So: You want to call some scary phone numbers, do you? Phone numbers that seem like they might be haunted? Cursed? Something like that? Super creepy phone numbers that will send a chill down your spine? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Here, you’ll find the ultimate scary phone numbers list — one with 40-plus eerie, creepy, seemingly cursed or haunted numbers to call when you’re feeling brave. Or never to call, if you’re feeling smart. It’s your call. Literally.
I’ve been examining and documenting scary phone numbers here over at The Ghost In My Machine for years — long before it was de rigueur to do so. From scary phone numbers you can actually call to numbers that exist only as stories, and from big collections of scary numbers to individual deep dives into specific phone numbers, we’ve, uh… got a lot here in our archives.
[Like what you read? Check outDangerous Games To Play In The Dark,available from Chronicle Books now!]
So, with all this information at hand, it made sense after all these years to make one, big, giant, master list of scary phone numbers — something that encompasses all of them, all in one place: Scary phone numbers that work; scary phone numbers that used to work, but don’t anymore; and scary phone numbers that exist only in legend, not in reality. I’ll aim to update this list periodically, too, so we can all stay on top of things.
Ready to dial S for Scary? Here we go.
Scary Phone Numbers To Call That Work
If you’re in the mood to make some weird phone calls yourself, the following scary numbers are all still operational — that is, dialing them will lead you to a prerecorded message that’s odd and eerie, and sometimes very, very mysterious. For the daring, calling them can be quite the experience.
1. 213-25-VAULT (213-258-2858)
What you hear: A male-sounding voice screaming. A lot. I mean a lot. Alternatively, if you text the number, you receive the following message in reply: “Thank you for texting Vault-Tec. The next available appointment is 33 weeks from now, please stand by!”
What it is: A tie-in for the Prime Video series Fallout, an adaptation of the post-apocalyptic video game series of the same name. Vault-Tec, of course, is the ethically dubious defense corporation responsible for, among other things, designing the bunkers — Vaults — intended to shelter humanity in the event of a nuclear holocaust.
The Vault-Tec phone number appears onscreen in an infomercial for the company in episode six, titled “The Trap.” There’s a lot we don’t know about the number yet, including who exactly is screaming (there are theories that it’s Walton Goggins, although whether or not it might specifically Goggins’ character on the show, Cooper Howard, remains to be seen), and what exactly is meant to happen in 33 weeks.
For what it’s worth, the “33 weeks” date is generally understood to be Nov. 29, 2024; some are speculating that a Fallout-related news drop might occur then. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see.
See you in 33 weeks!
2. 630-296-7536
What you hear: A pleasant voice telling you, “You have reached Boothworld Industries. Your number has been logged and traced. A service representative will be with you shortly for remodeling. We at Boothworld Industries say thanks. You have a marvelous day.”
What it is: Boothworld Industries doesn’t exist in reality, of course — but it is one of the most notable stories to come out of the r/NoSleep subreddit in the early 2010s. Masterminded by writer Christopher Bloodworth, the Boothworld universe has at its center a mysterious company that will do your dirty work for you, should you have someone in your life you wish to… let’s call it put in their place. The first story in the now-expansive mythos bore this phone number as its title — a phone number which readers (including yours truly) quickly discovered actually worked.
Back in the day, callers might occasionally receive a call back; said Bloodworth to Bubblebeam Magazine in 2014, “Sometimes I call back. The reactions are usually fun.” That’s probably no longer the case, but the number itself is still operational.
3. 502-755-6381
What you hear: A female-sounding thanking you for calling [REDACTED] tip line — a tip line which, by the by, has an area code corresponding to La Grange, Kentucky. The voice goes on to describe the purpose of the tip line: Four hikers entered the [REDACTED] area in mid-March, but had disappeared by April. In October, the remains of three people — Clay Foster and Sylvia Burnett, both graduate students, along with fellow hiker Luke Woodhaven — were discovered in the woods, the location of which is also [REDACTED]. The fourth hiker, Dylan Prescott, remains missing; authorities are seeking information about both the deaths and the missing person.
At this point, the tip line voice is cut off abruptly and replaced by another female-sounding voice — possibly the aforementioned Sylvia Burnett, although also perhaps Dylan Prescott — who… does not sound like she is doing well. She is wailing and sobbing about “this miserable place” and “this wretched valley” — and as she does so, her voice is layered on top of itself multiple times, making it even more difficult to make out what she is saying.
We close out with a third female-sounding voice repeating, “One. Sixteen. Twenty-four. One. Sixteen. Twenty-four,” over and over and over again.
What it is: A fun and eerie tie-in for the novel This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer. Inspired by the Dyatlov Pass incident and described as “perfect for fans of Alma Katsu and Showtime’s Yellowjackets,” This Wretched Valley finds its center in ambitious rock climber Dylan (Prescott), who, after finding a previously-undiscovered cliff face in Kentucky (remember that La Grange area code?), aims to become the first person to climb it. She brings along her boyfriend Luke (Woodhaven), as well as Clay (Foster) and Clay’s research assistant Sylvia (Burnett) — but that’s the last anyone hears of them. Months later, three of the climbers’ remains, all in disturbing states, are located, with the fourth — Dylan herself — still missing.
What happened? We’ll all just have to read the book to find out. It was published on Jan. 16, 2024 — one, sixteen, twenty-four. You can check out an excerpt here.
4. 909-390-0003
What you hear: Your own voice, echoing back at you. This number is a so-called “doppelganger number” — a phone number-based legend that’s best known in Japan, but also accessible in the United States. According to the Japanese version of the legend, calling a doppelganger number such as 073-499-9999 or090- 2048-1972 will put you in touch with your own double, and possibly saddle you with a deadly curse. If you’re in the United States, the doppelganger number is 909-390-0003.
What it is: A test line implementing an echo test — that is, a test that checks the audio quality of your connection. There are two kinds of echo tests; the one you implement if you call 909-390-0003 is the variety that sends your own voice back to live as you speak. Creepy? A little. Supernatural? Nope. You can find out more about the different types of echo tests and doppelganger numbers here. Can you hear me now? Or, rather, can you hear yourself now?
5-7. The Stranger Things Numbers
If you’re a Stranger Things fan, you’re probably aware of the fact that, pretty much immediately following the conclusion of the third season in 2019, fans discovered they could actually call the phone number belonging to not-so-friendly neighborhood conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman). But hey, guess what? Turns out there are a bunch of Stranger Things phone numbers that work! Most of them aren’t particularly scary in and of themselves, but they are fun Easter eggs for fans of the show. Here are a few options to call the next time you’re feeling bold:
- 618-625-8313: This is the aforementioned Murray Bauman number. Call it and you’ll hear a message from Bauman to Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) hinting at the fate of Jim Hopper (David Harbour). For a transcript of the message and an examination of the phone number’s significance as a trailhead for an ARG tied into the show, I put together a deep dive here way back when; you can also listen to my recording of the number. Listen here.
