Weird

[svnmag]

Phone booth in the middle of the Mojave Desert:

1 760 733 9969

 

[Kickemup]

They need a phone to use after they get over the border.

 

[svnmag]

Racist.

 

[You]

You're on fire svnmag!

 

[johnr]

It's been awhile since I've had to go to rehearsal because of that phone

 

[Kickemup]

I'm sorry if u are butt hurt by my comments seven.:::

 

[svnmag]

Please explain both Juanner and You. I got this from 550 am--Ground Zero. They're still talking about it and playing results.

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No, not hurt by your comments Kick; just the racism.

 

[You]

Sometimes I just say things without knowing what I said or am saying but I'm you so you know you're in good company. Ya know?

 

[svnmag]

Yes indeed. Sometimes the high opinion of myself does nothing to crack the density.

 

[Brian Renville]

Who couldn't help it and had to try it. I despise talking on the phone for the most part so the thought of a conference call really creeps me out.

 

[svnmag]

Did you do it?!!

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Just found out the phone booth has a geo cache.

 

[Brian Renville]

Apparently the number now takes you to a random conference call.

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[h=1]The legendary Mojave Phone Booth is back[/h]By Lorraine Murphy

Aug 9, 2013, 8:00am CT | Last updated Aug 9, 2013, 12:03pm CT



760-733-9969. Those 10 digits might signify nothing to the masses, but to the digerati, however, they tell one of the great stories of the Internet.
In short, the Mojave Phone Booth is back.
The booth was originally installed in the 1960s, no-one seems to know quite when, as a frontier phone line servicing volcanic cinder miners. It was at a dusty crossroads in the middle of the Mojave Desert, a day's drive away from the shining lights of Las Vegas. The site was and remains several miles from the nearest paved road.

​

In 1997, an unnamed man on a rambling road trip spotted the unlikely phone icon on a map and decided to visit it. He wrote an article describing the Zen detour for an underground paper, and Godfrey Daniels, an early Internet adopter, read it and was inspired. He created a tribute website, still extant, and it struck a chord among a generation hopeful about the connective power of technology and its positive impact on society. A legend was born.
People started phoning in. An empty gesture, perhaps, this reaching out into the void of the vast Mojave Desert, knowing there would be no-one there to answer your call. Then one day, someone answered.
After that, there was no stopping them. People would drive out for the experience of being there, for the serendipity of the conversations with callers from all over the world. A Los Angeles Times reporter drove out to cover the story and ended up fielding conversations with people he would never have been aware of otherwise. For such a lonely monument, it was an incredible social networking platform and connectivity conduit.
The Times article was the beginning of the end for the Mojave Phone Booth. It was less than a year later, in 2000, that Pacific Bell shut it down.
Now it's ringing once more—sort of.

​

Earlier this month, phone phreak and white-hat hacker Jered Morgan (a.k.a. Lucky225) announced obliquely on the Facebook page for Hacker Quarterly 2600 that he had resurrected the number. Go on, you know you want to.
760-733-9969.
The number works and, better than ever: it's a conference call! Originally he'd set it up for phreaks—those more interested in sociology and social engineering than pure technological challenge—so you would have to input a certain tone. It asked you to insert a quarter, which any competent phreak can get around with a few special tones.
Having since realized that this formed a barrier for most, Morgan removed that message. Now you go straight through to... whatever's there.
The Daily Dot reached out to learn more.

​

Is there a limit to how many people can be in the call at one time?
No limit with the exception of bandwidth, very few people have called at the same time so far so I don't know what that particular limit might be.
How does it work? Do you have an actual single phone at the end of that line?

 

[deleted_account]

I'm gonna call right now. Double, and svn, you call too so we can chat.

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I chickened out. I'm scared of ouiji boards and bloody Mary too

 

[Davy Crockett]

http://historyrfd.net/isern/life/local.htm

 

[svnmag]

I too am scared. Also, I've never had a Bloody Mary or typhoid. I've often thought both descriptions of "Mary" would be a great name for a band. IDK: I'm just sitting here drinking Bud and just threw a shoe at the bored cat ignoring my wish for him to STFU.

 

[NodakBuckeye]

Please explain both Juanner and You. I got this from 550 am--Ground Zero. They're still talking about it and playing results.

Ahhhh Ground Zero and Coast to Coast Am.... Would listen to them when I was running a night route. Really good way to creep yourself out. Caught some eye glow looking my way from the top of a tank battery on the edge of my headlamp light one night when they were ramping up for Halloween one on of those programs last October. After checking my drawers and heartrate, I saw it was just a big ol owl.

 

[johnr]

I listened to this on 550 a couple months back, a road trip to Aberdeen, it was enthralling. I was not spooked until I pulled to the side of highway 83 to relieve the swollen bladder, then I was a bit creeped standing in the dark at about midnight with my ding dong hanging out, and strange noises, and rustling grasses.

I drank a strong whiskey seven prior to crawling into the motel bed, it helped.