Phone Calls from the Dead Trivia Quiz

Answer: Strange numerological readings on the witnesses' CallerID

CallerID did not become commercially available until 1988.

Further, Rogo and Bayless show great respect for those who WOULD tell their stories. In the researchers' past experience, they had little trouble getting people to talk about seeing UFOs or ghosts, but the idea of telephone conversations with those seemingly beyond such things elicited much more reserved responses.

Answer: Crisis apparitions

In this story, the wife claimed that mistaken identity was out of the question because the voice on the line had called her "sis", a term of endearment only he had used.

A related story has a woman receiving a call ostensibly from a seven-year-old girl who had passed away some time ago. Just from the context of the call - with no intimation of danger from the caller - the woman knew something was wrong with the dead girl's disabled father. Sure enough, the father had collapsed in a position that could have left him paralyzed.

Answer: Loyall Farragut, son of David Farragut

The story of Farragut's call is one of the more unique in the collection, and it does illustrate the inherent anecdotal weakness of these cases. In this instance, the witness - a longtime friend of the junior Farragut - received a call from a retired naval officer whose call with Farragut had been cut short the day prior. The navy man had been unable to reach Farragut since then, and had grown rather frantic. Only later did the witness find that Farragut had been dead for hours when the original call was placed.

Of course, as skeptics would point out, such a long chain of events is difficult to accept as proof of anything so remarkable as a phone call from beyond. It does not help matters that many principles in this case are not identified by Rogo and Bayless. Indeed, Farragut's first name is not included - he is identified only Adm. David Farragut's son.

Answer: False

Rather, these calls tend toward small talk, or messages of some pathos, such as the above example of the person who knew they were terribly ill and were asking for help (after they were dead) or a particularly poignant story of a German man who called to speak with his widow, but never made contact. Most such calls lack this touching quality; the caller, who uses idioms particular to the dead person, never reveals where a treasure is hidden or who murdered them or anything of that sort. Even the included story of a dead girl's call that seemingly saved her father does not include an appeal from the child; she merely indicates her name and that she is surprised she is able to telephone.

Answer: Type 1 calls are made by the newly dead; Type 2 calls come some time later

Rogo and Bayless tentatively ascribe this effect to the disorientation of the dead in their new state; after the shock of an entity's demise wears off, they are much more capable of gathering their wits for a more human conversation. Curiously enough, most calls come either within a week of death or after a month; the researchers found "practically no" examples of calls made in the intervening 8 to 30 day window. Believers may infer that something profound happens during that phase of the afterlife; skeptics who attribute these calls to constructive memory may conclude that this says more about how the human mind reckons time.

An interesting observation on Type 1 cases is that the line does not usually "go dead" immediately following the exchange. Rather, the caller's voice trails off, but the line seems to stay open. Believers may take this as a sign that the caller does not want to hang up, but cannot summon the resources to continue. Skeptics (including those, like myself, who can remember the far less reliable phone systems of the "Ma Bell" era when Rogo and Bayless were writing) might likewise take this as a prime example of the faulty connections that were really very common before the digital age.

Answer: Demon possession of the local phone exchange as a sign of Satan's dominion over the material world

The psychokinesis angle is particularly intriguing, as it seems to be a step towards a sort of "unified field" of parapsychology - all phenomena comes from the witness, a product of his or her mental abilities. The extradimensional being (EDB) hypothesis is interesting to the folklorists among us as well - the trickster figures of legend, like Coyote of Native American lore or the imps of European tales are cited as manifestations of EDBs.

Answer: Rogo and Bayless are basing their analysis on the existence of ESP and psychokinesis, both of which have repeatedly failed laboratory tests

It is worth pointing out that all three critics chosen by the authors, though employed at accredited institutions like City College of New York and the University of Edinburgh, are indeed parapsychologists by trade and as such inherently believe that paranormal phenomena are real; none of these experts apply skeptical criteria, even when the cases Rogo and Bayless recount seem especially deserving. Specifically, though a few instances are documented in terms of dates, locations, and additional witnesses (people who saw the primary witness take the call), several are more characteristic of urban legends, lacking even the names of the witnesses. I am not speaking of those cases where the names are withheld for privacy; rather, many of these cases are recounted in the "friend of a friend" style familiar to contemporary folklorists, and the researchers do not have access to the original witnesses, or even a concrete idea of who they are. Though this mode of collection is appropriate for folklore - a discipline where the performance of the tale is as least as important as the subject matter - it is not evidentiary at all when studying physical phenomena. It is especially disheartening to see Rogo claim, in defense of the criticism that incidents were not promptly documented, that near-perfect recall of an incident is possible or even likely years after it occurs; besides running counter to almost every reputable psychological study of memory, this supposition flies in the face of both common sense and everyday occurrence, as anyone who has ever had a discussion with a spouse about past events can readily attest.

It is also notable that one of the assembled experts, Gertrude Schmeidler, does take the authors to task for the presumptiveness of their conclusions and the inexact nature of their case studies. Schmeidler does deserve credit for her critical thinking, including her suggestion that at least some of these reports may be hallucinations.

Answer: False

In fact, reports of this sort of manifestation were rare prior to the book's publication - Rogo cites fewer than ten cases in print prior to 1977 - and have never been commonly reported. Indeed Rogo was always dumbfounded that most of his most dedicated colleagues had never heard of cases like this prior to his investigations. The Rogo and Bayless work remains the authoritative - and, to my knowledge, the only - volume on the topic.

The above is based on a search of the most accessible databases on the subject. Though I'm very confident that this is correct, such a search is by its nature incomplete, and parapsychology is no longer my main field. If anyone taking this quiz is acquainted with subsequent work that compliments or has supplanted Rogo and Bayless, please let me know.

Answer: Douglas Adams

Adams, better known for this "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series, does an excellent job balancing material from world history, computing, and genre conventions in this seemingly-madcap but ultimately cohesive novel on the interconnectedness of all things. I have not seen him directly credit Rogo and Bayless, but Gordon Way's spectral phone habits do seem quite reminiscent of the Iris Brace case in "Phone Calls from the Dead", which has a secretary remind a professor of an appointment a week after her death. Truth be told, I wouldn't put anything past Douglas Adams, who sadly left us in 2001. So long, sir, and thanks for all the books.

Answer: Friends

In the episode "The One Where Estelle Dies", both of Joey's conversations were with "Friends" character Phoebe rather than his departed agent Estelle. Phoebe was attempting to keep the harsh news of Estelle's demise from the vulnerable Joey, only to mystify the actor's famously limited mind after news of the agent's death reached Joey through other means.

Other examples of televised phone calls from beyond the grave - which predate Rogo and Bayless' work - can be found in the "Twilight Zone" episodes "Long Distance Call", about a little boy who speaks with his dead grandmother on a toy telephone, and "Night Call", featuring a lonely woman who gets a call from her dead fiancée of years gone by.

Thanks so much to Funtrivia notable Gretas for her help and inspiration in doing this quiz. That being said, take my advice, prospective authors - be VERY careful in accepting challenges from the Quiz Maker's Guild!