Circuit breakers flipped off in a farmhouse basement
A caller identified on air as [name withheld] from Michigan describes a night in 1994 alone in their parents' large 1870s farmhouse. They came home to a dark house and found every light and appliance dead. Going down to the basement to the circuit box, they say they felt an increasingly malevolent presence. They say the family cat hissed, clawed its way out of their arms, and fled upstairs. At the box they found every breaker flipped to the off position in a house they say was locked. They switched them on and left the house.
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The story as told
[name withheld], calling on the wildcard line and introduced by the host as being from Michigan, says their parents' house was a large farmhouse built in the 1870s. It had a four-room “Michigan basement” and a coal chute. In 1994, between their sophomore and junior years of college, they came home to earn summer money and worked a full-time second-shift job. Their parents and siblings went on vacation without them. [name withheld] says the family, which they describe as having a [quote withheld] was used to what they call the house's hauntings. They heard footsteps when someone was alone in the house, and lights turned on. [name withheld] says [quote withheld] [name withheld] calls it [quote withheld] that nobody paid attention to. They say they left the foyer light on every day so the house would be lit when they returned from their shift. On the second night after their family left, they say they came home to a dark house and assumed they had forgotten the light. They found every switch downstairs and upstairs unresponsive, and the refrigerator and freezer were not running. They took a flashlight from the kitchen drawer. The circuit box was in the basement, so they went to the basement door. There, they say, a malevolent feeling was coming up the well. They fetched one of the family cats, which they say began hissing, spitting, and growling at the doorway. They say each step down was harder than the last as the malevolence grew. Near the coal chute the cat clawed its way out of their arms toward the circuit box and then ran upstairs. At the box, they say, the circuits had not tripped but had all been flipped to the off position in a house [quote withheld] [name withheld] moved them back on and left the house. They say they were reciting a psalm aloud and in their mind on the way down.
Reported events, in order
- 0:11
The caller describes their parents' large farmhouse, built in the 1870s, with a four-room “Michigan basement” and a coal chute.
- 0:28
In 1994, between their sophomore and junior years of college, they came home for summer work on a full-time second-shift job while their parents and siblings went on vacation.
- 0:50
They say the family was used to a “benign” haunting of the house, with footsteps when someone was alone and lights turning on, and ignored it.
- 1:05
They left the foyer light on each day. The second night after the family left, they came home to a dark house.
- 1:35
Light switches throughout the downstairs and upstairs gave no response. The refrigerator and freezer were not running.
- 1:57
They took a flashlight from the kitchen drawer. The circuit box was in the basement, which they say nobody liked entering.
- 2:17
Opening the basement door, they say they felt a “very malevolent feeling” coming up the basement well.
- 2:25
They brought a house cat to the basement door. The cat began hissing, spitting, and growling.
- 2:48
Each step down was harder than the last, and the feeling of malevolence grew stronger.
- 3:06
Near the coal chute, the cat clawed its way out of their arms toward the circuit box and then ran up the stairs.
- 3:22
At the circuit box they found the breakers had not tripped but had all been flipped to the off position in a locked house.
- 3:37
They switched every circuit back on and left the house.
- 4:04
They say they were reciting a psalm aloud and in their mind as they went down.
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· 0:56
The household repeatedly heard footsteps when alone and saw lights turn on.
- interpretation· 0:52
Everyone in the family agreed the house was haunted, and the caller calls it a benign haunting.
- observation· 1:35
They came home to a dark house, and every light switch in the house gave no response. Neither the refrigerator nor the freezer was running.
- observation· 2:17
A malevolent feeling was coming up the basement well when they opened the door.
- observation· 2:40
The cat hissed, spat, and growled at the basement doorway.
- observation· 2:55
The feeling of malevolence grew stronger with each step down into the basement.
- observation· 3:22
Every circuit breaker had been flipped to the off position rather than tripped, in a house they say was locked.
- host statement· 4:24
The host says cats are especially sensitive to this kind of thing.
- host statement· 3:51
The host restates the story as feeling a darker and meaner spirit with every step.