- 907-206-7700: Hear a voicemail message from Yuri Ismaylov (Nikola Đuričko), the treacherous pilot who flies Joyce from Alaska to Kamchatka to rescue Hopper. Notably, 907 is an Anchorage, AK area code. Listen here.
- 202-968-6161: AKA the “Nina number,” due to its association with the Nina Project. It’s the phone number that Mike finds hidden inside a ballpoint pen given to him by Dr. Owens (Paul Reiser) before Owens’ death. If you call it, you’ll hear first what Mike hears when he calls it — “a bunch of weird noises” that Jonathan deduces means they’re literally calling a computer — followed by a bunch of typing, some ambient sounds that include ringing and beeping, and then a big ol’ boom. Listen here.
8. 407-734-0254
[Warning: Spoilers for the documentary Wrinkles The Clown ahead!]
What you hear: A voicemail greeting from Wrinkles the Clown. Do you have misbehaving children? Well, if you live in the Naples, Florida area, you can call up Wrinkles at 407-734-0254 and hire him to scare your little devils into becoming little angels. Be sure to leave a message!
What it is: A little bit of truth, and a little bit of fiction. The phone number exists, and the voicemail box exists, and for most of the 2010s, most people were under the impression that “Wrinkles” was a 60-something, Florida-based retiree originally from Rhode Island who had decided to hire himself out in this scare-your-kids-into-behaving capacity as a means of keeping himself occupied in his post-employment years.
That’s what he told outlets as major as the Washington Post when he first went viral circa 2014-2015, so naturally, that’s what we all believed. Besides, there was seemingly evidence supporting the story: Video footage of Wrinkles at work, an operational voicemail box, stickers and fliers seen all over Naples advertising Wrinkles’ services and so on.
As the 2019 documentary Wrinkles The Clown revealed, however, the story was more complicated than that — and, in fact, was pretty much entirely manufactured. The plot thickens, as they say, and there’s a lot that’s still up in the air about it… but you can still actually call Wrinkles. It’s a fun time. I promise.
Scary Phone Numbers That Are No Longer Operational
Sadly, many scary phone numbers that used to work no longer do; in fact, the majority of them now fall under this category. As such, you’ll notice that this section is substantially longer than the previous one. But hey, at least enough recordings exist of these no-longer-operational scary numbers that we can hear what they used to sound like in their prime, right?
9. 270-301-5797
What you heard: A dreamy, weird adventure called Here and There Along the Echo, which positioned itself as “a guide to the Echo River for drifters and pilgrims” presented by “the Bureau of Secret Tourism.” When you dialed it, you got a phone tree — kind of a “choose your own adventure” experience, wherein you were presented with a number of choices about what you wanted to hear, and given instruction on which digit to press to get there.
What it was: A tie-in for the magical realistic point and click adventure game Kentucky Route Zero. It was weird, but oddly soothing — and moreover, you don’t really have to be familiar with Kentucky Route Zero to appreciate it. (For what it’s worth, though, Kentucky Route Zero is a delight and I highly recommend playing it, if you’re the gaming sort.) My favorite number to start with was 5, but that’s just me.
Sadly, the number is no longer in service as of November 2023. I was devastated to find that this strange audio journey existed no more. At least I preserved a small bit of it at the recording below.
10. +44 01273 915253
What you heard: The voice of a young British girl saying, “Hi, you’ve reached the Wingrave family at Bly Manor. We’re not here right now. If you’re calling about the open nanny position, interviews will be conducted by our uncle Henry in five days. It will be perfectly splendid. We can’t wait to meet you.” She also hums a line from the folk song “O Willow Waly.” It’s eerie in the way that only small children can be.
What it was: A viral marketing campaign for the Mike Flannagan-directed 2020 Netflix series The Haunting Of Bly Manor. Based on the works of Henry James — primarily the 1898 novella The Turn Of The Screw, with bits and pieces from a variety of other short stories and works thrown in — Bly Manor saw Victoria Pedretti stepping into the shoes of Dani Clayton, an American woman running from her past by taking up the position of au pair for the children of the wealthy Wingrave family, Flora (Amelie Bea Smith) and Miles (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth). Ghostly hijinks ensue.
The voice in the phone recording is Flora; meanwhile, the use of “O Willow Waly,” which also wends its way through the entirety of Bly Manor as a whole, is a nod to the 1961 film The Innocents. “O Willow Waly” was written specifically for The Innocents, which is widely acknowledged as the be-all, end-all screen adaptation of The Turn Of The Screw.
The phone number was unfortunately only operational for a short while. Although I did listen to it once, I didn’t record it at the time — and since it was gone so fast, I missed the window to do so. Luckily, though, someone else recorded it. Thank you, kind stranger.
11. The “Eastwood Industries” Number
What you heard: Staying on the line until the voicemail picked up yielded a message telling you that you’d reached “Eastwood Industries,” and that callers to the number would be “logged and traced.” You were then told, “Do not call again.” All of this was spoken by a deep and menacing voice — one that sounded as if it had been put through a voice changer to obscure the actual tone and timbre of the person speaking.
What it was: A bit of a mystery. (A note: I’ve removed the number itself from this list at the request of an owner.)
I was clued into this one by a TGIMM reader, who emailed me in the fall of 2022 to see if I knew anything about it; alas, though, there was almost no information to be found about it. Going off of its area code, it seems to have been based out of North Jersey — but other than that, I came up empty. It sounded as if it might have been inspired by Boothworld Industries, as both the verbiage and the company name had quite a lot in common, but that may or may not actually have been the case. Regardless, the voicemail is no longer operational in its original form as of November 2023.
(For what it’s worth, I did dig up a few actual companies with the name Eastwood Industries, but it didn’t seem like any of them were the company referred to in the voicemail. I still also can’t get over how menacing the voicemail sounded; that’s… an odd way to conduct business.)
You could leave message for this one if you wanted to. I didn’t — I’m smarter than that — but according to one source who spoke to me about it, if you did, you may have gotten a call back later and heard “weird screaming sounds” on the other end. I can’t confirm this, though, so do with it what you will.
12. 207-404-2604
What you heard: A teenage girl answering, saying first, “Hello? Hello?”, then, “Who is this?”, followed by absolute mayhem: An older woman’s voice telling the girl to “get in [your] closet,” the girl protesting, and a lot of screaming and bashing, smashing sounds. The older woman picked up the phone at that point and recited a fire-and-brimstone biblical message at you, before hissing, “Don’t you dare call this number again.”
What it was: Like the Bly Manor number, this one was a viral marketing campaign — this time for the 2013 remake of Carrie starring Chloe Grace Moretz. What made this scary number truly remarkable, though, is that your choice to call Carrie White’s phone number was just the beginning. Once you had listened to the message described above and hung up, you’d reportedly receive a call back from a different number — 800-416-2816 — in which Carrie’s religiously fanatical mother Margaret White would speak to you again; then, after that call, you’d receive another one from yet another number — 800-281-6003 — with a third message for you.
