39 replies to this topic

[scowl]

 auramyst, on 04 March 2013 - 06:13 AM, said:

Well, then it must be a dropped call and the person will call back.  I start to hang up when I hear:   HHHHHEEEEEELLLLLLLOOOOO!  Shouted out in my own voice.

I keep the phone to my ear, stay silent, and hear:  HHHHEEELLLLOOOO!!!!!  HHHHEELLLOOOOO????  Hello!  Hello!  HEEELLLLLLLLO?  HELLOOOOOOOO!!!  Over and over again.  In my own voice.  Some mocking, some shouting, some sounding deeper, and some sounding higher.  But all are in my voice.

The phone calls where you hear your own voice are usually failed international calls. There is supposed to be an echo canceler that prevents you from hearing this but sometimes they fail and you hear yourself a second or two later. When they started using digital devices for echo cancellation they failed in more interesting ways. You would sometimes hear scrambled, Mickey Mouse, and chopped up bits of what you just said.

Back in the 70's when a friend and I were bored nerds, we would sometimes record CB radio personalities who we didn't like, mess with the recording (adding clips from Cheech and Chong records was our favorite), and transmit them back on the channel days later. A typical example would be:

"Breaker 1-9. This here's Lonedog I was wonderin' if y'all cord drup mommy pifflespiddle grooooovy man crutch blerb doop fer me. 10-4?"

We'd laugh like idiots as there would be a minute of:

"Comeback at us, Lonedog? Whatcha sayin'?"

"Lonedog, y'all right there?"

After a few weeks of this, they finally figured out what we were doing so it wasn't fun any more.

This was a little work with tape. Pranks like this are lot easier these digital days.

[auramyst]

I have no doubt that technology fails in many creepy ways.  The echo was very, very weird and seemed controlled rather than a random glitch.  Thank you for posting a possible  explanation.

I have another weird phone call story... This one's weirdness is based on the timing of the call.

This happened about 4 years ago. It was mid-afternoon and my 17 yr old daughter and I were the only ones home and as it so happened we telling ghost stories- of all things.  By the way, this isn't something we do very often   Anyway, the house phone (landline) starting ringing right in the middle of my story.  I picked up the phone and glanced at the caller ID.  The number displayed was our house phone number.  In other words, the phone was getting a call from itself.  I answered and there was no one there.  It was an open line.  I waited a few minutes, saying 'hello' a few more times and finally hung up.  A few seconds later, the phone rang again and again it was a call from it's own number.  Again an open line.  We checked the other phone in the house and it showed the number on it's caller ID too.  It was probably the phone company testing the lines or some such thing, but the timing was weird if nothing else.  And a great conclusion to a ghost story.

[scowl]

 auramyst, on 05 March 2013 - 12:34 AM, said:

This happened about 4 years ago. It was mid-afternoon and my 17 yr old daughter and I were the only ones home and as it so happened we telling ghost stories- of all things.  By the way, this isn't something we do very often   Anyway, the house phone (landline) starting ringing right in the middle of my story.  I picked up the phone and glanced at the caller ID.  The number displayed was our house phone number.

Yes, I saw When a Stranger Calls too.

[auramyst]

 scowl, on 05 March 2013 - 04:59 PM, said:

Yes, I saw When a Stranger Calls too.

Actually, I have not seen When a Stranger Calls.

I was merely referring to a true experience I had that involved a strange phone call in this forum called: "Strange Phone Calls".  

Was it strange? Yes. Was it paranormal? Probably not.  Was it coincidental? Yes.  It has not happened before or since.

Edited by auramyst, 05 March 2013 - 06:19 PM.

[kystranger]

Sorry about such a very late reply, I rarely come to these boards anymore.  I left the phone on the wall and plugged in because I didn't like the looks of the empty phone plate on the wall.  It looked better with a phone there.  And I have no idea why they wouldn't use my cell phone instead of the landline.  That's the part that has always confused me as well.  According the the second caller, that was the only number they had on my account, which is not true.  I'm still confused and freaked out about the entire thing and it happened years ago.

