Slow, heavy footsteps in a dark Phoenix hallway, heard by two people
A caller named [name withheld], calling from Phoenix, Arizona, tells Art Bell that several years ago, close to Halloween and close to midnight, the caller and their husband were watching a televised ghost-hunting séance with the house lights off. The caller says they heard slow, heavy footsteps in the hallway. They say they and their husband each later reported hearing the other walking down the hall, though neither had been there. [name withheld] says they do not know what it was. Art Bell offers his own view that watching séances and Ouija boards invites such things.
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 2:38:07). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
Calling from Phoenix, Arizona, [name withheld] tells Art Bell that the event happened “several years ago,” close to Halloween and close to midnight, in the house the caller shared with their husband. The caller says they were watching “Most Haunted,” an English ghost-hunting program, with all the house lights off, and that the episode included a séance and a Ouija board. They say they got up to use the bathroom, went down a short hall and made a right, and shut the door. Then they heard footsteps coming down the hall from the guest bedroom. They were slow, heavy, plodding steps. The caller says they wondered whether their husband [name withheld] was getting up, perhaps to feed the cat, since the steps headed toward the kitchen. But they say they knew it was not him. The steps, they say, got closer and then stopped in the kitchen. They say they opened the bathroom door, the house was all black, and they saw nothing. They went back to the bedroom, where they say their husband was lying awake, staring at them. They say they told him they thought they had heard him walk down the hall, and he replied that he had thought he heard them walk down the hall. The caller adds that he said he saw the bathroom light come on when they opened the door, and that they both heard the footsteps from different parts of the house. They say they do not know what it was. Art Bell responds with his own opinion that watching a séance or a Ouija board on television invites things to you, and he warns against it.
Reported events, in order
- 0:16
[name withheld] says the event happened several years ago in the caller's house in Phoenix, Arizona, close to Halloween and close to midnight, while the caller and their husband watched television.
- 0:40
The caller says they were watching the show “Most Haunted,” which they describe as showing a séance and a Ouija board, with all the lights in the house out.
- 1:11
The caller says they got up to go to the bathroom down the hall, shut the door, and heard footsteps coming down the hall from the guest bedroom.
- 1:45
The caller describes the steps as very slow and heavy. They say they wondered whether it was their husband [name withheld] getting up, possibly to feed the cat, but felt it was not him.
- 2:24
The caller says the steps came closer, then went into the kitchen and stopped.
- 2:40
The caller says they opened the bathroom door and the house was entirely dark. They report seeing nothing.
- 2:51
The caller says they went back down the hall and found their husband lying in bed awake, staring at them.
- 2:58
The caller says they told their husband they thought they had heard him walk down the hall. He said he had thought he heard them walk down the hall. He said he saw the bathroom light come on when they opened the door.
- 3:08
The caller says they both heard the footsteps from different parts of the house, and states they do not know what it was.
- 3:19
Art Bell states his own opinion that watching a televised séance or Ouija board invites things to the viewer.
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· 1:41
[name withheld] reports hearing footsteps coming down the hall from the guest bedroom while the caller was in the bathroom.
- observation· 1:45
The caller describes the steps as very slow, heavy, and plodding, and compares them to Frankenstein.
- observation· 2:30
The caller reports that the steps went into the kitchen and stopped, and that they saw nothing when they opened the bathroom door into the dark house.
- interpretation· 2:08
The caller states that they felt, without knowing how, that the footsteps were not their husband’s.
- hearsay· 3:08
The caller says their husband told them he had also heard them walking down the hall, and that they both heard the footsteps from different parts of the house.
- host statement· 3:38
Art Bell asserts that watching a séance or a Ouija board, even on television, invites things to you.
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 one of the two people involved. It has a concrete location, an approximate time of night, and a described sequence. It is consistent, and the caller addresses the obvious ordinary possibility, that their husband was moving around. The score stays well below the top band because no date, address, or checkable detail is given, and the second witness is only reported, not independent.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand, direct witness of the sounds.
