Shadow figures and white figures in a rented room at the Gable House
[name withheld] of Durango calls Ghost to Ghost AM and tells Art Bell about a night about twenty years earlier. They were a college student renting a third-floor room in a large old Durango house they call the Gable House, which they say was once the city’s first hospital. They report waking in the night to see three dark “shadow people” confined in a small circle to their right. Then they saw three white figures at ceiling level to their left. One came down, put its arm around them, and said it was there to protect them. They say they fell asleep instantly and slept until morning. The story is entirely their own word. No witness speaks on air.
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 26:45). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
[name withheld] of Durango tells Art Bell that about twenty years ago, while in college, they rented a room in an old 100-year-old house they call the Gable House. They describe it as an old dusty dark-red brick house with a black roof, turrets, large gables, and balconies, built in the late 1800s by a rich man. Later, they say, it was the first hospital Durango ever had. In the 1970s a couple bought and refurbished it, keeping the old ceiling operating table on pulleys as a living-room conversation piece. Other college students told them the third-floor back room, farthest from the front door, was where mental patients had been kept. They say they had lived on Indian reservations and asked friends what to do. The friends gave them a feather to protect the room but did not tell them to cleanse it. One night, they say, they woke in the middle of the night lying in bed and saw three shadow figures to their right: a short fat woman, a medium thin woman, and a dark thin man. They were trapped inside a small circle and could not get out. They say they knew the figures could not harm them but found the figures depressing. Bell asked whether the figures were translucent. The caller says the figures were solid black, and their impression was that they were not souls but beings created by the despair and sorrow of the hospital. They then noticed, at ceiling level to their left, three white figures, all men. One they liken to an old Greek scholar, and he seemed to be in charge. Another was a short fat medieval merchant type, and the third was a young athletic man. They say the white figures discussed “the protocol,” then the young one dropped down on their left side and put his arm around them. When they asked what he was doing, they say he answered that he was there to protect them. They say they fell asleep instantly and slept until morning. They add that people should clear a room before protecting it.
Reported events, in order
- 0:09
The caller says that about twenty years earlier, while in college, they rented a room in an old 100-year-old house called the Gable House.
- 0:18
They describe the house as old dusty dark-red brick with a black roof, turrets, large gables, and balconies. It was built in the late 1800s by a rich man and later used as the first hospital Durango had.
- 1:08
They say a couple bought and refurbished the house in the 1970s, keeping the old ceiling operating table on pulleys as a living-room conversation piece.
- 1:40
Other college students told them that their third-floor back room was where mental patients had been kept because it was farthest from the front door.
- 1:56
They say they had lived on Indian reservations and asked friends what to do. The friends gave them a feather to protect the room but did not tell them to cleanse it.
- 2:12
One night, they say, they woke in the middle of the night lying in bed.
- 2:18
They report seeing three shadow figures to their right, a short fat woman, a medium thin woman, and a dark thin man. They were trapped inside a small circle and could not get out.
- 2:51
Asked by the host whether the figures were translucent, the caller says the figures were solid black. The caller’s impression was that they were not souls but beings created by the despair and sorrow of the hospital.
- 3:29
They report seeing three white figures at ceiling level to their left, all men. One they liken to an old Greek scholar, and he seemed to be in charge. Another was a short fat medieval merchant type, and the third was a young athletic man.
- 4:16
The caller says the older white figure sat there and the figures discussed “the protocol” among themselves.
- 4:46
The young athletic white figure dropped down on their left side and put his arm around them. They say they did not want that, even though they describe it as white light.
- 4:59
They say they asked what he was doing, and the young man replied that he was there to protect them.
- 5:07
They say they fell asleep instantly and slept until morning.
- 5:21
They agree with the host’s good-versus-evil framing and add that people should clear a room before protecting it.
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· 2:18
The caller reports waking in the middle of the night and seeing three figures they call shadow people to their right.
- observation· 2:18
They report that the three dark figures were confined within a small circle and could not get out.
- interpretation· 2:51
They say the dark figures were solid black, and their impression was that they were not souls but beings created by the despair and sorrow of the hospital.
- observation· 3:36
They report seeing three white figures at ceiling level to their left, described as three men.
- observation· 4:49
They report that the young athletic white figure dropped down on their left side and put his arm around them.
- observation· 5:05
They report that when they asked what he was doing, he replied that he was there to protect them.
- hearsay· 1:50
They report that other college students told them that their room was where mental patients had been kept.
- hearsay· 0:36
They say the house was later turned into the first hospital Durango ever had.
- host statement· 5:17
The host suggests the white figures may have been protecting the caller from the darker ones.