[CuriousLittleOne]

creeped me out, i hate phone calls like this ( im a bit weird around phone calls and prefer email or face to face) *shudder*

[CRIPTIC CHAMELEON]

When I get a call and don't know the number I just turn on the phone and don't say a word so all they hear is me breathing 6/10 will hang up the others just usually say hello in a scared way.  

[Alekx]

Ive got some experiences too. It was christmas  eve and I was on my way to a relative's house when I recieved a call from a friend, I could not answer so a few seconds later I got a voice message, also from her, I checked the message later to find out nothing to be heard, only a few clicks and some buzz sounds with a complete silent background, clase to the end I could hear a few sounds from what it appeared to be a woman's voice but the sounds were so short and disorted to make anything out of it. I thought it was just a line glitch or something so I tried to call her back but the line was busy, I thought nothing of it and let it go.
For the next months, I would rarely but also randomly get these calls from her number. I answered the second time it happened, but I just heard the same that the voice messages, after this second call I asked her if she called me that day at that time but she said she didn't, she doesn't like pranks so that's not it.

Anyway I ignored the rest of the calls and they stopped a few weeks ago. I'm sure it's a phone-line glitch or lines crossing over. Happens sometimes. I thought I'd share this

Edited by Alekx, 05 April 2013 - 05:40 AM.

[Exorcist]

Alekx, in your case what is probably happening is that your friend has her phone in her bag or somewhere similar, and she unknowingly hits the 'Call' button, and the one at the top of the 'Call' list is your number (or something similar to this - you could be on her quick-dial list, for instance). When she had called and you didn't pick up, your phone went into voice-mail mode - since she was not calling you knowingly, what was recorded on the voice-mail were the noises of the phone moving in her bag, and the faint noises of her voice and other voices in the distance. The reason you received these calls more than once is that it is often that her phone calls you on its own when the 'Call' button is pressed unknowingly through movements in her bag, and since you are on the top of her phonebook, or on a quick dial, or something similar, you are the one who keeps getting called.

 Alekx, on 05 April 2013 - 05:36 AM, said:

Ive got some experiences too. It was christmas  eve and I was on my way to a relative's house when I recieved a call from a friend, I could not answer so a few seconds later I got a voice message, also from her, I checked the message later to find out nothing to be heard, only a few clicks and some buzz sounds with a complete silent background, clase to the end I could hear a few sounds from what it appeared to be a woman's voice but the sounds were so short and disorted to make anything out of it. I thought it was just a line glitch or something so I tried to call her back but the line was busy, I thought nothing of it and let it go.
For the next months, I would rarely but also randomly get these calls from her number. I answered the second time it happened, but I just heard the same that the voice messages, after this second call I asked her if she called me that day at that time but she said she didn't, she doesn't like pranks so that's not it.

Anyway I ignored the rest of the calls and they stopped a few weeks ago. I'm sure it's a phone-line glitch or lines crossing over. Happens sometimes. I thought I'd share this

[scowl]

Last evening I let an unknown number go to voice mail. The voice mail is nothing but fifteen seconds of unintelligible (kind of a faux Latin) mumbling in a threatening tone followed by loud evil laughter.

Did it frighten me? Nope. A small percentage of people who dial a wrong number will do something like this for kicks.

A rough transcript (read in a threatening mocking tone): "Fee kwinda est tu. Fee kwinda! Esta KIND mist tenamau! Mon testaman esta min! Terminus! Ter-min-us! HA HA HA HA!"

Someone did a good job of improvising. I think they knew some Latin since "terminus" can mean the end of a road and sure sounds scary!

[And the number was 503-984-xxxx which is another cell phone.]

Edited by scowl, 12 April 2013 - 05:36 PM.