Notably, the 207 number is based out of Bangor, Maine, where original Carrie author Stephen King has called home for many decades.
The movie itself wasn’t great (I mean, it’s not terrible, but it was largely unnecessary) — but this marketing campaign? Now that’s dedication.
Listen to all three messages here.
13. The Surfer Boy Pizza Number
What you heard: A teenage pizza place employee named Argyle who probably isn’t terribly good at his job telling you all about the freshness or lack thereof that separates Surfer Boy Pizza from the rest of the pack.
What it was: Another Stranger Things tie-in. The number itself — 805-45-PIZZA — was highly visible for most of the season, as it was emblazoned on the delivery van that Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Will (Noah Schnapp), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), and Argyle (Eduardo Franco) travel in for most of their adventures. The sound byte you heard was the exact dialogue from Season 4, Episode 4, spoken by Eduardo Franco as Argyle. Alas, it is no longer operational as of November 2023.
14. 216-333-1810
What you heard: A voice announcing that what you are about to hear is a recording from a U.S. wiretap, with the case identifier 71839J, followed by a terrifying conversation between a mother and her teenage or young adult daughter. The daughter appeared to be trapped in a club while an armed man attacked everyone inside. The police were no help; when the mother told her daughter to stay put and that she’ll call the cops, the daughter said that the cops were the ones who barricaded them all inside. There was a lot of screaming, and then the call cut off abruptly.
What it was: Part of an ARG constructed around the 2007 Nine Inch Nails album Year Zero — hence why this number is often known simply as the NIN number or Nine Inch Nails number. The story of the ARG was set in 2022 and detailed a dystopian future that, these days — now that we’re past 2022 — is… a little too accurate for comfort.
Although the album itself wasn’t released until April of 2007, fans began uncovering bits of the ARG in February of that year. One of the early discoveries was a USB drive — an actual, physical item — recovered from a concert in Barcelona on Feb. 19, which was found to contain two audio files. One was a song — “Me, I’m Not,” which would later be found to be the sixth track on Year Zero — while the other simply sounded like static. Running the static through a spectrogram, however, revealed that it was actually information—a phone number. This phone number, in fact. And when people started calling the number, they heard the previously described message.
Interestingly, the 216 number wasn’t the only functional phone number associated with this ARG. Others uncovered during the game’s three-month run include the following:
They’re all out of service now, though; it seems the last known operational date of the 216 number was June 10, 2011.
The ARG is deep, by the way, so if you want to know more, you can find a rough overview of it here, a timeline of what was discovered when here, and a detailed in-universe timeline of the story here.
Listen to the 216-333-1810 message here, although warning, it’s… pretty disturbing, particularly in our current societal climate. It’ll likely hit far too close to home for many.
15. 210-960-3826
What you heard: Over the course of seven nights between Oct. 31 and Nov. 6, 2018, calling this number — a Texas one — would connect you with the Donkey Lady, a folkloric figure associated with a specific bridge in the San Antonio area. Each night, a different 45-second message would play, unveiling the Donkey Lady’s full story in seven installments. You had to call each night to hear each one, though; if you missed a night, you’d miss an installment.
What it was: A performance art piece by Tejana writer and performer Marisela Barrera, who sought to give the legendary figure a voice in her hometown. “[The Donkey Lady] loves this city and she just wants to share her presence, her vision, and her observations of the good versus evil in our community,” Barrera told the San Antonio Report in 2018.
The Donkey Lady story is ultimately a variation on the Cry Baby Bridge variety of legend.There are many different versions, but in most of them, the titular Donkey Lady died in a fire — sometimes at the hand of her husband; other times at the hand of a passing stranger; and still others at the hands of locals of the community on the outskirts of which she lived. She may have had a family that died with her, or she may have been spinster; she may have owned a donkey that she treated like a child, or she may not have. In all cases, however, the injuries she sustained in the fire changed her appearance, leading to those in the community who would other her the nickname by which she is now known: The Donkey Lady. She’s said to haunt the bridge on Applewhite Road.
Barrera’s work typically centers mujer malas — literally “bad women,” but, more specifically, “women who rebel against cultural expectations, while at the same time embracing the duality of Tejana-Méx border life,” explains Barrera in her artist statement. They are, she continues, “urban legends, la Border Goth.” The Donkey Lady falls under this umbrella; indeed, she’s been a frequent figure in Barrera’s work, also forming the center of one piece of her Tejana Trilogy live performance set.
Although the Donkey Lady phone number was most notable for its week-long Halloween season event in 2018, Barrera has revived it from time to time — but not always in the same way. For instance, in 2020, the Donkey Lady would actually answer the phoneperiodically if you called after 10pm between Oct. 31 and Nov. 3.
Listen to a small piece of the seven-night message here.
16. 1-800-GOLF-TIP
What you heard: A voice — male-sounding — reciting the numbers from one to 10, over and over again; then, if you stayed on the line long enough, a loud screech or siren wail.
What it was: No one really knows, but our best guess at this point is that it was a placeholder message. Infamous in Canada — particularly the Ontario area — during the late 1980s and 1990s, 1-800-GOLF-TIP was as widely known for its prominent billboard as it was for the number itself. The phone number was often used as a hotline for the Professional Golfer’s Association of America (PGA), but not always; the weird message seems to have played during the spaces of time when it wasn’t in use by the PGA, hence the generally accepted belief that the message was a placeholder. After a lot of digging, I was able to put together a timeline of what was happening with the number when; for the curious, you can find my history of 1-800-GOLF-TIP here, including the likely solution to the mystery.
I wouldn’t recommend calling the number these days; it’s, uh… let’s call it NSFW.
Listen to a fan-made recreation of the message here.
17-18. Pennywise’s Phone Numbers
What you heard: The voicemail box of the Derry Police Department in Derry, Maine, asking you to leave a message if you were calling with information about “the missing children.” The message went on to detail the steps the Derry PD was taking with the regards to that case, and underlined the importance of being home by the town-wide curfew. Soon, though, something… else interrupted the call: The voice of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, gleefully tell you that, of course, you’ll float, too.
What it was: A marketing campaign for the first of the two It movies, which, together, formed a new adaptation of Stephen King’s 1986 novel. It: Chapter 1 was released in 2017, and in the period leading up to the film’s debut, the Alamo Drafthouse cinema chain launched this fun phone number-based campaign to drum up interest. Initially, the number to call was 913-535-6280; at some point, though, it changed to 207-536-8474. The reason for the change hasn’t ever really been explained, but I would be willing to bet it has to do with where the area codes are based: 913 is a Kansas City-based area code, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in-universe if you’re meant to be calling a town in Maine, whereas 207 is a Maine area code.
Alas, neither number is in operation now; calling them will just send you to the standard “The Google subscriber you have called is not available” message. At least a handful of folks did document what happened when you called back when the numbers were still in service, though!