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 clear, coherent firsthand story with plenty of concrete detail about the setting. But it has no dates, no one backs it up, and an easy explanation tied to sleep goes unconsidered by the caller. I placed it below the [quote withheld] example (70) and near the [quote withheld] example (55).
Evidence for and against
- A firsthand story from the person who says they experienced it.
- Concrete detail about the setting: room location, house color, features, past use as a hospital, the surviving operating table.
- A coherent, ordered sequence that answers the host’s follow-up questions about solidity and light.
- They separate what they perceived from what they concluded: [quote withheld]
- No date beyond [quote withheld] or other anchors.
- A context of imagery while falling asleep or waking in bed fits without the caller addressing it. They say they woke in the middle of the night and then “fell asleep instantly.”
- A single witness. No other person is reported as present.
- No calendar date or year is given.
- Several lines of the story are split between the wrong speaker labels (host and caller), so the exact attribution of a few phrases is uncertain.
- 0:09
- 2:51
- 5:07
What the model inferred (not said on air): My reasoning: the source proximity points reflect that the caller took part directly. The deduction for alternative explanations reflects that waking in bed at night and falling asleep again is a common setting for imagery. That is my inference, not something the transcript states. Delivery and tone were not considered.
The story rests on the caller’s word plus a few named details that could in principle be checked (house name, city, building history) but were not. That places it in the low range but above word alone. It is well under the cap of 50.
Evidence for and against
- Specifics that sound checkable are given: the name “the Gable House,” the city of Durango, the claim that it was the city’s first hospital, and the surviving operating table.
- No photograph, recording, document, or physical trace is offered.
- No second witness speaks, and no other witness is named as present.
- The building and hospital history are stated, not checked.
- Whether anyone ever checked the building’s history is not stated.
- 0:15
- 0:36
What the model inferred (not said on air): My reasoning: named places could in principle be checked, but nothing in the transcript supplies verification, and no outside check is recorded, so the score stays conservative.
The bedside setting, the trapped dark figures, and the arm around the caller are genuinely unsettling. But the story ends in protection, not threat, which keeps it in the middle range, from mildly eerie to genuinely unsettling.
Evidence for and against
- Waking at night to three dark figures at the bedside inside a circle.
- Physical contact from an unknown figure in bed: [quote withheld] and their stated discomfort at anything lying down beside them.
- The backdrop of a former hospital where, they say, mental patients were kept in that room.
- The dark figures are described as unable to harm the caller and as not threatening: [quote withheld]
- The encounter ends reassuringly, with the white figure saying it is protecting the caller and the caller sleeping until morning.
- Whether the dark figures stayed or returned after that night is not stated.
- 2:18
- 4:49
What the model inferred (not said on air): My reasoning: I weighted the intrusion into the bed and the unresolved mood of sadness over any open threat, of which there is none in the transcript.
The frame (shadow figures against white protectors in a haunted former hospital) is familiar. But the detail of figures trapped in a circle, the idea that despair created them, and the protective figure putting an arm around the caller are distinctive combinations. This is a first estimate only. The comparison with the rest of the archive carries little weight at this stage.
Evidence for and against
- The distinctive detail of three dark figures trapped inside a small circle.
- The unusual idea that the dark figures were created by the despair of a hospital.
- White figures conferring about “the protocol,” and one of them lying down beside the caller as protection.
- Shadow people at the bedside and white light beings are established, recurring themes.
- The comparison with the rest of the archive is a first estimate, because few stories are archived so far.
- 2:18
- 4:16
What the model inferred (not said on air): My reasoning: I compared the story against common ghost-story stock elements and credited the rarer combinations, not the generic frame.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story; Claimed details about the building and its history (a late-1800s house, a former hospital in Durango), stated but not verified; No photograph, recording, or document offered or examined; No second witness speaks on air. 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.
- Imagery while falling asleep or waking up: figures seen in bed on waking and falling back asleep could be dreamlike perceptions, not outside beings. · The caller says they [quote withheld] while “laying in bed” and then “fell asleep instantly.” That sequence fits imagery during the shift between sleep and waking.
- Expectation and suggestion: earlier warnings about the room and a ritual act could shape what a person notices or perceives in a strange, unfamiliar old building. · Before the experience, other students told them that their room had housed mental patients, and they performed a protective ritual with a feather. Both came before the night in question.
What stands out
The caller describes the dark figures not as ghosts but as beings they think were created by the hospital’s built-up despair. They appear confined inside a small circle, not free to move. The white figures are equally unusual: they are described as debating “the protocol” before one of them lies down beside the caller as a protector.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.