Weights restacked in a lighthouse exercise room
A caller the host calls [name withheld] in Maryland describes a 1978 visit to the New London Ledge Lighthouse. He was a 20-year-old Navy student in Groton, Connecticut, and the guest of a Coast Guard keeper friend named [name withheld]. Twice during an evening of watching television, the four men present heard loud bumping from the upstairs exercise room. The second time, free weights that had been scattered on the floor were found stacked neatly from largest to smallest. The next day [name withheld] showed him old lighthouse log books with entries about ghostly events. [name withheld] concluded that the dead keeper was still doing his duties. Art Bell closed by treating the lighthouse as haunted.
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 2:50:16). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
The caller, introduced by the host as [name withheld] in Maryland, says he met his one and only ghost in 1978, when he was 20 years old and in submarine school in Groton, Connecticut. Through a Coast Guard friend, a lighthouse keeper named [name withheld], he and a fellow student were invited to the New London Ledge Lighthouse in Long Island Sound. They crossed from Groton to New London and were ferried out by Zodiac with groceries. On the Saturday night, he says, the four men present were watching Saturday Night Live. They were two Coast Guardsmen on duty, himself, and his friend. They heard a loud bumping from upstairs. Going up, they found free weights scattered over the floor of the room used as an exercise room. [name withheld] then told them the lighthouse ghost story, which he said went back to the 1930s, when civilian keepers ran the light. A husband and wife kept the place, and the wife was unfaithful. On learning of it, the husband threw himself off the top of the lighthouse and killed himself. Back downstairs watching television, the group heard the thumping again and ran up. This time, [name withheld] says, the weights that had been on the floor were stacked in the middle of the room, largest at the bottom and smallest at the top, in the neatest stack imaginable. Art Bell remarked that it could not have happened that fast. [name withheld] agreed and added that all four were together, so it was not a trick by one of them. The next day, he says, [name withheld] took them to the basement and brought out the old lighthouse log books, civilian and Coast Guard. They held many entries about ghostly events: doors slamming, creaking noises, and, as [name withheld] put it, the “really cool” ones, such as entire floors being painted or brass polished. [name withheld]’s own conclusion is that the dead lighthouse keeper was haunting the place and keeping up his old duties.
Reported events, in order
- 0:26
[name withheld] says he met his one and only ghost in 1978 in a lighthouse in Long Island Sound.
- 0:36
He says he was in the Navy, 20 years old, in submarine school in Groton, Connecticut.
- 0:46
He made friends with a Coast Guard keeper of the New London Ledge Lighthouse.
- 1:06
He and a buddy from submarine school bought groceries, crossed from Groton to New London, and were taken out to the lighthouse in a Zodiac.
- 1:32
On a Saturday night, the four men were watching Saturday Night Live when they heard loud bumping from upstairs.
- 1:48
They went upstairs and found free weights scattered over the floor of the exercise room.
- 2:09
[name withheld] said there was a ghost and told the story of the keeper who killed himself after his wife’s infidelity.
- 2:44
Back downstairs, all four were watching television again when they heard another loud thumping from upstairs.
- 3:06
They ran up to the exercise room and found the scattered weights now stacked in the middle of the room, biggest on the bottom, smallest on top.
- 3:33
Art remarks it could not have happened that quickly. [name withheld] agrees and notes all four were together, ruling out a trick among them.
- 3:55
The next day [name withheld] took them to the basement and brought out the old lighthouse log books. They held many entries about ghostly happenings, including doors slamming, creaking noises, floors painted, and brass polished.
- 4:36
[name withheld] concludes the dead keeper was haunting the lighthouse and keeping up his old duties.
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· 1:32
While all four watched television on a Saturday night, a loud bumping noise came from upstairs.
- observation· 1:59
Going up, they found free weights scattered all over the floor of the room used as an exercise room.
- hearsay· 2:09
The Coast Guard friend [name withheld] said there was a ghost at the lighthouse.
- hearsay· 2:30
[name withheld]’s story: in the 1930s, while civilians kept the light, a keeper discovered his wife had been unfaithful and threw himself off the top of the lighthouse and killed himself.
- observation· 3:18
After a second round of thumping, the weights that had been scattered were found stacked in the middle of the room, largest at the bottom and smallest at the top.
- observation· 3:29
The stack was described as the neatest stack imaginable.
- observation· 3:41
All four men were together, so the caller says one of them could not have done it as a trick.
- hearsay· 4:20
The following day, [name withheld] produced old lighthouse log books with many entries in which ghostly things had happened.
- hearsay· 4:28
Among the log entries were reports such as entire floors being painted or brass being polished.
- interpretation· 4:36
The caller concludes that the dead keeper was haunting the lighthouse and continuing his old duties.
- host statement· 4:51
The host asserts that the story is accurate and that the place was haunted.
- host statement· 4:56
The host asserts that haunted places exist.