19. 1-877-77-CREEP (1-877-772-7337)
What you heard: A phone tree bringing back to life the wonders of a classic 1980s-style horror hotline — minus the astronomical costs those hotlines incurred if you dared to call them. With 1-877-77-CREEP, you could listen to the dark and menacing voice of a strange, supernatural being tell you an urban legend, or play you some eerie tunes, or make you grown at some awful yet amazing horror-themed dad jokes — all for the low, low price of zero dollars!
What it was: An entertaining little project created by horror-themed apparel and merch company Creepy Co. I have a deep, deep love of ‘80s horror hotlines, so I very much appreciated when Creepy Co. created their own. Alas, the number is out of service as of January 2023, but you can still listen to the opening menu below. It’s also worth noting that Creepy Co. is temporarily closed as of September 2023; hopefully they’ll be able to reopen sometime in the future.
If you want to know more about ‘80s horror hotlines and phone numbers (and why they no longer exist), press one.
20. 646-868-1844
What you heard: Some odd, bell-like tones and some impossible-to-understand words, followed by an answerphone beep. But after you hung up came the really weird part: If you had called from a mobile phone, you’d receive a text message full of nonsense not too long afterwards — messages like, “Surprise steepest recurred landlord Mr. wandered amounted of. Continuing Devonshire but considered its. Rose past oh shew roof is song neat,” and “Chapter too parties its letter no. Cheerful but whatever ladyship disposed yet judgement. Lasted answer oppose to ye months no esteem.”
What it was: No one really knows! This one was a real mystery for the space of time it was in operation. The 646 area code is based out of White Plains, New York, but the number was a VOIP number, so that didn’t mean much; its registrant could have been located anywhere.
I called the number a few times between 2019 and 2021 and received both text messages noted above. My guess is that they were generated using Markov chains or a similar process; I also suspect that the chunks of text themselves are sort of like lorem ipsum texts, functioning as placeholders during the design process of a document or piece of visual art.
As of April 2022, the number is no longer operational. You can still hear what it sounded like in this recording, though, if you like.
21. 888-355-8703
What you heard: A message from Dr. Owens (yes, that Dr. Owens) informing you that you had reached Hawkins Power And Light. The company, said Dr. Owens, was geared towards “powering a brighter tomorrow in the community of Hawkins and beyond.” Then, you could dial 1 to hear the main menu, after which you’d be presented with a handful of phone tree options: You could dial 1 to hear more about the company’s mission; for updates, you could press 2; dialing 3 let you report outages or “suspicious activity”; you could press 4 for hours of operation; if you wanted to hear customer testimonials, you could dial 5; or, if you wanted to learn more about Hawkins Power And Light more generally, you could press 6.
What it was: A Stranger Things tie-in — one that predates the Murray Bauman number and other phone numbers from Season 3 and 4. In 2017, billboards for Hawkins Power And Light began appearing in New York and Los Angeles as promos for the show’s second season; naturally, on those billboards was a phone number: 888-355-8703. I believe this was the show’s first foray into using functional phone numbers as Easter eggs for fans; clearly it worked, or I would imagine they wouldn’t have launched so many others for later seasons.
The number is no longer used as a Stranger Things promo, but weirdly, it’s still in service. When I called it recently, I got a recording related to Medicare. I have no idea what company it’s for or what organization runs it, though.
Listen to the full message and phone tree here.
22. 508-690-6143
What you heard: A strange and mysterious recording of a loud honking sound — maybe a car horn; maybe a buzzing sound; no one was ever in agreement — followed by a whole lot of clanking and smashing noises. Then, static — lots of very loud static — and then, finally, a garbled “We’re sorry, but the number you have dialed is no longer in service” message. It ended with an answerphone beep.
What it was: Another mystery phone number whose full story was never uncovered. Although 508 is a Massachusetts-based area code, the number itself was (again) a VOIP number; as of November 2023, all you hear when you call is a “Hello. Please state your name after the tone” recording. And whatever the point was of the original message? We may never know. If you want to hear what it sounded like, though, I’ve got a recording for you.
23. 323-448-0351
What you heard: The voice of writer and editor Angel Melanson, who you may know from her work at Fangoria, telling you that you’d reached the Horror Girl Hotline and asking you to leave a message telling her what horror movie(s) you were looking forward to the most this year. She also reminded you to vote for that pick in Fangoria’s Chainsaw Awards.
What it was: Pretty much exactly what it sounded like. It wasn’t scary, per se, but it was horror-related and therefore sort of scary phone number-adjacent, so I figured it was worth including. Fangoria released its 2023 Chainsaw Award nominees list in January; voting was open until Feb. 27. The winners were announced in May.
You can find out more about Melanson’s work at Fangoriaher website; she also tweets @HorrorGirlProbs — that is, Horror Girl Problems. For the curious, the number is a Los Angeles number, which makes sense, given that Melanson is based in LA, according to her Twitter profile.
24-25. The SCP Numbers
Given how long the SCP Foundation has been around, it’s unsurprising that, over the years, several phone numbers were put into service by some enterprising contributors to collaborative fiction project — numbers which eventually went out of service again, too.
The SCP Foundation, as you’ll likely recall, dates all the way back to 2007, making it ancient in internet time; from its start on 4chan with what would eventually become known as SCP-173 up through the present, where the fictional organization houses its user-created archives on Wikidot, it has grown into a beloved part of weird internet lore — not quite creepypasta, but with roots therein, and definitely more than the sum of its parts. I once described it as “an enormously entertaining universe that’s part X-Files, part Warehouse 13, and all fun” — a statement I stand by today.
Here are a couple of phone numbers that were once accessible as part of the story:
- 951-572-2602
- This number purported to be a sort of tip line for the Southern California, Division 19 branch of the SCP Foundation. (Division 19 seems to have covered Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, judging from the 951 area code. It’s a VOIP number, of course, despite being based out of Banning, CA.) From at least 2015 until sometime not too long before January 2023, you could dial in and leave the date, time, location, and description of any “incidents” you may have wanted to report to the organization — weird occurrences, artifacts you’d discovered that needed to be recovered or contained, that kind of thing. SCP Foundation user genesplicer claimed to have been its creator several times, although verifying that fact is… difficult.
- According to some who actually did leave messages after calling, it was possible you might have either been called or texted back. I didn’t attempt to leave a message during the years the number was in operation, though, so I can’t verify whether that was actually the case myself. Entertaining if true, though!
- Listen here.
- 512-937-2346
- Do you dig Welcome To Night Vale? Then you might want to check out Foundation After Midnight Radio, a radio-style podcast set within the world of the SCP Foundation. Created by toadking07 (aka Eric J. Stover), it even featured a functioning hotline which could be reached by dialing this 512 number.
