A truck pushed at San Antonio train tracks and children’s crying
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld] and their location as San Antonio tells Art Bell that on Halloween they and friends repeatedly drove a large pickup truck over the local train tracks. On the third pass, after the driver braked on the slope and released, the caller says the truck was pushed over the tracks and that they and the others heard children crying. The host warns the caller that testing it that way was going too far.
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 2005.mp3”, starting at 1:28:40). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who says [quote withheld] tells the host that the experience happened “on Halloween” at the San Antonio train tracks. They say they went there with friends, riding in the back of [quote withheld] with four of them in the back. They say they drove over the tracks once while [quote withheld] Asked by the host to give the background of the local story, they say [quote withheld] and that the children were not gotten out before the train came. They add that they tried baby powder at the site but [quote withheld] The caller then describes a controlled test. On the third pass they told the driver to work the brakes, stop the truck where the ground slopes and the truck points up at an angle, and then release. They say [quote withheld] They say that on that pass they heard [quote withheld] which they call the best surround sound they had ever heard. They say the group “freaked out” and asked one another whether they had heard it, and that the others said they heard children crying. The caller says two men in the back claimed to have heard a train coming, which the caller says they did not hear. The host tells the caller they should not have applied the brakes to make [quote withheld] calling it [quote withheld]
Reported events, in order
- 0:04
The caller gives their name as [name withheld] and says they are calling from San Antonio.
- 0:12
The caller says the experience happened on Halloween at the San Antonio train tracks.
- 0:24
The caller says they went with friends in the back of a large 4x4 pickup, four of them in the back, and drove over the tracks once while joking around.
- 0:44
Asked for background, the caller tells the local story that a school bus stalled on the tracks and the children were not gotten out in time.
- 1:18
The caller says they tried baby powder at the tracks but got nothing from it.
- 1:33
On the third pass the caller told the driver to brake on the slope and then release, to test the story.
- 1:53
The caller says the truck was pushed over and slid sideways down the slope. Four people were in the back and three inside.
- 2:18
The caller says they heard seven to eight children moaning and crying.
- 2:28
The caller says the group freaked out and compared notes, and the others said they had heard children crying.
- 2:36
The caller says two men in the back claimed to have heard a train coming. The caller says they did not hear a train but that they all heard the crying.
- 2:47
The host tells the caller they should not have tested it that way and calls it tempting fate.
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· 1:53
The truck was pushed over the tracks and slid to the side after the driver released the brakes on the slope.
- observation· 2:18
The caller heard seven to eight children moaning and crying at the tracks.
- observation· 2:40
The others in the truck also said they heard children crying.
- hearsay· 0:44
Local background: a school bus stalled on the tracks and the children were killed by the train.
- hearsay· 2:36
Two men in the back said they heard a train coming on that pass.
- observation· 1:18
The caller tried baby powder at the site and got no result.
- host statement· 2:47
The host says he has heard the story from enough people that he believes it is true, and that the killed children push vehicles off the tracks.
- host statement· 1:06
The host says children’s hand marks can be seen on the back of the vehicles.
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 specific, mostly coherent firsthand story with distinct concrete details and some caution (the caller calls the school-bus story “supposedly” and reports a failed baby-powder test). But an ordinary explanation for the push is readily available and was not addressed, and the count of witnesses shifts.
Evidence for and against
- The caller was there, at the described event and location, with named companions: [quote withheld]
- Concrete sequence: third pass, brake on the slope, release, then the truck [quote withheld]
- Caution: the caller marks the background as hearsay ([quote withheld]) and notes two men merely “claimed” to hear a train.
- The caller reports a negative result from their own test: [quote withheld]
- The described movement follows released brakes on sloped ground that the caller describes: [quote withheld]
- The group had been deliberately provoking the event and were primed by the local story, having already run the pass and tried powder.
- The number of witnesses shifts between [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- No date, year, or documentation is given beyond “on Halloween.”
- Several host lines appear labeled as the caller's and the reverse in the transcript.
- It is unclear how many people were actually present.
- 1:53
- 1:18
- 0:44
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component weights (source proximity high, fit of alternative explanations low) are an application of the scoring guide. The transcript supplies the details, not the judgment.
Details that could be checked are given (location, names, a date) and other witnesses are claimed, but none of it is examined or confirmed, and no second witness speaks on air.
Evidence for and against
- Named place and named persons: San Antonio, [name withheld] and [name withheld].
- A stated occasion: [quote withheld]
- A claimed group of co-witnesses who, the caller says, reported hearing the same crying.
- All reports from the other witnesses are retold by the caller only. No one else speaks on air.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is presented or examined.
- The claimed hand marks on vehicles are stated by the host, not examined on air.
- No object or record that could be checked exists in this part of the broadcast.
- 0:04
- 2:36
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placing it in the scoring guide’s range of 11 to 25 (details that could be checked and claimed witnesses, nothing checked) is a judgment.
Unsettling rather than extreme: a large vehicle reportedly moved by an unseen force at train tracks, followed by the reported sound of many children crying, with the group reportedly frightened. There is no threat, harm, or lasting escalation.
Evidence for and against
- The reported crying of [quote withheld] in an isolated setting.
- A reportedly large truck being pushed over tracks with nothing visible doing it.
- The group’s reported reaction: [quote withheld]
- The host’s view that the caller caused [quote withheld]
- The event is brief and ends with the host’s caution rather than a lingering threat.
- No physical harm or intrusion into a home is reported.
- Vocal delivery is not considered, and no atmosphere can be judged from the text alone.
- 2:18
- 2:28
What the model inferred (not said on air): The number is an editorial judgment about how the described content reads to a listener.
A familiar local-legend frame (children killed on train tracks who push vehicles) with a distinctive added detail: the caller had the driver brake and release specifically to test whether the truck would be pushed.
Evidence for and against
- The host treats the location as well known: [quote withheld]
- Distinctive detail: stopping on the slope and releasing the brakes to test the push.
- Distinctive detail: a failed baby-powder test reported by the caller.
- A vehicle pushed over tracks and children heard at a haunted rail crossing are recurring folk-legend elements.
- Published originality for this archive depends on a comparison with the rest of the archive, which is not available here.
- 1:33
- 0:16
What the model inferred (not said on air): The model’s originality score is a judgment about the content. The published value is worked out by comparing with the rest of the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.68 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story by telephone.; Claimed co-witnesses who do not speak on air.; No documentation, photograph, recording, or physical evidence examined.; The host’s recollections of the same local story.. The originality score blends the model's score (40) 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 reported push could be explained by the truck’s position and the released brakes. The caller describes stopping where the ground slopes and the truck points up at an angle, then telling the driver to let it go, after which they say it slid to a slope to the side. · The caller says the truck [quote withheld] and describes stopping on the slope and releasing the brakes.
- The crying could have an ordinary source at an active railway location (rail or signal noise, wind, animals, other people). It could also reflect the group’s shared expectation, given that they went there to provoke a locally known event and had been joking about it. · The caller says they were [quote withheld] had already tried baby powder, and were deliberately running the pass a third time to test the story.
- The train sound reported by two of the men could have come from an actual train on the active tracks rather than anything strange. · The location is train tracks, and the caller makes a distinction: two men [quote withheld] while the caller did not hear one.
What stands out
The story is a deliberate, controlled “test” of a local legend: the caller has the driver brake on the slope and release to see whether the truck is pushed and whether the crying occurs. It also contains a stated negative result. The caller says their baby-powder attempt produced nothing.
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