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 detailed, consistent firsthand story with a named place, a date, an age, and a stated number of witnesses. The obvious prank explanation is partly addressed. No one else backs it up, and it hinges on the caller’s memory of the room, which keeps it short of the top band.
Evidence for and against
- Firsthand: [quote withheld]
- Specific anchors: New London Ledge Lighthouse, Long Island Sound, Groton, Connecticut, 1978, age 20, four people present.
- Concrete sequence: noise, weights scattered, second noise, weights restacked from largest to smallest.
- The caller tests the prank idea against the fact that all four were together.
- The central event depends on the caller’s memory of the room before and after, with no measurement or record. He says he came to know the keeper [quote withheld]
- A hidden living person in the building is never addressed, and the ghost backstory comes through [name withheld] ([quote withheld]).
- The part that could be weighed, the log books, is described only in secondhand summary.
- The automatic transcript smoothed or reassigned who said some lines in one stretch, so the exact attribution of a few sentences is uncertain.
- Whether the first scattered state of the weights was itself unusual is not stated.
- 0:26
- 3:41
What the model inferred (not said on air): The weighting (high closeness to the source and consistency, moderate credit for alternative explanations and calibration) is an editorial judgment. It is not something the broadcast states.
There are checkable details and claimed documents. But nothing was verified or examined during the broadcast, and the other witnesses are only asserted. The story sits in the low part of the band for claimed but unexamined evidence.
Evidence for and against
- Checkable details are given: a named lighthouse, a named body of water, the year 1978, and the caller’s age and school.
- Three more claimed eyewitnesses ([quote withheld]).
- Documents are claimed to exist and to have been read: old lighthouse log books with haunting entries.
- No photograph, recording, or physical trace is claimed.
- The log books are described but never produced, quoted, or examined on air.
- No second witness speaks. The other three are only asserted by the caller.
- It is not stated whether the log books still exist publicly or whether any entry was shown or quoted word for word.
- 3:56
- 4:20
What the model inferred (not said on air): Placing the claimed log books in the band of 26 to 40, not the band for assertion only, is a judgment. The broadcast gives no sign that Art saw them.
The setting, the quietly escalating restacking of weights, and the suicide backstory make the story solidly unsettling. But there is no menace, injury, or lasting dread.
Evidence for and against
- A noise inside a confined, isolated offshore building at night, with no way off it described.
- Escalation: the same noise twice, the second time with objects rearranged between hearing it and arriving.
- A suicide legend attached to the very building the caller is staying in.
- The image of sitting down to read years of logged hauntings after the experience.
- No threat, contact, or harm to anyone is reported.
- The caller describes reading the logs almost with relish ([quote withheld]).
- The story ends with a daytime look at records, not an ominous close.
- How isolated the lighthouse felt to the caller is not described in detail.
- 3:29
- 2:30
What the model inferred (not said on air): The rating is about how the story reads to a listener, not about whether the events occurred.
The frame is familiar. But the weights sorted by size into a neat stack, and log entries of housekeeping done by the ghost, give it a distinctive turn.
Evidence for and against
- The distinctive detail is the free weights restacked into a perfect tower between the moment the noise was heard and the moment the men reached the room.
- The log books recording duties done by the ghost, such as floors painted and brass polished, are an unusual twist.
- A lighthouse with a suicide legend and a keeper who still does his duties is a familiar ghost-story frame.
- A noise followed by moved objects is a standard poltergeist sequence.
- Novelty compared with the rest of the archive cannot be calculated here. This is a provisional score.
- 3:18
- 4:28
What the model inferred (not said on air): The provisional estimate is mine. How new the story is compared with the rest of the archive cannot be judged from a single part of a broadcast.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.78 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: Caller’s firsthand story of two episodes of noise and of the state of the weights; Three other participants claimed by the caller (two Coast Guardsmen, one fellow student). None speaks on air.; Old lighthouse log books claimed to exist and to have been read by the caller the next day. Not produced or examined on air.. 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 person, such as a resident, keeper, or visitor, moved through the building while the group was downstairs. · The caller says the weights lay scattered after the first noise and were found in a neat stack after the second. An ordinary explanation would be that they fell or were shifted and later sorted. But the caller notes the short interval and that the four men moved together. A person elsewhere in the lighthouse is not addressed.
- The first noise and the scattering were the ordinary result of heavy weights falling or being disturbed. · The first event was described only as a loud bumping noise with weights found scattered on the floor. That fits weights simply being knocked over or dropped.
- Another person set up the haunting, as a hoax or staged story by someone present. · The ghost legend reached the caller through the keeper [name withheld] ([quote withheld]), and [name withheld] also produced the log books the next day.
What stands out
The claim is not of a seen figure. It is that objects changed state within the same short interval, with the weights re-ordered by size, not just moved. The log-book claim describes a ghost doing upkeep, such as painting floors and polishing brass, not just making noise.
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