An old man in coveralls pointing at a light switch in a Western Washington cabin
A caller the host introduces as [quote withheld] tells a story about their friend [name withheld]’s cabin in Western Washington. [name withheld]’s younger brother had long said one room was haunted. The family tried to sell the cabin back to the family they had bought it from. That family’s son refused it and described an old man in coveralls pointing at a light switch. The caller says this was the same description [name withheld]’s brother gave, ten years apart.
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 2:59:06). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, introduced by the host as [quote withheld] says their story [quote withheld] who owns [quote withheld] According to the caller, [name withheld]’s younger brother [quote withheld] and [quote withheld] Nobody in the family took it seriously because he [quote withheld] The family lives in Hawaii and used their Washington place in the summer. They decided to move there full-time, buy a bigger place, and sell the cabin back to the family they had bought it from. The original owner, the father, said he was too old to look after it and offered it to his son. The son declined, saying the cabin was haunted. Asked what he meant, he described [quote withheld] When the seller’s father relayed the refusal, the buyer’s father replied that his own son said the place was haunted too. Both then gave the same description of an old man pointing at a light switch. The caller says [name withheld]’s younger brother reported seeing [quote withheld] and that the two boys’ sightings were “10 years apart.” The host comments that ghosts are said to repeat actions in a cycle. No dates, ages, or ending are given.
Reported events, in order
- 0:11
The caller says their story concerns [name withheld], a friend who owns a cabin a short distance from the caller’s own place in Western Washington.
- 0:23
[name withheld]’s younger brother reportedly never slept in one room of the cabin and had long complained it was haunted. The family dismissed it because he was the class clown.
- 0:47
The family, based in Hawaii with a summer place in Washington, decided to move full-time and sell the cabin back to the family they had bought it from.
- 1:06
The original family’s father said he was too old to look after the cabin and offered it to his son.
- 1:13
The son declined the cabin, saying it was haunted.
- 1:22
Asked what he meant, the son described an old man in coveralls pointing at the light switch.
- 1:37
The refusal is relayed back with the reason: [quote withheld]
- 1:41
The other father replies that his own son says the place is haunted too.
- 1:50
Both give the same description: an old man pointing at a light switch.
- 1:56
The caller says [name withheld]’s younger brother reported seeing the exact same thing, ten years apart from the other boy’s sighting.
- 2:03
The host remarks that ghosts are said to repeat actions again and again, in a repeating cycle.
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· 0:23
[name withheld]’s younger brother reportedly never slept in the cabin room and complained it was haunted.
- hearsay· 1:22
The original family’s son described an old man in coveralls pointing at the light switch.
- hearsay· 1:37
[name withheld]’s father reported that his son said the place was haunted.
- hearsay· 1:41
The other father said his own son also called the place haunted.
- hearsay· 1:56
[name withheld]’s younger brother reportedly saw the exact same thing.
- interpretation· 1:59
The caller concludes that the two boys, ten years apart, saw the same ghost.
- host statement· 2:03
The host asserts that ghosts repeat the same actions in a cycle.
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.
The story is entirely secondhand, and the caller is not a witness. But it carries a specific recurring detail (an old man in coveralls pointing at a light switch) and a concrete region. The telling is somewhat tangled, and no ordinary explanations are considered. The caller goes as far as calling both sightings “the same ghost.”
Evidence for and against
- Concrete setting given: a cabin [quote withheld]
- Specific recurring detail: [quote withheld]
- Two separate families reported the same description at different times.
- The caller relays the story at third hand. They saw nothing themselves.
- No dates, ages, or names of the two boys are given.
- The order of who called whom is garbled and partly marked low confidence.
- No alternative explanations are raised or ruled out.
- Several lines are marked as low confidence in the automatic transcript.
- One line is labeled as the host’s, although it appears to be the caller’s.
- 0:13
- 1:22
- 1:59
What the model inferred (not said on air): My component scores are: closeness to the source 9 (secondhand through named family friends), specificity 10, internal consistency 12, alternative explanations 8, calibration of claims 5.
Only the caller’s word is present. Two witnesses are claimed, but neither speaks on air, and no documentation, photograph, or record is offered. The one checkable detail is a general region.
Evidence for and against
- Region named: Western Washington.
- Two witnesses claimed, said to have reported the same description ten years apart.
- No names, dates, addresses, or documents.
- Neither claimed witness speaks on air.
- No physical evidence claimed to exist.
- Whether [quote withheld] and [name withheld] are the same or different people is unclear.
- 1:56
What the model inferred (not said on air): The only support is a secondhand claim, so this sits in the bottom band (the caller’s word only, with claimed but absent witnesses).
The story is mildly eerie: a home reported as haunted and a fixed, unexplained figure repeating the same gesture across a decade. There is no threat, physical contact, or harm, and the telling is matter-of-fact.
Evidence for and against
- A child reportedly refused to sleep in a room he called haunted.
- The same figure and gesture reported ten years apart.
- No violence, contact, or escalation described.
- The figure’s action, pointing at a light switch, is ordinary in form.
- No sensory detail of the encounter itself (no sound, cold, or reaction described).
- No circumstances of either sighting are given, so the atmosphere cannot be judged.
- 0:23
- 1:22
What the model inferred (not said on air): I place it just below the “mildly eerie” anchor because the figure is still and non-threatening, with the repetition supplying most of the unease.
An old man ghost in a house is a stock element. But the fixed gesture of pointing at a light switch, and the same description coming from two families a decade apart, give it a distinctive frame.
Evidence for and against
- Unusual specific detail: a ghost whose reported action is pointing at a light switch.
- The same description matches across two families, ten years apart.
- Core elements are familiar: an elderly male figure, a haunted cabin room, a family that dismisses a younger member.
- The provisional score is used here. Novelty compared with the rest of the archive is not calculated for this part of the broadcast.
- 1:22
- 1:59
What the model inferred (not said on air): I score at the [quote withheld] anchor, not higher, since only one element departs from stock ghost-story material.
Scoring confidence 0.50 · analysis confidence 0.60 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: Caller’s secondhand story told live on air; No documentation, photograph, or record; Claimed witnesses do not speak on air. 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.
- Expectation or suggestion, since the cabin’s reputation as haunted was known within the family before the second boy is said to have seen anything. · [name withheld]’s younger brother [quote withheld] and the seller’s family already knew the description when the refusal was relayed.
- Sleep-related images or an impression while falling asleep, in a bedroom the boy reportedly avoided sleeping in. · The caller says the boy [quote withheld] and the story gives no time of day or circumstances for the sighting.
- A person or shadows in low light near a light switch were misperceived, and the description was generalized to [quote withheld] · The only visual detail offered is an old man in coveralls pointing at the light switch. No face, time, or other features are described.
What stands out
The standout detail is the fixed gesture reported by both boys: an old man in coveralls pointing at a light switch. Two different families gave the same description ten years apart, not witnesses within one household.
Related stories
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