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By chance I spotted and watched an Independent film called Mojave Phone Booth. I had mentioned it as being an interesting movie, and I was checking to see where it was filmed when I discovered that the movie was apparently based on a genuine and very strange social phenomenon. It struck me as being such an unusual story that it was worth a thread. There is an LA Times article that discusses it as well as a website claiming to be the site the started it all. How strange!
This is allegedly the website that started it all.
http://www.deuceofclubs.com/moj/mojave.htm
http://articles.latimes.com/1999/sep/18/news/mn-11495MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE — With only the lazy Joshua trees and hovering buzzards out here to bear witness, this isolated expanse of high-desert plain could well be among the quietest places on the planet.
By day, the summer heat hammers hard and the dull whistle of the wind is the only discernible noise. Come nightfall, the eerie silence is often pierced by the woeful bleat of a wandering burro.
But wait. There's another sound.
Along a line of wooden power poles running to the horizon in both directions, 14 miles from the nearest paved road, a solitary pay phone beckons with the shrill sound of impatient civilization.
Then it rings again. And again. And yet again, often dozens of times a day.
The callers? A bored housewife from New Zealand. A German high school student. An on-the-job Seattle stockbroker. A long-distance trucker who dials in from the road. There's a proud skunk owner from Atlanta, a pizza deliveryman from San Bernardino and a bill collector from Denver given a bum steer while tracing a debt.
Receivers in hand, they're reaching out--at all hours of the day and night, from nearly every continent on the globe--to make contact with this forlorn desert outpost.
They're calling the Mojave Phone Booth...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojave_phone_boothThe Mojave phone booth was a lone telephone booth placed circa 1960 in what is now the Mojave National Preserve in California which attracted online attention in 1997 due to its unusual location. The booth was 15 miles (24 km) from the nearest interstate highway, and miles from any buildings. Its phone number was originally 714-733-9969, before the area code changed to 619 and then to 760.
Fans called the booth attempting to get a reply, and a few took trips to the booth to answer, often camping out at the site. Several callers kept recordings of their conversations. Over time, the booth became covered in graffiti, as many travelers would leave a message on it.
One incident involving the phone booth was documented by Los Angeles Times writer John Glionna, who met 51-year-old Rick Karr there. Karr claims he was instructed by the Holy Spirit to answer the phone. He spent 32 days there, answering more than 500 phone calls including repeated calls from someone who identified himself as "Sergeant Zeno from the Pentagon."
The booth was removed on May 17, 2000 by Pacific Bell, at the request of the National Park Service. Also, per Pacific Bell policy, the phone number was permanently retired. Officially, the removal was done to halt the environmental impact of visitors, though a letter written by the then-superintendent of the Mojave National Preserve mentions confronting Pacific Bell with some long-forgotten easement fees.[1] A headstone-like plaque was later placed at the site. It, too, was removed by the National Park Service.
Fans of the booth also claim that the actual enclosure was destroyed by Pacific Bell after its removal.[2]
The story inspired the creation of a motion picture, Mojave Phone Booth.
This is allegedly the website that started it all.
http://www.deuceofclubs.com/moj/mojave.htm