Woman in black knocking on a window from inside a Chicago house, 1982
A caller the host calls [name withheld], phoning from Miami, recounts an October 1982 night in her Chicago home. She and her husband heard hard knocking on the window of a back room. She says her husband, who worked in law enforcement and had his gun, went to investigate and came back terrified. He later told her he had seen a woman all in black knocking on the window from the inside. The knocking is said not to have come back after that night.
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 1:53:17). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
A caller the host calls [name withheld], phoning from Miami, says her story took place in Chicago, Illinois, in early October 1982, on a Sunday night around 10:30 to quarter to eleven. She says the weather had been a beautiful Indian summer. Her husband and two children were coming home, and the neighbors next door had company, with children outside. She put her own children to bed on a school night. She says she was pregnant with her third child.
She reports that from the television room at the back of the house, which had large windows, they heard a hard knock. She assumed it was the neighbors' children. A second knock came. She says her husband, who worked in law enforcement and had his gun, got up, and she followed him. She reports that as he turned the corner from the kitchen into the dining room he backed into her, [quote withheld] and terrified. When she told him to pull the gun and shoot it, he shook his head no and said, [quote withheld]
She says the knocking came again in the dining room. They went into the back room, which had a door to the yard, and her husband opened it while she screamed, [quote withheld] She reports he then told her to be quiet and said he had seen a woman standing in front of the window knocking from the inside, and that he thought she wanted to get out. She relays his description: all in black, either very long hair or a nun, transparent and not completely solid, right hand raised, knocking. She says she heard the knocks but never saw her.
She says that seven or eight months later, at a Lions Club meeting held at their home, a member brought a professor from the University of Illinois who was said to be sensitive and able to channel people. She says the man telephoned her the next day to say a woman all in black walks through her house. She says she never saw the woman and the knocking did not come back.
Reported events, in order
- 0:08
The caller says the story happened in 1982 in Chicago, Illinois, in early October on a Sunday night.
- 0:25
She describes the evening: beautiful weather, her husband and two children coming home, neighbors' children outside, around 10:30 to 10:45. She puts her own children to bed. She was pregnant with a third child.
- 0:49
A hard knock is heard from the back television room with large windows. She assumes it is the neighbors' children.
- 1:03
A second knock comes. Her husband gets up, and she follows him.
- 1:27
Her husband, who had his gun, backs into her at the corner from the kitchen to the dining room, pale and terrified. He shakes his head no when she tells him to shoot.
- 1:49
He says, [quote withheld]
- 2:07
The knock comes again in the dining room. They go into the back room, and he opens the door to the yard while she screams not to let it in.
- 2:40
He tells her he saw a woman standing in front of the window knocking from the inside and that he thinks she wants to get out.
- 2:50
He describes her as all black, with very long hair or like a nun, transparent and not completely solid, right hand up, knocking.
- 3:15
The caller says she heard the knocks but did not see her.
- 3:21
Seven or eight months later, at a Lions Club meeting at their home, a member brings a professor from the University of Illinois who is said to be sensitive and able to channel people.
- 3:44
The man telephones the next day to say there is a woman all in black who walks through her house.
- 4:18
She says she never saw the woman and the knocking did not happen again. The host suggests [quote withheld]
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· 0:53
The caller says she heard a hard knock on the window of the back television room, and a second knock soon after.
- observation· 3:15
The caller says she heard the knocking but never saw the figure herself.
- hearsay· 2:40
The caller reports that her husband said he saw a woman standing in front of the window knocking from the inside.
- hearsay· 3:04
The caller relays her husband's description of the woman as all in black, transparent and not completely solid, with her right hand raised, knocking.
- interpretation· 2:45
The caller reports her husband's belief that the woman wanted to get out.
- hearsay· 3:55
The caller says a man described as a sensitive who could channel people telephoned her the next day to say a woman all in black walks through her house.
- host statement· 4:24
The host guesses that the woman may have gotten out.
