Welcome to Mysteries over Martinis! This blog is a mix of unexplained phenomena and personal encounters served up with a mystery-themed cocktail. It’s a recipe for intrigue!

 

Dead Ringer

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Cherry Vodka

.5 Oz Anejo Tequila

1 tsp sage infused agave nectar*

2 dashes Bittercube Cherry Bark Vanilla bitters

Stir and pour ingredients into a glass with a single oversized ice cube. Garnish with a cherry.

*TO INFUSE: Warm up agave nectar just before a simmer and let cool in one ounce of fresh sage indefinitely. Prepare this in advance and allow the infusion to stand with sage to intensify flavor until ready to use.

 

Phone Calls from Beyond the Grave

Television is riddled with reality shows featuring ghost investigations. Many of the investigators are seen with a digital voice recorder in tow as they try to capture electronic voice phenomena, better known as an EVP. The idea is to ask suspected earth bound spirits various questions to see if their disembodied voices will respond. An EVP is audible upon playback but not heard in real time. The theory is that spirits are made of energy and they are able to manipulate electronic devices to charge their energy in order to communicate with the living. This is why it’s believed haunted houses experience electrical issues such as the lights mysteriously switching off and on, televisions and radios going haywire, and the sensation of cold spots. Cold spots are reported as a specific area in an environment which is inexplicably much colder than the space around it. It’s said that spirits draw energy from the surrounding atmosphere which creates the unusually cold area.

If we are to believe that the souls of our loved ones can utilize the energy from electronic devices and manipulate the environment around the living, then could this explain the phenomenon of receiving phone calls from beyond the grave? There have been many reports from around the world of people receiving communication via telephone from those who have departed. Often times, it’s not even known that the caller is deceased. I recently interviewed a woman named Bety who recounted the following story.

Approximately 13-14 years ago, Bety was working in a small office along with three other women. She didn’t know her co-workers very well because she had only been employed there for a brief time. One day, the three women went out for lunch and Bety stayed behind. The phone on one of her co-worker’s desk rang so she answered it. A gentleman asked for a person with a name Bety didn’t recognize, to which she responded that there was no one there by that name. He then apologized and said he meant Mary. Mary was the name of the woman whose phone Bety had picked up. Bety said she was away at lunch and asked to take a message. The man said, “Could you tell her this is her brother? I really missed her at the family gathering and I wished that she had gone.” Bety took the message and said she’d pass it along. When Mary returned from lunch, Bety gave her the message. Mary looked at her intensely and said, “Tell me about this conversation. What did he say?” Bety recounted the conversation and included the original name he asked for. When Bety revealed this, Mary’s face turned white and she ran out of the office crying. Bety wondered if she’d done something wrong so she asked one of the other women what happened. She told Bety, “That man was Mary’s brother. He was the only one who ever called her by that name. They had a family reunion a couple weeks ago and Mary didn’t go because her husband wasn’t feeling well. Her brother died in a car accident about 5 years ago.” Bety was stunned and stood motionless with her mouth open. Unfortunately, after this event, Mary didn’t want much to do with Bety. She couldn’t help but wonder if Mary might be afraid of her.

Bety’s experience falls into the description of a classic phantom phone call. This is when someone receives a call, usually a brief one, from someone who is deceased. A majority of these exchanges are between persons who shared a close emotional tie in life. These calls seem to be random occurrences that happen without explanation. They may not necessarily know at the time of the conversation, that the caller is dead. Many people who experience these kinds of calls describe the caller as sounding distant but the voice is clearly recognizable. The voice usually fades away or ends abruptly after delivering their message. Many reports mention the presence of static as if there’s a bad connection. I can’t imagine a call being more long distance than that from another realm.

Engaging in conversation is not the only way the dead utilize a telephone in order to get their message across. Many people have reported receiving multiple phone calls from a deceased loved one’s phone to find no one on the other end. Others receive voicemails or missed calls from a deceased loved one displayed on their caller ID. I spoke with a woman named Lisa a few weeks ago who told me about her intriguing experience.

