Teenage boy on a headstone identified from a photo as the caller’s uncle
Chad, calling from a truck somewhere in Pennsylvania, tells Art Bell that about three years after their grandmother died in 1991, several family friends reported a teenage boy sitting on her headstone who would run off when approached. Chad says they went to the grave themselves and saw the boy drinking a Coke while perched on the headstone. They chased the boy and watched him stop, smile, and disappear at the treeline. Their grandfather then showed them a photograph and identified the figure as Chad’s uncle, the grandmother’s brother, who died in 1988. The grandfather said the uncle was watching over her as he had been asked to do.
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 2:08:36). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
Chad, speaking by phone from a truck somewhere in Pennsylvania, says their grandmother died in 1991. About three years later, Chad says, several family friends told the family that when they went out to her grave, a teenage boy was sitting on her headstone before they could reach it. He would run off over the hill. Chad describes the grave as the last on its row, going down a hill with a bit of woods at the bottom. After three or four people said something about it, Chad says they decided to go out and catch whoever was sitting there and [quote withheld] Chad says they went out and saw the boy sitting there with one foot propped on the headstone, drinking a Coke. Chad started walking over. At about twenty feet away the figure hopped off and ran down the hill. Chad says they ran after it, and at the top of the hill, just as the figure was about to enter the trees, it stopped, looked back at them, smiled, and “just dissipated.” Chad says they then went back to the grandfather’s house and mentioned it. The grandfather smiled, went upstairs, came back with a photograph, and showed it to Chad. According to Chad, the photograph showed their uncle, their grandmother’s older brother, who died in 1988, as a teenager. Chad says the grandfather told them that on the day they buried the grandmother, the uncle had walked over to the grandfather (or to the uncle’s own grave, two rows over) and said, [quote withheld] The grandfather, per Chad, concluded that the figure was the uncle [quote withheld] Art Bell compares it to spirits caught in a repeating loop and later suggests it might be an “echo” rather than the human spirit. No ending to the sightings is stated.
Reported events, in order
- 0:25
Chad says their grandmother passed away in 1991.
- 0:38
About three years later, several family friends report that a teenage boy is sitting on her headstone and runs off over the hill when they approach.
- 0:54
Chad describes the grave as the last on its row, going down a hill with a small woods at the bottom.
- 1:00
After three or four people mention it, Chad decides to go out and catch whoever is sitting there.
- 1:12
Chad says they go out and see the boy sitting on the headstone with a foot propped up, drinking a Coke.
- 1:37
At about twenty feet away, the figure hops off and runs down the hill. Chad runs after it.
- 1:44
At the treeline the figure stops, looks back, smiles, and disappears.
- 1:59
Chad returns to the grandfather’s house and tells him. The grandfather fetches a photograph.
- 2:06
The photograph is said to show Chad’s uncle, the grandmother’s older brother, who died in 1988, as a teenager.
- 2:15
Chad reports the grandfather’s story of what the uncle said on the day of the grandmother’s burial, and his conclusion that the figure was the uncle watching over her.
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· 0:38
Several family friends reported a teenage boy sitting on the grandmother’s headstone who ran off when they approached. They were unnamed.
- observation· 1:17
Chad says they themselves went to the grave and saw the boy sitting on the headstone with a foot propped on it, drinking a Coke.
- observation· 1:49
Chad says the figure hopped off at about twenty feet, ran down the hill, then stopped at the trees, looked back, smiled, and vanished.
- interpretation· 2:06
The figure was Chad’s uncle, the grandmother’s older brother, who died in 1988. The grandfather made the identification from a photograph.
- hearsay· 2:15
The grandfather said the uncle had spoken to him at the grandmother’s burial, asking him to watch after her. Chad reports this secondhand.
- interpretation· 2:28
The grandfather concluded the figure was the uncle sitting there watching over the grandmother as asked.
- host statement· 2:58
Art Bell suggests such figures may be an “echo” rather than the actual human spirit.
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.
Firsthand sighting of a described figure by the caller, with concrete detail and a coherent sequence. This is offset by the fact that a living teenager on a grave fits most of the reports, and by a confusing timeline in the grandfather’s story.
