Phone-call From The Future…

In 2001, me and my husband sold our five-bedroom house and spent a few years travelling in our motor-home. We wanted the experience of stepping outside society. We noticed that by not following daily routines (postman arriving the same time every day), and spending more time alone in remote places, that odd things happened; or at least we ‘tuned’ into them. In 2003, we had the strangest experience.

We had one mobile phone, but we hated taking it with us when we went for walks (ironic I know) but when we got back to the motor-home, I would check to see if anyone had phoned. We received one call, logged at 31.12.2049 at 11.59pm. One minute before the year 2050. We couldn’t believe it! My husband tried to program the internal clock on the phone to see if it had malfunctioned; but he could set the phone to any time. We had also received a voice message; unfortunately, we had to wait until morning to top up our phone credit.

I sat there, wondering what 2049 would look like — Borg-like people playing a cosmic joke; ringing people from the past… Maybe I would be the first person to make alien contact? With excitement and trepidation, I made the call. I thought I’d ask the operator while I topped up my credit if the received phone-call was a phone malfunction. She said she would ask an engineer where the call originated from; then I heard a sound, like a distant alarm going off.

Unnerved she said, ‘I’m sorry but I’m going have to get back to you — our fire alarm has just gone off!’ She hurriedly took my number and promised to ring me as soon as she could.

It was a tense 1/2 hour and although I could have listened to the mysterious message; I was anxious not to miss her call. She rang back and said in a quiet but slightly amused tone,

‘Are you sitting down?’ Gave me shivers.

‘I’ve spoken to at least 3 different engineers and they all agree that this was indeed a legitimate call.’

Silent pause.

‘What does this mean?’ I said.

‘Well, this call could not have come from your phone as it originated from our exchange.’

I laughed nervously.

‘So, this is a real phone call from the future?’

‘Yes.’ Pause. ‘Can I ask you a favour?’ she said, still with an amused tone, or incredulity, ‘Will you ring me and tell me what the message is if you are able?’ I agreed and ended the call.

I kept staring at the time of the call — 2049. 2049? Did I call myself from the future? Was it a warning? Could it be an alien life-form? Nervous, I strained to hear the message — three beeps, like you get at the end of a message. Nothing else. I replayed it and replayed — No future secrets, no prophecy, no warnings.

In retrospect, I regret not asking for a copy of the call log for proof. What a strange experience, this event being one of many. I kept the call on my phone until the phone got old and I couldn’t get a battery to replace it. I now only have the memory I’m sharing with you.

I posted this story on another website called ‘Just Musing’ years ago, and two people contacted me with a similar story. One in Australia and the other in the UK. The same thing happened to these people, same time, same year. We vowed to let one another know if something similar happened again.

It hasn’t. Yet.

(2016) Out of curiosity, I tried to contact these people but their emails bounced. I guess they’ve moved on.