Doors, windows, and locks
Doors open, close, or slam; locks turn; windows open.
Ghost of a murdered upstairs neighbor in a rented downstairs house
A caller the host introduces as [quote withheld] says they rented the downstairs of an older house, where a door resisted closing in a way they read as a warning. They report that they later heard, from below, a man beat the upstairs woman to death. They then saw her ghost in their bedroom telling them not to come up to help. Police came the next day. The caller ends by saying she gave them strength and that they are ready if evil comes again.
Knocking doors and a bony-handed presence in a relative’s house near Sparta
[name withheld], calling from New York, New York, tells Art Bell about a night in the mid-1980s at their uncle’s and grandmother’s house in southern Greece, near Sparta. They report knocking and violently shaking doors. They then woke to what they call an entity on their back and bony hands holding them face-down. It ended when they screamed and pushed up. A cousin later implied he had a similar experience.
Woman in black, locked doors, and a priest's blessing in a Dodge City rental
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], from Sumner, Washington, describes a house their family moved into in Dodge City, Kansas, about fifteen years earlier. The caller reports flooding, a woman in a black dress seen by their daughter, doors that shut and locked family members in, whispering, a fetal-position stain on the carpet, and footsteps on the stairs. After researching records, the caller and their sister concluded that an elderly former resident was earthbound. A priest blessed the house and fell ill. The caller says they later blessed it themselves and believes the woman went to the light.
Ghost drums at a reenactor rendezvous at Fort Ouachita
[name withheld], calling from the Springfield, Missouri Ozarks, says they are a Cherokee historic reenactor. They describe an eleven-day rendezvous in 1994 at Fort Ouachita, Oklahoma, an old Confederate fort and cemetery. After most camps left on Sunday, the caller and their husband stayed overnight. The caller reports fear, birds screaming at midnight, ghost drums, waves of ghosts, dress jingles, a moved teepee door, and a fire that went out cold. The host closes with comments, and the story ends without resolution.
Six nights in an abandoned rural house: Odors, Ouija board, and footsteps
A caller who says they are a county fraud investigator tells Art Bell they spent six nights with their girlfriend and her daughter in an unoccupied house about 25 miles up a dirt road in Northern California. Local people had told them it was haunted. They report a rotting-flesh smell, cold spots, a chair that flew back and injured the girlfriend’s knee, a door handle turning, footsteps and a slammed door upstairs, a child’s “help me” captured on a tape recorder, and orbs in several hundred photographs. The call ends with the host asking for the caller’s e-mail and website link.
Letter: Transparent figure of a deceased grandfather in a spare bedroom
A letter from a writer the host identifies as “[name withheld]” from Springfield, Illinois, read aloud on air, describes seeing a transparent figure resembling their grandfather coming out of a wall in a spare bedroom about three weeks after his death in February 1978. They say they told no one at the time. They say that twenty years ago they learned their son had seen the same ghost roughly three months later in a front bedroom. They also report other family members seeing dark forms and lights and doors behaving oddly. The letter ends with the writer saying they will never know whether it was a ghost or a demon, but that they believe they saw it.
Basement door, a shared dream, and a slow-burning teddy bear in a country home
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], from Dayton, Ohio, describes several “spooky moments” in a country home that the caller and their husband bought in the mid-1970s. A basement door opened by itself each evening at supper time. Their son said something was coming into his room. One night the caller and their husband reportedly shared the same vision of their daughter being raised out of bed and slammed to the floor. They found the daughter asleep and unharmed on the floor. They concluded there was an entity in the home. They blessed the rooms with holy water and burned a handmade teddy bear the caller distrusted, which, the caller says, took hours to burn. The caller says they left the house with their children a few months later.
Footsteps, a shadow at noon, and a voice saying “your brother” in an Alameda house
A caller from Alameda, California, tells Art Bell that she and her five children were hearing slamming doors, footsteps, and other disturbances in a large old house. She says each of them had kept it from the others. She reports a shadow that appeared in daylight, an unsuccessful first appeal to a priest, and a house blessing. Finally, she says, a voice said “your brother.” She then learned her brother had died about two months earlier.
