Lights and appliances acting up
Lights, TVs, radios, phones, or alarms that turn on by themselves.
Childhood events in an Oregon City rental house: a hand in the bath and a laugh
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld] tells Art Bell about events in an old rented house in Oregon City, Oregon, where their family lived from about the time the caller was six until they were eleven. They describe lights switching on and off, strange sounds, chairs sliding, footsteps, and a feeling of being watched in the basement. Their parents dismissed all of it. The climax they describe is in the bathroom at about age eleven. They say they felt a hand stroking their neck and then felt snakes falling from the ceiling onto them, followed by a cackling laugh they call the most evil they have ever heard. They say they spoke to a priest about it. Art Bell ends the call because the show was short on time.
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.
A floating translucent man at the caller's bedside at seventeen, and a warning five years later
[name withheld], calling from Grants Pass, Oregon, tells the host that at seventeen they woke in bed to a translucent man floating about a foot above the floor, who they say had been shaking them. They fled the house, and their mother told them it was a dream. Five years later, they say, the same figure came to them in a dream and warned that their boyfriend, their son’s father, would hurt them. The following day, they report, he choked them. They end by saying they would listen to the presence next time.
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.
Childhood sounds and a cold presence in a Pomona house; a white figure in Ontario
An unnamed caller to Ghost to Ghost 1996 describes strange events in two childhood homes. In a house in Pomona, California, from about age five or six, they heard sounds after their mother left for a graveyard shift. They were repeatedly woken by an extremely cold presence over their bed, and they saw the family dogs escape weekly. In a later house in Ontario, California, around fourth grade, they saw a short, powdery-white glowing man in a navy peacoat walk up the hallway into their room, touch them, and seem to read their thoughts. The caller describes the figure’s face as blank and says the experience was impossible to describe. The host closes the segment with general remarks that children and animals sense such presences before adults do.
Bed trembling, a whispered name, and shadows after a grandmother’s death
A caller phoning from Wabash, Indiana, describes events they say began about 1989. Their then-wife’s grandmother was found dead in her garage in East Tennessee, and the family’s suspicions fell on the wife’s father, [name withheld]. The caller says that in their Middle Tennessee home, the children saw something in their bedroom and their wife saw shadows. The caller felt their bed shake, felt someone move their hair and sit on the bed, and heard a whisper of the name “[name withheld].” They say the activity stopped the day [name withheld] died in a car accident. The caller says they believe the grandmother was telling them [name withheld] killed her.
Tucson house after a 1977 murder-suicide: Alarm, child voices, cold room
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], of Rochester, New York, describes living in a Tucson, Arizona, house connected to their husband’s first wife. The caller says the woman killed her two children and herself in 1977. [name withheld] reports a burglar alarm sounding at exactly 2 a.m. on nights their husband was away, children’s whispering, moved objects, and a living room that stayed cold in summer. The caller says a responding policeman advised them to leave, and they did. The caller says they later concluded the dead woman had been trying to drive them and their children away from their husband.
A cloud at a mother-in-law's death and ongoing house disturbances
A caller who says they are calling from Santa Rosa tells the host that in 1989, on Thanksgiving Day, their mother-in-law died. The next day, they say, they and their husband watched a large brown mist cloud dissipate on the sidewalk outside. They go on to describe a series of household disturbances: objects moved, a music box starting by itself, and odd smells. They also describe family upheavals involving their husband and their son. They blame all of it on demons. They say the situation is still going on. The host closes by telling them he believes they are in a dangerous situation.
Caller reports a Pan Am flying boat appearing alongside their Cessna near Ukiah
A first-time caller named [name withheld], from Alameda, California, says they were flying a Cessna 172 back from Ukiah at about 11:30 p.m. in January 1998. They heard a voice over their headset, saw a glowing green light close on them, and lost control of the aircraft. Then they saw a large old Pan Am-type flying boat pull alongside and wave before vanishing. The caller links the aircraft to an M-130 Philippine Clipper they had read about in a book their mother had given them. The caller says it crashed in the Ukiah area on January 21, 1943. The caller says ATC reported no planes near them on radar. The call ends with the host calling it a ghost plane and asking whether it was a time slip or the crashed plane’s occupants.
Computer typed overnight messages about “Vernon”; objects thrown in a house
An unnamed caller tells Art Bell that a computer in their home produced pages of typed text overnight that they had not written. Most of it was gibberish, but it contained sentences they could read, including warnings about the “Antichrist” and a coming evil character called “Vernon.” The caller reports that the activity later grew to electrical failure and objects, notably Visine bottles, flying down from an empty upstairs loft. The story ends with the caller saying they moved out and put the computer in storage, keeping only the printouts. Art Bell jokes that the sequel would be “You die.”
Laughing in the basement, a woman in white, and shadow figures in a family home
A caller who gives the name “[name withheld]” and says they are on Long Island, New York, describes a series of incidents the caller attributes to their family home. They begin at age four, when the caller heard laughing from the basement while their sister was outside, and continue through their teens. The caller reports unexplained walking overhead at night and a woman in a long white gown at the edge of their parents’ bed. The caller also reports a voice and television sound in an empty house, and two small hatted shadow figures at their bedroom door followed by something grabbing their feet. The host cuts the call short and ends the segment.
