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Phantom Phone Calls

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Anonymous

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Last night I was expecting a call and just before Angel (about 8:55) the phone rang only to be disconected before I could anser.

I dialed 1471 to get the number only to find it was a Glasgow one. I thought it may have been my friend calling with his new number so I called back (by pressing 3, so I couldn't have dialed the wrong number.) As the number was engaged i hung up and called 5 minutes later only to find it was still engaged and again got the same result trying a 3rd time.

After Angel I called the number again (onone had called so I dieled 14713 to be conected to the last caller only to discover...

A woman picked up the phone and so began the 'you called this number: bla, bla (number given over). what was the call about.' script.

The woman said that she hadn't called as they had just got in but that they had tried my number 3 times only to find it engaged each time (they had also done 14713.)

Genuinly fortean? You deside.
 
Phantom calls from an empty house. My favorite form of Fortean phenom. I have read of this before but I don't remember where. It was one of the effects of a haunting/poltergeist occurance. It would call family & friends of the homeowners when the home owners weren't there and just listen to the confused individual on the other end.
 
Firstly remember that 1471 is not a faultless service. The last number dialed can be scrambled.

So who did ring you?

Possibility a. One of the ways telemarketing companies contact you (and avoid the restrictions on unlisted numbers) is to have a computer dial all possible numbers; excluding those on the Telephone Preference Service list, those that are not available codes, business and Governmental numbers.

The computer analyses whether the connected line is a voice, modem, swithchboard or fax line. If it is a voice line and one of the call centre operatives is free when the line connects then you get a marketing call. If there is no salesperson to speak to you the phone cuts off, usually before you pick up.

Possibility b. The network constantly checks for faults on the line. If you have certain configurations of home connections you will get a brief ring.
 
My friend used to have an online telephone service... using this, he could set up party lines.
How it worked was, you entered the numbers in, and if they answered their phone they would be connected to the party line.
We did it with random 7-11's and with a bunch of people named Richard Small (oh, yes, very mature).
Two people would answer the phone, and suddenly be talking to each other. "Did you call me?" "No, you called me."
Stupid, but quite funny. Especially with three or four people on the line trying to figure out what was going on.

Not that this explains your problem, but it probably seemed fortean to the many Mr. Small at the time.
 
I have occassionally had messages on my answerphone which was the BT voice saying "The number you have dialled has not been recognised". Can anyone explain that one?!
 
A few years ago I lived in a house near Peterborough where we had a lot of strange experiences. It wasn't an old house, infact only about 30 years old at the time.

One of these experiences was when I was at home on my own - it was around 2pm and I was watching TV in the living room. There was a telephone in the living room and one in the dining room. These two rooms were separated by a hallway. The phone rang and I picked up (in the living room). There was nobody there so (as you do) I waited a moment then put the phone down. About a second later I heard the phone being put down in the dining room. Bravely went to investigate and there was nobody there. I have never been able to come up with an explanation for this.

This never happened again but it seriously freaked me out!
 
Dreamcatcher said:
A few years ago I lived in a house near Peterborough where we had a lot of strange experiences. It wasn't an old house, infact only about 30 years old at the time.

One of these experiences was when I was at home on my own - it was around 2pm and I was watching TV in the living room. There was a telephone in the living room and one in the dining room. These two rooms were separated by a hallway. The phone rang and I picked up (in the living room). There was nobody there so (as you do) I waited a moment then put the phone down. About a second later I heard the phone being put down in the dining room. Bravely went to investigate and there was nobody there. I have never been able to come up with an explanation for this.

This never happened again but it seriously freaked me out!
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That sent a shiver down my spine :eek:

Reminds me of an incident in my current house. We don't have a phone line upstairs so I always take my mobile to bed.

The mobile rang and I woke up thinking it was the BF telling me that he was going on to a club and wouldn't be home until later. When I opened it the screen said 'Home calling' and the call ended.

I jumped out of bed, grabbing lighter and hairspray and slowly went downstairs to burn the face off any intruders and found... nothing.

I did redial on the phone and it phoned the BFs mobile, who I had called earlier. So scary. :eek!!!!:
 
Hex Kitten said:
That sent a shiver down my spine :eek:

Reminds me of an incident in my current house. We don't have a phone line upstairs so I always take my mobile to bed.

