A lost ringtone plays, then a dark figure leaves the bedroom
A caller the host introduces as [quote withheld] describes events beginning about two and a half years after a friend’s suicide. The caller reports that a ringtone they had lost from their cell phone sounded from the bathroom one night. The next morning they woke unable to move, heard a toilet flush with no one else in their apartment, and saw a dark unclothed figure apparently leaving their bedroom. The caller says they do not know whether it was their friend reassuring them. The host offers association or coincidence, and the call ends there.
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 2010.mp3”, starting at 2:11:40). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The host introduces the caller as [quote withheld] The caller says their friend [quote withheld] The caller says they were worried and thought about the friend constantly. The caller kept a cell-phone ringtone that reminded them of their friend and decided never to change it. After what they call technical difficulties with the phone, the caller says, one night, lying in bed, they had lost all the pictures and ringtones on it. The phone was lying in their bathroom, and they report hearing the lost ringtone sound from there. The caller says they first assumed [quote withheld] The caller reports that the next morning they woke and heard the toilet flush in that same bathroom, although, they say, nobody else was in their apartment. The caller believed they were in sleep paralysis. The caller says they could not move and could not tell if they were asleep or dreaming. After several seconds they managed to roll over and saw [quote withheld] apparently sneaking out of their bedroom. The caller says they do not know whether it was their friend [quote withheld] The host replies that the brain associates such things with what makes sense, and that it could be that or “simple coincidence.” The call ends there, and no resolution is given.
Reported events, in order
- 0:09
The caller says their friend committed suicide about two and a half years earlier.
- 0:24
The caller says they were worried about their friend and constantly thinking about the friend at that time.
- 0:31
The caller says they kept a cell-phone ringtone that reminded them of their friend and decided never to change it.
- 0:54
The caller reports ongoing technical difficulties with the phone, and that one night they had lost all its pictures and ringtones.
- 1:06
The phone was lying in their bathroom while they were in bed.
- 1:11
They heard the lost ringtone, the one that reminded them of their friend, sound from the bathroom.
- 1:19
The caller says they first thought it might be some kind of glitch with the phone.
- 1:45
The following morning, on waking, they heard the toilet flush in that same bathroom, though they say nobody else was in their apartment. They took the state to be sleep paralysis.
- 1:59
They could not move and could not tell whether they were asleep or dreaming.
- 2:10
After several seconds they were able to roll over.
- 2:22
The caller reports seeing a black, unclothed figure, which appeared to be sneaking out of their bedroom from the bathroom.
- 2:31
The caller says they do not know whether it was their friend [quote withheld]
- 2:50
The host responds that the brain associates such things with what makes sense, and that it could be that or simple coincidence.
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· 0:09
The caller says a friend of theirs committed suicide about two and a half years before the broadcast.
- observation· 0:31
The caller says they kept a cell-phone ringtone that reminded them of the friend and decided never to change it.
- observation· 1:00
The caller reports that one night, lying in bed, they had lost all pictures and ringtones from the phone, which was in the bathroom.
- observation· 1:14
The caller reports hearing the ringtone linked to their friend, a ringtone they had lost, sound from the bathroom.
- observation· 1:45
The caller reports waking, hearing the toilet flush in that bathroom with nobody else in their apartment, and taking it to be sleep paralysis.
- observation· 1:59
The caller reports being unable to move and unable to tell whether they were awake or dreaming.
- observation· 2:22
The caller reports seeing a black, unclothed figure apparently sneaking out of their bedroom.
- interpretation· 2:31
The caller wonders whether the figure was their dead friend offering reassurance. They say plainly that they do not know.
- host statement· 2:50
The host suggests the brain links such experiences with things that make sense, and that it could equally be coincidence.
- host statement· 2:56
The host says the sighting may be simple coincidence.
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.
A firsthand but brief story with no one to back it up, and with an ordinary explanation (sleep paralysis) that the caller names and that fits the reported symptoms. Specificity is moderate, and the order of events is slightly tangled. It scores in the region of a typical brief firsthand story rather than a detailed, consistency-tested one.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story of their own experience throughout.
- Concrete details of the sequence: a specific ringtone kept deliberately, the phone left in the bathroom, rolling over after several seconds.
- The caller does not escalate: they call the ringtone [quote withheld] and end with “I don't know.”
