, harm, or escalation, which places it in the mildly eerie range.
Evidence for and against
- The encounter happens at night, with people sleeping on the floor in an unfamiliar house.
- A figure reportedly brushes against the sleeping bags before being seen standing in the middle of the room.
- The figure silently walks through a wall and is never seen again, leaving the episode unresolved.
- No threat, harm, or hostility is reported. The caller says there was at most minimal physical contact.
- The episode is a single, brief encounter that ends without escalation.
- The caller’s own framing (“minimal physical confrontation”) may understate details the caller does not relate.
- 1:13
- 1:32
What the model inferred (not said on air): Judged only for its effect on a listener. The story is short and not violent, so I keep it below the midpoint despite the setting near where people sleep.
A familiar ghost-story frame with a couple of specific beats: the brushing past the sleeping bags, and the direct question followed by the walk through the wall. The automatic originality value reflects judgment of the content only. The published figure is a provisional value compared with the rest of the archive.
Evidence for and against
- The detail that the presence was first sensed brushing against the sleepers’ sleeping bags, before anyone saw it, is fairly distinctive.
- The witnesses were a group of eight adults on a holiday in a house that had been closed for years, not a family living there.
- The father speaking to the figure directly ([quote withheld]) is a small beat specific to this story.
- The core elements are stock: an elderly female ghost in old-fashioned clothing, seen at night in an old house, who vanishes by passing through a wall.
- A night-time sighting by several witnesses in a house is a familiar frame.
- The originality term compared with the rest of the archive depends on how rare the motifs are there and is provisional for this pilot.
- 1:13
- 1:48
What the model inferred (not said on air): My automatic score of 38 reflects a familiar structure plus one or two distinctive details. The comparison with the rest of the archive cannot be computed here.
Scoring confidence 0.62 · analysis confidence 0.78 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: Secondhand story only: the caller retells an account they attribute to their parents.; Several witnesses are claimed (eight people), but none of them speaks on air. No documentation, photograph, or record is offered or examined.; No outside check performed.. The originality score blends the model's score (38) 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.
- Misperception or suggestion in an unlit, unfamiliar room on the first night, with one person’s reaction or half-seen shape being picked up by the others. · A group of eight people had just opened up and swept out a house that had been shut for years. They were sleeping on the floor of an unfamiliar room in sleeping bags on their first night there. A shared expectation of an “old summer house” could shape what a tired group reports having seen.
- A family anecdote told and retold over decades, with the number of witnesses fixed in the retelling. · The story is entirely secondhand and the caller was not present. All eight “witnesses” are described by a single narrator.
What stands out
The story is secondhand, told by a son about their parents’ group of eight. The reported sighting is preceded by something brushing against the sleepers’ sleeping bags, rather than the figure being seen first. The caller’s one interpretive note is that there was at most [quote withheld]
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