Phone Calls From The Recently Deceased

Most of us have heard the tale of someone receiving a phone call from a loved one who had recently passed on. Just the thought of such an incident makes our skin tingle, and yet, we’d all like to believe it’s possible to cheat death, if only long enough to say goodbye to our loved ones. So, are any of these claims true? Has anyone ever communicated from beyond the grave? While stories like this are extremely difficult to verify, we believe we’ve found one that will stand up to the burden of proof.

Our story occurs September 12th, 2008, in Chatsworth (a district of Los Angeles). There, on a curved section of track,a Metrolink train entered into the path of an oncoming Union Pacific freight train and the two collided violently together. An inquiry later found the engineer of the Metrolink train to be at fault. He had been texting his friends and missed the red signal light set in place to warn him of oncoming trains. The final death toll that day was 25, but one of the dying appeared to be clinging on for life.

The Nearly Wed

Charles E. Peck was aboard one of the trains, headed toward his new life in Los Angeles. His plans were simple and eloquent: secure a job in the Golden State and marry his fiance’, Andrea Katz. One interview stood between him and his second marriage, but it would be an appointment he would never make.

Andrea, who was joined by Peck’s parents and siblings, heard about the crash as they drove up to the train station. Anguished by the news, they all held on to the belief that Peck was still alive, which was bolstered by the many calls they would receive from Peck’s cell phone over the next eleven hours. He was out there. They knew it. How else would they be receiving the calls?

Waiting in tortured anguish, the family kept receiving these calls (about 35 in all). Each time they answered, nothing but static. This was to be expected of someone who was injured but still able to reach out. And so, they clung onto hope, expecting Peck to be pulled alive from the wreckage at any point. Hours continued to pass as they continued their vigil, but in the eleventh hour the calls finally stopped. Had Peck finally given up hope for rescue, or had he passed on?

Calls From Beyond

On the 12th hour, Peck’s body was finally found. As many had feared, he was already dead; if only the rescuers could have got to him sooner. However, his actual time of death would present a mystery that has never been resolved to this day: Charles Peck died on impact – not eleven hours later. And yet, his cell phone somehow continued to reach out to his family and loved ones. How was this possible?

As his cell phone was never found it might be presumed that it had somehow malfunctioned after the crash, repeatedly dialing numbers in its memory; however, if this were the case, one would expect the phone to keep dialing the same person over and over again. As for the phone ceasing its calls on the 11th hour, this was almost certainly caused by the battery failing. Regardless of the circumstances, this one rings an 8.9 on the skin tingle scale!

So, did Peck somehow manage to make calls from the grave? If so, we can only wonder what it was he wanted to say, as all recipients of his calls reported only hearing static. In fact, it’s the candid honesty of these reports that lead us to believe the story is true, as no attempt is made to add the kind of details that would make for an unbelievable ghost story. Of the many stories that have appeared on our desk, this is one of the few that appears to be totally plausible.

And so we ask, have you (or anyone you know of) ever received a phone call from the grave?