- The caller names an obvious ordinary fit ([quote withheld]), which the scoring guide treats as an easy alternative explanation.
- The sequence is self-corrected and jumbled: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- No names, dates, address, or any detail that could be checked are given.
- Speech-to-text errors and overlapping labels make parts of the order of events uncertain ([quote withheld]).
- The caller’s age and the exact dates are unstated.
- 0:09
- 1:45
- 1:19
What the model inferred (not said on air): The weights for each part of the score, and the match to the scoring guide’s 40 ([quote withheld]) and 55 ([quote withheld]), are my judgment. The transcript supplies no verification either way.
The claim rests entirely on the caller’s word, with no examined documentation and no on-air second witness. Under the scoring guide this falls in the 0 to 10 band, at the upper end because a location was stated and a device is named.
Evidence for and against
- The story is the caller’s own account.
- A location is given (“Ardmore, Oklahoma”), but by the host, not the caller.
- No physical evidence is claimed to exist: the phone and its file history are described but not produced or examined.
- No second witness. The caller states they were alone.
- No outside check was performed.
- No information about whether the phone, its files, or any service record could be checked.
- 1:14
- 1:45
What the model inferred (not said on air): Assigning the top of the lowest band reflects that a phone, if kept, could in principle be inspected. But nothing of the kind is present in this part of the broadcast.
The bedroom setting, momentary paralysis, and a dark figure near the bed give it a truly unsettling cast. The calm delivery, the absence of threat or contact, and the lack of escalation keep it below the frightening band.
Evidence for and against
- Backdrop of a friend’s suicide.
- An unexplained sound from a device in the dark.
- Intrusion into the bedroom: paralysis, a flush with no one present, and a dark unclothed figure apparently slipping out of the bedroom.
- The story ends without explanation.
- The story is told at a conversational pace, and the caller repeatedly hedges.
- No reported injury, threat, or physical contact. The figure is described only as leaving.
- The host’s closing remarks defuse the story rather than amplify it.
- Whether the figure is described as facing the caller or only glimpsed leaving is not clear from the transcript.
- 2:22
- 1:59
What the model inferred (not said on air): This is a judgment about the story as heard, not about whether anything happened.
The familiar sleep-paralysis setup carries one truly distinctive element, a deleted ringtone sounding from another room, which lifts it above stock material. The published originality score is provisional: with a small pilot archive, the novelty part carries little weight.
Evidence for and against
- The distinctive detail is a ringtone the caller says they had already lost, playing from a phone left in the bathroom.
- The sound is immediately followed by a toilet flush in the same room, an unusual pairing.
- Paralysis on waking with a dark figure in the bedroom is a stock sleep-paralysis motif.
- A dead friend and a sign after death is a familiar setup.
- How new this is compared with the rest of the archive cannot be assessed from a single transcript.
- 1:00
- 1:11
What the model inferred (not said on air): The provisional model score is my own judgment from the content, compared with common ghost-story motifs. The value compared with the rest of the archive depends on the archive and cannot be computed here.
Scoring confidence 0.55 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story only.; No name for the friend, no dates beyond [quote withheld] no address.; No claimed photograph, recording, or document. The cell phone and its file history are described but not produced or examined.; No second witness. The caller states they were alone in their apartment.. 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.
- Sleep paralysis with a hallucination around sleep: the inability to move and the figure seen on waking fit this state, which the caller names themselves. · The caller says [quote withheld] and that they could not move or tell whether they were awake or dreaming. That is the classic setting for hallucinated images and sounds on waking.
- A phone fault or glitch: a corrupted or partly restored tone could in principle play a sound the user believed deleted. No phone, file list, or repair record is examined in the transcript. · The caller says they first thought [quote withheld] and they had already had “technical difficulties” and lost files.
- Building plumbing or a sound fragment from a waking dream, rather than a person: the sound is attributed to a toilet in a specific room, with no witness. · The flush is heard from the bathroom where the phone was. The caller says [quote withheld] but gives no supporting detail.
What stands out
The distinctive element is a ringtone the caller says they had already lost, sounding from a phone left in the bathroom. A toilet flush and a dark figure apparently leaving their bedroom follow right after. They also offer the sleep-paralysis explanation themselves rather than presenting the experience as clearly paranormal.
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