Tucson house after a 1977 murder-suicide: Alarm, child voices, cold room
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], of Rochester, New York, describes living in a Tucson, Arizona, house connected to their husband’s first wife. The caller says the woman killed her two children and herself in 1977. [name withheld] reports a burglar alarm sounding at exactly 2 a.m. on nights their husband was away, children’s whispering, moved objects, and a living room that stayed cold in summer. The caller says a responding policeman advised them to leave, and they did. The caller says they later concluded the dead woman had been trying to drive them and their children away from their husband.
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The story as told
[name withheld], calling from Rochester, New York, tells Art they worked in data processing at a Tucson, Arizona, mail-order company with the man who later became their husband. In 1977, the caller says, his wife shot and killed her two children and then killed herself. About a year after the deaths, [name withheld] says, they fell in love with him. They married about a year later, and the caller and their children moved into his home. After two burglaries, they had a burglar alarm installed. The caller says their husband traveled weekly to Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca, gone about five days a week for months. On each night he was away, the caller says, the alarm went off at exactly 2 a.m. Police who responded found no entry, and the alarm company reviewed the system repeatedly. The caller says police and the alarm company opened a window about an inch and a half to two inches (as used for a swamp cooler) and could not set the alarm off. Each time the alarm sounded, the caller says, their children ran to their room and lay beside the bed while they held a .357 Magnum under their pillow. The caller estimates this happened twenty or thirty times. The caller says that while their children were at school they heard children’s whispering from the kids’ rooms. The caller says flour turned up in the refrigerator and milk in the pantry. After months, the caller says, a responding policeman told them he would not spend another night there. The caller told their husband it was either them or the house, and they bought a home the next day and moved out. The caller says that during the three years they lived there, the living room was like an icebox even at 110 degrees. Six months after the move, the caller says, the new owner called around midnight and asked whether their husband had been the original owner. In 1985, the caller says, their daughter ran away and later told the caller the ex-husband had molested her. [name withheld] says they then concluded the wife had had a motive and had been trying to drive [name withheld] and their children from the house.
Reported events, in order
- 0:20
The caller says the caller’s future husband’s wife shot and killed her two children and then killed herself in 1977.
- 0:28
The caller says they and the man worked in the data processing department of a Tucson mail-order company and that they had known his wife and children socially.
- 0:49
The caller says that about a year after the deaths they fell in love with him. They married about a year later, and the caller and their children moved into his home.
- 1:06
The caller says there were two burglaries and then a burglar alarm was installed.
- 1:13
The caller says their husband traveled weekly to Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca, away about five days a week for months.
- 1:30
The caller says that on each night he was away, the alarm went off at exactly 2 a.m. and the police who responded could find no entry.
- 1:44
The caller says the alarm company reviewed the system repeatedly. With a window open about an inch and a half to two inches, the police and alarm company could not set the alarm off.
- 2:23
The caller says that each time the alarm sounded, their children ran to their room and lay beside the bed while they held a .357 Magnum. This happened about twenty or thirty times.
- 3:14
The caller says they heard children’s whispering coming from the kids’ rooms while their own children were at school.
- 3:20
The caller says they found flour in the refrigerator and milk in the pantry, and that objects they put down would go missing.
- 3:59
The caller says a responding policeman told them he would not spend another night in the house.
- 4:12
The caller says they told their husband it was either them or the house. They bought a home the next day and moved out.
- 4:22
The caller says that during the three years they lived there, the living room was like an icebox in the middle of summer, even at 110 degrees.
- 5:06
The caller says that six months after they moved out, the new owner telephoned very late at night, around midnight, and asked whether their husband had been the original owner.
- 6:11
The caller says that in 1985 their daughter ran away and, about two weeks later, told the caller the ex-husband had been molesting her.
- 6:35
The caller says that at that moment they concluded there had been no motive for the murder-suicide until then. They also concluded the dead woman had been trying to get them and their children out of the house and away from him.
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· 0:20
The caller says that in 1977 the caller’s ex-husband’s wife shot and killed her two children and then killed herself.
- observation· 1:30
The caller says the burglar alarm sounded at exactly 2 a.m. on each night their husband was away.
- observation· 1:39
The caller says the police who responded could find no entry after the alarm sounded.
- observation· 2:14
The caller says the alarm would not go off for police or the alarm company when they opened a window and tested it.
- observation· 3:14
The caller says they heard children’s whispering from the children’s rooms when their own children were at school.
- observation· 3:20
The caller says they found flour in the refrigerator and milk in the pantry and that objects they set down went missing.
- observation· 4:35
The caller says the living room was cold like an icebox even in summer heat.
