A room in a Waterbury grandmother’s house said to bring nightmares and illness
A caller who identifies themselves as [quote withheld] recounts a secondhand story from an EMT partner whose grandmother lived in Waterbury, Connecticut. The caller says one room in the grandmother’s house gave every family member who slept there nightmares. They say their partner dreamed of a man in turn-of-the-century dress walking up the stairs, and that the family’s later description of the house’s ghost matched the dream figure. They end by reporting that the grandmother fell ill, including a case of flesh-eating bacteria, while sleeping in that room, and that her problems stopped when she returned to her own bedroom.
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 2007.mp3”, starting at 2:25:31). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller gives their name as [quote withheld] and says the story is not about them: [quote withheld] According to the caller, there was one room in the grandmother’s house where every member of their partner’s family who ever slept there [quote withheld] The whole family spoke of seeing some man walking around the grandmother’s house. The caller adds that their partner had never seen it and had never stayed at the house. But when the partner did stay in that room, they got the best night’s sleep they’d ever had.
The caller then describes a dream. The partner, sleeping at their own house a few towns away, dreams that they wake up in their grandmother’s house and see a man in turn-of-the-century clothing, [quote withheld] walking up the stairs toward the grandmother’s bedrooms. The dreamer (the transcript reads [quote withheld]) follows. At the top of the stairs they hear [quote withheld] and wake instantly. The next day, the caller says, the family began talking about what the ghost in the grandmother’s house looked like. The caller says they had never described it to the partner before, and the description matched the man from the dream.
The caller adds that the grandmother had her own bedroom remodeled and had to stay in the problem room for a couple of months. During that time she kept developing ailments, at one point “that flesh-eating bacteria.” Treatment helped, but the condition worsened again after she slept in the room, and it stopped once she moved back into her remodeled bedroom. Host Art Bell responds that it is fascinating and wonders whether places can be [quote withheld]
Reported events, in order
- 0:12
The caller says one room in the caller’s EMT partner’s grandmother’s house in Waterbury, Connecticut, gave every family member who slept there nightmares and sleeplessness.
- 0:27
The caller says the family spoke of a man seen walking around the grandmother’s house, though the partner had never seen it and got their best night’s sleep in the room.
- 0:46
The partner, sleeping at their own house a few towns away, dreams of a man in turn-of-the-century clothing walking up the stairs of the grandmother’s house.
- 1:08
In the dream they follow the man. At the top of the stairs there is a scream and bright white light, and they wake.
- 1:20
The next day the family, who had never described the figure to the partner, talk about what the ghost looks like, and the description matches the dream figure.
- 1:37
The grandmother stays in the problem room for a couple of months during a remodel of her own bedroom and repeatedly falls ill, including flesh-eating bacteria.
- 1:59
Her condition improved with treatment, worsened again when she slept in the room, and stopped after she moved back into her remodeled bedroom.
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).
- hearsay· 0:12
Every family member who slept in one room of the grandmother’s house had horrible nightmares and could never sleep.
- hearsay· 0:27
The partner’s family said they saw a man walking around the grandmother’s house.
- hearsay· 0:37
The partner had never seen the figure or stayed at the house, and got their best night’s sleep in that room.
- hearsay· 0:54
In a dream the partner saw a man in turn-of-the-century clothing walking up the stairs of the grandmother’s house.
- hearsay· 1:11
In the dream there was a blood-curdling scream and bright white light at the top of the stairs.
- interpretation· 1:30
The family’s description of the ghost matched the figure seen in the partner’s dream.
- hearsay· 1:52
The grandmother developed ailments, including flesh-eating bacteria, while sleeping in that room, and the condition worsened after sleeping there again.
- hearsay· 2:04
Her problems stopped once she moved back into her remodeled bedroom.
- host statement· 2:10
The host suggests there may be places that are literally bad, causing poor sleep and illness.
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 secondhand story relayed by a caller about an EMT partner’s family, capped at 60 by the scoring guide. It carries some concrete specifics (town, clothing, sequence) and a largely coherent chain. But ordinary explanations for both the nightmares and the dream matching the description fit easily, and no supporting detail can be checked.
