Saturday, February 21, 2009

Phone Calls from the Dead

Phone Calls from the Dead

My father, God bless him, passed away in April of 1986. My siblings and I were all lucky enough to be adults by the time this happened, but you never really outgrow your parents, do you? My oldest brother had an interesting relationship with our father, something that ranged from amicable to volatile with stops in between. Nevertheless, my father's death was very hard on my brother. Likewise, I know my father always worried about my older brother.

I suppose none of us were totally surprised when my brother, starting a new job some time after my dad passed away, came to work and was handed a message slip from the switchboard: "Your father called." My brother reread the message a few times, then went to the operator and asked her about it. She told him the call came in a few minutes earlier, and that the caller simply said, "Just tell him his father called."

Of course, the first person he talked to about this was my mother. My mother, practical as always, just asked "Are you about to do something stupid?"

The story is kind of a joke within my family because it underscores the relationship between my brother and my father. On the other hand, it also brings up one of my favorite kinds of ghost stories, and that is the phone call from beyond the grave. Have you heard descriptions of this phenomena? About the phone that rings, but there is something quiet or shortened about the ring? About the caller's voice itself, and how it can sound far away or faint, although unmistakable? Or how about the static that fills the line, and then the abrupt end to the call, usually with a heavy silence?

This is the one kind of story that is deficient in my collection. Anyone got one to share?

4 comments:

  1. I think this is really a cool concept. I have had several experiences where I KNOW I saw a friend who had passed away when I was younger.

    It also makes me think of a story that is for sale at Quake. It isn't about a phone call, but an e-mail.

    http://www.quakeme.com/direct/buy-am-way-q.htm

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  2. My Father passed away in 2000. About a year later, my Mother started receing phone calls. When she would answer the phone it would be just dead on the other side. She would get really upset over these calls. I just kinda ignored her when she would complain about these calls. But she became hysterical that someone was out to drive her crazy.Her caller ID would always say no data when these calls came in. My Mom over the course of a year of calls,just became frantic.I just didnt take it seriously, thinking it was some phone glitch. She finally had her number changed, thinking it would stop, but the calls came in imediately with the new number, even though she gave it to no one.She actualy went threw the phone company and police. The phone company could not find any log of these incoming calls that she was receiving. I thought maybe my Mom was losing it. Then one day I was talking to my Sister, she said she was there when one of the calls came in. My Sister answered it, and just heard this absolutely bizarre noise and then it went dead. She is a very skeptical person, but told me in secracy she just had the creeps when she took that call. She hung the phone up and turned to my Mom. My Sister said Ma, I know this sounds crazy, but I think Dad is trying to call us. My Mom said quietly Thats what I always believed to. My Sister said out loud, Dad if that is you calling, please stop its scaring Mom. The calls never happened again after that.

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  3. This experience recently happens to me too.. At first, I'd thought that it was just some prank call and had tried to call back but to no success. But then the cell number just strike me the familiarity of it which I ask myself could this be my dad's phone and just thought nothing further..

    Then last night, he happens to call me again and I told him whoever he was to stop otherwise i may have to refer his number to the police for nuisance.. He just hang up and than to my surprise he had use my home phone to call me but that phone line had been terminated because it was registered under my dad's name but he didn't answer and I just hang up. Again, he called but this time the number appeared to be my previous office phone.. So I said to myself that confirms was from my dad... The voice i heard sounded low and faint.. My dad had passed away in the year 2005 of cancer..

    So which is why i had search the net for similar experience by others...

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  4. i recd a call from a unknown phone #, when i call it back the voice messg sound just like my dear friend and the area code was from the city where he lived and i had now heard from in awhile i had been missing him so much and i thought he had forgot about me, so i left a mesg, and waited for him to call me back later, when he didn't, the next day i call his brother to make sure if that was in deed his brothers phone # since it was not the same 1 i had for him, only to find out from his brother that it was and that he was just laid to rest 4 days ago,i was told that around the time that we lost touch with each other was the time he took sick, i told his brother, how could that be, he just call me yesterday,i was so hurt that i didn't get to say goodbye, I call my friend back and left a mesg on his voice mail that i was so sorry i never got the chance to tell him how i truely felt about him all these years and i hope that put him at ease and to RIP,....

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