Morse code reported coming from a microwave after the caller’s mother died
A caller the host calls “Alabama Annie” tells Art Bell that after their mother died the previous February, they took their mother’s childhood mirror and put it in front of a microwave. They then began hearing Morse code coming from the appliance. The caller says they taped what they could and still have the tapes. The caller says they could hear only one side of what seemed like an exchange, and partly decoded letters and numbers but no clear message. Art says he would like to hear the tapes and offers an ordinary possibility for the sounds.
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 1:27:34). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, introduced by the host as “alabama annie,” opens by telling Art Bell that they know he is good with Morse code and that their mother died “last february.” The caller went to their mother’s house and collected her things, especially a small mirror their mother was fond of from growing up. The caller says they set the mirror in front of the microwave, after which they began picking up Morse code from the microwave. The caller reports that they quickly got out their tape recorder and recorded as much as they could until their tapes were used up. They say they still have the tapes and ask whether they can send them to Art. They say they heard only one side of it. The transmissions would pause after several sentences and leave time for an answer, and they did not pick up that side.
In response to Art’s questions, the caller confirms it was a microwave oven and describes what they heard as [quote withheld] The caller says they have studied Morse code and tried for years to pass their amateur license, and that they have it on tape. The caller tells Art they searched the internet for similar stories and found one woman who said she was also picking up Morse on her microwave. Asked whether they decoded any of it, the caller says it sounded like acronyms and abbreviations that they could not work out, though they made out letters and numbers. The caller says some of it was ambiguous because the code ran together so fast that they could not tell where words began and ended or tell similar letter and number sequences apart. The caller repeats that they will send the tapes.
The caller then adds that in the same house they and their mother grew up with their grandmother, who died in the hospital. The caller went to a third house and got their grandmother’s mirror, which had been in a fourth house in Virginia, where the grandmother grew up and where she also died in the hospital. Art thanks the caller and says he would enjoy hearing the tapes. He speculates that a microwave’s normal end-of-cycle beeping might have gone haywire. He says one could conclude it was random dots and dashes or that there was [quote withheld]
Reported events, in order
- 0:04
The caller says their mother died the previous February. The caller went to their mother’s house and collected her things, especially a small mirror their mother was fond of while growing up.
- 0:22
The caller says they set the mirror in front of the microwave.
- 0:26
The caller reports that they began picking up Morse code over the microwave.
- 0:30
The caller says they got out their tape recorder and recorded as much as they could until their tapes were completely used up, and that they still have them.
- 1:11
The caller says they heard only one side of a conversation. The code paused after several sentences to allow an answer, and they did not pick up the other side.
- 1:19
The caller says they searched the internet and found one woman who claimed to be picking up Morse on her microwave too.
- 1:41
Art asks whether the caller decoded it. The caller says it sounded like acronyms and abbreviations they could not figure out, though they made out letters and numbers, and that it was ambiguous because the code ran together.
- 2:18
The caller says they are going to send the tapes to Art.
- 2:23
The caller adds that they and their mother grew up with their grandmother in the same house, that the grandmother died in the hospital, and that they went to a third house and got their grandmother’s mirror, which had been in a fourth house in Virginia, where the grandmother grew up.
- 2:54
Art says he would enjoy hearing the tapes, suggests the microwave’s own end-of-cycle beeping may have gone haywire, and says one could conclude it was random dots and dashes or that there was some sort of intelligence behind 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· 0:04
The caller says their mother died the previous February and that they collected their mother’s belongings, especially a small mirror.
- observation· 0:22
The caller says they set the mirror in front of the microwave.
- observation· 0:26
The caller reports that they began picking up Morse code over the microwave.
- observation· 0:30
The caller says they recorded the sounds with a tape recorder until their tapes were used up, and that they still have them.
- observation· 0:56
The caller describes the sound as dots and dashes and notes that they know Morse code.
- observation· 1:11
The caller says the transmission behaved like one side of a two-way exchange, pausing for replies they did not hear.
- hearsay· 1:29
The caller says they found one other person on the internet who claimed to pick up Morse code on her microwave.
- observation· 1:41
The caller says the code sounded like acronyms and abbreviations they could not interpret, though they made out letters and numbers.
- host statement· 3:04
Art Bell offers the microwave’s ordinary beeping as a possible source.
- host statement· 3:16
Art Bell says he has never heard of a code-sending microwave and that the sounds could be random or have some intelligence behind them.
