Grandchild identifies man crossing yard as deceased father-in-law
A caller, addressed by the host as “[name withheld]” at the close, says a grandchild saw an old man walking across the yard to the shed. The caller says they showed the child a picture, and the child identified the man as the father-in-law. The caller adds that they have had many instances and that the father-in-law [quote withheld] The host then thanks the caller and moves on.
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 52:42). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
This part of the broadcast begins mid-sentence with the caller saying, [quote withheld] The caller says the grandchildren were there, and one of them turned around, looked out the window, and asked, [quote withheld] The caller says they reacted, “oh, my God,” and then showed the child a picture, asking, “is this him?” According to the caller, the child replied, [quote withheld] The caller then says, [quote withheld] and adds, [quote withheld] The host closes the segment by thanking someone he calls “[name withheld]” and the family, then turns to comments about the television show Medium. No date, location, or time of day is given for the sighting. The story is secondhand. The caller reports what the grandchild saw rather than describing their own sighting of the figure. It is unclear whether other grandchildren or the caller also saw the old man. The caller does not say how long after the father-in-law’s death the incident happened.
Reported events, in order
- -1:-1:-1
The caller says another incident happened with their father-in-law.
- 0:06
A grandchild looked out the window and asked who the old man walking across the yard to the shed was.
- 0:14
The caller says they reacted with “oh, my God.”
- 0:16
The caller showed the child a picture.
- 0:17
The caller asked the child, “is this him?”
- 0:18
The child said, according to the caller, [quote withheld]
- 0:21
The caller says they have had many instances.
- 0:23
The caller says the grandchild showed up after the father-in-law passed away.
- 0:26
The host closes by thanking the caller as “[name withheld]” and turns to remarks about the television show Medium.
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).
- hearsay· 0:06
A grandchild asked who the old man walking across the yard to the shed was.
- interpretation· 0:18
After being shown a picture, the child identified the man as the caller’s father-in-law.
- observation· 0:21
The caller says they have had many such instances.
- interpretation· 0:23
The caller says the grandchild saw the father-in-law after he had passed away.
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 measures only how believable the story sounds. It is a very brief, secondhand report with an easy ordinary explanation (a living person in the yard) and almost no details that can be checked. It is capped at 40 as a fragment too short to assess fully.
Evidence for and against
- A coherent short sequence with concrete details: grandchildren present, a window, a yard, a shed, a picture.
- The caller reports the child’s spontaneous question before any photograph is mentioned.
- The caller says the man was identified as their father-in-law and links it to after his death.
- A very short fragment that starts mid-sentence, with no date, place, or time.
- The witness to the figure does not speak on air, so the core sighting is relayed.
- The identification follows the caller showing a photo and asking, “is this him?”
- This part of the broadcast begins mid-sentence.
- Who is speaking and what the caller is called are uncertain: the host says “[name withheld],” while the surrounding lines include “Paula.”
- It is not stated whether anyone other than the speaking grandchild saw the figure.
- -1:-1:-1
- 0:06
- 0:18
- 0:23
What the model inferred (not said on air): The figure is treated as secondhand because the caller reports the grandchild’s sighting rather than describing their own view of the figure. The ordinary alternative is a guess about the event, not a judgment about the caller.
Only the caller’s word and a claimed grandchild witness are present. A photograph is mentioned but not examined, and there are no details that can be checked. The score is low for claimed witnesses without confirmation on air.
Evidence for and against
- The caller took part firsthand in the later conversation and the identification from the photograph.
- The caller names a second person, the grandchild, as the actual witness.
- A photograph is said to have been used to identify the figure.
- No physical evidence is examined on air.
- The photograph is mentioned but not produced or described.
- No names, dates, places, or records are given for checking.
- The claimed grandchild witness does not speak on air.
- The photograph may be an ordinary family picture. It is not presented as strange evidence.
- The caller’s identity and their relationship to the grandchild are not fully clear.
- 0:16
- 0:17
- 0:18
What the model inferred (not said on air): A claimed witness raises the score slightly above the caller’s word alone, but it remains far below evidence that was actually examined or verified.
The story is mildly eerie: a child reports a stranger in the yard, and the caller later treats the figure as a dead relative. It has no threat, escalation, or vivid horror, so it sits near the low end of unsettling.
Evidence for and against
- A child sees an old man walking across the yard to the shed.
- The caller connects the figure to a dead father-in-law: [quote withheld]
- The identification from a photograph gives the sighting a possibly unsettling closeness to home life.
- No threat, harm, attack, or hostile presence is reported.
- The story is brief and framed as a family visit rather than lasting horror.
- The ending is a host transition, not an ominous unresolved climax.
- The time of day is not given, so the atmosphere of the scene is unclear.
- The caller’s emotional response is not used in scoring.
- 0:06
- 0:23
What the model inferred (not said on air): Creepiness is judged from the story alone, not from delivery, tone, or the host’s reactions.
A provisional score based on the content: the story uses familiar dead-relative and child-witness motifs, with a somewhat distinctive identification from a photograph. Comparison with the rest of the archive is not meaningfully available for this early excerpt.
Evidence for and against
- The main witness is a child who does not speak on air.
- The caller relays the sighting and then uses a photograph for identification.
- The figure is described in everyday terms: an old man walking across the yard to the shed.
- Stock ghost-story elements: a human figure, a child witness, a dead relative, and an outdoor sighting.
- The story is very short, which limits how much distinctive detail it can develop.
- Identification from a photograph is a familiar way to confirm a sighting.
- The very short excerpt limits sorting by motif.
- Comparison with the rest of the archive is not usable at this early stage.
- 0:06
- 0:16
- 0:18
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a provisional model estimate from the transcript content, not a comparison with the rest of the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.35 · analysis confidence 0.45 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: A brief story from the caller relaying a grandchild’s sighting.; A photograph is said to have been shown for identification, but it is not produced or examined on air.; No second witness speaks on air.. The originality score blends the model's score (45) 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 living person, such as a neighbor, relative, worker, or passerby, walked across the yard toward the shed. · The child asks who [quote withheld] is. The figure could have been a living person on or near the property.
- The identification may have been shaped by being shown a picture and asked a leading question after the sighting. This concerns how the identification was made, not the child’s honesty. · The caller first reports the sighting, then says, [quote withheld] This sequence leaves open how the identification from the photograph was made.
What stands out
The main witness is a child who does not speak on air. The caller relays the sighting and uses a photograph for identification, so this is a secondhand identification rather than a direct sighting by an adult.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.