The mobile rang and I woke up thinking it was the BF telling me that he was going on to a club and wouldn't be home until later. When I opened it the screen said 'Home calling' and the call ended.

I jumped out of bed, grabbing lighter and hairspray and slowly went downstairs to burn the face off any intruders and found... nothing.

I did redial on the phone and it phoned the BFs mobile, who I had called earlier. So scary. :eek!!!!:
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that's just freaky!

:eek!!!!:
 
The other day my mobile was downstairs when it started ringing. By the time I got there it had stopped but there was no missed call/answer phone message or anything. Checking recieved/missed calls list only showed numbers from previous night. Strange, prob network playing up tho.
 
siriuss said:
The other day my mobile was downstairs when it started ringing. By the time I got there it had stopped but there was no missed call/answer phone message or anything. Checking recieved/missed calls list only showed numbers from previous night. Strange, prob network playing up tho.
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Mr Phone does this to me all the time - one of the reasons why we are not friends anymore. He usually lets me know that I had a missed call 2 weeks later.:hmph:

His favourite trick is to tell me I have a text message and then not let me read it.

Bloody mobiles...
 
Have never had this problem before tho.
My phone's favourite trick is to ring various mate's parents at three o'clock in the morning when it's bumping around in my pocket. Oh and the police.
 
Delbert said:
I have occassionally had messages on my answerphone which was the BT voice saying "The number you have dialled has not been recognised". Can anyone explain that one?!
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Maybe it was the BT woman playing prank calls on you... ;)
 
ive had calls (when i was living at my parents house) on a BT line that when ive answered there has been a half second delay then it repeats what i said ie "hello" half second delay "hello" back. not that strange until i 1471 and it gave me my parents number which means i called myself. what the hell is that all about?
 
I've never recieved any phantom phonecalls,but I've gotten some pretty weird prank calls.About 13 years ago my cousin used to babysit my siblings and I when my Mom went out.And the second my Mom pulled out of the driveway the phone calls would begin.The first call was a black woman asking for someone named Mike.My cousin tells her she has the wrong number and hangs up.About 3 seconds later it rings again,it's a white man asking for a woman whose name I forget at the moment.This continued for a while with various voices asking for people who didnt live at my house.At one point I saw someone in my backyard hopping over the fence to my neighbors yard,and the calls ended after that.:confused:
 
We had a thread on this years ago, 'Satan's Handsfree', if anyone wants to go look it up. One of my favourites ever. The Mothman FT a while back had some fantastically scary phone stories, from the journalist who investigated Point Pleasant in the 1980s.

Personally, the sound of a dial tone at night always fills me with dread for no reason that I can explain. Please do not use this against me.
 
I remember reading those.They would make you jump a mile every time a phone rings but afraid to answer!
 
I've had some funnies with the phone just recently, too.
On Monday just gone (24th Feb), I got back home to find 2 blank messages on my answering machine. This has happened several times since I moved into the house, so I just shrugged it off.
However, the phone rang 3 more times that evening, and each time I answered, to find that the phone was just dead - nobody on the other end. Each time I did 1471, and the message said that the caller had withheld their number.
It seriously annoys me when someone deliberately withholds their number.

Last night (Tuesday 25th Feb), a friend rang me on her mobile. Partway through the conversation, we were interrupted by a really loud noise, like a modem or fax going off. We heard this at both ends, and had to hang up. This continued for some time. Eventually, I rang my friend back to continue the conversation. Neither of us have ever experienced this before.
It could be the network playing up - who knows?

Another story: When I was in my early teens, I would regularly be left alone in the house. All manner of strange calls would ensue, that wouldn't normally occur when my parents were about.
I figured that most of them were prank calls.

Yet another story: When I was still living with my parents (probably 1989 or 1990), my sister rang in the early hours of the morning from her house, waking us all up from a deep sleep.
She sounded most distraught, and in tears - apparently, she'd been woken up by a phone call from me and my father. She said we sounded like we were in danger, and were screaming for help.
I calmed her down and assured her we were both OK. She didn't quite believe me (!), so I handed the phone to my Dad. I was quite unsettled by the whole thing.
Explanation? Don't know, but it could have been my sister's nightmare, or a convincing prank call, or a genuine call for help to the wrong number. Or something supernatural.
 
