Phreaking and Creepy Numbers

I did not misspell it, it is a slang term for people who like to explore, manipulate and study telephonic communications and of late has also grown close links with some who are interested in computer hacking. I’m showing more interest in the phones for the purposes of this but I have previously put up blogs about TV hijacks and might think about some interesting computer hacking events at some point.

It seems to have started around the late 1950’s in the USA, its peak really came in the 60’s and 70’s and most likely this is down to more people then knowing how the system worked. Prior to 1984 using a phone was quite the premium service, long-distance in some places was being on another street so frauding numbers “toll fraud” had a monetary worth. It was also used in the 1990’s for cloning pagers and an illegal act.

I’m not sure if this counts as phreaking but here in the UK I can remember in the early 90’s that there was a method to get a free call and it seems painfully silly in this more modern era. My step-father was an ex-navy chap who had this trick they had to contact mates nearby to arrange a quick way to get together. You called all your friends if you were the first there and if there were quite a few those 10 pence pieces would soon add up, so you covered the 10p on one side with tin-foil and called your friend.

As long as you only used the 10p at the end the coin would drop back out through the machine and you could do it again.

Previously I have mentioned phone calls supposedly received by the dead or around the point of death, but this is another subject and I will not go into that now. I think it might also fall under the electric phenomenon side as opposed to phreaking.

With the era of personal data being of very high importance, the digital age has highlighted a need for encryption and high personal security but that doesn’t stop people trying. I am going to reference some creepy numbers now because that’s what I like when I do these things!

Cleveland, Ohio – 1263331810 -this number has been attached for an event at a Nine Inch Nails concert, the supposed event was that a USB drive in a bathroom at a concert was found and a file that revealed a phone number. Calling it produced a supposed wire-tap recorded of a girl admitting to murder. It is pretty much a promotional set up for the band and is actually quite interesting as it plays into the creepy ARG vibe rather well.

Japan = 81-090-4444-4444 Sadako legend, it is of a cursed phone number and sends you to a set of terrible noises and the legend that something terrible will happen to you. Again this number coincides with The Ring film release and likely another promotional venture, but creepy and so I put it here for that reason.

Pakistan – Another interesting one, pretty sure this is an urban legend, is that in Pakistan numbers may flash up as calling someone in red. If the number calling shows up in red then people are told not to answer it, if you are foolish enough to ignore this warning you may end up the victim if a “Death Call” and a high frequency sound down the line will result in a brain hemorrhage. Side-note, this is flagged false by many sites an I am happy to agree with that. There is nothing scientifically based on this ideas that sounds emitted just could not kill you.

Bulgaria – 0888-888-888 is a telephone number in Bulgaria that has been actively terminated so it cannot be recycled. Vladimir Grashnov was the CEO of Mobitel, he died of cancer in 2001 and the number ended up assigned to Bulgarian Mafia Boss, Konstantin Dimitrov who was gunned down in 2003. From there on the number was passed to Konstantin Dishliev who was a crooked businessman and he was assassinated in 2005. Three men died and the number then ended. It seems to me less of a cursed mobile number and more a case of three corrupt people meeting their end.

So yes I’ve gone from old fashioned phone number cloning to promotional events and cursed numbers but I hope you enjoyed this delve down a rabbit hole. Have you any stories you would like to share?

Sources: nin.wiki , snopes and its forums, blog – theghostinmymachine, amino app, youtube, DailyMail.co.uk, Telegraph.co.uk

Wellington Avalanche of 1910

Wellington, Washington State was founded in 1883 and was relatively unknown until an event in February 1910, when the community there suffered a 9 day blizzard. Around a foot of snow an hour fell to the ground and initially two trains (one passenger and one mail train) found themselves trapped but the worst was to come.

28^th February and the snow stopped only to have rain and warm winds replacing it. Just after 1am the next day a slab of snow broke loose during a violent thunderstorm and this slid towards the town. A previous forest fire had exposed the approach into the town and down it rolled without resistance.

