Shadow figure in a bathroom doorway, Chattanooga
A caller identified on air as [name withheld], in Chattanooga, tells Art Bell that as a young child they were in the bathtub one night when they saw a dark figure standing in the bathroom doorway. They describe it with the show’s term “shadow person.” They say it stayed a couple of minutes, then vanished, and that they ran naked to their mother, who told them they were imagining things. They say that only after the family moved out did their mother tell them the previous occupants had left the house because of bad experiences with ghosts 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 1:57:17). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The host places the caller in Chattanooga, and their mother calls them “[name withheld].” The caller describes an event from their childhood. The caller says that one night, with only themselves and their mother at home, they were relaxing in the bathtub when they happened to look up and saw a figure standing in the bathroom doorway. The caller says the only way they can describe it is as what Art Bell or George Noory have called a “shadow person.” The caller says they were [quote withheld] that the thing had them boxed in to the bathroom, and that they were terrified. The caller says it seemed to stay there for a couple of minutes and then simply vanished. After the shock wore off, the caller says, they got out of the tub and ran naked into the living room, where their mother was sitting, and told her they had seen a ghost. The caller says she told them they were imagining things. The caller says the interesting part came later, after the family had moved out of the house. Their mother told them she had in fact spoken to the people who had lived there before them, and those people said they had got out of the house because of a lot of bad experiences with ghosts there. The host responds that anyone would run for their mother in that situation, clothed or not. He also adds remarks about legal disclosure when selling a haunted house.
Reported events, in order
- 0:04
The caller says they were relaxing in the bathtub one night, home alone with their mother.
- 0:21
The caller says they looked up and saw a figure standing in the bathroom doorway.
- 0:23
The caller describes it as what Art Bell or George Noory have called a “shadow person.”
- 0:36
The caller says they were a little kid, boxed in by the figure, and terrified.
- 0:58
The caller says it seemed to stay a couple of minutes.
- 1:03
The caller says the figure vanished.
- 1:13
The caller says they ran naked from the bathtub into the living room and told their mother they had seen a ghost.
- 1:32
The caller says their mother told them they were imagining things.
- 1:37
The caller says that after the family moved out, their mother told them she had spoken to the previous occupants.
- 1:47
The caller says the previous occupants told their mother they had left because of bad experiences with ghosts in the house.
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· 0:23
The caller says they saw a figure standing in the bathroom doorway.
- interpretation· 0:23
The caller calls the figure a “shadow person,” the show’s own term.
- observation· 0:58
The caller says the figure seemed to stay in the doorway for a couple of minutes.
- observation· 1:03
The caller says the figure vanished.
- interpretation· 1:13
The caller says they told their mother they had seen a ghost.
- hearsay· 1:47
The caller says their mother told them the previous occupants left because of bad experiences with ghosts in the house.
- host statement· 2:28
The host says that sellers must legally tell buyers that a house is haunted.
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 story that holds together, with a clear sequence and answers to the host’s questions. But it is thin on specifics (no date, no description beyond “shadow person”), and an ordinary explanation of a child’s perception in a dim bathroom fits easily.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand, direct story from the person who reports seeing it (source proximity).
- Coherent order: bathtub, figure in doorway, pause, vanishing, running to mother (internal consistency).
- The caller says they do not know how to describe it rather than escalating the description (some calibration).
- No date, and no physical description beyond a borrowed label.
- The caller was a child, and the mother’s immediate reaction was that they were imagining things.
- A shadow or random-shape explanation fits the setting easily.
- No date or year is given, so the claim cannot be placed in time.
- The labels showing who is speaking in the transcript are unreliable in places.
- This is the second part of a longer call, and the opening is missing.
- 0:36
- 1:03
What the model inferred (not said on air): These are my judgments on each part of the score. The alternative-explanations part is the main drag on the score.
The story rests on the caller’s own word, with a place name (Chattanooga) and a first name given but no date or address, and no documentation. A second party (the previous occupants) is claimed to have had related experiences but does not speak on air.
Evidence for and against
- Place named on air (Chattanooga).
- The caller’s first name given on air.
- A claimed third party (the previous occupants) is said to back up the idea of a haunted house.
- Nothing checkable: no date, address, record, photo, or recording.
- The party said to back up the story never speaks on air.
- No documentation, recording, or photo is offered.
- The “previous occupants” claim is unverified and passed along twice.
- 1:47
What the model inferred (not said on air): My application of the band definitions: the caller’s word plus a claimed second party who does not speak, and no physical evidence.
A child, alone in a bath, seeing a dark figure blocking the only exit is an intrusion into a vulnerable, safe space and is presented as frightening. The brief telling and the lack of threat, contact, or escalation keep it from the higher bands.
Evidence for and against
- A figure appears in a bathroom doorway, blocking the caller’s exit.
- The caller describes themselves as a “little kid” and “terrified.”
- No physical contact, harm, or threat is reported.
- The figure simply vanishes, and the story ends without escalation.
- Very brief story, with no sustained escalation in this part of the broadcast.
- 0:36
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment of the story’s effect on a listener, not a claim about the events.
A shadow figure in a doorway is a recurring motif. Here it gets a distinctive twist from the setting (a child in the bath, “boxed in”) and from the caller borrowing the show’s own “shadow person” label.
Evidence for and against
- A named, recurring genre element (shadow person) applied to a specific home scene.
- Distinctive detail of the situation: naked in the bathtub, boxed in by the figure.
- The core image, a dark figure in a doorway, is one of the most common ghost motifs.
- The comparison with the rest of the archive is provisional for a small pilot.
- The caller’s own telling borrows from the show’s vocabulary.
- 0:23
What the model inferred (not said on air): My judgment is that the shadow-figure setup is stock, while the bathtub, naked, and “boxed in” detail is the distinctive element.
Scoring confidence 0.68 · analysis confidence 0.72 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story (a single on-air witness); A claimed but unverified secondhand report about the previous occupants, passed along through the caller’s mother. The originality score blends the model's score (45) 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.
- Seeing a face or figure in random shapes, or a shadow in low light in the bathroom doorway, misread by a child as a figure. · The caller reports only a dark, undescribed form in a doorway and says they do not know how to describe it ([quote withheld]).
- A child’s imagination, or a misperception while relaxed in a warm bath, consistent with the mother’s stated view. · The caller says they were [quote withheld] and that their mother told them [quote withheld]
What stands out
The core image, a shadow figure in a doorway, is common. But the setting (a child boxed in while naked in a bathtub) and the fact that the mother first dismissed the sighting and only later relayed the previous occupants’ story give the account a specific shape. The caller says they do not know how to describe what they saw and fall back on the show’s own “shadow person” vocabulary.
Related stories
Matched by shared recurring details, categories, and wording.