Lisa has a dear friend named Fern. Fern’s husband died in 2001. A few years ago, Fern began associating with a man who Lisa and others felt was up to no good. Lisa said Fern’s husband came to her in a dream. He was trying to connect with Fern but there were too many obstacles for him to reach her. He wanted to warn her that the man she was attracted to was taking advantage of her loneliness.The next day, Lisa told Fern about her dream and she believed it was a message from her husband. Soon after, Fern began to notice orbs appearing in her pictures. Lisa and Fern began taking photos to see if they could capture evidence of his spirit. One night, Lisa asked the husband to come to her in another dream. The next day, Lisa could not recall if she’d received a visit from him. However, when she later checked her answering machine for missed calls, she noticed a name on the caller ID that should not have been there. It was the name of Fern’s deceased husband. However, Fern’s name was associated with the account so it would always show her name on the display. Lisa took a picture of his name featured on the screen and showed it to Fern. She was delighted. The women believed this was his way of providing a sign of his presence.

Another story of phantom phone calls occurred in 2008. This event made national headlines:

Charles Peck was riding on a Metrolink commuter train running through Chatsworth, CA. Peck was a Delta Airlines employee from Salt Lake City on his way to an interview at Los Angeles’ Van Nuys Airport. Peck’s fiancé lived in California and he intended to marry her if he was hired.

Sadly, the Metrolink collided head-on with a freight train, killing 25 people and injuring 135 others. When Peck wasn’t found in the wreckage or at any local hospitals, his fiancé and family began to hope he might have survived. Suddenly, they started receiving calls from his cell phone. When they answered, there was nothing but the sound of static. The family received a total of 35 calls over a 12 hour period that night. The calls lead rescue workers to trace the phone’s signal in hopes of locating Peck.

Unfortunately, Charles Peck’s body was discovered in the wreckage, He had died on impact. According to the family, the phone calls stopped about one hour before his remains were found. Strangely, Peck’s cell phone was never located.

There are also reports of people placing phone calls to the dead. The caller has a seemingly normal conversation but later discovers that the person on the receiving end had died some time before the call was made. The phone calls where the living person is not aware that the person with whom they are speaking is deceased often last longer. In retrospect, the experiencer notices that the conversations involve the deceased making mention of taking a trip or saying things that seem very final.

There is one more phenomenon known as “intention” calls. These are phone calls amongst the living where a caller thinks about making a call but never does. However, the intended recipient claims to have received the call. This seems to be common in emergency situations where time is of the essence. Doctors and priests have recited occurrences where they received a call requesting their assistance. Once they arrived and handled the situation, they later discover the call was never placed.

These encounters certainly make you wonder if perhaps the souls of those whose physical bodies have ceased are trying to connect with their loved ones. The telephone is deeply ingrained in our minds as a natural way to communicate with those absent from our presence. It would seem logical that someone who has crossed over would utilize this method to relay a message.

Could there be another explanation though? Some of these may be practical jokes. Others may just be circuit malfunctions. These are logical possibilities that can’t be discounted but not all instances can be explained away so easily. There is one theory I find just as fascinating as the prospect of spirit communication. It’s the suggestion that the human brain is capable of generating these experiences. When we grieve the loss of a loved one, we are suffering from a form of separation anxiety. Anxiety is a form of stress and when we are under a tremendous amount of stress, it can have an unusual effect on the body and psyche. In turn, it may also influence the physical environment around us. Perhaps the brain is manifesting these experiences as a coping mechanism. Experiencers often feel a sense of relief after receiving contact from their loved ones. The idea that the deceased’s soul is at peace seems to lessen the amount of grief they have been harboring. Maybe how these phantom phone calls happen is not nearly as important as why they do. People are walking away from the experience with a sense of hope and that isn’t something you can easily attain. Regardless of the explanation, there is power behind our beliefs. If we are to believe that our spirit lives on after death, then this may free us from the chains that prevent many of us from moving forward.

If you’ve had a mysterious encounter you’d like to share, please e-mail me and be sure to like the Mysteries over Martinis Facebook page. Weirdness is always welcome!