A key in the door and a solid figure in a Reno apartment
A caller the host addresses as [name withheld] tells Art Bell that they had rented a small apartment in Reno for three months when a noise woke them on their couch. They say someone entered with a key, made a phone call about a deal, packed clothes, and took a banana from their refrigerator. They then saw that he had no hands or feet. Police found no one. The next morning the chain lock was on, the windows were locked, and a banana peel was in their trash. The previous tenant's mail stopped arriving. They say the apartment manager identified the man they described as the tenant who had lived there before them.
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 2006.mp3”, starting at 1:05:00). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller says they lived in Reno in a small apartment in a building with a long hallway. They had been in the apartment only about three months when the events occurred. They had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room watching television. They were awakened by the sound of a key in their door and the door opening. They say the manager had told them the key had been changed, so they expected no one to have a key. They report that the man went into the kitchen, immediately to the right, and used the wall phone. He told someone the deal was off unless it was a fifty-fifty split, and the other person apparently agreed. He hung up and took a paper bag from between the wall and the refrigerator. He went to the back bedroom, where they heard him putting clothes in the bag. He returned to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and took a banana. They say they had no bananas at the time, and that they smelled the banana. They stayed on the couch with blankets over everything but their eyes and watched him open the curtains by the sliding door. They describe him as solid and say they thought he was real. He was about five foot seven, blond, fair-skinned, and blue-eyed, in jeans and a white T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up, which they associate with the 1950s. They say they feared he would kill or rape them. When he bent down as if to tie his shoe, they saw he had no feet and no hands. They did not scream, so he would not know they were there. He left with the bag. They say they called the police, who came and looked but found no one. In the morning they found the chain lock on, the door and windows locked, and a banana peel in their trash. They had been receiving the previous tenant's mail for three months. After that day it stopped. They called the manager and described the man. They say the manager told them it was the tenant who had lived in the apartment before them, that the apartment had gone unrented for two months before they took it, and that the manager did not know where the man was now. The host asked whether the man was even still alive. They say they do not know.
Reported events, in order
- 0:12
The caller says they lived in Reno in a small apartment building with a long hallway.
- 0:27
They had been in the apartment about three months and fell asleep on the living-room couch watching TV.
- 0:41
They were awakened by the sound of a key in their door and the door opening.
- 0:46
They say the manager had told them the key had been changed, so they expected no one to have a key.
- 1:10
The man went to the kitchen wall phone and told someone the deal was off unless it was a fifty-fifty split. The other party apparently agreed.
- 1:22
He hung up, took a paper bag from between the wall and the refrigerator, and went to the back bedroom. They heard him putting clothes in the bag.
- 1:51
He returned to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and took a banana. They say they had no bananas and that they smelled the banana.
- 2:17
They stayed on the couch with blankets covering all but their eyes.
- 2:37
He opened the curtains at the sliding door. They describe him as solid, about five foot seven, blond, fair-skinned, and blue-eyed, in jeans and a white T-shirt with rolled-up sleeves.
- 3:01
They feared he would kill or rape them. When he bent down as if to tie his shoe, they saw he had no feet and no hands. They did not scream.
- 3:22
He took the bag and went out the door. The caller says he went to meet his friend, “I guess.”
- 3:31
The caller got up and called the police. The police came and looked, but there was nobody there.
- 3:53
In the morning, after the events of around one or two in the morning, the chain lock was on, the door and windows were locked, and there was a banana peel in their trash.
- 4:03
They had been receiving the previous tenant's mail for three months. After that day they received no more of it.
- 4:29
They called the manager and described the man. The manager said it was the man who used to live in the apartment before them, that it had gone unrented for two months before they took it, and that the manager did not know where the man was.
- 4:45
The host wonders whether the man was even still alive. The caller says they do not know.
- 4:55
The host calls this a case of someone with unfinished business and asks whether it was a “ghostly time slip.”
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· 0:41
They heard someone put a key in their door and the door open, though the manager had said the key had been changed.
- observation· 1:10
They heard the man on the kitchen phone tell someone the deal was off unless it was a fifty-fifty split, and that the other person agreed.
- observation· 1:51
They smelled a banana when he opened the refrigerator, and say they had no bananas in the apartment at the time.
- observation· 2:37
They saw a solid figure they took to be a real person: about 5 feet 7 inches, blond, fair-skinned, and blue-eyed, in jeans and a white T-shirt with rolled-up sleeves.
- observation· 3:01
When he bent down as if to tie his shoe, they saw he had no feet and no hands.
- interpretation· 3:01
They believed he might kill or rape them.
- observation· 3:31
They called the police, who came and looked, but there was no one there.
- observation· 3:53
The next morning the chain lock was on, the door and windows were locked, and there was a banana peel in their trash.
- observation· 4:03
They had been receiving the previous tenant's mail for three months, and it stopped after that day.
- hearsay· 4:29
The apartment manager said the man they described had lived in the apartment before them, and that the unit had gone unrented for two months beforehand.
- hearsay· 4:41
The manager did not know where the previous tenant was.
- interpretation· 2:37
The caller calls the figure a “solid ghost,” while saying they do not know whether the man was still alive.
- host statement· 4:13
The host says the man [quote withheld] with the mail ending.