- Specific setting: [quote withheld]
- Coherent sequence, including what the caller did next and what they saw.
- The caller considered and rejected the ordinary explanation that it was their husband.
- No date, exact address, or other checkable detail. The caller says, [quote withheld]
- The second witness’s part is relayed by the caller, not given independently.
- The story is brief, and its central event is a sound that was never seen.
- The “several years ago” dating is vague, and the decade is not stated.
- One garbled line (“talking.”) may be a transcription error.
- 1:41
- 1:45
- 2:08
What the model inferred (not said on air): The component scores (source closeness high, specificity moderate, consistency high, alternative explanations partly addressed, calibration good) are an editorial judgment applied to the broadcast. They are not statements made by the caller.
The only support is the caller’s own word plus a second witness the caller names but who does not speak on air. No documentation, recording, or physical trace is claimed. The story sits in the low band: checkable details given but not checked.
Evidence for and against
- A named second witness is claimed: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- Some details could in principle be checked: a named city and a named television program.
- No photograph, recording, or document is claimed or examined.
- The second witness does not speak on air. His account is reported secondhand by the caller.
- No date or address is given, so the named location cannot be checked.
- Whether the husband would independently describe the same events is unknown.
- 3:08
- 0:22
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placing the story in the band of 11 to 25 (checkable details given but not checked, or other witnesses claimed) is an application of the scoring guide. The broadcast itself makes no claim about evidence.
The setting is effective: a dark house at midnight, slow heavy footsteps approaching a closed bathroom door, and the caller’s stated dread of opening it. But there is no contact and no visible figure. The story ends with a quiet mutual recognition between the two people rather than escalation.
Evidence for and against
- A sound inside a private home at night with all lights out.
- The sound approaches: [quote withheld]
- Stated fear before opening the door: [quote withheld]
- Nothing is seen: [quote withheld]
- No threat, harm, or physical contact is reported.
- The caller describes the couple as amused by the program beforehand, and the story ends conversationally.
- The description of the steps as “just like Frankenstein” is a simile. How the sound would strike a listener is not clear.
- 2:33
- 2:42
What the model inferred (not said on air): This score is an entertainment-minded judgment about the story as told, not about whether anything occurred.
Phantom footsteps in a house are a stock motif. But two people in different rooms each hearing the other walk, with no one there, is a less common twist. The tie-in to a televised séance is distinctive but familiar.
Evidence for and against
- Each spouse thought they heard the other: [quote withheld] and [quote withheld]
- The event is tied to watching a televised séance and Ouija board.
- The core event, slow heavy footsteps in a hallway, is a very common ghost-story element.
- No unusual being, strange object, or physical effect is reported.
- The published originality is compared with the rest of the archive and is provisional in this pilot. The value given is an estimate.
- 2:58
- 3:03
What the model inferred (not said on air): The rarity judgment is an estimate based on how often footsteps and hallway settings recur in ghost stories. The broadcast contains no such comparison.
Scoring confidence 0.72 · analysis confidence 0.80 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: Caller’s firsthand story; Claimed second witness (husband [name withheld]), not speaking on air; No physical evidence claimed or examined. The originality score blends the model's score (52) 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.
- An ordinary household sound, or another person moving in the house, was mistaken for deliberate heavy footsteps. The sound ended at the kitchen, and nothing was ever seen because the house was dark. · [name withheld] says, [quote withheld] The caller describes the steps as slow and heavy, similar to a person walking, and never reports seeing a source.
- A late-night paranormal program may have primed both listeners, making ambiguous house noise more likely to be heard as footsteps. · The couple had all the lights out and were watching a séance and a Ouija board on “Most Haunted” at close to midnight.
What stands out
The standout detail is that each spouse, in a different part of the house, says they heard the other walking down the hall. The husband is also reported to have seen the bathroom light come on, which the caller says they had not turned on. The story also takes place while the couple watched a televised séance at close to midnight.
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