- The podcast seems to be on an indefinite hiatus these days (its last episode was uploaded in December of 2021 and Stover seems to have moved on to other projects), and accordingly, the hotline is no longer functioning; the last time I called it in 2022, however, it played a hilarious message informing callers, “Our site is currently experiencing a site-wide lockdown due to a containment breach,” asking them to stay on the line or leave a message, and encouraging them cheerfully to “stay safe!”
- Listen here.
26. 408-634-2806
What you heard: Garbled voices, a tinny, music box-style tune, and a dark, sinister voice telling us either, “All’s well that ends well” or “Return again when the dark moon reigns.”
For years, folks whispered that calling this phone number would cause something terrible to happen to you. It was a “red room number,” they said, and if you dialed it — or even if you just answered a call from it — then you’d be tracked down, abducted, and brought to a “red room,” where unspeakable things would occur to you. The worst part? It’d be livestreamed on the deep web. Shudder.
What it was: Expressly not a red room number, because red room numbers don’t actually exist — they’re an urban legend. Rather, this phone number 408-624-2806 was, like Here And There Along The Echo, a video game tie-in: If you played and beat the 2011 mobile game Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery EP, you’d be presented with it at the conclusion of the game—and if you were feeling brave and called it, you’d hear the message described above. It turned out to be part of another puzzle; players did eventually solve most of it, but it took literal years to do so.
Over time, that context got stripped from the number, and eventually all people had to go on was the weirdness of the recording that played when you called it. In an effort to make sense of it, folks started attaching it to the red room numbers legend, and, well… here we are.
The number was in service for quite some time; even though Superbrothers came out in 2011, the 408 number was callable until 2022 (I found it to be no longer reachable in April of that year). To hear what it sounded like before it was shut down, listen below — and if you feel like it, pick up Superbrothers and give it a whirl yourself. It’s available for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and the Nintendo Switch.
27. 1-800-737-4154
What you heard: A phone tree for the Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlor, with options including pressing one to hear about the flavor of the month, dialing two to hear about new Scoops Ahoy locations, and pressing three to hear “an important message from our legal department.”
What it was: Another Stranger Things number; fans of the show will recall that Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke) work at the Scoops Ahoy in the newly-opened Starcourt Mall during that season. The phone number itself actually served primarily to advertise a pop-up created as a promo for Season Three: In the summer of 2019, the Baskin Robbins located at 1201 Victory Boulevard in Burbank, CA briefly became a Scoops Ahoy. The “legal notice” you hear after dialing three, however, is what I would call the most notable part of the phone tree — in the world of Stranger Things, nothing is ever as it seems, and apparently that includes the information on the label of the U.S.S. Butterscotch sundae.
28. The Binary Number
What you heard: A person repeating a bunch of ones and zeroes in a panicked tone of voice against a background of odd, electronic noises. The ones and zeroes are binary; they convert to the word “death” in regular ol’ English.
What it was: Yet another mystery that’s never been solved. “The binary number” (828-756-0109) was, hands down, THE most popular weird, creepy, scary phone number while it was still in operation, perhaps because it contained what was very clearly a code of some sort. The use of binary prompted questions about whether there was a bigger code to crack here — a story to unravel, an ARG to solve, something like that — but if there was, unfortunately no one ever figured it out.
All we know, still, is what I dug up about the number when I first started investigating it back in 2018: That it was a VOIP number set up through Google Voice; that the area code was based out of Marion, North Carolina, about 85 miles west and slightly north of Charlotte; and that it was very similar to an actual person’s phone number, leading to my frequent pleas for people who tried to call it to make sure they were dialing correctly first and not to be rude to whoever picked up if they misdialed.
These days, the binary number is no longer working; when I dialed it in April of 2022, I received only a busy signal, and when I tried again in January of 2023, I received a “The Google subscriber you have called is not available” message. The mystery remains — but you can still hear what played when you called by listening to the recording below.
29. “You Have Reached A WRONG NUMBER”
What you heard: A voice telling you, “Together we march into the future!”, followed by, “You have reached a WRONG NUMBER.” The voice was garbled, and the audio in the background was… unsettling. There was something vaguely mechanical about it all.
What it was: Another video game tie-in, this time for the Hotline Miami series. Even better, the number used — 786-519-3708 — actually is a Miami-based number, although, predictably, it’s also a VOIP number. (It also seems to belong to someone else these days, so, uh, do not call it. Don’t bother them. Just don’t do it.)
Developed by Jonatan Söderström, the Hotline Miami series was initially released between 2012, when the first game came out, and 2015, when the sequel arrived. A hitman story with an unreliable (silent) narrator of a protagonist, both games were well-received; the gameplay isn’t my jam, but I definitely appreciate what they do.
And that phone number? It’s been a part of the mythos since before the first game was ever released: The Hotline Miami Twitter account started promoting it in 2012 prior to the release of the first game; then, more tweets in 2015 went out in support of the second game. The message described above was the one you’d hear if you called circa 2015.
At the time, it was used as a sneaky marketing tactic: A group of dedicated players decoded the whole thing and realized that it revealed the title and release date of the second game. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number was subsequently released on March 10, 2015.
30. 801-820-0263
What you heard: A mystical, musical soundscape, a voice repeating a series of one-digit numbers, a sound similar to a chainsaw or a lawn mower, and then a chorus of voices mimicking that same chainsaw-or-lawn-mower sound. Very weird. Very eerie.
What it was: Another layer of the Boothworld universe, although whether or not it was put into service by Boothworld’s actual creator hasn’t been determined. Notably, this is the first scary phone number I investigated here at The Ghost In My Machine, and what a wild ride uncovering the truth about it turned out to be. Head here for more about the phone number 801-820-0263.
The number’s popularity was at its height circa 2016-2017, although as of January 2023, it’s no longer operational.
Interestingly, though, in 2020 — when you could still call it — it started making the rounds on TikTok… but not as a Boothworld number. A handful of Horror Tok creators associated it instead with the “This Man” legend — something completely different, and much, much older. The “Have You Dreamed This Man?” thing is also a… well, I don’t know if I’d call it a hoax, but years and years ago, it was discovered to be a viral marketing campaign for a film project that never fully came to fruition. (I wrote about it aaaaaaall the way back in 2011 for the now-defunct site Crushable, later Alloy.)
I regret to inform you that the 801-820-0263 number is not a “This Man” number… but the fact that two pervasive internet urban legends have sort of merged together at this point is notable all the same.
31. 978-435-0163
What you heard: A looped message of a man sobbing in a wet, cavernous environment. His voice echoed, and damp, dripping sounds could be heard in the background. There also sounded as if there was some sort of… creature in there with him. A big one.
What it was: Another unsolved mystery. Like the binary number and the 508 number, no further information about this scary phone number has emerged in the years since it first arrived on all of our radars.
