Is It Possible to Talk to the Dead on the Phone?

Imagine it’s the middle of the night. The phone rings and the voice you hear on the other end is unmistakable—but that’s impossible. They’re dead. Was it a technological glitch, a trick of your grieving mind, or something more profound touching the boundary between our world and another? Welcome to the fascinating, eerie universe of “telephone calls from the dead,” a phenomenon explored by Dr. Callum Cooper, a parapsychology lecturer at the University of Northampton and author of the book "Telephone Calls from the Dead."

The Call That Started It All

For Dr. Cooper, the journey into the realm of ghostly phone calls began almost accidentally. Initially uninterested in this fringe case of the paranormal, he stumbled across obscure accounts in the news and through classic books in his university’s parapsychology section. But one case made the phenomenon impossible to ignore—a commuter train crash in California involving a man named Charles Peek. As rescuers scrambled at the scene, Peek’s family received multiple calls from his phone, filled only with static. They shouted messages of hope into the void, unaware that he had died on impact and that his phone was never found. A skeptic might attribute this to a damaged device dialing the most recent numbers, but the sheer oddity drove Cooper to dig deeper.

Discovering a Forgotten Phenomenon

Through further research, Dr. Cooper encountered the 1979 book "Phone Calls from the Dead" by D. Scott Rogo and Raymond Bayless—a text that had languished in obscurity. Sifting through decades of parapsychological journals, news reports, and archives, he found only a handful of studies and cases on the subject. Fascinated, he turned to social media and public calls for stories, discovering an abundance of fresh accounts—from eerie text messages sent by deceased loved ones to home voicemails from people long buried.

He soon realized that these chilling experiences weren’t as rare as the academic silence might suggest. Modern technologies, from landlines to mobile phones and even text messages, offered new ways for the unknown to reach out to the living. Many accounts involved people receiving calls or texts from the phones of the recently deceased—sometimes even when those phones were buried with the body.

Investigating the Unexplainable

Dr. Cooper’s research approach is as rigorous as it is open-minded. In parapsychology, these occurrences are known as spontaneous phenomena—happening without warning and usually without a researcher to witness them directly. As such, much of the investigation relies on collecting eyewitness testimonies, audio recordings, and other forms of "after-the-fact" evidence.

He meticulously analyzed each report, using established techniques like thematic analysis to identify and group common threads. Were there multiple witnesses? Did the event involve specific information that shouldn’t have been otherwise known? Could the event be explained by technical faults or human error, or did it truly defy the ordinary?

The Human Element

Perhaps most striking in Dr. Cooper’s findings is the sincerity of the people reporting these experiences. They came from all walks of life—supermarket workers, academics, even senior legal professionals. Some were skeptics, others firm believers. Regardless of their background or beliefs, their stories shared a common intensity and lingering emotional impact. For many, the experience fundamentally challenged their understanding of life, death, and the nature of reality itself.

Types of Paranormal Phone Calls

As Cooper dove deeper into the phenomenon, he was able to categorize the types of mysterious calls people reported, building on the work of Rogo and Bayless. Here are the main types:

Simple Calls: The phone rings. You know the person has died, but you unmistakably hear their voice—sometimes just your name, sometimes only static or wind. These calls often fade out without the typical click of a phone hanging up.

Prolonged Calls: You talk for several minutes with a friend or relative, unaware they have passed away. Only later do you learn the caller died before the conversation took place. In some cases, there is no phone company record of the call, yet multiple people might have witnessed it.

Answer Calls: Unlike receiving a call, you dial a number and the deceased person answers, engaging in a conversation as if nothing is out of the ordinary. Later, you may discover that the person could not possibly have answered—sometimes because they are deceased, sometimes simply because they were nowhere near their phone at the time.

Intention Calls: Here, you intend to call someone but never actually do. Yet the intended recipient receives a call—sometimes with your number recorded—and returns it, convinced you reached out first.

Mixed or Repetitive Calls: Cooper discovered cases where people repeatedly received calls from someone they knew to be dead, sometimes holding brief conversations with the deceased over a stretch of days or weeks. These instances are rare but particularly unsettling.

Beyond Science or a Peek into the Unknown?

To the skeptically minded, these incidents might seem easy to dismiss—after all, technology is far from infallible, and our minds are capable of strange perceptions in times of grief. And yet, the emotional reality of the witnesses, the peculiar timing, and occasionally verifiable information exchanged during these calls invite us to keep an open mind. Are these simply electronic malfunctions, psychological manifestations, or fleeting glimpses into something deeper and more mysterious?

If you’ve ever felt the urge to reach out to a loved one lost, or found yourself startled by the unexplainable ring of a telephone in the night, you’re certainly not alone. Dr. Cooper’s research shows that people across continents and cultures have experienced these mysterious connections, prompting deeper questions about consciousness, the persistence of love, and perhaps, the permeability of the veil between life and death.

Continuing the Conversation

If you’re fascinated by these stories or suspect you might have experienced something similar, Dr. Cooper’s book, “Telephone Calls from the Dead,” is available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon, with a long-awaited audiobook on the way. The original 1979 book by Rogo and Bayless—now back in print with updated commentary—offers even more historical context and case studies.

For fans of the paranormal and the simply curious alike, the phenomenon of phone calls from the dead serves as an intriguing reminder: The mysteries of human existence remain tantalizingly unsolved. As Dr. Cooper and the crew of "Things Visible and Invisible" remind us, reality is often stranger than fiction, and it’s always worth keeping an open mind—especially when the phone rings after dark.

📕 Guest: Cal Cooper

Cal is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Northampton, UK. Internationally recognized for his work in parapsychology, bereavement, and anomalous experiences, he has authored multiple books including Telephone Calls from the Dead. He lectures widely, appears in media, and contributes to research on topics such as after‑death communication, mediumship, and thanatology.

🌍 Website: https://www.callumecooper.com/

🐦 X / Twitter: https://x.com/CallumECooper

📚 Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Callum-E.-Cooper/author/B00EEC0QCM