Circuit breakers flipped off in a farmhouse basement
A caller identified on air as [name withheld] from Michigan describes a night in 1994 alone in their parents' large 1870s farmhouse. They came home to a dark house and found every light and appliance dead. Going down to the basement to the circuit box, they say they felt an increasingly malevolent presence. They say the family cat hissed, clawed its way out of their arms, and fled upstairs. At the box they found every breaker flipped to the off position in a house they say was locked. They switched them on and left the house.
80 more stories
- Rocking chair and voices in an 1880s Ashland rental house5 min
- A painting of an 18th-century lady, called Henrietta, that moves and cracks1 min
- Letter about Scrabble tiles rearranged overnight and a stereo changing channels2 min
- Falling darts and indoor thunder in a Hanford, California house3 min
- Santa head toy activates and phone rings in a closed San Diego restaurant2 min
- Lights, ringing phones, and footsteps at a southern Idaho radio station3 min
- Radio volume turns itself up while listening to a poltergeist broadcast1 min
- Nurse's faxed letter about a patient's death and alarm clocks at 11:073 min
- A 1964 television that kept playing after being unplugged4 min
- Blue streak through a closed window and a light bulb behind a radiator4 min
- Unplugged CD player repeating one song after a friend’s death3 min
- A small limping figure, a 1932 diary, and a drowned boy identified6 min
- A burned radio plays inside a sealed footlocker after a caller asks for a sign7 min
- Rented Memphis house: light switch, waterbed displacement, ankle grab5 min
- Old man’s head with a stretched neck hanging in a workshop2 min
- Voice in the kitchen, a loosened bulb, and a face in a burnt furnace3 min
- Late mother-in-law appears in her former bedroom; a footprint in the carpet8 min
- Unplugged television explodes in a basement gathering; a dark man reappears4 min
- Humming voice and a namesake tombstone in Covington, Georgia3 min
- Flying boxes, voices behind a bolted hatch, and a spinning compass at sea6 min
- House lights, pounding, and a whispered encouragement in a junior high theater5 min
- Silhouette with red eyes in a South Dakota basement5 min
- Windows, doors, lights, and pounding in a previous house15 s
- Caller reports kitchen doorbell ringing after its wires were removed4 min
- Grandparents' handbuilt Sacramento house: light switches, toilet, cigar smoke (part 1)2 min
- Cigar smoke, a cement mixer, and moved chairs in a grandfather’s house4 min
- Light switches moving by themselves and an exercise bike pedaling in a basement4 min
- Man in a hat seen at window and bedside in a Nebraska rental house7 min
- Family house in Syracuse: man on the telephone, bed presence, and deceased parents10 min
- A voice singing along with Beatles records in an empty living room2 min
- A moving cold spot and a self-operating elevator in a suburban restaurant8 min
- A healing workshop at a retreat convent: Shared dreams and popping light bulbs7 min
- Attic thumps and old glass negatives in a Hyde Park house4 min
- Equipment failures and a truck fire at a logging site said to be a burial ground3 min
- Radio found switched off after falling asleep to a broadcast2 min
- Spirit called Henry: pinches, a boy’s ghost, and a fallen picture3 min
- Banging, moved objects, and a statue’s eyes at an abandoned courthouse10 min
- Shadow figures running past a bed and blinking clock radios in an Atlanta apartment6 min
- Nightly object movement and a brother’s singed hair in a modern home4 min
- Flickering lights, a truck radio, and birthday phone calls after a brother’s death3 min
- Poltergeist activity in a shared Fargo house and a butcher knife in bed4 min
- A young boy reported by residents at a Maryland assisted living facility4 min
- A nursing home elevator reported running by itself and attributed to a resident named [name withheld]4 min
- Repeated 4 a.m. phone calls with a strange voice and a reported hag2 min
- A rented house on the Outer Banks and lights on a nearby dune5 min
- Yellow eyes and an unseen figure at the top of the stairs on a 13th birthday5 min
- Basement clip lamp shakes, emits flame, and a dark object flies at a girl3 min
- A keychain squeeze toy sounding twice by itself on Halloween night1 min
- Late wife’s three-part contact: Blown bulbs, a bluebird, and a bedroom vision5 min
- Light switches cut power in a funeral home holding a biker's body4 min
- A pale woman in period dress, a ringing phone, and a heater in an apartment3 min
- Nightly alarms in sealed missile silo Kilo 11 after a worker’s death6 min
- Motion-sensor porch light after a cat's death read as a goodbye1 min
- Archaeology crew's equipment failures and scattered camp at a burial site3 min
- Voices from the basement and footsteps on the stairs in a rented Atlanta room3 min
- 1965: A ten-second TV lag and a shadow man in a hat seen by children2 min
- Radio switches itself back on and retunes to Ghost to Ghost1 min
- Military trucks starting and a horn sounding by itself at Camp Stanley, Korea10 min
- Shadow figure behind a sapling and streetlights going out on a drive home4 min
- Electrical faults and a voice in TV static in a Tucson college house3 min
- Whistling, flying knives and a figure in a TV reflection in an 1860s Stillwater house4 min
- Ouija board at parents' restaurant and blue flashes from a mirror3 min
- Secondhand story: Security guard hears a child laughing at a mansion alarm panel4 min