Evidence for and against
- [quote withheld]
- [quote withheld]
- [quote withheld]
- The earlier sightings are credited to unspecified friends rather than to Chad.
- The one unexplained element, the vanishing, happens at a treeline, at a distance, which an ordinary reading can absorb.
- The grandfather’s statement that the uncle spoke at the burial is hard to square with the stated 1988 death of the uncle and the 1991 burial.
- “Right beside her” is unclear as to whose grave adjoins the grandmother’s.
- 1:17
- 1:49
What the model inferred (not said on air): Judgment on each part of the score: source proximity 19 (firsthand for the core sighting, hearsay for the recurring reports); specificity 14 (dates, state, physical detail, but no names for the grave, town, or friends); internal consistency 15 (ordered sequence, minor timeline and pronoun confusion); alternative explanations 4 (a living teenager fits most of the reported behavior); calibration of claims 10 (the caller separates their sighting from the grandfather’s identification and does not escalate, but does not consider the ordinary reading). Total 62. No cap applies, as the story is presented as an experience, not as fiction.
Only the caller’s word, plus claimed witnesses and a claimed photograph that was not produced or examined on air. Some checkable specifics (years, state) are given but unchecked.
Evidence for and against
- [quote withheld] are said to have seen the figure.
- [quote withheld] A photograph is claimed to exist and to have been shown to the caller.
- The host does not describe the photograph, and it cannot be examined from the transcript.
- The friends and the grandfather do not speak on air.
- Whether any photograph still exists or could be produced is unstated.
- 2:06
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placed at the top of the 11 to 25 band because claimed witnesses and a claimed document are present. The hard cap of 50 without an outside check is not approached.
The cemetery setting, a figure perched on a gravestone, and its silent smile before vanishing are mildly unsettling. But the story resolves into a protective family tale with an everyday detail (a bottle of Coke) and no threat or harm.
Evidence for and against
- [quote withheld]
- Reports of a figure waiting at a grave who flees when people approach.
- [quote withheld] frames the presence as harmless.
- The Coke and the photograph give the story a homey, non-threatening tone.
- No harm, physical contact, or escalation is reported anywhere in this part of the broadcast.
- 1:49
What the model inferred (not said on air): Positioned between the “mildly eerie” (30) anchor and the “genuinely unsettling” (50) anchor. The threatening elements are absent, so I stayed at the lower end.
The graveyard encounter with a fleeing figure is a familiar setup. But the identification of the figure through a family photograph and the grandfather’s framing of the presence as a requested duty add distinctive details.
Evidence for and against
- [quote withheld] The identification comes by photograph after the sighting.
- [quote withheld] The purpose is an errand, not a haunting.
- Sitting on a headstone, fleeing when approached, and vanishing at the treeline are stock cemetery-ghost elements.
- The published originality score is computed compared with the rest of the archive. With a small archive the model score carries most of the weight, and the figure is provisional.
- 1:17
What the model inferred (not said on air): My provisional model score is 58: familiar setup (roughly 50) plus one or two truly unusual particulars (the photograph identification, the assigned watch).
Scoring confidence 0.72 · analysis confidence 0.78 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story by telephone; Claimed witnesses (three or four unnamed family friends) who do not speak on air; Claimed photograph, described secondhand by the caller; not produced or examined. The originality score blends the model's score (58) 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 local teenager sitting on the headstone who ran away when approached. That would account for the friends’ sightings, Chad’s approach, and the flight down the hill. · [quote withheld] and the figure’s habit of running off when people came close.
- Distance and terrain: at roughly twenty feet and at a treeline, a running figure could be lost to view without any disappearance, which Chad described as dissipating. · [quote withheld] and the woods at the bottom of the hill.
What stands out
The figure is not simply seen and described. A relative identifies it from a family photograph after the sighting, and the grandfather frames the recurring presence not as a haunting but as a protective errand ([quote withheld]). The ordinary detail of the figure drinking a Coca-Cola on the headstone is also distinctive.
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