Children’s laughter heard in a shower at a church camp
A caller named [name withheld], of Vancouver, Washington, tells Art Bell the later part of a story about hearing children laughing while in a shower, in a setting they link to church camp. The caller says the laughter began once their head was wet and grew louder as their fear increased. They sang praise songs until they could rinse off and run out. The host closes the call by saying [name withheld] is the first person he has spoken to who handled such a thing by singing.
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 38:59). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld], calling from Vancouver, Washington, tells Art Bell that they are continuing a story they began earlier on the line. The caller says they were in the shower when they heard children laughing. What struck them as strange was that the laughter started only once their head was wet. They say their heart started racing and that the more frightened they became, the louder the laughter got. They describe it as though it fed on their fear. They say the only way they could deal with it was to start singing, and that they sang praise tunes of the kind they normally did at church camp. They say that as soon as they had washed off, they got out and ran. They call it “quite an experience.” Art Bell tells the caller that [name withheld] is the first person he has spoken to who dealt with something like this by singing, asks what was sung, and thanks the caller. He closes the segment with [quote withheld] No figure or object is described as seen, and no other person is named as present during the shower. [name withheld] does not say what the laughter was thought to be.
Reported events, in order
- 0:10
[name withheld] gives their name, says they are from Vancouver, Washington, and says they were already in the middle of telling the story.
- 0:16
The caller says they were in the shower and heard children start to laugh.
- 0:24
The caller says what they found strange was that the laughter waited until their head was wet.
- 0:38
The caller says their heart started racing and the laughter got louder the more scared they became. They describe it as feeding on their fear.
- 0:49
The caller says they started singing because that was the only way to deal with it.
- 0:53
The caller says that as soon as they had washed off, they got out and ran. They call it quite an experience.
- 1:03
Art Bell says [name withheld] is the first person he has talked to who dealt with something like this by singing, and asks what was sung. [name withheld] says they were praise tunes from church camp.
- 1:22
Art Bell thanks the caller and closes the segment with [quote withheld]
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· 0:16
The caller says they heard children laughing while they were in the shower.
- observation· 0:24
The caller says the laughter began only after their head was wet, which they found strange.
- observation· 0:38
The caller says their heart started racing and that the laughter grew louder as they became more frightened.
- interpretation· 0:38
The caller describes the laughter as behaving as if it fed on their fear.
- observation· 0:49
The caller says the only way they could deal with it was to start singing.
- observation· 0:53
The caller says that as soon as they had washed off, they ran out of the shower.
- observation· 1:10
The caller says the songs they sang were praise tunes of the kind they normally did at church camp.
- host statement· 1:03
Art Bell says the caller is the first person he has spoken to who dealt with something like this by singing.
- host statement· 1:22
Art Bell closes the segment by describing the outcome as being saved by singing.
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 short but coherent firsthand story of a single event, with a clear sequence from hearing the laughter to the singing and the exit. It has few details that can be checked. It does not address the ordinary possibility of other people on the camp grounds, so it sits near the middle of the range.
Evidence for and against
- The caller reports their own experience directly and gives their name and city on air: [quote withheld]
- The sequence is consistent, and the caller answers the host’s question about what was sung.
- The caller hedges their main inference with “it was like,” rather than claiming that something was deliberately feeding on their fear.
- No date, no name for the camp, and no other detail that could be checked.
- The story is short and begins mid-conversation, so the surrounding context is missing.
- This part of the broadcast does not address the possibility that other children or campers were nearby.
- Several lines are broken mid-sentence or seem to be assigned to the wrong speaker, so the wording of the story may be unreliable.
- The earlier part of the same story is not in this part of the broadcast.
- 0:10
- 0:38
What the model inferred (not said on air): Component estimate: source proximity 16 (firsthand but brief and partial); specificity 8; internal consistency 14; alternative explanations 7 (an ordinary source such as other people at the camp would fit and is not ruled out in the story); calibration 12. The sum is 57, adjusted to 55 for brevity.
The only support is the caller’s own live word. Nothing physical or written is claimed, and no second witness is heard. A first name and a city are given, but nothing tied to the event itself can be checked, so the score stays in the lowest range.
Evidence for and against
- The caller gives their first name and city of residence on air.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is claimed.
- No second witness speaks on air or is even named as present in this part of the broadcast.
- No date or identifiable name for the camp is given.
- Broken transcription may have dropped details that would change this assessment.
- 0:10
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is the usual case for the scoring guide’s 0 to 10 range: the caller’s word alone, with no supporting material and nothing approaching the cap of 50 for unverified stories.
The caller is alone, soapy, and unable to see in a shower while children’s laughter reportedly grows louder as they become frightened. That is an effective intrusion into a vulnerable moment, and the story ends with flight rather than resolution. Nothing visible, threatening, or physically harmful is reported, which keeps the score below the higher range.
Evidence for and against
- Vulnerable setting: it reportedly starts while the caller is washing their hair in the shower.
- The laughter escalates with the caller’s own fear: [quote withheld]
- The caller leaves by running out rather than staying.
- Nothing is seen, nothing touches the caller, and nothing is threatened.
- The laughter is the only strange event reported, and it is described briefly.
- The host closes with a light remark: [quote withheld]
- The transcript does not show whether the laughter sounded like ordinary children at play or something else.
- 0:24
- 0:38
- 0:53
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placed near the “genuinely unsettling” anchor of 50, raised slightly for the escalation and the vulnerable setting, and held down because nothing is seen or threatened.
The frame, unseen children’s laughter in a private, enclosed place, is familiar, so the core event is not unusual. The distinctive touches are the reported link between the caller’s fear and the volume, and the use of praise songs as the response.
Evidence for and against
- The laughter reportedly grew louder in step with the witness’s fear.
- Singing church praise songs as the way through the encounter.
- Children’s laughter in an isolated place is a common ghost-story motif.
- It is a single short episode with no further developments or consequences.
- How rare the motifs are, and how similar this story is to others in the archive, is not worked out here.
- 0:38
- 1:10
What the model inferred (not said on air): The model’s estimate is 50 (familiar frame plus one or two distinctive details). The analysis cannot compare against the rest of the archive, so no adjustment for that is made and the provisional score is reported as is.
Scoring confidence 0.50 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story, given live on air.; No documentation, recording, photograph, or physical trace is claimed.; No third-party witness is named or heard in this part of the broadcast.. 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.
- Other children or campers in or near the shower block could account for the laughter the caller says they heard. · The caller was in a shared shower setting and reports children’s voices. This part of the broadcast does not mention anyone else being present, searched for, or heard leaving.
- Running water in a tiled shower, with its echoes and its masking of other sounds, could produce or distort sounds heard as voices or laughter. · The caller says they heard the sound while showering ([quote withheld]) and does not say they found a visible source at the time.
What stands out
The story links the volume of the laughter to the caller’s own fear. The caller also used church praise songs to get through it, a response the host says he had not encountered before. The caller also offers the timing as the odd part: they heard it only once their head was wet.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.