Similar to the 508 number, this 978 number is based in Massachusetts — Billerica, specifically. It’s perhaps worth noting that Raytheon used to have a plant in Billerica. (Source: me; I used to drive by it all the time. The plant was closed some time ago and razed in 2020.) I’ve wondered over the years whether the 978-435-0163 phone number was meant to tell us some kind of fictional horror story having to do with… what Raytheon does, but that’s conjecture on my part. (Also, even though 978 is a Massachusetts area code, the number itself was a VOIP, so, again, whoever ran it could have been anywhere.)
The number is currently out of service, though. In April of 2022, I received a busy signal when I called; then, in January of 2023, I received another “The Google subscriber you have called is not available” message. If you want to hear what used to happen when you called, though, guess what? I have a recording!
32. 303-529-2166
What you heard: Nothing, because you had to text this one to use it. Or, perhaps, a sinister voice asking you if you wanted to see a magic trick. It’s unclear which — documentation for this one is… lacking.
What it was: One more pop culture tie-in, this time for the 2022 film The Black Phone. The film was released over the summer that year, but during the spring, one trailer included a phone number — 303-529-2166 — with instructions to text “ESCAPE” to it to receive “clues, links, and more.” The website We Got This Covered documented what happened you followed these instructions initially, but didn’t include any followups; from their piece on it, it mostly just seems like texting the number signed you up for text notifications and ads about the movie. True, it was a little weird that tapping a link in the text added the number to your contacts list automatically — but that was really the only eerie thing about it.
A few folks who also texted the number discussed a little of what they experienced in a thread over at the r/ARG subreddit, but again, details — and, really, the big picture — are lacking; most people just reported receiving some numbers that appeared to be a small puzzle waiting to be solved. More than one person described the ARG as ultimately “disappointing,” so I’d chalk this one up to a poorly-executed marketing campaign.
Oh well. Can’t win ‘em all.
For what it’s worth, I did dig up one TikTok that purported to show someone calling the number and allegedly hearing the “Do you want to see a magic trick?” message —but since this is the only video I’ve seen with this audio, I can’t confirm whether calling the number did actually play you this message. It’s out of service now, of course.
33. 858-651-5050
What you heard: Two voices — one masculine-sounding, one feminine — speaking random, seemingly disconnected sentences aloud: “Fishing in a mountain stream is my idea of a good time.” “There was water in the cellar after the heavy rain.” “Smoke poured out of every crack.” “Those words were the cue for the actor to leave.” Things like that.
What it was: A test line. True, the whole thing was a little weird and eerie when lacking context — but when you know what was actually going on, it was much, much less weird. The sentences you’d hear are called Harvard sentences, and they exist solely to test the quality of sound on phone lines.
Per Sarah Zhang, writing at Gizmodo in 2015, Harvard sentences are phonetically balanced and “hit all the noises a person would typically hear in a conversation,” making them ideal for performing these kinds of checks. They’re called Harvard sentences because they’re based on research from scientists based at Harvard University’s Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory. Formally introduced in 1969 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers as the “IEEE Recommended Practice For Speech Quality Measurements,” the list of Harvard sentences comprises 720 phrases in all, divided into sets of 10. You can read them all here.
The plot thickens, though. Like the 801 Boothworld number, the Harvard sentences phone number has made the rounds on TikTok in some… questionably hilarious ways. I’ve found videos that erroneously assert that Harvard sentences were developed as a method of mind control. This is not only obviously, extremely not true, but demonstrably false — and honestly, I cannot explain where folks got this idea, given that the history of Harvard sentences is very, very easy to find (and documented in extremely reliable sources, at that).
Sorry, folks. No mind control here — just nicely-balanced words. Also, the number was no longer operational as of January 2023. If you want to hear some of it, though, I’ve got a recording for you below.
34. 313-274-1111: Zioptis DIAL-A-TRIP
What you heard: A lot of things; the message changed frequently, although they all purported to be part of the “Zioptis Foundation.” You might hear weird music, garbled voices, odd sounds… you name it. There are lots of recordings floating around out there, but my favorite is dated Sept. 25, 2011; it’s got wacky carnival music, distortion, a bizarrely cheerful voice going on and on about… something — it’s kind of the perfect distillation of what the Zioptis DIAL-A-TRIP number was.
What it was: Just a fun little project — an Easter egg for real life, if you will. According to creator Tom Simpson, who I was able to get in touch with via email in 2022, both the “Zioptis Foundation” and the DIAL-A-TRIP line were “nothing to do with money, it’s purely for fun and creative expression.”
Simpson tells me that he created the word “Zioptis” many decades ago in his youth; “I selected Zioptis for its sound value, and had no plans to actually use it for anything,” he writes. But when hotlines became all the rage in the ‘80s, he thought he could create a better one — a more interesting and entertaining one — without charging people an arm and a leg to access it. And what better way to incorporate his entertaining-sounding made-up word than by making the hotline associated with a fictional foundation named for it?
So, in 1986, he set up the line and hooked it up to an answering machine; then he spread the word about it by dropping cards around town, taking out advertisem*nts in classified listings, and making some merch like bumper stickers. People eventually started calling the number and leaving messages — and when Simpson started incorporating those messages into the answerphone recording, the whole thing really took off. (People love to hear themselves talk, after all, right?)
According to Simpson, the phone number — a land line — is still registered to him; although it hasn’t been hooked up to an answering machine for a while now, he hopes to relaunch DIAL-A-TRIP at some point. (Originally, he says he’d wanted to try to get it up and running in November of 2022, but technical difficulties with the machine prevented that from happening.)
In the meantime, though, there are a plethora of recordings documenting the messages that played at various points in time when you called DIAL-A-TRIP.
Listen to some of them here, and find out more about Zioptis and DIAL-A-TRIP here.
35. 701-347-1936
What you heard: About 30 seconds’ worth of garbled speech, then the aria “Votre toast, je peux vous le render” from the Bizét opera Carmen. You might better know this song as “the Toreador Song.”
What it was: A Five Nights At Freddy’s tie-in, likely fan-created and unfortunately no longer in operation as of January 2021. The garbled voice sounded like it was sampled from Phone Guy’s dialogue; meanwhile, the Toreador Song typically signifies the approach of the Freddy Fazbear animatronic in the first game in the series. Get ready to close those doors, or else you might… uh… not survive the night.
(Joking.)
(Promise.)
Scary Phone Number Legends And Stories
Some scary phone numbers that exist out there are more fiction than fact. In some cases, the numbers exist, but calling them doesn’t actually do what the stories about they say it does; in others, meanwhile, the numbers don’t exist at all. Sometimes there might be a kernel of truth in there somewhere — but by and large, the stories are just that: Stories.
They’re still good stories, though. So, for scary phone numbers that are haunted or cursed in legend only — not in reality — read on.
36. The “Help Me, Susie’s Dying” Phone Number
The story: Once upon a time, if you called a certain phone number from a public phone box in the UK, you’d hear a monotone, female-sounding voice repeating, emotionlessly, “Help me. Help me. Susie’s dying.” Over and over and over: “Help me. Help me. Susie’s dying.”