- hearsay· 3:59
The caller reports that a responding policeman told them he would not spend another night in the house.
- hearsay· 5:18
The caller reports that the new owner telephoned around midnight and asked whether their husband had been the original owner.
- hearsay· 6:25
The caller reports that their daughter told the caller the ex-husband had been molesting her.
- interpretation· 3:04
The caller says they presume the dead woman and children were coming back to the house.
- interpretation· 6:46
The caller says they believe the dead woman was trying to drive them and their children out of the house and away from their husband.
- interpretation· 6:56
The caller says they believe the wife killed her children because she could not leave them with him.
- host statement· 5:51
The host says that in some places sellers are legally required to disclose that a house is haunted.
- host statement· 7:41
The host speculates that souls may be held on earth or in a purgatory-like state after tragic deaths.
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 that is fairly specific and told in order. No one on air backs it up. The caller does not weigh ordinary explanations and draws a strong conclusion about the dead woman’s intent.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand witness throughout.
- Concrete detail: fixed time, police finding no entry, alarm system reviewed, window width, number of repetitions, temperature.
- The story runs in a clear sequence from the 1977 tragedy through the marriage, the events in the house, the move, and the 1985 disclosure.
- No independent backing on air. The husband is said to agree but does not speak.
- The caller moves from report to a firm conclusion about motive without testing alternatives.
- Ordinary explanations for some elements (alarm fault, ordinary misplacing, household sounds) are not addressed.
- The timeline is loose: “about a year,” “months and months.”
- The labels showing who is speaking are unreliable for several lines in the transcript, but the substance of the answers is clear.
- 1:30
What the model inferred (not said on air): Component sums: source proximity 22, specificity 15, internal consistency 13, alternative explanations 7, calibration 7.
The story gives names, places, and dates that could in principle be checked, and it claims several witnesses. Nothing is examined or confirmed on air.
Evidence for and against
- Details that could be checked: 1977, Tucson, Sierra Vista, Fort Huachuca, Rochester, 1985.
- Claimed witnesses: husband, children, responding policeman, later buyer.
- All support is the caller’s word. No physical evidence, recording, or document is produced or examined.
- No documents, recordings, or photographs are examined on air.
- The claimed witnesses (husband, policeman, new owner) do not speak on the program.
- 4:19
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score follows the scoring guide: details that could be checked but were not, plus claimed witnesses.
The story combines a murder-suicide backstory, an alarm sounding nightly at 2 a.m. with no cause found, children huddled in a bedroom, and an unresolved ending.
Evidence for and against
- Intrusion into the home and bedrooms at a fixed hour of the night.
- Children’s whispering heard when the caller’s own children were at school.
- A policeman’s reported advice to leave the house.
- Unresolved ending: [quote withheld]
- No reported injury, threat, or physical contact from anything unseen.
- The caller’s own reading of the presence is protective rather than hostile.
- Some of the disturbance comes from the ordinary parts of the story (burglaries, a gun in the home, the abuse disclosure) rather than from the strange events themselves.
- 3:59
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score is driven by the intrusion into a safe place, the children, the cause that no one could find, and the unresolved ending.
The story uses a familiar haunted-house frame (a nighttime alarm, child voices, moved objects, a cold room). What sets it apart is the protective motive the caller reaches years later.
Evidence for and against
- Unusual framing: the caller says the dead woman was trying to get them and their children away from their husband.
- The core events are common motifs: alarm or false alarm, whispering, misplaced objects, cold spot.
- Originality is judged against this archive and is provisional. The comparison with the rest of the archive is not available in this part of the broadcast.
- 6:46
What the model inferred (not said on air): Seeing the haunting as protective rather than hostile is the main distinctive element. The alarm, whispering, and cold room are stock.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.75 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story on air.; Claimed but absent witnesses (husband, children, responding policeman, later buyer).; No physical evidence, recording, document, or photograph is produced or examined.. 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.
- Repeated false alarms from a system fault, a power fluctuation, or an outside trigger. · The caller says the alarm went off repeatedly at a fixed hour. The caller says the alarm company [quote withheld] and that it would not trip when they tested it.
- Ordinary household or outside sounds, and ordinary misplacing of objects (the caller says they moved things themselves and forgot where). · [quote withheld] The caller also heard whispering while their own children were at school.
- A temperature difference from air-conditioning or a swamp cooler running in one room of an Arizona house in summer. · The caller describes a window kept open for a swamp cooler and a living room like an icebox at 110 degrees.
What stands out
The caller sees the haunting as protective rather than hostile. The caller concludes that the dead woman’s activity was meant to drive them and their children out of the house, a motive they say they understood only years later.
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