There are cases when people answered phone calls and heard the voice from someone they knew had died. Others have received calls from a dead person and found out later the caller had died before the call was made. Rogo and Bayless classified these calls.
Phone Calls from a Dead Grandmother
Gran and Karl Uphoff were close. She was deaf, but called his friends to find out if he was there and, if so, to come home immediately.
Two days after she died, Karl was at a friend’s house when he was told he had a phone call. When Karl heard the caller’s voice, he realized she was Gran. Before he could ask her how she could call, she hung up. More calls followed before they stopped.
Phone Calls from a Dead Grandfather
In 1995, Mrs. Wilson’s phone rang. When she answered the call, she heard a distant voice that she recognized as her dead Granddad. He said he was fine and with others who had passed on. He told her he was watching over her and to give his love to the children.
His voice faded and the call disconnected. Wilson dialed a number to trace the call. The call originated from her own phone. There was no extension.
Cell Phone and Telephone Calls from the Dead
Chuck Peck was killed in the September 12, 2008, Metrolink train crash in Los Angeles. That night, his fiancée, brother, sister, sons and stepmother kept receiving calls from his cell phone. When they answered their phones, they heard static. When they returned the call, they got Chuck’s voice mail. The calls stopped around 3:30 a.m. – about one hour before firefighters found his body. Curiously, it's believed that he was killed instantly.
Army guards stationed at Fort Leavenworth have reported receiving phone calls from Number Eight Tower when it was vacant, although no telephone was there. When they answered the calls, they heard static.
Telephone Call to the Dead
A woman dreamed about a friend she hadn’t seen in several years slipping into a pool of blood. She was very concerned and called her friend. The other woman answered and said she had been in the hospital, was discharged, but would be readmitted in several days.
She refused to let the caller visit and said she would call when she returned home. Finally, after not hearing from her friend, the woman called. A relative answered and said the friend had died six months before the initial phone call.
Classifications of Phone Calls from the Dead
Rogo and Bayless divided these calls into their length, then, into sub-classifications. Types of calls are:
- Simple: These, the most common, are when the spectral caller says thirty words or less. Usually they’re brief because the caller isn’t responsive to the living. The caller may repeat a question or phrase, which is followed by silence.
- Prolonged: In most of these calls, the living person doesn’t know that the other person has died. Conversation usually is normal with the exception that the deceased is disinclined to answer questions that state s/he’s dead. It’s theorized these calls are dependent on the living not knowing that the person is dead.
- Apparent: The majority of these calls are when the dead calls the living who might or might not know the other person has died. The call can be simple or prolonged.
- Answer: In rare cases, the living calls the dead, not knowing the recipient has died. The calls are generally prolonged.
- Intention: A dead person is not involved. The living thought about making a phone call, but didn’t. S/he receives a call about the matter. The caller’s voice might sound normal, robotic or slurred. Sometime, a third party will call, relaying information from the caller.
Phone Calls from the Dead and Electronic Voice Phenomena
While both phenomena involve phantom voices, the phone calls from the dead occur spontaneously and randomly. Paranormal researchers intentionally use equipment to, hopefully, record EVPs as evidence of hauntings.
Recipients of the phone calls aren’t involved in paranormal research. Many are skeptics or disinterested in the field. More research is needed; however the only evidence of the phone calls are the accounts of the witnesses. It’s very likely that these calls could be taped, but, how many people record all of their phone calls?
Articles Related to Phone Calls from the Dead
Readers who enjoyed this article might like EVP – Electronic Voice Phenomena and Ghosts of Fort Leavenworth
Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, (FactsOnFile, 1992).
Phone Calls From the Dead, D. Scott Rogo and Raymond Bayless, (Prentice-Hall, 1979).
Jill Stefko - I'd rather deal with the paranormal than human abnormal - having dealt extensively with both.