The truth: Like 1-800-GOLF-TIP, no one really knows what the deal with this one was — and to be perfectly honest, although there does seem to be a small center of truth to the legend, we aren’t even really sure what the phone number itself actually was. (It’s usually identified as 20202020, for what it’s worth, but numerous variations have appeared in stories over time.)
After a lot of research, my best guess is that there may have, at some point during the 1970s and/or early 1980s, been a test line used with public phone boxes in the UK that played a message kind of like this one. The public wasn’t meant to be able to access it, but occasionally they did — either through some calculated cleverness, or just an accidental misdial. As the decades passed, the weirdness of the experience combined with the haziness of memory may have morphed the whole thing into a “haunted” phone number legend.
For pretty much everything there is to know about the Susie’s Dying number, head here.
37. 777-7777: Mr. Gepeng’s Phone Number
The story: Supposedly, calling 777-7777 in Indonesia puts you in touch with “Mr. Gepeng,” a wealthy businessman who had met his end due either to an elevator incident or an encounter with a bulldozer. After calling the number, one of two things might happen: You might find a stack of money in your toilet… or you might suffer a similar accident to the one that put an end to Mr. Gepeng in his mortal form.
The truth: Mr. Gepeng and his haunted phone number were an urban legend popular in Indonesia — particularly in major cities like Jakarta — in the 1990s. It’s not clear precisely where the legend came from or why it’s seemingly disappeared these days, but Adi Renaldi theorized over at Vice in 2018 that it was tied to the rapid development of cities in Indonesia during a specific period of time. Skyscrapers (literally) rose up by the dozen at this time, and the legend of Mr. Gepeng may have come out of it as a way to cope not just with the change in general, but also with the speed at which it happened.
Notably, “gepeng” means “flattened.” Get it?
38. 090-4444-4444: Sadako’s Phone Number
The story: It’s said that dialing 090-4444-4444 in Japan will connect you with Sadako — as in, Sadako Yamamura, the vengeful spirit of the Ringu franchise. Why you would want to do this remains me to be seen; after all, once you make this call — and after you listen to the odd noises you’ll hear when it connects — you’ve got a mere seven days left to live.
The truth: 090-444-4444 does appear to have been an actual number at some point—but like the Susie’s Dying number, it was a test line. Calling it did play you some weird noises down the line, but that’s because the number wasn’t actually meant to be called. As I observed back in 2018, the result was kind of like what happens if you call a number belonging to a fax machine.
Calling it now simply gives you a “this call cannot be completed” message (in Japanese, of course; the number is, in fact, a Japanese phone number) — and yet, the story persists!
For more on Sadako’s number, head here.
39. 088-8888-888: The Cursed Bulgarian Number
The story: The Bulgarian mobile phone number 088-8888-888is, allegedly, cursed. Very cursed. So cursed that, after every single person who had been assigned it between the years of 2001 and 2005, died, the number was straight-up taken out of circulation. Once is a tragedy; twice is a coincidence; but three times? Three deaths associated with the number? That’s a pattern — and so, to break the pattern, the number is no longer in service.
The truth: The phone number does actually exist, and between 2001 and 2005, all three people who were assigned it did, in fact, die prematurely. One was the result of an illness; the other two, however, were organized crime-associated deaths. And although the phone number was briefly “dormant,” as one report put it, while the police were investigating the two organized crime-associated incidents, it wasn’t removed from service because it was “cursed.”
As is often the case, the spread of the legend likely had something to do with humans trying to find meaning in some pretty horrific events. We like patterns, us humans do — so much that we tend to find them even when there aren’t any. We’re weird like that.
You can find our full deep dive on the “cursed” Bulgarian phone number here.
40. Momo’s WhatsApp Numbers
The story: If you reached out to the right number or numbers on WhatsApp, you’d find yourself connected with “Momo” — a weird, part-bird, part-human, part… something else creature who, at best, would merely insult you, but at worst, would send you extremely NSFL messages and images or encourage you to do some unspeakable things. WhatsApp numbers associated with the Momo story include the following:
- +573135292569, a Colombian number;
- +5226681734379, a Mexican number;
- And +813451021539, a Japanese number.
The truth: The Momo story is far more complicated than it seems at first, with many moving parts.
Momo doesn’t exist, though, of course; the image said to depict her was a sculpture by Japanese artist and special effects creator Keisuke Aisawa titled “Ubume” (“姑獲鳥”), or “Mother Bird.” As I noted back in 2019, an ubume is a figure in Japanese folklore — a yokai created when a mother dies giving birth. The word is written with characters that hold the meaning “child-snatching bird,” however; the way I see it, the “Ubume” sculpture depicted a literal interpretation of the yokai’s name.
The Momo legend itself also had several iterations, the first two of which involved the WhatsApp numbers: Iteration 1 was the “insults and rude messages” iteration; meanwhile, Iteration 2 was the “Momo challenge” iteration, wherein Momo would allegedly instruct you to do perform dangerous actions. Later, there was a third iteration involving YouTube rather than WhatsApp.
But although you could text the WhatsApp numbers and receive messages back as described in Iteration 1, that was the extent of it — and, honestly, I’d classify that iteration more as a prank call or text kind of situation, albeit one where the person receiving the messages had opted in by taking the action of texting or calling the numbers themselves first. (Prank calls don’t usually involve consent from the person on the receiving end of the call.)
But there was no actual “Momo challenge” or anything of the sort; what it all amounted to was a textbook moral panic. For more on the Momo story, head here.
The Ubume statue no longer exists, by the way; the artist destroyed it in 2019 after the image of it went viral and took on a life of its own.
We still have photographs, though. And it’s still pretty unsettling to look at.
41. Yotteno’s WhatsApp Numbers
The story: According to the legend, it would all start with a Facebook profile — one with a cute, cartoonish profile picture of a young person with red hair and, unsettlingly, black pits for eyes and black ooze smudging their mouth. Its name was Yotteno. If you messaged this profile, it was said, you’d begin a sort of game — Yotteno would send you codes to crack and puzzles to solve. Additionally, the Yotteno creature would tell you things like, “I SEE YOU” and “I WANT TO CALL YOU.”
Then, you’d supposedly receive a video call on WhatsApp from one of several numbers — 669-444-1925 according to one telling; simply +101 according to others; or any of a variety of other numbers, according to still other accounts — which would put you face to face with the real Yotteno.
And this version? Well, she wasn’t cute anymore, that’s for dang sure. And if you connected with her, you’d be lucky to escape with your life.
The truth: Like Momo, Yotteno is an urban legend — one that picked up steam for about a week in Indonesia in May of 2020, and may in fact have been directly inspired by the Momo story. Unlike Momo, however, I’m not convinced that Yotteno actually did call or text anyone; all we have as evidence of these calls and texts are the same images, screenshots, and other bits and bobs, posted and reposted along with the same chunk of text, over and over again — and, as I observed in 2022, these things are all easy to fake. In short, it all comes across like a manufactured legend, with its elements all being bits of copypasta — that is, it’s a creepypasta in the original sense of the word, albeit with some visual aids beyond just the text.
