Bathroom
Wife reports unseen hands holding her under bathwater
A caller tells Art Bell that their wife phoned them at work asking them to come home and that the caller found her in bed trembling. According to the caller, she said unseen hands had grabbed her shoulders and held her under bathwater. The caller reports that she has had similar episodes and claims she was sexually assaulted by “something.” The host links it to other callers’ reports. The story ends unresolved.
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.
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.
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.
Friend hears crying through a bathroom wall; neighbor found dead
A caller who calls themselves [quote withheld] tells a story they attribute to a friend in Victoria in 1987. The friend rented a suite in a converted Victorian mansion. While bathing there, the friend reportedly heard the woman in the next suite crying through the thin wall on about three or four nights. Then the friend noticed the room turning cold and a bad smell coming from the other side. According to the caller, the caretaker and police entered the neighboring suite and found the woman dead in her bathtub from slit wrists. The caller says she had died about two weeks earlier. The friend moved out shortly afterward. The host reacts with surprise and offers his own suggestion that the moaning might have been a plea for the body to be found.
Granddaughter reports two black figures at a friend's house
A caller the host identifies as [quote withheld] says her adopted 10-year-old granddaughter went to a friend's house for a sleepover. The next morning the girl called, demanding to be picked up. She later described two black figures in that house, something breathing in her ear, being pulled by the ankle, and a presence behind the shower curtain. The grandmother says she herself saw nothing. She telephoned the friend, who “completely fell apart,” and the girl stayed frightened for months. The story ends with the girl sleeping beside the grandmother's bed and a change of shower curtain.
Ghost called Charlie reported to follow a family through moves
A caller who says they are a truck driver in Denham Springs, Louisiana, tells Art Bell that a presence the caller named “Charlie” has followed them across several homes. The caller says it began when they were about fifteen and first dating their future wife. The caller reports repeated leg-bumping and objects moved and hidden. More recently, the caller says, their wife saw a figure in a doorway, and something grabbed their 11-year-old daughter in the bath and left a mark on her shoulder. The caller says the presence does not really bother them. The caller ends by saying they are only worried it might become more physical. Art says that when a presence leaves marks, it is time to consider professional (religious) help.
Figure in an old Portland house points to the door and says “get out of my house”
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], from Eugene, Oregon, and originally from Portland, tells Art Bell about visiting a century-old house in what they call the Selwood District of Portland. A chiropractor friend named Art had invited them. The caller reports that while walking through an upstairs room they saw a large bald man in a brown suit and white shirt. He was translucent and had no feet. He pointed at the door and said [quote withheld] The caller says they fled downstairs and their friend then wanted to meditate for the spirit to leave. During the meditation, the caller says, they both heard footsteps leave the room and come down the stairs, and they ran out. The caller says they never went back in.
Fireplace doors, an orb, and moaning in a Branson-area bed and breakfast
[name withheld], from St. Louis, Missouri, tells of staying with their mother at a bed and breakfast outside Branson, in Walnut Shade. One morning alone, the caller reports, fireplace doors opened and closed, shopping-bag handles moved on request, a toilet and interior doors operated by themselves, and a glowing orb appeared in the stairwell. The caller says their mother did not believe them. On another night they heard moaning behind a downstairs bed, and their mother dismissed it as a wild imagination.
Footsteps and grunting in an abandoned 1920s building in Lake Elsinore
A caller the host introduces as [quote withheld] tells a first-person story set in June 1985. The caller visited a childhood friend in Lake Elsinore and explored a large abandoned 1920s structure at night. The caller says they heard footsteps come from the lower level up to where they and their friend were sitting. The next day they could find no route for the source except through ceiling and walls. On a second night visit the caller reports a loud boom, bats flying out of a small broken bathroom, and two low guttural grunts. The story ends without resolution.
Sister’s feet grabbed and a breathing presence at Fort Meade, Maryland
A caller who says he is from Indiana and a private in the US Army describes his sister’s story of something scratching and grabbing at her feet at night while the family lived on an army base at Fort Meade, Maryland. He also describes his own memories of being woken by breathing in his face and of apparently floating out of his bed. The call is cut short when the host says that physical grabbing makes the situation serious. No resolution or cause is given.
Vision of hellfire, a figure in the doorway, and a child-sized shape in the hallway
A male caller who does not give his name tells Art Bell about a night at home in bed with his wife. He felt something was in the room, then had what he calls a vision of [quote withheld] He says he then saw a figure move from the bathroom into the doorway. He also saw a small, child-sized figure run from the bathroom into his son’s room, where both children were asleep. He reports that his wife afterward described to him the same person he had seen. The host closes by commenting on prayer and on whether such a thing is “erased” or merely “released.”
20 more stories
- Child reports transparent man in buckle shoes in grandmother’s hallway3 min
- An image on a rice-field bridge and at a bathroom window4 min
- Noises and cold chills in an old house in Chattanooga (part 1)1 min
- Shadow figure in a bathroom doorway, Chattanooga3 min
- A lost ringtone plays, then a dark figure leaves the bedroom3 min