Invisible force pulls caller by the arm at their grandmother's doorway
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], from San Antonio, Texas, tells Art Bell that many years earlier, at their grandmother’s house, an invisible force grabbed their arm at the doorway, burned it, and pulled them up off the ground. A dog barked and family members struggled to hold them. The caller says their mother and grandmother were drawn into the tug-of-war, and that their grandmother’s words and knife-waving made the force let go, leaving three long red marks on their arm. The caller sees the episode as demonic and says it started their ongoing search for what they call the third dimension.
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 1:54:02). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, giving their name as [name withheld] and their location as San Antonio, Texas, says the event happened [quote withheld] They call it [quote withheld] but [quote withheld] They say they were at their grandmother’s house while their mother and grandmother cooked dinner, and they gave the caller food scraps to carry out to the family dog, a large shepherd-wolf mix. They say the dog, normally gentle, began growling and barking and acting vicious, so they set the food down and turned back toward the door.
According to the caller, something grabbed their arm from behind. They turned and saw nothing, their arm began to burn, and something yanked on it. They say they were in the doorway, grabbed the other side of the door, wrapped their legs around it, and screamed. They say they were pulled up toward the top of the doorway. Their mother came out of the kitchen, thought they were joking, and tried to pull them free. The caller says both were yanked out the doorway onto the sidewalk. The caller describes their grandmother, then about sixty-seven, running out with a large kitchen knife, swinging it in the air and making crosses. After that the force let them go and they fell to the sidewalk. They say three long red marks then appeared on their arm from wrist to elbow, like long fingers, burning, and that other people were present and saw it. They say their grandmother was known in the family as religious, that she was from Spain, and that she spoke words they could not repeat. They say they have had nightmares since and that the event started their search for what they call the third dimension.
Reported events, in order
- 0:16
The caller, [name withheld], from San Antonio, Texas, says the experience happened many years earlier and calls it a demonic story rather than a ghost story.
- 0:27
The caller says they were at their grandmother’s house while their mother and grandmother cooked dinner, and they were sent out with food scraps for the dog.
- 0:38
The caller says the normally gentle shepherd-wolf dog began growling and barking viciously, so they put the food down and turned back toward the door.
- 0:57
The caller says something grabbed their arm from behind. They turned and saw nothing there.
- 1:01
The caller says their arm began to burn and something yanked on it while they were in the doorway.
- 1:07
The caller says they grabbed the door, wrapped their legs around it, and screamed as the force pulled them upward.
- 1:42
The caller says their mother came from the kitchen, took it for joking, grabbed them, and both were yanked out the doorway.
- 2:11
The caller says their grandmother ran out with a large kitchen knife, swinging it and making crosses.
- 2:16
The caller says they were pulled along in the air down the sidewalk with their mother holding them.
- 3:01
The caller says three long red marks like long fingers appeared on their arm, burning.
- 4:24
The caller says the grandmother spoke words and waved the knife, and the force let them go. They fell to the sidewalk.
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· 0:38
The caller’s dog, normally gentle, growled and barked viciously at them.
- observation· 0:57
Something grabbed the caller’s arm from behind, and nothing was there when they turned.
- observation· 1:01
The caller’s arm began to burn and something was yanking on it.
- observation· 1:57
The caller was pulled upward, and their mother was yanked out the doorway with them.
- observation· 3:01
Three long red marks appeared on the caller’s arm.
- observation· 4:16
Other people were present and saw what happened.
- interpretation· 3:30
The caller sees the force as demonic and evil-intentioned.
- interpretation· 4:24
Their grandmother’s words and knife-waving made the force let go of them.
- interpretation· 0:23
The caller says the story is not a ghost story but a demonic one.
- host statement· 2:32
The host asks the caller to confirm the story is true.
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.
A detailed, sequential firsthand story with sensory detail and consistent answers to the host’s questions. But it has no details that could be checked, no consideration of ordinary causes, and a leap to a demonic cause.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story given directly on air by the person it happened to.
- Consistent sequence: dog reacts, arm grabbed, doorway struggle, family responds, marks appear, force lets go.
- Sensory and concrete detail: burning arm, three long red marks wrist to elbow, grandmother about sixty-seven, from Spain.
- No date, street, town of the event, or other details that could be checked are given.