It’s still an interesting entry in the scary phone number/weird social media profile pantheon of stories, though. For a deep dive on the Yotteno tale, head here.
42. 000: Calling The Dead
The story: This one should really be stories, plural; rather than one tale attached to one number — or even one tale attached to multiple numbers — it’s sort of a collection of tales that exist independently of one another, albeit with similar themes connecting them all.
What the stories agree upon is that, by calling a phone number comprised entirely or almost entirely of zeroes, you’ll be put in touch with something… otherworldly. These numbers, you see, belong to the dead.
Here’s how the stories go:
- If you call 000-0000-0000, 1-000-0000-0000, or 1-000-000-000, a male-sounding voice will answer, at which point he will inform you that you must call 15 other people and convince each of them to dial the same number you did. If you fail to accomplish this goal, you’ll… let’s call it expire.
- If you call 0000-00-0000, you’ll be greeted with the sound of mysterious footsteps… or you’ll, again, expire.
- If you receive a call from a number made up entirely of zeroes, someone you knew in life who is no longer with us is trying to reach you from beyond the veil.
- And lastly, if you receive and answer a call from 000-000-0000, a whole bunch of money will be withdrawn from your bank account without your permission, never to be seen again.
The truth: They’re all just legends, of course, mainly hailing from Asian countries and cultures. The chain letter story — get 15 other people to call or else — seems to exist primarily in Korean and Indonesian sources; you might also hear it passed around as the “One Million phone number” legend. The footsteps tale comes from Japanese sources, as does the answer-and-expire story. And the lose-a-ton-of-money story? That one seems to be Korean in origin; it’s usually said that the sum you’ll lose (presumably to hackers) is three million won, or about $2,500 USD.
43. Red Numbers
The story: The next time you get a phone call, check your display carefully before you pick up. If the phone number is displayed in red, don’t answer; you’ve been called by a so-called “red number.” And to answer a red number is to put yourself in terrible danger. You might fall ill. You might experience a brain hemorrhage. It might even result in your premature passing. How? Something to do with frequencies, it was said — with sound transmitted over the line.
Among the numbers said to be red numbers are the following:
- 0802-311-1999
- 0802-222-5999
- 7888308001
- 9316048121
- 9876266211
- 9888854137
- 9876715587
- And 9888308001.
The truth: Happily, this one is, again, a legend only; no incidents following the shape of the red numbers story have actually been documented. And although you can cause damage with sound waves and frequencies, the levels they’d have to be at far exceed what a phone can transmit. It’s likely the tale arose out of trepidation about changing technologies; we fear what we don’t understand, and back in the early 2000s, when the red numbers legend started circulating, cell phone technology was… maybe not new, but only beginning to become widely available to your average human.
The story first emerged in Nigeria in 2004; then, in the years following this first occurrence, it popped up in India, Afghanistan, Ghana, and Pakistan. It’s also been seen in Egypt, the Maldives, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Indonesia, and South Africa. Who knows where it’ll go next?
Read more about so-called “red numbers” here.
44. 999-9999: A Wish Worth Your Life
The story: Is there something you want? Something you’ve wished for fervently—something you’d give up anything to receive? If yes, and if you’re in Thailand, you might try calling the phone number 999-9999 right as the clock ticks over to midnight. Then, whisper your wish into the phone. You’ll get your wish, you see — but the cost for it is high.
The cost is your life.
The truth: Like many of the phone numbers in this section, the Thai death wish phone number, as I typically think of it, is just a story — a legend only. What’s interesting about it, though, is how it evolved over time. In 2002, this exact story — that if you called the phone number 999-9999 and whispered a wish into it, you’d get your wish in exchange for your death — formed the premise of a movie released in Thailand. The title, of course, was the full phone number: 999-9999.
I’ve never quite been able to figure out whether the legend existed before the movie, or whether the movie invented the legend — it’s a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg problem. But what I do know is that, without the movie, the number wouldn’t have become as infamous as it is—and, even more interestingly, over time, the connection between the movie and the legend has weakened such that the legend now exists largely independently of the movie.
For more on the 999-9999 legend, head here.
45. 777888999: The Big Bang
The story: In India circa 2017, rumor had it that, if you answered a WhatsApp call from the number 777888999, your phone might either spontaneously combust, or straight-up explode. An eerier version of the story stated that answering the call would connect with a mysterious woman who would tell you you’d just answered the last call you’ll ever receive — because you, uh… wouldn’t be around anymore to pick up.
The truth: It was a hoax, naturally — a chunk of text circulated as piece of copypasta, meant to frighten those who encountered it. The story was debunked pretty quickly, thanks to the fact that 777888999 has only nine digits in it. Phone numbers in India typically have 10 — meaning that, if 777888999 was specifically identified as an Indian phone number, it was also an impossible phone number.
46. 666
The story: 666 is the Number Of The Beast; therefore, calling 666 (or 666-6666 or 666-666-6666) puts you in touch with Satan himself. (Gasp!) Also, don’t answer any calls from 666 or its longer iterations; if you do, you will be answering a call from Stan himself. (Double gasp!)
The truth: It’s… just a story. I don’t know what to tell you all; there’s nothing deeper here — it’s just a weird story that’s about as Satanic Panic-y as it gets.
I won’t lie — this is the one I find the most absurd. Possibly this is because I am not at all a religious person, but the whole thing is just so edgelord-y and, simultaneously, pearl-clutch-y that I just can’t get on board with it. I might go so far as to call the story juvenile.
So juvenile, in fact, that the only notable incident I’ve dug up associated with it occurred in 2013, when a random person spoofed a 666 number and repeatedly texted “SATAN” to some poor woman in Colorado while she was trying to feed her baby.
In any event, I did, in fact, try calling Satan a few years ago. My call, an automated voice helpfully told me, could not be completed at that time. If Satan has a phone, he’s not interested in talking to me. Whomp whomp.
***
So: There you have it. Got enough scary phone numbers to keep you busy for a while? Good.
Just…. don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Just because I don’t think they’re actually cursed or haunted… doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t, now, does it?
***
Follow The Ghost In My Machine on Bluesky @GhostMachine13.bsky.social,Twitter @GhostMachine13, andFacebook @TheGhostInMyMachine. And for more games, don’t forget to check outDangerous Games To Play In The Dark,available now from Chronicle Books!
[Photos via ; mediasavant, Tama66, Glavo (remixed by Lucia Peters), Didgeman, Bru-nO, igorovsyannykov wenzlerdesign, StartupStockPhotos/Pixabay; Lucia Peters/The Ghost In My Machine; Netflix (2); screenshot/Google Street View; 幻影多媒体 3D/Pexels; screenshots/Facebook (5)]
