Figure on all fours between twin beds and ski poles strewn in a Billings basement
A caller who gives their first name as [name withheld], phoning from Vancouver, British Columbia, tells Art Bell a story they say happened to them in Billings, Montana. The caller reports that they and their older sister shared a basement bedroom and that the sister woke nightly with nightmares. One night, while turning on the light, the caller saw something scurry between their twin beds and out the door on all fours. Their sister then said a person was attacking her with a ski pole. The next morning, the caller says, all the family’s skis and poles were found strewn through the laundry room. The caller adds that they later learned their homes were built on an Indian burial ground.
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 1:31:30). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
A caller who gives their first name as [name withheld], phoning from Vancouver, British Columbia, tells Art Bell a story they say happened to them in Billings, Montana. The caller says that they and their sister [name withheld], a couple of years older, shared a bedroom in the basement of their house. Every night their sister would wake up with horrible nightmares. It became a habit for [name withheld] to roll over, turn on the light, and have their sister tell them what was happening. On one particular night, the caller says, their sister was screaming. As [name withheld] rolled over to turn the light on, the caller reports seeing something scurry between their twin beds and go out the door [quote withheld] When [name withheld] asked their sister what had happened, the sister said “the person” was attacking her with a ski pole. In the morning, [name withheld] says, as they walked through the family room to go up the stairs, they saw that all the skis and ski poles kept in the laundry room were strewn through the room. The household had seven members, and nobody had heard any sounds that night. The host thanks the caller for the story, and the caller then adds that they found out afterward that their homes had been built on an Indian burial ground. The host comments that it is apparently not good to build on a graveyard, and moves to the next caller. No second witness speaks on air.
Reported events, in order
- 0:25
The caller says the story happened to them in Billings, Montana.
- 0:28
The caller says they and their sister [name withheld] shared a basement bedroom and that [name withheld] woke with horrible nightmares every night, so the caller would roll over, turn on the light, and ask what was happening.
- 0:49
On one particular night their sister was screaming. As the caller rolled over to turn on the light, the caller reports seeing something scurry between their twin beds and out the door on all fours.
- 1:06
The caller says their sister told them a person was attacking her with a ski pole.
- 1:20
In the morning, the caller says, all the family’s skis and ski poles were found strewn through the laundry room. The household had seven members.
- 1:25
The caller says nobody heard any sounds at all that night.
- 1:35
After the host thanks the caller, the caller adds that they later found out their homes were built on an Indian burial ground.
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· 0:53
The caller says that, rolling over to turn on the light while their sister screamed, they saw something scurry between their twin beds and out the door [quote withheld]
- hearsay· 1:06
The caller reports that their sister said a person was attacking her with a ski pole.
- observation· 0:28
The caller says their older sister [name withheld] woke up with horrible nightmares every night in their basement bedroom.
- observation· 1:20
The caller says that in the morning all the family’s skis and ski poles were strewn through the laundry room.
- observation· 1:25
The caller says nobody heard any sounds that night.
- hearsay· 1:35
The caller says they later found out their homes were built on an Indian burial ground.
- host statement· 1:48
The host states it is apparently not good to build on a graveyard.
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.
Evidence for and against
Evidence for and against
Evidence for and against
Evidence for and against
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story (a brief on-air phone call).; A claimed second witness, the sister [name withheld], who does not speak on air.; No photographs, recordings, documents, or physical traces mentioned or examined.. The originality score blends the model's score (0) 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 sister’s experience may fit a sleep-related episode, such as a night terror or nightmare, which the caller heard as screaming. · The caller says their sister woke with horrible nightmares nearly every night, and that on this night the sister was screaming before the caller saw anything.
- The brief glimpse of a low, fast-moving shape could be a misperception of a household animal or object in the dark while waking. · The caller saw the moving shape only as they [quote withheld] during a night waking in a dark basement room.
- A household member could have disturbed the ski equipment without anyone recalling or hearing it. · The caller notes that seven people lived in the house and that [quote withheld] yet all the skis and poles were found strewn in the laundry room.
What stands out
What stands out is the caller’s report that their sister described being attacked with a ski pole in a nightmare, followed the next morning by the family’s skis and ski poles found strewn through the laundry room. The caller presents this match without explaining it. The low, all-fours way the figure moved is also a distinct detail.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.