Talking toys with no batteries in a cousin’s nursery; an unpopular upstairs room
A caller who gives her first name as “Kila” (the host repeats it as “Keela”) and her location as Wartburg, Tennessee, tells Art Bell about a cousin’s nursery. She says two talking toys were heard talking to each other there, with their switch off and no batteries in them. She sets this against her childhood home, where an upstairs room she eventually occupied was said by visiting relatives to be troubling. She says her cousin moved out of the house not long afterward.
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 1:07:21). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who says she is in Wartburg, Tennessee, [quote withheld] says her story spans a long time because she is [quote withheld] She says the family house was not old and had an upstairs reached by thirteen steps. As a little girl she slept downstairs near her mother. Later, after six brothers and sisters grew up and left, she got her own upstairs room. She says every visitor, including cousins, friends, nieces, and nephews, hated going upstairs and [quote withheld] while nothing ever happened to her. She says she would jokingly say “thanks, Joe” about the upstairs room, especially to keep unwanted visitors out of it.
She then describes visiting her cousin’s new house after the cousin had a baby. While she rocked the baby in the living room, she and the cousin kept hearing noises from down the hall where the nursery was, although the baby did not sleep there. The cousin, whom she calls “shaky Jake” for being easily frightened, would not investigate alone, so the caller went with the cousin, carrying the baby. Opening the nursery door, she says, they found a large talking-bird toy and a Teddy Ruxpin-type storytelling bear in the middle of the room. They seemed to be carrying on as if talking to one another. She says they first laughed and assumed the toys had been left switched on. But when they went to turn them off, they found the switch off and no batteries in the toy. She says she is [quote withheld] and kept thinking it might be something to do with the new toy, [quote withheld] She says her cousin moved out of that house not long afterward. A year or two later, she says, she visited the cousin’s newer house, and they laughed about how everyone had hated the caller’s upstairs bedroom and how the cousin still would not go upstairs in the caller’s old home. The host offers an explanation based on electromagnetic fields, comparing it to a scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Reported events, in order
- 0:14
The caller gives her first name as “Kila” and her location as Wartburg, Tennessee, next to Oak Ridge. She says her story spans a long time because she is getting older.
- 0:35
She describes the family house as not very old, with an upstairs reached by thirteen steps. As a young child she slept downstairs near her mother, and later she got her own upstairs room among seven children.
- 1:23
She says visiting cousins, friends, nieces, and nephews hated going upstairs and told her things would happen to them. She says nothing ever happened to her and she was not afraid.
- 1:45
She says she would jokingly say “thanks, Joe” about the upstairs room, especially to keep unwanted visitors out.
- 1:54
She visits her cousin’s new house after the cousin had a baby. She rocks the baby in the living room while they hear noises from the hall where the nursery is.
- 2:32
Because the cousin (“shaky Jake”) would not go alone, the caller goes with the cousin, holding the baby, and opens the nursery door.
- 2:42
In the middle of the room she sees a large talking-bird toy and a Teddy Ruxpin-type storytelling bear that seemed to be carrying on as if talking to one another.
- 3:04
They go to turn the toys off and find the on/off switch off and no batteries in the toy.
- 3:33
She says she is not a scaredy cat and kept thinking it might have to do with the new toy, some kind of manufacturing thing.
- 3:44
She says her cousin moved out of that house not long afterward.
- 4:00
A year or two later she visits the cousin’s newer house. They laugh about how everyone hated the caller’s upstairs bedroom and how the cousin still would not go upstairs in the caller’s old home.
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· 2:27
The caller says that she and her cousin heard noises coming from the hallway where the nursery was, even though the baby did not sleep in the nursery.
- observation· 2:42
The caller says she found a large talking-bird toy and a Teddy Ruxpin-type storytelling bear in the middle of the nursery, apparently carrying on a conversation.
- observation· 3:16
The caller says that when she went to switch the toy off, the on/off switch was off and there were no batteries in it.
- hearsay· 1:29
The caller says her relatives, cousins, nieces, and nephews said things would happen to them upstairs in her childhood home, though she says nothing happened to her.