Dark cloud and disturbances at a remote lakeside recording studio in Oklahoma
Art Bell reads a letter on air from a fellow ham named [name withheld], who says they built and ran a recording studio for a well-known rock star in eastern Oklahoma. [name withheld] describes a malevolent dark cloud that appeared in their room one night. [name withheld] also describes later disturbances that drove the first guests away from the finished studio. The letter ends with the “spirit” said to make life hell for anyone it disliked.
Childhood home in Granite City, Illinois, with flying plates and slamming doors
A caller who gives their location as Granite City, Illinois, says they were raised in a house from birth to age thirteen. The caller says plates and cups flew and smashed there, cold spots and strange smells occurred, footsteps and slamming doors were heard, and a dog watched unseen things. The caller says their parents brought about four people to drive out ghosts and that someone said a man had hanged himself in the basement. The caller says the activity went on until the family moved out after thirteen years. The caller says they were a child with no choice and would not live in such a house now.
Black figure at foot of bed in a Redlands home
A caller describes living in Redlands, California, when they were first married to a husband who flew C-141s at Norton Air Force Base. The caller reports a period of uneasiness and cold in their new home. A moving garage-door doorknob made their dog bark and led them to call police. One night they woke in bed and saw a black figure at the foot of the bed that cast no reflection in a mirror. The caller says they were paralyzed and prayed the Lord’s Prayer. The figure disappeared, and the house warmed. The caller adds that they thought they imagined it and did not share it for a while.
Furnished apartment of a deceased tenant and a door held shut
A caller who says only that they are calling from Texas tells Art Bell that at nineteen they rented a furnished apartment. The previous tenant, an elderly woman, had died with nobody to inherit her belongings. The caller reports that cleaning supplies and dirty dishes vanished whenever the phone rang, their cat went berserk, and windows and the front door were found open despite the bolts. Finally, a door would not open against two people until they spoke a phrase they had been using. They say they packed up their cat and left.
57 more stories
- Wife describes two weeks of episodes and a moving kitchen cabinet door2 min
- A girl's laughter and a slamming door in a rented trailer in Cookville, Tennessee2 min
- Caller reports thirty-six years of shadows, moving doors, and lamps in a house tied to fires3 min
- House spirit, a child's great-grandfather, and keys turning in the lock3 min
- Basement door latch flips open on its own in a Missouri lake house2 min
- Mobile home on the Barlow Trail: missing objects, faint figures, and a door that flew open5 min
- Letter about footsteps and knocking after a grandmother's funeral2 min
- Flickering lights, a name called, and faint music at a movie theater after a projectionist's death3 min
- Clawed touching in bed and being pushed into a closet53 s
- Missing items and a refilled coffee cup in a former funeral home in Providence3 min
- Caller’s secondhand story of a figure on the stairs in a Salem house3 min
- Silhouette with red eyes in a South Dakota basement5 min
- Shadowy figure at the door of a Nebraska church parsonage bedroom3 min
- Lights, a door, and voices in a boarded-up plantation house outside New Orleans6 min
- Windows, doors, lights, and pounding in a previous house15 s
- Locked bedroom door found ripped from its hinges in an old Detroit house1 min
- Man in a hat seen at window and bedside in a Nebraska rental house7 min
- Church windows close one by one during a funeral in Montreal4 min
- Disappearing objects and a front door that opened by itself in an old house6 min
- Reported music, elevator doors, and a rooftop push in a Saskatoon hotel building6 min
- Noises of a file cabinet being ransacked below a Plymouth, New Hampshire apartment2 min
- Banging, moved objects, and a statue’s eyes at an abandoned courthouse10 min
- Childhood closet and bedroom doors, a green light, and paralysis3 min
- Footsteps and wet footprints in a Route 66 service station2 min
- Gray figure and male scream in a rented Union, Missouri house4 min
- A door, a figure on a cross, and footsteps in a rented 110-year-old house in Paw Paw, Michigan6 min
- Twin's grandfather reportedly announces brother alive and trapped in Vietnam6 min
- Music box sounds at close range and a smashed attic door in a house-sitting stay2 min
- Fireplace doors, an orb, and moaning in a Branson-area bed and breakfast4 min
- Pitchfork reportedly pushes open a closet door in an abandoned house2 min