Deceased relative seen
Glowing green clothed skeleton in Navy housing and a stepfather’s change
A caller the host addresses as [name withheld], calling from San Diego, describes an incident in Navy housing in 1971 (later said to be 1974). They say they saw a luminescent green, fully clothed skeleton with an evil grin inside their bedcovers while they were unable to move. They say they later learned the previous tenant, a man, had died driving home from hunting, matching the hunting cap and jacket they say the figure wore. They link the sighting to a lasting change for the worse in their stepfather’s personality. The host suggests that the figure inhabited the stepfather, and the caller says they believe so. The caller ends with a brief remark that their late mother visits them.
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.
Ouija board channeling and a father’s figure in an Ohio farmhouse
[name withheld], calling from San Clemente, tells Art Bell about something they say happened when they were about fourteen or fifteen, in an old farmhouse in Ohio. They and a girlfriend used a Ouija board, a Christmas gift, to channel spirits. The caller says that on their first try they seemed to watch from outside their body. A spirit complained about the candlelight, their dead father briefly appeared, and then their vision went black and showed two-headed serpents and red-eyed rats. The caller says they came to with the lights on and their friend panicking. The caller ran to the bathroom, unable to breathe, with chest pain and a burning feeling. They never tried it again.
A sister’s illness, angel sightings, and a post-death garden vision
A caller who gives their name as [quote withheld] recounts, on the Wild Card Line, a family story about their younger sister’s illness and death in 1980. The caller relays that during a month of incoherence after strokes she described a [quote withheld] in their parents’ room. The caller says their grandfather reported angelic figures over her on three occasions and their father reported Lucifer appearing to him in the orchard. After her burial, the caller says, their grandfather described a vision of her in a garden. The story ends with the host’s closing remarks and the caller adding that a man in California told them he had seen the identical vision at the same time.
Family house in Syracuse: man on the telephone, bed presence, and deceased parents
[name withheld], from Syracuse, New York, tells Art Bell that their family home, owned by the family since 1950, has been the setting for a series of strange events. Both their parents died there. The caller reports a 1989 ghost of a young man talking on their telephone and walking through a wall. The caller also describes a presence that got into bed with them, a phone call in which a doctor’s office said it had spoken to a man named [name withheld], a green film, a smell of spaghetti sauce, and a later vision of their mother. The call ends with the host closing the segment after the mother’s reported insurance detail.
Child says dead brother is present at a Guam rosary; a stuck cupboard opens
A caller reachable through Reno recounts an event they say happened to them in 1991 or 1992 while living in Guam. At a rosary for a friend's former schoolmate, the dead man's four- or five-year-old sister repeatedly said her brother was present. She finally led the household to his room. There, a sliding cupboard door that two adult men could not move slid open effortlessly for her, revealing a letter the man had written to her. The story ends there. The host thanks the caller and offers his own comments about messages from the dead and children's perception.
Dream of a grandmother at the door saying “There is no heaven,” and a father’s parallel dream
A caller named [name withheld], from Philadelphia, recounts a dream from about ten years earlier, three days after their grandmother’s death. In the dream, the grandmother stands at their door barefoot in the snow, scratches the glass, and asks to be let in. The caller refuses and tells her [quote withheld] and she answers [quote withheld] After waking they tell their family, and their father describes a parallel dream from years before about a neighbor, [name withheld], who died shortly afterward. The caller says they do not believe it was the actual spirit.
Grandmother sits up in her casket and later appears in the caller’s bed
[name withheld], a caller from Evansville, Indiana, tells Art Bell that they lived with their grandmother until they were seven, when she died. At the funeral home, the caller says, they saw her sit up in her casket and turn to look at them. They say no one else saw it and that they were not afraid. The same night they woke in bed lying on top of her. They spoke to her, never saw her again, and went back to sleep.
