A deadbolted fire door opening repeatedly, and a child seen in a window at a state institution
A caller the host identifies as [name withheld], a corrections officer and zone sergeant at a large state institution, describes a heavy steel fire door in an unused former mental-health building. The caller says the door was found open at least twice a week for about six weeks, though no one inside the perimeter held a key. After an inspection at about 3 a.m., they say, they and four officers saw a blonde girl of roughly eight to ten years old in a second-floor window. She waved. The caller reports no further trouble with the door.
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 2013.mp3”, starting at 39:56). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The host introduces the caller as [name withheld] from Illinois. [name withheld] asks the listener to picture a corrections officer working a midnight shift. At the start of each shift, [name withheld] explains, officers are sent out to check the fence sensors. They make an external perimeter check and an internal perimeter check, which includes making sure the doors and windows on the buildings are secured. Asked by the host, [name withheld] says the facility is a state institution with a population of about 2,350, and that they were a zone sergeant.
[name withheld] says part of the institution had been handed over from the Department of Mental Health. One building, across a service road from another old mental health building that held inmates, was itself uninhabited. On its basement level there was, and still is, an extremely heavy steel fire door. For about six weeks, [name withheld] says, officers would find that door open at least twice a week. [name withheld] says no alarm was fitted, the building dates from about 1910, and the door was secured with deadbolts. [name withheld] contrasts this with occasional doors left unsecured after evening classes, noting nothing was going on in this building. [name withheld] says no staff inside the perimeter had a key to that door. The key was kept in the communications room and required the shift commander’s written authorization.
[name withheld] describes getting authorization from the captain. [name withheld] told the captain they wanted to do a security check rather than explain the real reason. [name withheld] went in with four officers, found the place empty, and secured the door. This pattern continued, and after three or four weeks the captain grew curious. At about six weeks, during an emergency count at around three o’clock in the morning, the group inspected again and found nothing. They secured the door and were walking down the service road between the two buildings when [name withheld] turned and saw a blonde girl of about eight to ten in a second-floor window at the end of the wing. [name withheld] called the officers over. [name withheld] says their jaws went slack. [name withheld] asked whether they saw a little girl, and they said yes. Then she raised her right hand and waved. [name withheld] says they never saw her again and never had any more problems with that door. [name withheld] says the incident did not go in their reports. Asked about her connection, [name withheld] notes that the buildings were old mental health buildings and that children had been there too, since some of their officers had worked there when it was still operating.
Reported events, in order
- 0:41
The caller, introduced as [name withheld] from Illinois, sets the scene as a corrections officer on a midnight shift at a state institution with about 2,350 inmates.
- 1:49
The caller explains that part of the institution came from the Department of Mental Health and that an uninhabited building had an extremely heavy steel fire door in its basement.
- 2:27
For about six weeks, at least twice a week, that fire door was found open. It was deadbolted, and no one inside the perimeter held a key.
- 4:07
The caller gets written authorization from the captain for the specific key and inspects with four officers. The building is empty, and they secure the door.
- 5:53
The captain becomes curious after three or four weeks of repeated requests for the key.
- 6:22
At around three o’clock in the morning, during an emergency count, they inspect again, find nothing, and secure the door.
- 7:10
Walking down the service road between the two buildings, the caller looks up and sees a blonde girl of about eight to ten in a second-floor window at the end of the wing.
- 7:30
The caller calls the four officers over. The caller says the officers react strongly and confirm they see a little girl.
- 7:55
The girl raises her right hand and waves at them.
- 8:05
The caller says they never saw her again and never had further problems with the door. It was not written in the reports.
- 8:24
Asked about her connection, the caller says the buildings were old mental health buildings and that children had been there, as some of their officers had worked there when it operated.
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· 2:33
The heavy steel fire door in the basement of the unused building was found open at least twice a week for about six weeks.
- observation· 3:26
No staff inside the perimeter held a key to that particular door. It required the shift commander’s authorization.
- observation· 4:34
When the caller inspected with four officers, the building was empty and they secured the door.
- observation· 7:21
The caller saw a blonde girl of about eight to ten years old in a second-floor window.
- observation· 7:40
The caller’s four officers also reacted as though they saw the girl when the caller pointed her out.
- observation· 7:55
The girl raised her right hand and waved at them.
- observation· 8:09
After the sighting the caller never saw her again and had no further problems with the door.
