Is It More than just White Noise?

On April 19, 2004, my father called me at 7:30pm even though he was pronounced dead at 11:30am that morning.   My father’s sudden death was caused by a massive heart attack that no one saw coming.  He died instantly, or so the coroner explained.  I guess for the dying, that may be the better way to go rather than endure a long and suffering death caused by disease but for the living that remain, the pain is much more intense.  The opportunity to have said goodbye was never offered; closure became a nonfactor and still is to this day.   

On that night and for the next two consecutive nights, I received the same call.  I was still distraught from the entire goings on of the past days that I really didn’t pay too much attention but looking back today, I wonder.  I still remember those calls vividly:  the phone rings and I happened to be near it each time.   I hazily say “hello?” and all I hear is static with a faint voice in the background. 

The first night, I thought it was a bad connection or a crossed line so I just shrugged it off and not give it a second thought.  The second night, the phone rings again at the exact same time as the previous night.  Interestingly  that I happened to be there for I had swung by my house for only five minutes just to pick up various papers and pictures as I was meeting the rest of my family at my mother’s house.  I picked up the phone and abruptly answered with a rushed “hello.”   

Once again, I heard the static but this time, with various voices faintly in the background.  At first, I thought the call was coming from Italy where the majority of my parent’s relatives still live and given the fact that I had made a call to Italy that morning to break the news.  I even spoke in Italian to whoever was on the line indicating that  I could not hear them well.  I waited to see if the line would clear or if the party would hang up but neither happened.    Rather, the static on the line grew more intense as it began drowning out the voices I initially heard.  I began to grow impatient and since I did not have the time to wait, I rudely hung up and left the house.

The third night, all was done.  The arrangements for the wake, the funeral, the church, the flowers and all else on the task list was completed.  It was late, my husband and my children had already gone to bed but I could not sleep.  I was exhausted but my mind was racing, awake, imagining.  I sat in a dark living room with wandering eyes about, hoping to catch a shadow of something, anything- hoping, praying for a haunt…anything that could be a sign from my dad  (I envisioned a Hollywood-like appearance of some kind).  But I got nothing and as I laid my head to rest on the back of the rocker, I was abruptly shaken by the phone ringing.  I thought it was my mom needing something so I quickly ran to grab the phone.  Once again, I heard the static but this time, it was faint and appeared that a voice was whispering through that static.  As exhausted as I was on this night, I was also crabby and moving towards angry…at my situation, for my mother and at my father.  This time, I was feeling ticked that someone keeps calling, playing games with me so, I didn’t bother to wait for the person on the other line.  I didn’t wait for the line to clear; I just simply clicked the OFF button on the receiver and ended it for good.   I did have caller-id so I scrolled through the past calls to look for the owner of those three mysterious calls and interestingly enough, they all originated from a number called UNKNOWN. 

I have heard about the EVP topic from paranormal investigations on TV but never really paid much attention to it, till now that is.  EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomenon and thought to be electronically generated noises that resemble speech, but are not the result of intentional voice recordings or renderings but rather of paranormal origin. 

OK, so now you are thinking that all of this is either hokey or you are completely enthralled.  I choose to be enthralled for today, I really believe it was my father, trying to reach me in order to give me that closure that I so yearned.    It was on April 22, 2004 at 11:52pm that I received that last phone call and I have never had one like that since.  So, you tell me, is it really more than just white noise?  I think it is.  Oh, excuse me, I must be going now, my phone is ringing….odd. 

Let me hear your side!