Sleep paralysis, a dream of a grandfather, and a voice heard through the caller
A caller who says only that they are [quote withheld] describes an episode of sleep paralysis about four years earlier. It led into a dream of a grayish hallway, their dead grandfather, and a woman in a blue gown. They say they woke to find their girlfriend at the time crying, and that she told them she had heard the woman’s voice through them. At that moment, they say, their nose bled. Host Art Bell suggests the caller gave in to the paralysis rather than escaping it.
Palm reader relays a family’s story of a dead mother’s warning to rescue [name withheld]
A caller who identifies themselves as [quote withheld] a palm reader, describes a reading they gave in a small town between Salt Lake City and Yellowstone Park. They say the client told them that the client’s dead mother had appeared separately to the client’s girlfriend and to the client’s father, urging them to [quote withheld] The family found [name withheld] in an alley at a gas station with a motorcycle gang. The story ends with [name withheld] describing how the ages shown by the palm lines matched the ages at which the ghosts were reported. The host then reflects on whether the dead can send a message.
Roommate's night vision of her dead father warns of her sister's car accident
A caller who calls themself an atheist tells Art Bell that at age 20 they shared a two-bedroom apartment with a roommate who was a single mother. One night, the caller says, she ran into the caller's room crying. She said she had seen her dead father standing over her sister's casket, warning that the sister would be hurt but would not die. The next day, the caller says, the roommate's mother telephoned to report that the sister had been badly hurt in a car wreck and was in intensive care. The caller says the sister recovered, but the timing has always bothered them.
A figure at the foot of the bed on the night the caller's grandfather died
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], from Canton, Ohio, says that at the age of five they woke in the night and found family members gathered and upset. They then saw a greenish-white shape at the foot of their bed that they came to think looked like their grandfather. The caller says they learned the next morning that their grandfather had died in an emergency room that night. The host closes the call by saying the grandfather [quote withheld] and describing such stories as a type that comes up again and again.
47 more stories
- Mother's reported visit from the caller's deceased grandfather2 min
- A grandfather's voice and a dream of grandparents before deaths1 min
- House spirit, a child's great-grandfather, and keys turning in the lock3 min
- Grandmother seen descending from the ceiling at the hour of her death2 min
- Caller's employee dreams of three dead relatives; a grandmother dies two days later2 min
- Deceased mother reportedly appears at a newborn's crib and vanishes2 min
- Letter: A shadow resembling the writer’s late father, popcorn and cigar2 min
- Caller reports their deceased father sitting on the couch with a message2 min
- Deceased sister appears and grows up by a lake after an all-night ceremony3 min
- Fax: Root beer carried down stairs by itself at a 40-day memorial gathering1 min
- Dog appears to be petted at a late husband's chair, then watches the kitchen3 min
- Deceased father appears at the foot of the bed and speaks to his son2 min
- A child sees a man in a recliner, and the recliner's footrest moves by itself3 min
- Photograph found in a used book after asking a deceased mother for a sign3 min
- Successive owners report a tall figure and a rocking-chair woman in a Victoria house5 min
- A daughter reports talking with her deceased grandmother4 min
- Clairvoyant medium’s message and apparitions of deceased aunt and uncle4 min
- Stove glass bursts after a request for a sign; a toddler waves at an empty room5 min
- Boy with leukemia said his hospital visitor was his deceased great-grandmother1 min
- Deceased father appears beside the bed and tucks the caller in5 min
- A police officer’s question about a man walking through a house2 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
- Deceased grandfather seen peeking into a pot in the family restaurant1 min
- Mother sees an old woman in her armchair the night her mother died in Glasgow5 min
- Moving ladder, a fall, and a psychic’s identification of a brother-in-law2 min
- Grandchild identifies man crossing yard as deceased father-in-law34 s
- Deceased mother appears healthy in the kitchen and says not to worry5 min
- Newborn revives and grandmothers appear in a hospital window reflection4 min
- Dream of father-in-law searching for his body and wife hearing the caller's voice2 min
- Dead uncle seen in boys’ bedroom on the day he had promised to visit4 min
- Callback: A dead uncle’s footsteps and a father seen in a shared dream2 min