Childhood events in an Oregon City rental house: a hand in the bath and a laugh
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld] tells Art Bell about events in an old rented house in Oregon City, Oregon, where their family lived from about the time the caller was six until they were eleven. They describe lights switching on and off, strange sounds, chairs sliding, footsteps, and a feeling of being watched in the basement. Their parents dismissed all of it. The climax they describe is in the bathroom at about age eleven. They say they felt a hand stroking their neck and then felt snakes falling from the ceiling onto them, followed by a cackling laugh they call the most evil they have ever heard. They say they spoke to a priest about it. Art Bell ends the call because the show was short on time.
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 2:27:04). 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 the town as Oregon City, Oregon, says their family moved into a house there when they were about six years old. They describe it as an old house with clawfoot bathtubs and original Art Deco light fixtures, and say the landlords lived across the street. They say they played in the basement, and that one day the landlord mentioned in casual conversation that the ghost of an old lady who had died lived upstairs in the landlord’s house. Not long afterward, the caller says, small lights went on and off, there were strange sounds, and they felt watched whenever they were in the basement. They say they never saw objects move but heard chairs sliding across the floor and footsteps. The caller and their brothers tried to tell their parents, who dismissed it as overactive imagination. They say this continued until the summer they were eleven. They were in the bath, their mother was napping on the couch, and their brothers were playing outside. They report feeling a hand on the back of their neck stroking up and down. They jumped up and yelled for their mother, who did not hear them. They then report feeling snakes falling from the ceiling onto their head, slithering down their body, and dropping into the bathtub. They say they jumped out, ran to the living room, and yelled “stop it,” after which they heard a cackling laugh in the bathroom that they call the most evil, hideous laugh they have ever heard. They say they went to a priest to talk about it. Art Bell ends the call there, saying they are short on time.
Reported events, in order
- 0:15
The caller says their family moved into an old house in Oregon City, Oregon, when they were about six.
- 0:50
They say they played in the basement and that the landlords lived across the street.
- 0:56
They say the landlord mentioned in casual conversation the ghost of an old lady who had died, upstairs in the landlord’s house.
- 1:09
They say lights began going on and off and there were strange sounds in the house.
- 1:21
They say they felt watched whenever they were in the basement.
- 1:33
They say they never saw objects move but heard chairs sliding across the floor and footsteps.
- 1:42
They say they and their brothers tried to tell their parents, who dismissed it as overactive imagination.
- 2:05
They say the events continued until the summer they were eleven.
- 2:09
They say they were alone in the house with their mother, who was napping on the couch, while their brothers played outside, and they were taking a bath.
- 2:20
They report feeling a hand on the back of their neck stroking up and down.
- 2:33
They say they jumped up and yelled for their mother, who did not hear them.
- 2:47
They report feeling snakes falling from the ceiling onto their head, slithering down their body, and dropping into the bathtub.
- 3:00
They say they jumped out, ran into the living room, and yelled “stop it.”
- 3:07
They say they then heard a cackling laugh in the bathroom with them.
- 3:21
They say they went to a priest to talk about it. Art Bell ends the call for time.
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· 2:20
While in the bath, the caller felt a hand stroking the back of their neck up and down.
- observation· 2:47
They felt snakes falling from the ceiling onto their head, slithering down their body, and dropping into the bathtub.
- observation· 3:07
After they shouted “stop it,” they heard a cackling laugh in the bathroom with them.
- interpretation· 3:07
The caller describes the laugh as evil and hideous.
- observation· 1:09
Lights went on and off and there were strange sounds in the house.
- observation· 1:21
They felt watched whenever they were in the basement.
- observation· 1:33
They heard chairs sliding across the floor and footsteps, though they say they never saw objects move.
- hearsay· 0:56
The landlord said the ghost of an old lady who had died lived upstairs in the landlord’s own house.
- host statement· 1:27
Art Bell says the activity described sounds like poltergeist events.
- interpretation· 3:21
The caller says the experience led them to speak with a priest.
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.
