Erotic dreams and a doorway figure in a former SS barracks apartment
An unnamed first-time caller tells Art Bell that while working in Germany in 1980 they lived for a year in a one-bedroom apartment in an old barracks that they say had been used by the SS. They report recurring sensual dreams of a man in high boots and a white shirt. They say their girlfriend and their visiting mother each reported a similar dream or a sighting of the same man. The call ends with the caller saying they warned the apartment’s next tenant and could not stop the experiences.
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 1:58:23). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller says they were working in Germany in 1980 and lived there for a year, in a one-bedroom apartment in an old barracks on a US government military installation that they say had been used by the SS ([quote withheld]). The caller says they were single, and that immediately after moving in they began having [quote withheld] involving a man in high boots and a white pirate-style shirt, with a woman standing in the background, “practically every night.” The caller says they assumed they were simply lonely ([quote withheld]). The host tells the caller this is “actually quite common.”
About a month later, the caller says, their girlfriend [name withheld] moved in and got a job. [name withheld] reportedly woke the first night screaming because [name withheld] saw the man standing in the doorway. The caller says he tried to have sex with [name withheld] and [name withheld] wanted nothing to do with it. The caller’s mother then visited. The caller states they were 32 and their mother 56. On the mother’s first morning there, she remarked that she must be missing the caller’s father very much because of a dream she had had. The caller says they had not thought to warn their mother. The three of them then compared stories, and the man looked the same to all of them, with the woman apparently only standing and watching.
When they left, the caller says, they told the woman who took the apartment. The caller describes the building as creepy, with four levels below, strange things heard there, and a laundry room they did not want to use at night. Asked whether any of them had had such experiences before, they answer, [quote withheld]
Reported events, in order
- 0:04
The caller says they worked in Germany in 1980 for a year and had a one-bedroom apartment in an old barracks on a US government military installation that they say had been used by the SS.
- 0:35
They report beginning immediately to have [quote withheld] with a man in high boots and a white pirate-style shirt, with a woman in the background, nearly every night.
- 0:55
They say they first blamed the dreams on loneliness.
- 1:15
They report that about a month later their girlfriend moved in and, on the first night, woke screaming after seeing the man standing in the girlfriend’s doorway. They say he tried to have sex with the girlfriend.
- 1:39
They say their mother came to visit and, on the first morning, described a dream and remarked that she must be missing the caller’s father. The caller gives their age as 32 and the mother’s as 56.
- 2:12
They say the three of them compared stories and that the man looked the same to all of them, and that the woman in the background seemed only to stand and watch.
- 2:30
They say that when they left they told the woman who took over the apartment.
- 2:55
The caller describes the building as creepy, with four levels below, strange sounds, and a laundry room they avoided at night.
- 3:18
Asked whether any of those involved had had earlier experiences, they answer that none had.
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· 0:35
The caller reports recurring sexual dreams involving a man in high boots and a white shirt, with a woman standing in the background.
- observation· 0:44
The caller reports the man’s appearance in the dreams: high boots and a white pirate-style shirt, plus a woman in the background.
- hearsay· 1:15
The caller says their girlfriend woke screaming the first night and saw the man standing in the doorway.
- hearsay· 1:23
The caller says the man tried to have sex with their girlfriend, who rejected it.
- hearsay· 1:49
The caller says their visiting mother reported a dream the first morning there, which the mother linked to missing the caller’s father.
- interpretation· 2:12
The caller says all three of them compared stories and the man looked the same to each of them.
- observation· 3:01
The caller says the building was creepy, with four lower levels, strange sounds, and a laundry room avoided at night.
- interpretation· 2:50
The caller says they were unable to keep the presence away and told the next tenant about it.
- host statement· 3:12
The host asserts the location itself, rather than the people, was the cause.
- host statement· 1:03
The host tells the caller such experiences are common.
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 firsthand core story with concrete anchors (year, country, building type, ages, described clothing), consistent within itself and responsive to the host’s questions. But the score for ordinary explanations is low because dream-related and suggestion effects fit easily, and the claimed witnesses are reported rather than on air.
Evidence for and against
- Specific time, country, and setting: [quote withheld] [quote withheld]
- A concrete physical description that stays consistent: [quote withheld]
- The caller gives an ordinary self-explanation first: [quote withheld]
- The central experience is dream-based, and the caller says [quote withheld] which leaves unclear what kind of experience it was.
