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

WKCR Hijacking

For the original up-loaders file click here  it will open in another window. (sadly this has since been removed so here is a youtube link instead (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29nyH_k2NuU&ab_channel=ParanormalProductions%2CLLC)

WKCR Hijacking is one of those incidents described as a Broadcast Signal Intrusion, like the Max Headroom Incident (I covered this in my June 2014 blog) and it seems unconfirmed but the story interested me. So here goes:

It was originally posted on 4chan where the original poster says that they came across an old recording made in 1994/1995 and that they never thought about copying it, then they found it again and decided to upload it digitally. The uploader says that it was from WKCR 89.9, among the posts there is the usual insults and trolling but there are other comments.

From the post I found myself listening to the upload, it is discordant and overlapping with various sounds. All together when combined the effect is pretty creepy and well not entirely pleasant on the ears, if like me you find high pitched squealing noises hard work on the ears.

So off I went to the internet having listening a few times, and here’s a summary of what I think are the best points.

Reddit – WKCR FM Columbia, New York is a college radio station, generally the idea behind this is that many think it was an arts project. It seems a worthy consideration and given their listings on the website, sounds quite fair.

It was compared to some other experimental artists and many comment that it does not feel like it was an old tape and converted over, purely down to the high quality of it. Some think it would be a little about how clean it was that made it a spurious claim and others countered this saying that you can clean tapes up to very good quality these days.

A comment I saw mentioned that a date in the audio was 1998. I listened to it quite a lot and did not manage to pick that out. Can you tell me if you do and where?

Some people think it might be an attempt at replicating artists like Diamanda Galás, she centered on things like AIDS, mental illness and despair as examples. I compared them, I thought she was interesting but this does not sound like something copying her work.

This is what I could make out – add corrections if you can. I have placed them in date order…

February 1985 – Frank Oppenheimer, brother of Robert. Husband of Jackie, their father of Micheal, our friend.

August 22nd 1985 [incoherent] Tulio. Sister of Millie, Margaret, Dominic and joe. Wife of William. Mother of Mary, Lisa and Billy.

July 4th 1987 Peter Dunwell, Son of Robert, Husband of Lisa

March 17th 1988, Edward McEllis (McNellis?) [Incoherent] Edward’s brother. William, June, Peggy father of Julie, Heart Attack.

April 1988 Rupert [incoherent]

October 1988 Morgan (Tunic?) father of Barbara, Husband of Elsie. Barbara’s dad. Kidney failure.

November 1988 John Byrne (Burn?) Son of John, brother of Catherine and Chris.

December 21st 1988 Barry Valentino, son of Barry Senior, brother of Scott, Mark and Lisa. And his friend, my friend.

May 1987 Henrietta Graham, Mother of [incoherent] my friend.

So is there any relevance? Well 22nd August 1985 was the date of an airways disaster. British Airtours Flight 28m. In total 55 people died as a result but I couldn’t find anything that listed those names and I think I would need the name of the diseased, I could not make that out.

I would also like to clarify that Frank Oppenheimer was not part of the Manhattan project as some of the sources suggest. Robert is mentioned but they are reading out the details about Frank, Frank died 3rd February 1985 and died at home, not as a result of a plane accident, so there is no link there.

Barry Valentino is listed and appears to be a victim of the Pan AM Flight 103, Lockerbie. There is a plane involved in this one.

So is it a creepy art project and a false claim of broadcast intrusion? At the moment I have to say yes, there is nothing specific enough here and I don’t really recognise what message they are trying to portray within the recording.

I am standing ready to be corrected.