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 first-person story with a few concrete objects and a claim that limits itself (one side of an exchange, only letters and numbers decoded). But it has no checkable names, dates, or places beyond “Alabama.” The caller’s own description of the signal as fast and ambiguous makes an ordinary source easy to suggest.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand story from the person who says they heard and recorded the sounds
- Concrete objects named: their mother’s mirror, the microwave, a tape recorder and tapes
- The caller limits the claim ([quote withheld]) and says they could not interpret the decoded letters
- The caller says the tapes still exist and offers to send them to the host
- No checkable details such as an address, a model, or an exact date for the recording
- The caller never turned the code into anything meaningful
- The final section about houses, grandmother, and mirrors is fragmentary and confused in the transcript
- An ordinary source fits easily and is raised on air: [quote withheld]
- The transcript cannot establish whether the tapes exist or what they contain
- The garbled automatic transcript makes parts of the caller’s lines uncertain
- The caller never says what they think caused the sounds
- 0:26
- 1:06
- 1:51
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score reflects the shape of an honest-sounding story, not any judgment of the caller. The caller tells it firsthand, is specific about objects, and is modest about conclusions. But no one backs it up and it has no checkable detail. I scored the alternative-explanations part low because a malfunctioning or beeping appliance is an easy fit, not because the caller is doubted.
The caller claims a physical recording exists ([quote withheld]) that was not played or examined on air, and the caller offers to mail it. That places the story in the scoring guide’s level for claimed but unexamined physical evidence.
Evidence for and against
- Physical evidence claimed to exist and said to be in their possession: [quote withheld]
- The caller offers to send the tapes so they could in principle be examined: [quote withheld]
- No tape was played, described by the host as received, or otherwise examined during this part of the broadcast
- No named place, date, model, or file reference that could be checked independently
- The similar story the caller cites is a secondhand internet claim, not a second witness
- Whether the tapes were ever sent or exist
- Whether any audio would be understandable
- Errors in the automatic transcript in the relevant lines
- 0:38
- 2:18
What the model inferred (not said on air): I place this at the lower end of the 26 to 40 range because the claimed tapes were not produced, played, or verified on air, and no checkable identifiers come with them.
The story is quietly eerie rather than frightening: an unexplained code-like signal in a household appliance, linked by the caller to a recent death, with no threat, no visible presence, and no resolution.
Evidence for and against
- The caller ties the timing of the events to their mother’s death in February
- The code is described as behaving like one side of a conversation, with pauses for replies they did not hear
- This part of the broadcast ends without explanation, with the host leaving both an ordinary reading and an “intelligence” reading open
- No figure, threat, physical contact, or harm reported
- The caller speaks conversationally, and the host treats the claim largely with humor and guesswork
- No stated location or setting detail such as time of day, which limits the atmosphere the story can build
- 1:11
- 3:16
What the model inferred (not said on air): The mild score comes from a strange signal intruding into an ordinary home appliance soon after a death. With no menacing element, it stays well below the frightening examples.
The core event, Morse code apparently sent by a microwave oven and captured on tape, is not a stock ghost-story element. The setting (a recently dead parent, an object from their house) uses familiar bereavement-omen material.
Evidence for and against
- A code-like signal attributed to a kitchen appliance rather than a figure or a place
- The caller claims to hold a recording of the event and offers it to the host
- The one-sided transmission gives the story a distinctive structure
- The trigger, a keepsake of a recently dead mother placed in the home, is a familiar bereavement motif
- The [quote withheld] element is a common storytelling device
- This score is provisional. The comparison with the rest of the archive is calculated later and, with few pilot stories, carries little weight
- 0:26
- 0:56
What the model inferred (not said on air): The central event is unusual for the genre while the bereavement setting around it is conventional, so I place my score in the high range but short of 95.
Scoring confidence 0.55 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s own firsthand story; Claimed audio recording (tapes), said to be in the caller’s possession, not played or examined on air; Hearsay reference to an unnamed woman’s similar internet story. The originality score blends the model's score (78) 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.
- The microwave’s own electronic beeps, or a malfunctioning cycle signal, produced patterned tones that were heard as Morse code. · Art raises this directly: [quote withheld]
- A listener who studies Morse code read letters and numbers into a fast, ambiguous signal that does not form meaningful text. · The caller says the code [quote withheld]
- Stray radio signals, or a real Morse transmission picked up by nearby equipment and recorded, rather than coming from the microwave. · The caller says they have been trying to pass an amateur radio license and have studied code. The transcript does not say where the recording was made or what else was in the room.
What stands out
The strange thing here is not a figure or a haunting but a code-like signal said to come from a household microwave soon after a parent’s death. The caller offers to mail the recordings to the host. The caller also declines to say what it was, so the tapes are the only claimed physical evidence.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.