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, well-ordered firsthand story with a concrete setting and sequence: an 1870s farmhouse, 1994, second shift, a four-room basement, and a coal chute. The caller also addresses one obvious ordinary explanation by saying the breakers “hadn't been popped.” Against it: no one else backs up the main event, no record that could be checked is offered, and the malevolent presence is reported only as a feeling.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand witness of the breaker event: [quote withheld]
- Concrete time and setting: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- A consistent, ordered sequence that answers the host's questions.
- No second witness to the main event. The caller was alone.
- Nothing that can be checked, such as town, street, utility records, or names beyond [quote withheld]
- The “haunted house” framing came before the event, and the malevolent presence is described only as a feeling.
- In the automatic transcript, some lines spoken by the caller are labeled as the host, so who said what is partly unreliable.
- “very benign honking” is likely a transcription error for another word.
- The caller says “Psalm 19” but quotes the text of Psalm 23.
- 0:11
- 3:22
- 3:34
What the model inferred (not said on air): The weighting of the parts (specificity and consistency high; backing up and independent checks absent) is my judgment, not content from the transcript.
Only the caller's word supports the main claim. They give a few details that could be checked in principle (Michigan, 1994, a farmhouse built in the 1870s), but none was checked. Family members are said to have shared the earlier events, but none of them speaks on air.
Evidence for and against
- Details that could be checked in principle: [quote withheld] and “In 1994.”
- Claimed additional witnesses to earlier events: [quote withheld]
- No photograph, recording, utility record, or document is claimed to exist.
- No second witness to the breaker event, and no witness speaks on air.
- No outside check was done for this analysis.
- It is not stated how many family members actually witnessed the earlier events, or over what period.
- 0:00
- 0:52
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placing this in the 11 to 25 range rests on the stated location and year plus claimed family witnesses. The main event alone would fall in the 0 to 10 range.
The story builds lasting unease: a dark, powerless house at night, a basement the family avoided, a malevolent feeling growing step by step, a cat that panics and claws its way free, and an unexplained panel of breakers in a locked house with no resolution.
Evidence for and against
- A private home at night with no power.
- The feeling grows as they go down: [quote withheld]
- Animal distress and claws: [quote withheld]
- An ominous, unresolved ending: [quote withheld]
- The recurring events are described as long-tolerated background: “very benign.”
- No figure is seen, and no injury beyond the cat's claws is reported.
- The transcript is incomplete in places, so some detail may be missing.
- 2:17
- 3:44
What the model inferred (not said on air): This score is a judgment of the story as told, not an assessment of whether anything happened.
The setup is familiar: an old farmhouse with tolerated footsteps and lights, and an animal that reacts in a frightening basement. But an entire breaker panel switched to “off” rather than tripped, in a locked house, is an unusual turn.
Evidence for and against
- Unusual electrical detail: [quote withheld] in a house [quote withheld]
- The animal is deliberately carried down as a test: [quote withheld]
- Stock elements are present: an old farmhouse, footsteps, lights going on, cats reacting, and a feared basement.
- The published originality value is computed compared with the archive and is provisional while the archive is small.
- 3:30
- 2:25
What the model inferred (not said on air): The 58 figure is the model's provisional estimate based on content alone, not a measurement compared with the rest of the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.78 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's own firsthand story; Claimed family experience of earlier events (no family member speaks on air); No photograph, recording, document, or record claimed 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.
- A utility power outage or a tripped main breaker could account for the dark house and dead appliances. · They say the switches gave no response, the refrigerator and freezer were not running, and the whole house was dark. The caller addresses this by saying the breakers “hadn't been popped.”
- The cat's reaction and the sense of malevolence may come from an animal's alarm and the caller's own expectation in a dark, unfamiliar basement at night. · They describe the basement as a place nobody liked and where there was “always a feeling” of not being wanted. The cat was deliberately carried toward that area.
- The positions of the breakers could have been misread in flashlight light, or changed by a household member with access, though the caller says the house was locked. · They rely on a flashlight taken from the kitchen drawer and say the house was [quote withheld]
What stands out
The recurring events are treated as background noise the family had long since accepted. The center of the story is an electrical one: an entire panel of breakers said to have been switched to “off” rather than tripped, in a locked house, with an animal brought along as a test.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.