Paralysis, a shaking bed, and a smiling girl with empty eyes
A caller named [name withheld], phoning from Virginia, tells Art Bell about a night in August 2000. The caller says they woke in bed to sudden cold, total paralysis, a shaking bed, and the sight of a smiling girl of about eight or nine with “empty” eyes. The caller says they prayed and everything stopped. Their mother, their grandmother, and later their wife each told the caller the same thing had happened to them.
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 2:23:24). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
A caller who identifies themselves as [name withheld], calling from Virginia, tells Art Bell this was their first time calling. The caller says that one night in August 2000, during a sweltering Virginia summer, they went to bed. While they were lying there, the room suddenly became [quote withheld] The caller reports total paralysis and total fear, and says the bed began shaking. It was not violent, the caller says, but it was enough to wake them. The caller opened their eyes, turned to the side, and says they saw a little girl, eight or nine years old, with blonde hair. The caller says she was smiling but her eyes were “empty,” with no emotion or life in them, a point the host asks the caller to clarify. [name withheld] says they then closed their eyes and began praying, and everything stopped. [name withheld] says they thought nobody would believe them but were shaken up, so later that day they told their mother. She replied, [name withheld] says, that the same thing had happened to her and to [name withheld]'s grandmother. [name withheld] notes that their mother's side of the family was very religious and their father's side was not. [name withheld] adds that they married about a year and a half later, and their wife told them the same thing had happened to her. The host closes this part of the broadcast by remarking that multiple people had been affected by or witnessed such events that night.
Reported events, in order
- 0:22
The caller says they went to bed on a sweltering summer night in Virginia in August 2000.
- 0:31
The caller says the room suddenly became very cold while they were lying in bed.
- 0:36
The caller reports total paralysis and total fear.
- 0:45
The caller says the bed began shaking and that this woke them.
- 0:57
The caller says they opened their eyes, turned to the side, and saw a little girl of about eight or nine with blonde hair.
- 1:07
The caller says she was smiling but her eyes were empty of emotion or life.
- 1:27
The caller says they closed their eyes, prayed, and everything stopped.
- 1:44
The caller says they told their mother later that day, and she replied that the same thing had happened to her and to the caller's grandmother.
- 1:59
The caller says they married about a year and a half later, and their wife told them the same thing had happened to her.
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· 0:31
The caller says the bedroom became very cold while they lay in bed.
- observation· 0:36
The caller says they experienced total paralysis and total fear.
- observation· 0:45
The caller says the bed started shaking and that it woke them.
- observation· 0:57
The caller says they saw a little girl of about eight or nine with blonde hair beside them.
- observation· 1:22
The caller says the girl was smiling but her eyes were empty of emotion or life.
- interpretation· 1:27
The caller says the strange events stopped after they closed their eyes and prayed.
- hearsay· 1:49
The caller reports that their mother told them the same thing had happened to her and to their grandmother.
- hearsay· 1:59
The caller reports that their wife told them the same thing had happened to her.
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 coherent, fairly specific first-person story with a plausible sequence. But a well-known ordinary explanation fits the core experience closely, and nothing is backed up by someone else or can be checked beyond a month, year, and state.
Evidence for and against
- A firsthand story with a stated month and year (August 2000) and state (Virginia).
- The sequence is coherent: cold, paralysis, shaking bed, figure, prayer, end of the events.
- The caller answers the host's question about the eyes without changing the story.
- Waking with paralysis, fear, and a bedside figure is a textbook sleep-paralysis pattern.
- No location, address, or other details that can be checked are given.
- The caller makes no attempt to rule out an ordinary cause.
- The story is short and delivered in a single uninterrupted block.
- One line ([quote withheld]) is labeled as the host in the automatic transcript, so who said that detail is uncertain.
- The exact time of night and the caller's state on waking are not specified beyond [quote withheld]
- 0:22
- 1:27
What the model inferred (not said on air): Sleep paralysis fits the reported sequence (waking, cold, paralysis, fear, a figure at the bedside) so closely that I scored alternative explanations very low. The story is still coherent, and the caller answers the host's questions consistently.
The only support is the caller's own word, plus other people claimed to have had similar experiences. No physical evidence is described, and no second witness speaks on air. So this sits at the bottom of the [quote withheld] range.
Evidence for and against
- The caller names a month and year (August 2000) and a state (Virginia).
- The caller claims their mother, grandmother, and wife each reported similar experiences.
- No second witness speaks on air.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is mentioned.
- The relatives' experiences are separate events, not backing for this one.
- Whether the mother, grandmother, and wife said this to the caller cannot be checked from the transcript.
- No documentation of any kind is mentioned.
- 1:49
- 1:59
What the model inferred (not said on air): The claimed relatives count as other witnesses claimed, in the scoring guide's range of 11 to 25. But they are hearsay from the caller and did not witness the caller's event, and there is no object or on-air confirmation.
The scene is set in the caller's bed, involves paralysis and fear, and centers on a child whose smile does not match her eyes. It is unsettling without threat, injury, or sustained escalation, and it ends abruptly when the caller prays.
Evidence for and against
- Paralysis and “total fear” are reported.
- A child figure appears beside the bed in the dark.
- The description of empty eyes while smiling is jarring and disturbing.
- No physical contact, injury, or threat is reported.
- The activity stops immediately once the caller prays.
- The ending is reassuring in tone (the family treats it as familiar).
- The caller stresses the shaking was not violent, which slightly softens the scene.
- The story is brief, with little sustained build-up.
- 0:36
- 1:22
What the model inferred (not said on air): The bedroom setting, the paralysis, and the smiling child with empty eyes are the elements I weigh most heavily for listener unease. The quick end through prayer lowers the score below the “frightening” level.
The story uses stock elements (waking in bed, paralysis, sudden cold, a child ghost) but is anchored by one specific and unusual image: a smiling girl whose eyes are described as empty. That puts it at the level of a familiar frame with a distinctive detail.
Evidence for and against
- A child figure appears in the bedroom at night, a common ghost-story element.
- The distinctive detail is the mismatch between the smile and the “empty” eyes.
- Paralysis, sudden cold, and a shaking bed are among the most frequently reported motifs.
- This is a single, very short story, and no other archive story was available to this run for comparison, so the comparison with the archive carries little weight.
- The “empty eyes” image is distinctive but not described in any further detail.
- 1:22
- 1:07
What the model inferred (not said on air): The framing (waking in bed, paralysis, cold, a child figure) is stock. The smiling child with empty eyes is the one distinctive detail, so I placed it at the [quote withheld] level.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.75 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's firsthand story only; Claimed similar experiences of the caller's mother, grandmother, and wife, reported secondhand by the caller; none speaks on air; No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace mentioned. The originality score blends the model's score (50) 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.
- A sleep-paralysis episode while waking up: the caller says the bed shaking “woke me up.” The caller reports total paralysis, sudden fear, and a figure seen as soon as they opened their eyes in bed. · The reported sequence of waking, paralysis, fear, and a bedside figure. The caller notes that other callers had described paralysis.
- A real temperature change in the bedroom rather than anything strange. The caller describes a sweltering summer night and then a sudden cold room, which could reflect air conditioning, a window, or a draft. · The caller's own contrast between the sweltering night and the sudden cold, with no cause for the cold examined or stated.
What stands out
The story combines a classic waking-paralysis frame with one vivid image, a smiling child whose eyes are “empty.” It ends not with a haunting but with the caller's mother treating the experience as a known family matter.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.