- The stories were pooled and compared after the fact: [quote withheld]
- The girlfriend’s doorway sighting happens on the first night in an unfamiliar place, a common setting for sleep-related imagery.
- Whether the girlfriend’s and mother’s experiences are relayed accurately cannot be judged from the transcript.
- The garbled phrase [quote withheld] leaves the installation unnamed and partly unintelligible.
- 0:04
- 0:19
- 2:12
What the model inferred (not said on air): Component estimate (my judgment from the transcript, not transcript content): closeness to the source 20 of 25, specificity 14 of 20, consistency 14 of 20, ordinary explanations 5 of 20, calibration 7 of 15, for 60. No cap applies. The story is presented as personal experience, not as fiction or a joke.
Only the caller’s word is on air, plus claimed witnesses who do not speak and a named girlfriend. No records, photograph, or recording are offered or examined. This places it in the [quote withheld] range.
Evidence for and against
- Some specifics could be checked in principle: the year 1980, Germany, a barracks used by the SS, and a named girlfriend, [name withheld].
- Stated ages for the caller (32) and their mother (56).
- No document, photograph, recording, or physical trace is claimed or produced.
- The second and third witnesses are reported by the caller and never speak on air.
- No outside check was performed.
- The place and the caller are unnamed, so nothing can be looked up.
- 1:15
- 2:12
- 2:30
What the model inferred (not said on air): The claimed witnesses are treated as claims only, per the scoring guide. The range of 11 to 25 is chosen for “other witnesses claimed” plus a few checkable specifics (year, country, age), none verified.
The story centers on an unwanted sexual presence intruding into bedrooms, including a first-night doorway sighting and an attempted sexual advance, which is genuinely unsettling. The ending is unresolved and the caller says they could not stop it. The delivery is conversational, though, and partly defused by the host’s comments.
Evidence for and against
- Intrusion into sleep and bedroom space: [quote withheld]
- A threat or intent: [quote withheld]
- Unresolved ending: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- The encounters are described as dreams rather than physical assault, and the caller’s own framing is mild at first.
- The host’s closing remarks make the theme seem normal.
- The extent of the girlfriend’s fear is only summarized as “screaming” and rejection.
- 1:15
- 1:23
- 3:01
What the model inferred (not said on air): Rated in the middle range: the content involves sexual intrusion and an unresolved ending, but there is no reported injury and the story is not built for escalating dread.
A familiar setup, a recurring presence attached to an old building and experienced in sleep, is combined with distinctive details: a sexual dream figure in high boots and a white shirt, and a second female figure who only stands and watches. The former SS barracks setting adds specificity.
Evidence for and against
- Distinctive recurring detail: [quote withheld]
- Distinctive appearance: [quote withheld]
- Setting stated as a former SS barracks.
- The core motifs (bedroom visitor, old building, recurring presence, multiple witnesses) are common in the archive’s genre.
- Themes shared with other stories in the archive cannot be assessed from this part of the broadcast alone. The published score is calculated separately.
- 0:50
- 0:25
What the model inferred (not said on air): The model’s originality value is 55 (familiar frame plus distinctive detail). The published originality score is calculated from how new the story is compared with the rest of the archive. With a small archive, it is provisional.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand spoken story about their own dreams.; The caller’s secondhand reports of the girlfriend’s and mother’s experiences (neither speaks on air).; No documents, photographs, recordings, or physical traces claimed or 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.
- Sleep-related imagery, such as an experience while falling asleep or waking up, or vivid dreaming, could account for the caller’s nightly dreams and for the girlfriend’s first-night sighting in the doorway. · The caller says the experiences came as dreams ([quote withheld]). They also say they [quote withheld] and the girlfriend’s report is of waking on the first night in an unfamiliar apartment.
- Expectation and later comparison of stories could have shaped what the three women reported, since the stories were pooled only afterward. · The caller says [quote withheld] and that they had not warned their mother beforehand ([quote withheld]).
- The mother’s reported dream may have had an ordinary emotional source, which the mother herself suggested. · The mother reportedly said, [quote withheld]
What stands out
The story combines a recurring erotic dream figure with claimed agreement among three sleepers in the same apartment, plus an unexplained female figure who, as described, only stands and watches. The setting is specific and unusual: an apartment the caller places in a former SS barracks on a US government installation.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.