Phones, radio, and TV
Calls from the dead, voices on phone lines, or voices breaking into radio or TV.
Furnished apartment of a deceased tenant and a door held shut
A caller who says only that they are calling from Texas tells Art Bell that at nineteen they rented a furnished apartment. The previous tenant, an elderly woman, had died with nobody to inherit her belongings. The caller reports that cleaning supplies and dirty dishes vanished whenever the phone rang, their cat went berserk, and windows and the front door were found open despite the bolts. Finally, a door would not open against two people until they spoke a phrase they had been using. They say they packed up their cat and left.
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.
Teenage blood-curse ritual and a warning phone call from “[name withheld]”
A caller the host identifies as [name withheld] in Wisconsin tells of an episode from their teens in Racine, Wisconsin. They and two friends tried to perform a ritual they believed was a blood curse, using instructions said to come from a manual “written in blood.” [name withheld] describes losing about an hour in a haze, later misfortunes among people involved, and a phone call from a man calling himself “[name withheld],” who told them to destroy what they had made. The host cuts the call short for time and warns listeners not to attempt such things.
A child's late-night phone call reporting their father's death
A caller who gives the name [name withheld], calling from Redmond, Washington, says their father was murdered in 1976, when they were nine. The caller reports that at about 11 p.m. on the night of his death they woke at their aunt's house, walked through the dark house, and answered a ringing telephone. A voice the caller did not recognize told them their father had been shot, and then the line went dead. The caller’s aunt, who had not heard the phone ring, called it a bad dream. The caller says the call came around the time he died, and that their mother, fifteen miles away, woke with a start at the same moment. The caller says their uncle can confirm the caller telephoned him, but no one can confirm the incoming call. Asked what they think it was, the caller says they do not know.
Electrical faults and a voice in TV static in a Tucson college house
A caller the host introduces as [name withheld], calling from California, describes living in a rented house near the University of Arizona about ten to twelve years before the broadcast. They report repeated electrical failures and an electric can opener that started by itself. Then came an occasion when they and a woman with them heard a voice through the static on a TV with no cable, saying there were no ghosts there. The story ends with the two of them running out of the house.
Twin's grandfather reportedly announces brother alive and trapped in Vietnam
A caller who says they are a twin, on holiday in Western Canada, tells Art Bell that their brother was believed killed in Vietnam and their grandfather then died. The caller says the grandfather appeared to them twice, in their bedroom and in the den, and said their brother was alive and trapped. They say they later got a phone call from the grandfather saying the brother was alive. They found him in a Greek Orthodox mission hospital in Vietnam and brought him home. Years later, the caller says, a realtor reported that every door in the house had sealed shut.
Repeated 4 a.m. phone calls with a strange voice and a reported hag
An unidentified caller on the “first-time caller” line says their household telephone rang at 4 a.m. It rang three times that night. An unintelligible voice came through the speakerphone and sounded like “go to sleep.” The phone was later found in the bathroom, with no matching caller ID record. The caller also relays that their friend’s girlfriend, who lives there, said she had seen the ghost before and described it as [quote withheld] The host treats it lightly, saying such calls are usually nuisance calls, and jokes that the caller should have gone to sleep.
Volunteer firefighter senses dead crash victim, then an unexplained phone call
A caller the host introduces as [name withheld] from Texas describes working a fatal rollover as a new volunteer firefighter in East Texas. They say they sensed the dead driver’s presence at the scene and felt that the man followed them home. They say that after they spoke aloud to the unseen presence and it faded, their mother phoned to say they had just called her. The number was their own cell phone, which they say had no service. They think the call was placed by the dead man or by a guardian angel to put them at ease. The host calls it a cool story and offers his own belief about the recently dead.
Ouija board session and a phone voice saying “You shall”
A caller, whom the host identifies only as speaking from Salt Lake City, tells of a Ouija board session the caller says they held alone many years earlier. The caller reports that whenever they moved the planchette to the letter “S,” the telephone rang. The caller says they asked the board if it was causing the ringing, and the planchette answered “yes.” On answering the phone, the caller says, they heard a distant, “ancient” voice say “you shall” before they hung up. The caller frames the episode as a warning and says they have avoided occult objects since. The host thanks the caller, repeats the caution, and says he once had his own Ouija board experience that he will not discuss.
Motel night clerk takes a call from an empty room
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, tells Art Bell about their most recent ghost encounter. About three years earlier they worked the night shift as a motel desk clerk. The caller reports that around 1 a.m. the desk phone showed a call from a room with no registered guest. A brief old woman's voice said it had the wrong party. The caller found the room empty, with the phone on the hook. Their own explanation is that the dead mother of a resident in the next room had been looking for her son. The host notes that the motel phone system is private.
Late-night phone call from an aunt later found dead in the snow
A caller the host introduces as [quote withheld] says that years earlier, during a very cold winter, he got a telephone call around 11:30 p.m. from his aunt in Sault Ste. Marie. She asked to speak to his mother and asked the family's forgiveness. The next day, he says, the family learned the aunt had had a heart attack and frozen to death that night, around 9 p.m. The host concludes the call [quote withheld] The caller states no conclusion of his own.
A brother's dream phone call from his deceased father, who spent his prayers on the call
A caller who gives their name as [name withheld], in Carson City, passes on a story their brother told them. About six months after their father's sudden death in June 1991, the brother was napping before a graveyard shift. He dreamed that a phone rang in his bedroom, which the caller says has no phone, and that his father was on the line, calling from a casino. The caller reports that the father warned the caller's brother he would die within a year, and then the line went dead before a second, more important message could be given. Two years later the brother was still alive. The caller now reads the episode as a prediction that the brother's old, dependent self would die.