The impact to the two trains threw them 150 feet downhill to the Tye River, the result was the death of 35 passengers, 58 Great Northern employees and three rail-road employees that were in the depot. The 23 survivors were rescued by rail-road employees.

It took months to recover the bodies, Alaskan-style dog sled, slopes with ropes and pulleys and sheer hard graft took a toll on the physical and mental being of the rescuers. Wellington was renamed Tye in October that year and the depot was closed down in 1929, the town was then abandoned and raised.

The Iron Goat Trail allows visitors to go to the site, however hiking there in the winter is highly discouraged due to the nature of avalanches in the area. A retired editor for the Monroe Monitor newspaper said it is a very eerie feeling to be stood there.

The most common reports are about the sensations experienced at the site of the old town, often people feel that there is someone else watching them and many hikers will avoid camping there overnight. Oak Harbor resident, Bill Robards, is certain it is haunted having been there. He witnessed apparitions following them when they walked at night and even heard a child’s voice and states they captured audio evidence of a man (an immigrant working on the train perhaps) singing in Italian.

By E.J. Frazier, Thompson, Montana – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress‘s Prints and Photographs division
under the digital ID cph.3b13980.
This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information., Public Domain, Link

 

The hall that no one wants

‘It is a cause of unmitigated and disappointment and vexation’ Lord Overstone.

Overstone Hall in Northamptonshire is a 114 room mansion that has been up for sale for one million pounds and is going to be some sort of epic project for anyone taking it on. It has 114 rooms, it’s 20,000 square foot and covers 50 acres of land. It went up for sale in 2011 for that price and did not sell, and the New Testament Church of God are still asking for the same price now.

1832 Overstone Park was acquired by Lewis Loyd for £117,500. Upon his death in 1858 the 10,000 acres of land became Lord Overstone’s. 1860 Lady Overstone commissioned the hall through architect William Milford Teulon; it was to replace the existing house with something more akin to her taste and more lavish to reflect their status. Lord Overstone was reported to have hated the thing since the very start, his wife commissioned a strange mix of Victorian and Renaissance architecture but didn’t live to see it finished She died in November 1864 and in return he left a letter to a friend about the place – ‘The New House, I regret to say, is a cause of unmitigated disappointment and vexation. It is an utter failure although very large and full of pretension, it has neither taste, comfort, nor convenience.’ He refused to live there.

1883 Lord Overstone hated the place that his wife designed and gave it to his daughter Lady Wantage upon his death. She was a philanthropist well known for her interest in hospital and nursing work, she married Robert

James Lindsay, the resided primarily at Lockinge House in Wantage. Lady Wantage was rarely there either, she used it on occasion for winter hunting parties and it was sold to Sir Philip Stott after she died in 1920.

1920’s the building was used by owner Sir Philip Stott who used it as a base for Conservative party members.

He disliked the imposing building and his project there was deemed as a failure in 1928. In 1929 he sold it to the Charlotte Mason Schools Company. They used part of the large building as a girl’s only boarding school.

1979 the school was closed and the building sold privately for £701,000. It was then used by the New Testament Church of God as it’s UK headquarters. 2001 a fire ripped through the building. It came from the top floor and ripped through the principle rooms and carved staircase.

A photographer called Mathew Growcoot went to see the place and described the whole experience as both surreal and haunting, most of the place is slowly being reclaimed by nature. He said: ‘I’ve never been to anywhere like it, it is such an enormous, imposing house that has been reclaimed by nature. He said that the main tower looked unfriendly and that it was very hard to judge it in the current derelict state but that the remains had rooms that looked like they would be far too big and would be draft riddled. He felt on edge the whole time he was there to to noises that surrounded him.

It is worth noting that despite the comments about this building it was advanced for its time. It had cavity wall insulation and even had a heating system, called Mr Price’s Apparatus. The building also had gas lighting and a butler’s lift.

Daventry District Council have said that they are concerned about it’s state, it is in a perilous condition. It seems a shame to let something like this building go to waste, and invariably it’s become a hotspot for ghost hunting though I cannot ascertain why.

http://www.overstoneschool.co.uk/