Evidence for and against
- Named town and relationship: [quote withheld]
- Concrete sensory and sequence detail in the dream: [quote withheld]
- A stated sequence with a resolution: [quote withheld]
- The caller is not a witness: [quote withheld]
- No names, dates, or other checkable particulars for the partner, grandmother, or house.
- The automatic transcript is garbled in places, for example [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- Whether the pronouns in the transcript ([quote withheld]) refer to the partner or the grandmother.
- Whether the family’s description really was given without prior telling, as the caller claims.
- 0:12
- 0:54
- 2:04
What the model inferred (not said on air): The points for closeness to the source and for specificity reflect that this is a relayed story from a partner who is mentioned but not named, about third parties. The points for internal consistency and calibration reflect a coherent but low-detail story with no checking of claims.
Only the caller’s spoken word is present. There are no documents, photographs, recordings, or on-air second witness. The story is secondhand even from the caller’s side.
Evidence for and against
- A consistent story recounted on air.
- No physical evidence or documentation is mentioned.
- No second witness speaks on air about these events.
- The caller has no firsthand experience of any part of the story.
- The identity of the partner and grandmother is unstated, so nothing could be checked even in principle from the transcript.
- 0:12
What the model inferred (not said on air): Under the scoring guide, a story resting on assertion alone scores 0 to 10.
The story is unsettling rather than frightening: a room tied to nightmares, a dream scream and bright light, and a reported flesh-eating bacterial infection whose severity the caller links to sleeping in that room. It is told at a distance and ends with the grandmother's recovery, which limits sustained dread.
Evidence for and against
- A room where family members [quote withheld]
- A scream and blinding light in the dream: [quote withheld]
- Serious illness linked to sleeping in the room: [quote withheld]
- The story is secondhand and told in a matter-of-fact sequence.
- It ends with the grandmother’s problems stopping: [quote withheld]
- The dream’s ending (scream and light) is described briefly, so its emotional weight is hard to gauge.
- 0:27
- 1:11
What the model inferred (not said on air): Judged as a story for a listener. No assessment of the caller’s state of mind is involved.
The setup, a haunted room and a figure in old-fashioned dress seen on a staircase, is familiar. But the combination of a family’s nightmares, a dream whose figure matches the family’s later description, and a reported pattern of illness tracking time spent in the room is a distinctive pairing.
Evidence for and against
- Unusual pairing of a dream figure with the family’s independent description.
- Illness reported to worsen with sleeping in the room and stop on leaving.
- Core motifs are stock: haunted room, nightmares, man in period clothing with top hat on a staircase, scream and white light.
- The garbled final matching line in the transcript ([quote withheld]) makes the key distinctive detail partly unclear.
- 1:30
- 0:54
What the model inferred (not said on air): A provisional model score placed at the familiar-setup-with-a-distinctive-detail level. No adjustment for comparison with the rest of the archive has been applied.
Scoring confidence 0.50 · analysis confidence 0.50 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s spoken secondhand story; No documents, recordings, or photographs mentioned; No second witness speaks on air. The originality score blends the model's score (50) 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.
- Poor sleep and nightmares in one particular bedroom could reflect an unfamiliar place to sleep, or an expectation set by the family’s repeated talk about the room. · The caller says everyone in the family who slept there “had horrible nightmares” and that the family “kept saying” things about the house.
- The dream figure matching the family’s later description could reflect earlier or incidental exposure to family talk about the ghost rather than an independent match. · The caller says their partner had heard the family speak of a man around the house, and the match is noticed only when the family [quote withheld]
- The grandmother’s reported infections had their own medical course unrelated to which room she slept in. The worsening was blamed on the room after the fact. · The caller says the condition “was being treated” and [quote withheld]
What stands out
The story links two normally separate motifs: a room blamed for family nightmares, and a reported illness whose severity the caller ties to time spent in that room. It also hinges on the family’s description of the figure apparently matching the partner’s dream. The caller is not a witness to any of it. They relay what they say an EMT partner told them about the partner’s family.
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