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 specific, consistent story with concrete time, place, and household detail, in which the caller separates what she heard from what she did not see. It is weakened because the main visual claim comes secondhand from her husband, and ordinary explanations for knocking on a window are not fully ruled out.
Evidence for and against
- Concrete details: 1982, early October, Chicago, Sunday night, around 10:30 to 10:45.
- A consistent sequence of knocks, the husband's reaction, the dining room, the back room, and the door to the yard.
- The caller separates her own experience from her husband's: [quote withheld]
- The only person who saw the figure, the husband, does not speak on air. His account is relayed.
- An ordinary source for the knocking (the neighbors' children, as the caller herself first assumed) is raised and dismissed only informally.
- A later “channeler” claim is entirely secondhand.
- The transcript is broken into short lines, so some phrasing may be garbled.
- Whether the caller's account of her husband's words is exact cannot be checked.
- 0:53
- 3:15
- 1:49
What the model inferred (not said on air): The points for the parts are my judgment from the content only. How the story was delivered was not considered.
Only the caller's word and a claimed second witness who does not speak on air. Some details that could be checked are given (Chicago, 1982, University of Illinois, Lions Club), but none was checked, placing this in the 11 to 25 range.
Evidence for and against
- A named place, year and season, and named organizations.
- A claimed second witness, the husband, is described in detail.
- No physical evidence, photograph, recording, or document is said to exist.
- The only claimed eyewitness does not speak on air.
- No documentation or recording is mentioned.
- The husband is a claimed but silent witness.
- 0:08
- 1:49
What the model inferred (not said on air): Fitting the story to the ranges in the scoring guide. No outside check was done.
A nighttime intrusion into a family home, an armed husband described as terrified, a see-through figure knocking from inside the window, and children asleep upstairs make this truly unsettling, even though no injury is reported.
Evidence for and against
- An intrusion at night while children sleep upstairs.
- The husband is described as terrified and unwilling at first to open the door.
- A see-through figure at the window.
- The activity is said to have stopped, and no harm occurred.
- The caller's own telling is calm and matter-of-fact at the end.
- No physical harm or threat is reported. The effect rests on mood.
- 1:27
- 2:23
- 3:04
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment of the story's effect, not a claim about events.
A woman in black is a familiar figure. But the detail of knocking on the window from the inside, and the husband's statement that she wanted to get out, give the story an unusual turn.
Evidence for and against
- The knocking is said to come from inside the window rather than outside.
- The husband's reported line [quote withheld]
- A dark or black-clad female figure in a house at night is a stock motif.
- Published originality depends on a comparison with the rest of the archive, which is not available here. The figure is provisional.
- 2:40
- 2:45
What the model inferred (not said on air): My comparison with common ghost-story themes, not a measurement against the rest of the archive.
Scoring confidence 0.75 · analysis confidence 0.80 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller's firsthand story about hearing knocks and about her husband's reaction; Secondhand report of the husband's description of the figure; Secondhand report of a later “channeler” claim; No photograph, recording, document, or other physical evidence is mentioned; No witness who could back up the story speaks on air. 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.
- A living person at the window. The caller's own first thought was that neighborhood children were trying to get her children's attention, and a person outside the glass could account for hard knocking. · I said ah that's you know the neighbor's kids trying to get you know our kids attention
- The only description of the figure comes secondhand from the husband, and the caller never saw it. A reflection mistaken for a figure, a figure on the far side of the glass, or an inaccurate later retelling could account for the details as reported. · I heard the knocks i did not see her thank goodness
- The later claim of [quote withheld] came from a third party months after the event, so it may have shaped or reinforced how the family remembered and described the earlier night. · there's a woman all in black that that walks through your house
What stands out
The reported figure is said to have been knocking on the window from the inside rather than the outside. The husband, described as being in law enforcement and armed, is quoted as saying his gun would be useless against what he saw.
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