- interpretation· 3:41
The caller’s own tentative explanation for the toys was a manufacturing problem with the new toy.
- host statement· 4:36
The host suggests that a large electromagnetic field of some sort could make toys operate, referring to a scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
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 firsthand story with some concrete detail (the specific toys, the switch and battery check, the thirteen steps, the named town) and a coherent sequence. The caller herself offers an ordinary explanation. No one backs it up, and it rests entirely on her own word.
Evidence for and against
- She was there: she says she went into the nursery with her cousin.
- Concrete detail of a kind that could be checked: she reports the state of the switch and the absence of batteries.
- A named location is given on air.
- Nothing verifies how the toy actually worked or what powered it.
- The cousin is a claimed witness only and does not speak on air.
- The transcription is garbled, and the labels showing who is speaking are scrambled in several lines, which limits the assessment.
- The exact type of toy and how it works are unclear from the transcript.
- The caller’s age at the time of the toy event is not stated.
- 3:16
- 2:32
- 3:38
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component scores (source proximity about 20, specificity about 11, consistency about 14, alternative explanations about 8, calibration about 9) are a judgment. The transcript supplies only the underlying statements.
Only the caller’s word is offered, plus a claimed second witness who does not appear on air. A place name is given, but there are no names, dates, or records that could be checked.
Evidence for and against
- A named town and region are stated.
- A second witness is claimed, and relatives are said to have had experiences.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is mentioned.
- No second witness speaks on air.
- No outside check was made.
- Whether any documentation exists is not addressed in this part of the broadcast.
- 0:16
- 1:29
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placed in the scoring guide’s range of 11 to 25 because there are few details that can be checked and the witnesses are only claimed.
Talking children’s toys in a nursery with the switch off and no batteries is an unsettling intrusion into a space tied to an infant. But there is no threat and no physical contact, and the story ends with laughter and a move rather than escalation.
Evidence for and against
- The setting is a nursery next to where a baby is being rocked.
- The strange event is animated speech from lifeless toys.
- The caller and her cousin at first laughed and assumed the toys were switched on.
- No harm, menace, or pursuit is reported.
- The tone of the telling is not usable as evidence. The judgment rests on the reported content only.
- 2:53
- 2:05
What the model inferred (not said on air): Mid-range because the content is eerie in a household nursery setting but has no threat in it.
A familiar poltergeist-style frame of gadgets acting strangely, with a distinctive twist: two specific talking toys apparently conversing, with the switch off and no batteries. The novelty score is provisional until it can be compared with the rest of the archive.
Evidence for and against
- Two distinct toys (a talking bird and a storytelling bear) are reported in apparent conversation.
- The caller reports the switch off and no batteries.
- Talking dolls and toys, and interference with devices, are recurring motifs in ghost lore.
- Originality compared with the rest of the archive is not worked out here. The score reflects content only.
- 2:53
- 3:16
What the model inferred (not said on air): Provisionally above the stock 50 because of the detail of two toys talking to each other and the explicit switch and battery check.
Scoring confidence 0.55 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story.; A claimed second witness (the cousin), who does not speak on air.; No photograph, recording, or document is mentioned or examined.. 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.
- The toy may have had a power source the caller did not see or recognize (internal or hidden batteries, stored charge, or a mechanical or pull-string talking toy rather than an electronic one). · The caller says she went to turn the toy off and found the switch off and no batteries. The transcript does not establish what the toy was or how it worked.
- The noises blamed on the nursery could have come from another device or another part of the house. The two women were in the living room when they first heard them. · The caller says they [quote withheld] while rocking the baby in the living room and that the sounds seemed to come from the hall.
- The caller’s own guess that the toy was faulty, or a new-toy manufacturing problem, is itself an ordinary explanation she considered at the time. · [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
What stands out
The center of the story is not a figure or a sound but two toys that run on power reportedly talking to each other in an empty nursery. The caller says the switch was off and no batteries were present. She also declines the frightened role, saying she was not afraid and offering a manufacturing explanation, while her cousin is the one who moved out.
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