Being touched
Dark woman from the attic and phantom table-setting in a childhood home
A caller tells Art Bell about a childhood haunting in their family home. The caller says they and their brother were visited at night by a dark female figure they called the doll stall woman, who came down from the attic through a closet. They later heard table-setting sounds and saw white legs in old-fashioned pajamas moving around the dining table. Then a spirit entered their room and grabbed their legs. The caller says this is the first time they have told anyone about it.
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.
Hooded faceless figure in the bedroom and a return during a cardiac arrest
A caller identified on air as [name withheld] of Sacramento describes himself as a 6'9", 370-pound pastor. He says a faceless, handless, hooded figure came through his bedroom door in March of that year and threatened him. It then threw his wife off the bed by the ankles and left what he describes as bleeding hand imprints. He says the same figure appeared beside him a month later when his heart stopped during a hospital stay in San Francisco. It told him it was time to come with it. He says he refused and was revived. He ends by telling the host he believes the figure was probably following him after he once helped a Catholic pastor with an exorcism.
A black form, the family cats, and a brother’s hypothermia in an Edison, New Jersey, farmhouse
A caller who says they are calling from Fairborn, Ohio, tells Art Bell that around 1970, when they were nine or ten, their family lived in an old farmhouse on 12 acres in Edison, New Jersey. They report waking at 3 or 4 a.m. and seeing a black, indistinct oval form in the hallway that “slammed into” them and told them “don’t go in.” They then found their younger brother being enveloped by it in their shared bedroom while the family’s cats attacked it. The story ends with their father, described as a police officer, running in with a gun as the thing slid through a window. The brother was reportedly kept overnight in the hospital for hypothermia the next morning.
Entity attacks on a child in a late-1800s house in Needles, California
A first-time caller who gives their name as [name withheld] tells Art Bell about what they call an “entity attack” that began when they were about four years old, in a family house in Needles, California. He reports a presence coming through the wall at night, grabbing and dragging them, and family-wide problems with furniture moving. In a final incident, their father was trapped in the basement under a chest freezer. They say the family moved out about two weeks after that, and that they still sleep with their head under the covers.
Lifelong bedroom attacks and a black figure with red eyes
A caller who gives their name as Mary, in Hickson, Tennessee, tells Art Bell that they and their family have been attacked “all my life,” mostly in the bed or bedroom. The caller reports a night when something grabbed their hand as if to pull them out of bed. On other nights they woke unable to breathe, scream, or move, while seeing two red eyes and a black figure. They say it also happened to their husband and brothers. The call ends with the caller saying they sense things about people, believe their father was possessed, and know when people are going to die.
Evil presence, a figure saying “I want you,” and strange events ending after a house fire
[name withheld] from Harrisburg, Oregon, calls to describe a series of experiences in their house. They include a feeling of evil in the bedroom, a touch across their feet, and a hiss around 3 a.m. The caller also reports that their husband saw a figure in the doorway and later heard it say “I want you.” The caller links the activity to witchcraft books found upstairs. After an upstairs house fire and a remodel, the caller says, nothing has happened since.
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.
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.
Dog growls and dark figure at foot of bed after wife's ex-husband dies
A caller who gives no name, from west of the Rockies, asks Art Bell whether dogs can see ghosts. The caller then says that since their wife's ex-husband was killed in a car wreck last December, their little dog has barked and growled at the air. The caller reports that the other night, lying upstairs next to their wife, they felt a tap on their shoulder. They saw a big dark figure at the end of the bed that seemed to be trying to pull their soul out. The host interrupts for a break before the story is resolved.
Paralysis and a presence lying on the caller in a former mortician’s house
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], in Atlanta, tells Art Bell that they live in what they call a haunted house, previously owned by someone they describe as a mortician. They report moving objects, noises, and mocking voices. They describe going to bed and feeling something creep up the bed and lie on them while they were unable to move or scream. Later they describe a sensation they call an attempt at sexual contact. They say the experience changed their life and that they now stay up at night until sunrise.
Letter on deaths and reported hauntings at the Penfield Place in Illinois
The host reads a letter attributed to [name withheld] in Rockford, Illinois. It recounts the history of a house in north-central Illinois that locals call the Penfield Place. The letter tells of a series of deaths, a bride's disappearance and the later discovery of her dismembered remains, and strange events reported by later tenants. It ends by describing the house as still standing, decaying and in ruins. No document or second witness is presented on air.