- hearsay· 8:53
Children had been present in the mental health buildings when they were in operation.
- host statement· 9:12
The host describes the events as something physical being manipulated by something else.
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 firsthand story from a named caller. It has concrete details about the institution (shift routines, key control, population figure, building age) and a coherent sequence that answers the host’s questions. No one on air backs it up, and the caller’s own telling does not separate what they saw from what they inferred about the girl.
Evidence for and against
- A firsthand witness story of both the door and the figure.
- Specific procedural detail: the key was kept in the communications room under the shift commander’s authorization.
- A coherent timeline from repeated door openings to the single sighting and its end.
- None of the four officers the caller names as second witnesses backs them up on air.
- The building and institution are never named, and no dates for the events are given.
- The link between the door openings and the figure is left unexplained, even by the caller.
- The caller does not say in what decade this happened.
- The labels showing who is speaking shift during the story, so a few lines are hard to attribute.
- 3:26
- 7:21
- 8:09
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score reflects a detailed, orderly firsthand story that could in principle be checked (institution, door, key policy). But it offers no names or dates, and no independent witness speaks on air.
The caller gives specifics that sound checkable: a state institution of about 2,350, buildings from the era of mental-health care and from around 1910, and a key held in a communications room. But the caller names nothing that could actually be looked up, and the four second witnesses are only claimed.
Evidence for and against
- Institutional details that could in principle be checked (population size, building history, key control).
- Several witnesses are claimed: four officers said to be present at the sighting.
- No institution name, no dates, and no names of the officers or captain are given.
- No documentation, log entry, photograph, or recording is offered. The caller says the incident was left out of the reports.
- Whether the four officers would confirm the story is unknown.
- 1:17
- 7:40
- 8:14
What the model inferred (not said on air): The score is in the low range because support is the caller’s assertion plus claimed witnesses, with specifics that sound checkable but are unnamed. No physical evidence is claimed or examined.
The repeated breach of a locked door, open only with special authorization, in an unused former mental-health building at night is quietly unsettling. The payoff, a child waving from a dark upper window, is eerie but not threatening.
Evidence for and against
- A deadbolted door that only a specially authorized key can secure repeatedly stands open.
- A child figure is seen at night in the window of an empty institutional building.
- The setting: disused former mental health buildings lit only by perimeter lights.
- No threat, harm, or physical contact is described.
- The figure waves and the activity reportedly stops afterward, giving a calm ending.
- The caller gives little description of what they sensed beyond the girl’s age and blonde hair.
- 6:59
- 7:55
What the model inferred (not said on air): The unsettling quality comes from the institutional setting plus a locked door opening by itself. The child’s wave reads as wistful more than menacing, which keeps the score mid-range.
This is a familiar setup, a figure in the window of an old institution, joined with a distinctive, concrete detail: a heavy steel fire door that requires a specially authorized key and is nonetheless found open twice a week for six weeks.
Evidence for and against
- Unusual emphasis on the key-control procedure as the central puzzle.
- The door activity reportedly ends after the sighting.
- A child figure at the window of an old mental-health building is a widely used ghost-story element.
- The ghost itself is described in minimal terms.
- This score is provisional. The comparison with the rest of the archive is limited in this pilot.
- 2:20
- 7:52
What the model inferred (not said on air): It is rated as a familiar supernatural setup with one distinctive procedural detail, not an unprecedented event.
Scoring confidence 0.75 · analysis confidence 0.80 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: The caller’s firsthand story; Claimed second witnesses (four officers) who do not speak on air; No documentation; the caller says the incident was left out of the reports. 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.
- The door was not fully latching, or the deadbolt or hardware on an old heavy steel door failed now and then, letting it stand open. · The caller describes an [quote withheld] in a building built around 1910. The caller says doors left unsecured elsewhere were a known, if infrequent, occurrence.
- Someone with legitimate or borrowed access opened the door between checks. · The caller says doors were sometimes found open after evening-shift use elsewhere and that the key was held in the communications room under the captain’s authority.
- The figure in the window was misperceived in poor light at a distance. · The caller says there was [quote withheld] and they were looking up at a second-floor window from a service road.
What stands out
The story pairs an ordinary, security-log kind of oddity, a deadbolted door that only a specially authorized key can secure, with a brief sighting of a child ghost. The door activity is said to stop after the sighting.
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