Trucker hears a voice, glimpses a girl in white, and finds a wet seat near Pacheco Pass
A caller who identifies themself only as a trucker tells Art Bell of a night drive on Highway 152 through central California several years earlier. The caller says they heard a small voice say “lovely night” and briefly glimpsed a blonde girl in a white dress beside the cab. When the caller later stopped at a Denny’s, the passenger seat was wet and they could not explain why. The caller reports learning months afterward, from other drivers, a story of a bride who drowned in a crash at Pacheco Pass. The caller leaves the matter without a stated conclusion.
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 2:14:32). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, who gives no name or location, says that several years before the broadcast, while [quote withheld] they were driving across the middle of California on Highway 152, past a very large reservoir in the hills between the San Jose Valley and the San Joaquin Valley. The caller describes it as a “lovely summer night” and says they were driving [quote withheld] The caller reports that [quote withheld] saying “lovely night.” The caller looked to the right side of the cab and got [quote withheld] The caller says they told themself [quote withheld] and kept driving, intending to stop at a Denny’s about 20 miles ahead for coffee, which they say they did. Reaching over to the right seat to roll up a partially open window, they say, they put their hand on the seat and found it wet. It was a summer night, it was not raining, there was no heavy dew, and they had not run into anything. The caller says they got their coffee and went about their business. A couple of months later, the caller says, they were talking with a couple of drivers at a truck stop in San Jose. They told a story about a couple who had gone off the road up in Pacheco Pass years before. The new husband survived, but his bride, married earlier that evening, had drowned there. The caller says they had not heard the story before. When Art asks whether the other truckers had experienced the same thing, the caller says “No, they hadn't.” They were only telling the story. The caller closes by saying they [quote withheld] Art then reflects on repetitive hauntings as a possible “endless tape loop.”
Reported events, in order
- 0:18
The caller says several years ago, while breaking into the trucking industry, they were driving across central California on Highway 152 past a large reservoir in the hills between the San Jose Valley and the San Joaquin Valley.
- 0:37
The caller describes a lovely summer night, driving about half asleep in the middle of the night.
- 0:47
The caller reports a little voice out of the blue saying “lovely night.”
- 0:55
The caller looks to the right of the cab and gets a fleeting glimpse of a blonde girl in a white full-skirted dress.
- 1:04
The caller tells themself [quote withheld] and continues toward a Denny’s about 20 miles ahead for coffee.
- 1:24
Reaching to roll up a partially open window, the caller finds the right-hand seat wet.
- 1:45
A couple of months later, drivers at a San Jose truck stop tell of a couple who went off the road at Pacheco Pass years before, with the bride drowning.
- 2:21
The caller says the other truckers had not experienced the same thing. They were only telling the story.
- 2:32
The caller says they just thought it rather odd that the seat was wet.
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· 0:47
The caller says a small voice came out of the blue saying “lovely night.”
- observation· 0:57
The caller says they glimpsed a blonde girl in a white full-skirted dress beside the cab.
- observation· 1:24
The caller says the right-hand seat of the cab was wet on a clear summer night.
- hearsay· 2:01
The caller says other drivers told them a story of a couple going off the road at Pacheco Pass, in which the bride drowned.
- observation· 2:21
The caller says the other truckers had not had the same experience themselves.
- interpretation· 2:32
The caller says they thought it rather odd that the seat was wet.
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 clear firsthand story with some concrete route detail, but brief, not backed up by anyone else, and open to easy explanations such as drowsy driving and a wet seat.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story of the voice, glimpse, and wet seat
- Concrete specifics: Highway 152, a Denny’s about 20 miles ahead, Pacheco Pass
- Consistent sequence; answers Art’s questions about the other drivers directly
- The caller was driving [quote withheld]
- The wet seat has several harmless possible causes that are not ruled out
- The drowning story is hearsay that arrived months later, and the caller does not tie it to the girl
- No dates given
- The labels showing who is speaking are unreliable throughout this part of the broadcast
- 0:41
- 1:24
- 2:29
What the model inferred (not said on air): Alternative explanations fit reasonably well, which pulls the believability toward the middle rather than the higher ranges.
Only the caller’s word is present. Place names that could be checked are given, but nothing is examined or verified on air.
Evidence for and against
- A named route and locations (Highway 152, Pacheco Pass) that could in principle be checked
- A claimed physical trace (the wet seat) that was not preserved or examined
- No documentation or photograph
- No second witness speaks on air
- Other drivers reportedly did not share the experience
- Whether any crash at Pacheco Pass is documented is not addressed in this part of the broadcast
- 0:28
- 2:21
What the model inferred (not said on air): Details that could be checked raise this slightly above a pure assertion, but there is no examined evidence.
An unexpected voice and a fleeting figure on a night drive, plus an unexplained wet seat, give a mild unsettling quality without threat or escalation.
Evidence for and against
- A voice from nowhere out of the blue on a dark highway
- A brief glimpse of a girl in white beside the cab
- An unexplained wet seat suggesting a presence
- No ill will, contact, or harm
- The caller’s tone is matter-of-fact, and they dismiss it as too many miles and hours
- No sustained escalation
- Delivery and tone are not assessed, per the scoring rules
- 0:47
- 0:57
What the model inferred (not said on air): Eerie imagery of a girl in white by a night road, softened by the absence of threat.
It uses the familiar vanishing woman-in-white or roadside ghost story, with a somewhat distinctive physical detail (the wet seat) and a later drowning-bride story.
Evidence for and against
- A woman in a white dress glimpsed by a night road is a common motif
- The wet seat as a lingering physical trace is a more distinctive detail
- The connection to a drowned bride told by other drivers
- The core structure is familiar ghost-on-the-road material
- No especially unusual event beyond the wet seat
- Novelty compared with the rest of the archive is provisional in this pilot
- 0:59
- 1:24
What the model inferred (not said on air): A familiar story plus one distinctive detail places this around the middle of the originality range.
Scoring confidence 0.60 · analysis confidence 0.65 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story; A hearsay story from unnamed other drivers. 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.
- A drowsy, dream-like experience while driving at night · The caller says they were [quote withheld] when the voice and glimpse occurred.
- Condensation, a spilled drink, or a previous passenger wetting the seat · The caller insists it was not raining and there was no heavy dew, but offers no account of what else could have wet the seat.
- The later drowning story and the experience are unrelated events that were linked later, in hindsight · The caller says the drivers’ story came a couple of months afterward and that they had not heard it before.
What stands out
The most distinctive element is the physical trace left in the cab, a wet passenger seat, found after a brief voice and glimpse. The caller later links it to a separate drowning story told by other drivers.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.