Wrong number...

Some years ago we started getting calls for The Portland Hotel in Hove. Dozy bleeders had put the wrong phone number on their business cards.

I remember reading some years ago about a couple that kept getting silent phone calls at odd hours until, fed up, they demanded that BT investigate. It turned out that an industrial boiler somewhere was connected to a telephone line and set to ring the service centre when it needed servicing. It had been decommissioned years before and the number given out again to the couple, but somehow it had "woken up" and commenced making the phone calls once more.

A case of something that might have seemed creepy at the time having a boringly normal explanation.
 
My favourite phone stories are the Mothman ones where John Keel had threatening phone calls traced only to find his own number as the source.

Another fav is the oen shown on some BBC programme about 10 years back whereby a guy passing a ringing payphone answers it to be addressed by his union rep who engages him on a topic as if he had rang him at home. Puzzled, he enquired as to how his rep had known to ring that particular pay phone at that time. It turned out that he had accidentally rang his union number, which corresponded exactly with the pay phone number! High weirdness or what!?!
 
nother strange phone thing:
dunno if you can still do it, but some years ago i discovered you can get the talking clock to ring you back if phone it, then...sort of....jiggle the hanger-upper (don't think it'll work with these new fangled, carry-'em-anywhere contraptions) a couple of times in quick succesion, as if you were double clicking a mouse, then put the phone down.
fantastic entertainment for when relatives have just asked you what the time is :)

............particularly if you don't tell anyone about it for the next 4 years and people are still saying "remember when the talking clock rang us up ooh wasn't that strange!" at christmas dinner.

not that i ever got round to doing that.

anyone else discover this?
 
Darrenxyz said:
I had some odd phone calls a while back, a load of people who apparently thought I was a McDonalds.
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There was a month when we had a lot of call from people who thought I was occult bookshop (one that was owned by a friend's father). Never figured out why that happened.....
 
Regarding wrong phone numbers, the really odd thing is when people actually argue with you about whether it is a wrong number. It's like they can't accept that they have made a mistake (or that someone else made a mistake when giving them the number).
 
Darrenxyz said:
Regarding wrong phone numbers, the really odd thing is when people actually argue with you about whether it is a wrong number. It's like they can't accept that they have made a mistake (or that someone else made a mistake when giving them the number).
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Yes, I've had "are you sure you're not the pub?" quite a few times now.

:eek:
 
Our phone often rings at the same time everyday and when you 1471 it, it always says the person with held their number as when you pick the phone up there is no one there.

All I can put it down to is NTL being shite!

Once I mis-dialled a number ringing my friend Paul and this voice said "No, Jo (thats me!) you've phoned us instead. Paul's number is blah blah blah." I was totally freaked and said "who is this then?" I'd rung his brother in law in error, who had only had their new number for a couple of days and had recognised my voice!

Also, a couple of years back we got a phone call enquiring about a hen night and what time the bus was picking everyone up. My boyfriend told the caller 7.30 (as I was actually going on a hen night that night and indeed was being picked up at 7.30) when the caller said thanks and rang off. Then the phone rang again and the person asked "You are talking about Carole's hen night aren't you? But thats not Gary is it?" My boyfriend confirmed it was the correct hen night and no, he wasn't the groom to be.

This really would be truly freaky except the correct number the person should have dialled is only 2 digits different from ours, but it's still weird how everyone knew what they were talking about.

OH YEH! An Irish chap I used to work with had a big discussion about the Einiskillen bombing by the IRA with his Dad as his Dad had lost a friend in it. His Dad kept harping on about the IRA and terrorism and in the end he told him to shut up as he was a bit unnerved by it and joked you never knew who was listening.

About 2 weeks later this chap did a telephone survey and was asked some quite bizarre questions (which he now realises with hindsight!) and the chap at the end of the call said "Thanks for your time Eamonn" and Eamonn said "OK. You're welcome" then he realised he never gave the person his name. (And it wasn't that this bloke was in the directory otherwise he would have been addressed as Mr. Someone!)
 
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