Firsthand, in order, and consistent, with concrete details of the setting. But the specifics are limited to a town and rough ages, the caller does not engage with ordinary possibilities, and the story is cut off.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand, direct experience claimed throughout.
- Concrete setting: clawfoot bathtub, Art Deco fixtures, basement, landlords across the street.
- An ordered sequence and consistent answers to Art’s questions about objects moving.
- No dates, street, or full names.
- Ordinary readings (old wiring, plumbing noise, a child’s imagination) are not addressed.
- The story ends abruptly before any conclusion or aftermath.
- The claims escalate from lights and sounds to physical contact and a voice.
- The host cuts the story off mid-telling, so the ending is unknown.
- The labels showing who is speaking are uncertain for several lines, and some caller lines are labeled as the host.
- No date or decade is given.
- 0:15
- 1:42
- 2:20
What the model inferred (not said on air): A clear, ordered firsthand story with concrete but limited specifics, not backed up by anyone else, and with plausible ordinary readings left unaddressed by the caller. Placed just above the [quote withheld] mark.
The story rests entirely on the caller’s own memory. A town and rough ages are given, but no name, street, date, or record, and no second witness speaks on air. It is placed at the top of the range for stories resting on the caller’s word alone.
Evidence for and against
- A town (Oregon City, Oregon) and approximate ages (about six, then eleven) are given.
- No physical evidence claimed, no photograph, no document.
- No witness on air backs it up.
- The house, landlord, and parents are unnamed.
- No house identification, no landlord name, no date.
- Their brothers’ awareness is claimed but not described as witnessing.
- 0:15
- 1:42
What the model inferred (not said on air): The town and approximate ages could be checked only if the house and family could be identified, which the transcript does not allow. No documentation is claimed and no witness speaks on air.
A child bathing is touched without consent, the horror escalates through touch, and the ending is unresolved. No threat of harm is stated, so it sits in the frightening range rather than the top range.
Evidence for and against
- Physical contact with a child alone in a bathroom.
- Escalation from a caress to falling snakes to a laugh described as evil.
- The one other person in the house did not hear the child call out.
- No injury, threat, or ill intent is explicitly stated.
- No figure is seen, and the events are brief.
- The story is cut off before any aftermath is described.
- It is not stated whether the events recurred after age eleven.
- 2:20
- 3:07
- 2:13
What the model inferred (not said on air): The combination of a child alone in a bathroom, uninvited physical contact, an unseen mass of falling snakes, and an “evil” laugh, with the mother unable to hear, produces sustained dread. No injury or threat of harm is reported, which keeps it below the highest range.
A familiar haunted-house setup carried by one genuinely distinctive run of images (the caress and the falling snakes). Scored in the upper middle of the [quote withheld] range.
Evidence for and against
- Snakes felt falling from the ceiling into the bath is not a routine ghost-story element.
- A caress, rather than a visible figure, as the central event.
- Flickering lights, footsteps, chairs sliding, feeling watched, and parents dismissing it are common motifs.
- The part compared with the rest of the archive is provisional, and the pilot archive is small.
- The story is cut off, so its full arc is unknown.
- 2:47
- 1:21
- 3:07
What the model inferred (not said on air): The setup (old rented house, lights, footsteps, feeling watched, dismissed by parents) is stock. The bath-time touch and the snakes are the distinguishing detail. Novelty compared with the rest of the archive cannot be judged from a single excerpt.
Scoring confidence 0.50 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story (live call); No physical evidence claimed or examined; No second witness on air. The originality score blends the model's score (58) 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 young child misperceived things or used their imagination, as the child’s parents suggested. · The caller says their parents [quote withheld] as [quote withheld]
- Noises blamed on an old house: sliding chairs, footsteps, and sounds from original fittings and plumbing, including a sound heard as a laugh from the bathroom. · The caller describes the house as having [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- Flickering lights caused by aging wiring or fixtures in an old house. · The caller reports [quote withheld] in a house they describe as original throughout.
What stands out
A childhood poltergeist-style story whose climax is a matter of touch rather than sight: a caress on the neck in the bath, then the feeling of snakes falling from the ceiling, closed by a cackling laugh in the same room. No figure is ever seen.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.