92 more stories
- A former priest blesses the house of a dead radio singer3 min
- Sensed presence of previous owner “[name withheld]” in a purchased house3 min
- A silver figure, footprints on a sleeping mother's arm, and a “vortex” in Long Beach2 min
- Halloween graveyard dare and a death in Graceland Cemetery, 19333 min
- Disturbances in a rented upstairs apartment above an old store5 min
- Pounding sensation on a barracks bunk after reading “The Exorcist”1 min
- Two brothers swatted by nothing at a second-floor windowsill2 min
- Letter: A tap on the shoulder after an uncle's death1 min
- Widow reports late husband massaging her feet and putting her to sleep1 min
- A reported ghost dog in an old Bothell, Washington, apartment1 min
- A floating female figure, immobility, and being carried out a bedroom window3 min
- Clawed touching in bed and being pushed into a closet53 s
- Strangling dream and a hag mask found at the basement stairs3 min
- Presence in a new Escondido house, 1971; home blessed by a priest3 min
- Childhood sounds and a cold presence in a Pomona house; a white figure in Ontario6 min
- Hooded figure with sickle in Golden Gate Park before a friend’s motorcycle death3 min
- A sister’s illness, angel sightings, and a post-death garden vision4 min
- A bell heard in the car and a puff of air in the shower after a boyfriend's death4 min
- Previous owner’s presence, baked smell and rearranged dishes in an estate-sale house4 min
- Duplex poltergeist, a figure at the wall, and a hidden room of the former police chief4 min
- Rented Memphis house: light switch, waterbed displacement, ankle grab5 min
- Ghost called Charlie reported to follow a family through moves4 min
- Daytime sleep paralysis, a woman speaking in a man's voice, and nails in the head5 min
- A woman steps from a curtained closet and removes a crying child's skates4 min
- Vision of a little girl kissing the caller’s cheek during an adoption decision3 min
- Tugging during naps and a waterbed that seemed to leak in a San Rafael apartment3 min
- Caller’s secondhand story of a figure on the stairs in a Salem house3 min
- A poke through the mattress and weight on the legs in a dying man's bedroom3 min
- Fire dispatch dormitory and a dream of an 1864 village by the Santa Ana River9 min
- Hands pressing him down in bed; uncle later recalls a murder in the flat4 min
- Rummaging sounds and a hair pull in USS Enterprise switchgear rooms6 min
- Waking paralysis, chest pressure, and moving curtains in upstate New York2 min
- Father hears lamp pull-chains jingle and a moan in his ear, 19614 min
- Nightly 12:26 wakings, cool fingers, and a child’s invisible playmate5 min
- Six nights in an abandoned rural house: Odors, Ouija board, and footsteps4 min
- Letter: A smoky kneeling figure at a student’s bedside and a presence across the hall2 min
- Retired fire lieutenant relays bunk-room pressure story from Rescue 16 min
- Retired sheriff's captain reports a ghost cat and a figure in an old courthouse2 min
- A push on the top bunk and handprints on a boy's chest5 min
- Airman reports a translucent figure at the foot of his bed at Kunsan Air Force Base8 min
- Bed trembling, a whispered name, and shadows after a grandmother’s death6 min
- A daughter reports talking with her deceased grandmother4 min
- Boy with leukemia said his hospital visitor was his deceased great-grandmother1 min
- Spirit called Henry: pinches, a boy’s ghost, and a fallen picture3 min
- Letter: A girl named [name withheld] in a Trenton attic and a found ring3 min
- Deceased father appears beside the bed and tucks the caller in5 min
- Child shoved from bed in a reportedly haunted guest room, Chinese Camp2 min
- Reported music, elevator doors, and a rooftop push in a Saskatoon hotel building6 min
- Unseen hand presses sailor’s shoulder before hoses fall on USS Savannah4 min
- Dark presence and being thrown in a Yosemite employee tent cabin5 min
- A hand from under the driver's seat stops a teenager before a runaway gravel truck3 min
- A campfire cat that a camper’s hand reportedly passed through3 min
- Laughing in the basement, a woman in white, and shadow figures in a family home6 min
- Sister’s feet grabbed and a breathing presence at Fort Meade, Maryland2 min
- Feeling a cat walk on the bed when the cat was elsewhere3 min
- Haunted family house in Lorain, Ohio: Slapping, shadows, and something on the bed4 min
- Deceased truck driver reportedly visits a Colorado ranch and leaves Pepsi cans4 min
- Twin's grandfather reportedly announces brother alive and trapped in Vietnam6 min
- Voices in the basement and a touch in the shower of a rental home3 min
- Leg broken by an unseen kick on lava rock at Kaneohe Marine base7 min
- A kick to the side and spit landing on a pillow in a locked bedroom2 min
- A sensed presence with a tail and blunted nails during an out-of-body experience5 min
- Wartime story of a figure at a wrought iron fence and a graveyard4 min
- Caller reports fingers closing on their wrists and ankles after mocking a friend2 min
- Reported shoulder nudge while at a computer browsing a website1 min
- Laughing woman on the bed and a head that comes off in the caller’s hand4 min
- A felt hug from a presence, and a relative's death the same night3 min
- Invisible force pulls caller by the arm at their grandmother's doorway5 min
- Caller recounts husband's changed state and energy transfer after suicide attempt5 min
- Struck by a hearse at six, an out-of-body experience, and later night visitations4 min
- A shove on a dark street and a figure in a photograph, Louisville7 min
- Dreams, levitation and handprint marks on a Clarksburg property7 min
- Granddaughter reports two black figures at a friend's house5 min
- Backing into an unseen solid body at a Pasadena garden center2 min
- Foot tug and a friend’s death reported on the radio3 min