- The central claims (being lifted off the ground by an unseen force, marks appearing) are extraordinary and unverified.
- The caller does not weigh ordinary explanations and states certainty ([quote withheld]).
- The labels showing who is speaking shift briefly around the host’s question.
- The caller’s age at the time is not stated.
- Whether the “plenty of people” present could add detail is not stated.
- 0:57
- 1:57
- 3:01
- 4:24
What the model inferred (not said on air): The scores by part reflect judgment of consistency and detail from the transcript text alone. No outside facts were consulted, and no judgment is made about the caller’s sincerity.
Nothing can be independently checked. No documentation is examined, no other witness speaks on air, and the marks on the caller’s arm are not shown or inspected. There is only the caller’s word and claimed witnesses.
Evidence for and against
- The caller gives a calling location (San Antonio, Texas) and a rough time frame.
- The caller claims their mother, grandmother, and other people saw the event.
- The caller describes physical marks on their arm.
- No photograph, medical record, recording, or document is mentioned or examined.
- No second witness speaks on air to confirm the story.
- The claimed marks and witnesses come only through the caller’s own telling.
- It is not stated whether any marks lasted or were ever seen by anyone else.
- The number and identity of the other claimed witnesses are not given.
- 4:16
- 3:01
What the model inferred (not said on air): This falls in the 11 to 25 range because details that could be checked and claimed witnesses exist, but none is verified. A slight upward allowance reflects the claimed physical marks, which remain unexamined.
The story has an unseen force causing pain, dragging a person off the ground in a family home, physical marks, a frightened family, and an unresolved demonic explanation. It ends with release rather than death or an ongoing threat.
Evidence for and against
- A burning feeling and pulling on the arm while the caller screams.
- Being lifted off the ground and pulled along the sidewalk.
- Three long red marks appearing on the arm.
- The caller’s view of an evil-intentioned force and lasting nightmares.
- The episode ends with the caller being let go and falling to the sidewalk.
- No lasting injury or death is reported.
- Some of the family’s reaction (the mother first thinking it was a joke) briefly undercuts the dread.
- The exact look of the marks is described only by comparison to a film.
- The caller’s age and vulnerability at the time are not stated.
- 1:26
- 3:30
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score reflects the threat, physical harm, and intrusion into a family home as story elements, not any judgment about whether the events happened.
Invisible attacks and scratches are familiar ghost-story motifs. But the long tug-of-war, in which the caller is lifted off the ground, their mother is dragged along, and the grandmother drives the force off with a kitchen knife and spoken words, gives the story a distinctive shape.
Evidence for and against
- A prolonged physical struggle involving three family members.
- The grandmother’s improvised ritual of knife and words ending the attack.
- The explicit view that it was demonic rather than a ghost.
- An invisible attacker leaving marks is a common motif.
- Scratches or marks as proof of an unseen attacker recur widely.
- No comparison with the rest of the archive is available in this pilot scoring.
- 3:44
- 3:05
What the model inferred (not said on air): The provisional model score is a judgment based on content. The part compared with the rest of the archive is not weighted meaningfully at this stage.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story; Claimed witnesses (mother, grandmother, unnamed others) who do not speak on air; Claimed marks on the caller’s arm, not examined or shown; No documentation, recording, or photograph mentioned. The originality score blends the model's score (55) 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 dog’s aggression could come from an ordinary disturbance (for example, the animal being startled or ill, or reacting to a person or animal out of view) rather than an unseen presence. · The caller reports only that the dog growled and barked, without describing anything visible that it reacted to.
- A physical struggle and grasping at a door frame could cause marks, redness, or a burning feeling on the forearm without an unseen presence. · The caller describes gripping the door, wrapping their legs around it, and being pulled and held by their mother during a struggle. The marks are described as red lines on the same arm.
- The lifting and pulling the caller describes could be a family story that grew or was misremembered over the roughly two decades the caller says have passed since the event. · The caller says it happened [quote withheld] and that they have told the story before, ending it with a repeated phrase.
What stands out
The story combines an attack by an invisible force that leaves marks with a long physical tug-of-war. The caller says they were lifted off the ground and their mother and grandmother were pulled in. It ends with their grandmother’s improvised ritual of knife and words.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.