- host statement· 4:55
The host raises the possibility that the experience was a “ghostly time slip” by someone with unfinished business.
- host statement· 5:10
The host suggests the figure was someone who had died, had lived there before, and had unfinished business.
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 detailed, consistent firsthand story with specific sensory and physical details: a key in the door, a phone conversation, the smell of a banana, a locked chain lock, and a banana peel. But the caller offers no ordinary explanation, and the whole episode begins on waking from sleep. No one else backs up their story.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand witness throughout the story.
- Concrete details: apartment layout, wall phone, city, time of night, physical description of the man, locked door and windows, mail, and banana peel.
- The caller separates what they perceived ([quote withheld]) from what they concluded ([quote withheld]) and says they do not know whether the man was alive.
- The episode began as the caller was woken from sleep on the couch, so a dream while waking up fits part of it.
- All the checks they claim (police visit, manager identification, previous tenant's mail) are their own word and are not examined in this part of the broadcast.
- The missing hands and feet are not described in a way that could be checked against the surroundings.
- The labels showing who is speaking in the automatic transcript are unreliable. Several lines of the caller's speech are labeled as the host.
- The caller does not state their age, the year, or the apartment building's name.
- The caller does not describe any attempt to explain the events.
- 0:29
- 2:37
- 3:40
- 4:50
What the model inferred (not said on air): My scores for the parts: source proximity 21 (firsthand and direct, but the experience began on waking); specificity 17; internal consistency 16; alternative explanations 6 (a waking or dream state and a real keyholder both partly fit, and the caller addresses neither); calibration 10. The total is 70.
The story rests on the caller's own word. They give details that could be checked (city, apartment manager, police call, previous tenant's mail), but none was checked. The only physical trace they report is a banana peel, which is not examined.
Evidence for and against
- A named city and a describable building layout.
- The caller says a manager and police could in principle be asked about the previous tenant and the call.
- A claimed physical trace: the banana peel in their trash the next morning.
- No documents, photographs, recordings, or reports are produced or examined.
- No second witness speaks on air. The manager and police are reported secondhand only.
- Nothing that could be checked is verified in this part of the broadcast.
- The transcript does not show whether any police record or tenancy record exists.
- 3:31
- 3:53
- 4:29
What the model inferred (not said on air): Scored in the 11 to 25 range: details that could be checked are given but not checked, and other witnesses are claimed but not on air. Capped at 50 because nothing was checked by anyone else.
An unknown person lets himself into the apartment while the caller lies hidden under a blanket. Then they see he has no hands or feet. This is an intrusion into a private space with a lasting sense of threat. It is softened by the ordinary, businesslike behavior of the figure.
Evidence for and against
- The caller was alone and woke to a key turning in their own door.
- The caller feared being killed or raped and hid under the blankets.
- The reveal of a figure without hands and feet, in their apartment, at night.
- The figure's actions are ordinary (a phone call, packing, taking a banana), which reduces the menace.
- The story ends with no further reported activity, and the caller appears unharmed.
- It is not stated whether the call was resolved or continued.
- 0:41
- 3:01
- 3:12
What the model inferred (not said on air): Judged as a listener's impression: a strong intrusion into a safe space and an unresolved, ominous detail, offset by the drab, everyday behavior of the figure.
A ghost repeating a person's routine is a familiar setup. But the specific mix is unusual: a fully solid figure mistaken for a live intruder who negotiates a business deal by phone, packs clothes, and eats a banana, and shows only missing hands and feet.
Evidence for and against
- The figure is solid and, to the caller, looks no different from a living person.
- The only strange sign is the missing hands and feet, rather than a full ghostly appearance.
- Unusual everyday details: the deal negotiated on the wall phone, the paper bag from behind the refrigerator, and the banana.
- A person's routine repeating in a former home is a well-established ghost-story setup.
- The story's structure (intruder, hiding, reveal, morning check) is conventional.
- The provisional score is the model's judgment. The published originality score is compared with the rest of the archive and is provisional in this pilot.
- 1:10
- 1:51
- 3:01
What the model inferred (not said on air): The model's originality score is 78. A score compared with the rest of the archive cannot be worked out from this part of the broadcast alone.
Scoring confidence 0.68 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's own firsthand story; Claimed police response, not documented in this part of the broadcast; Claimed identification by the apartment manager, not on air; Claimed physical trace (banana peel), not examined. The originality score blends the model's score (78) 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 waking experience coming out of sleep, in which dream images (including the missing hands and feet) blended with the apartment and their awareness of an unfamiliar place. · They say they had fallen asleep on the couch watching television and were awakened by the sound. The strange details are things they report seeing from that state.
- A living person with an old key entered the apartment, possibly the previous tenant collecting belongings. The missing hands and feet were a misreading of a figure seen from under bedding in low light. · They say the manager had told them the key had been changed and that they had been receiving the previous tenant's mail. They were watching from the couch with blankets covering everything but their eyes.
What stands out
The story is unusual because the reported figure is fully solid and behaves like a living person going about a routine: entering with a key, negotiating a deal by phone, packing clothes, and taking a banana. The caller's only clue that he was not an ordinary man is that he had no hands or feet.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.